The First Fall And The First Sin
Isaiah 14:12-15 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.”
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
What was the first sin of created beings? Or maybe more simply, what was the sin of Satan? Isaiah tells us that Satan desired to be like God. Well, that is true, but why was that important to him? It was important because he did not want to be subordinate to anyone. He wanted to be ruler of all creation and the master of his own destiny. Does that sound familiar?
Does our culture encourage obedience and respect for authorities? Or do large swaths of our population and culture encourage people to #resist, hate the government, despise the police, disobey and ignore parents, etc.? And their reasoning? Well, they believe that in resisting authority, they are resisting oppression and going to create some form of utopia. After all, if the authority doesn’t approve what you want, then they are just big meanies who want to destroy our happiness. Unfortunately, what has the rioting, looting, burning, general disobedience, and resisting police and parents brought? Has it brought more peace or more chaos? Has it made children happier and more contented, or even made some a violent threat to parents? When Satan warred against God, was the end result more peace or more chaos? Is the world a better place now that Satan fought back against the “Man?”
The Bible tells us that “God is not the author of disorder, but of peace” (1 Corinthians 14:33). Why is that important? It is important because those who reject God, also reject His nature. Therefore, we should expect anyone who is not following God to bring, by their nature, disorder and chaos. And why do they bring it? Sometimes they bring disorder and chaos because of their refusal to obey God. But other times, it comes because of a person’s refusal to believe God or ignorance of what He actually says. In other words, the people who purport to follow God don’t know how or don’t believe God when He tells them how to bring order and peace. One reason for that belief is because Satan tempts us with these words, “Did God really say …?” And that temptation is often and frequently used when what God plainly says in His Word meets the sensibilities in our own minds and culture. One such example, in keeping with the theme of hierarchy, is the idea that women need not be submissive to their husbands. As it says in 1 Corinthians 11:3, “But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.” And 1 Peter 3:1, “Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives.”
Many, even those within the church, advocate for the independence and empowerment of women. That empowerment is often in the form of encouraging women not to get married, not to submit to their husbands, and to take leadership positions within the church. And when that leads to chaos and struggle, the solution they present is not to encourage submission, but rather it is to blame husbands and men as if their leadership is the problem. After all, generations of people in our country and culture have been taught that submission is tantamount to slavery and a horrible sin that should never be imposed on anyone. But the question is, is submission a sin? Is it even a result of sin?
For some, they may point to submission as a part of the curse. They use such passages as the curse God laid upon Eve, saying, “Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” (Genesis 3:16). Or where Paul says, “And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression” (1 Timothy 2:12-14). However, if submission is in and of itself a result of sin and a punishment for transgression, then why are the Angels submissive to God? Are they not perfect? If they did sin, why are they not considered demons? Why does Jesus tell us that if we love Him, we will obey (i.e., submit ourselves to) His commands (John 14:15)? Why did Jesus, being God, submit Himself to the will of the Father (Philippians 2:8)? Why does Jesus even now submit Himself to the Father (1 Corinthians 15:20-28)? If being ruled over is such a bad thing, why would Christians pray and beg for Jesus to come again to rule visibly over all the nations?
Therefore, if submission and being subservient to an authority are not in and of themselves a curse, nor do they stem from sin, then the curse that Eve must endure was not just submission to her husband (that he would rule over her). Rather, the Bible tells us her role of being submissive to Adam was due to the intentional order of creation (Adam was formed first). But what then was the curse? The real curse was how Adam would rule over her, and that she would naturally despise his rule just as Satan despised God’s rule. And how would Adam and all men naturally rule due to sin? He would rule sinfully according to his own desires, just as God warned the kings of Israel would behave (1 Samuel 8:6-18). After all, Adam is sinful, and he cannot help but rule according to his sinful, selfish nature. Moreover, how do you suppose that selfish and sinful leadership would naturally interact with indignation and refusal to be submissive? Would those things counteract or compound one another? Certainly, they will compound one another. The husband often is annoyed at his wife’s needs and desires. Whereas the wife is often annoyed and feels justified in ignoring and disobeying her husband because of his sins.
So what then is the real issue Paul alludes to in 1 Timothy? Why is it that Paul tells us that women shouldn’t be leaders or involved in certain activities? The real issue, as Paul points out, is that Satan recognized the fact that women are more easily deceived than men. And men are more easily led astray by women, especially the women in their lives (even though those women may sincerely think they are convincing the men in their lives to do the right thing). Both of those facts are demonstrated by Satan’s successful temptation of and the fall into sin they both shared. Therefore, by Paul’s reasoning, having women not speak, teach, and hold positions of leadership within the churches helps to protect the church from being led astray. And since that point is made in scripture, we as Christians can be mad at it and dislike it, but ultimately, it is the inspired Word of God, and therefore, we would be fools not to accept that it is true.
That is why ignoring, dismissing, or denying the hierarchy of God is not an innocuous act. It encourages chaos and disobedience not only from women towards men, but from men towards God and all the members of the church towards God (1 Corinthians 11:3 and Ephesians 5:23). After all, if we cannot accept the natural order of things in the world, how can we accept and follow the spiritual order of things (1 John 4:20)? Why is this important? Why touch on something that causes divisions within the church? Is someone going to go to hell for advocating for women pastors and leadership within the church?
The reality is that I have not found anywhere in scripture that concludes that upending and not believing in the hierarchy of men and women is condemnable. However, what it does do is place the church and people who advocate for it in a position more susceptible to being deceived, and it creates the conditions for chaos. And for that reason, I am writing about this because I want more people to get to heaven. And in order to do that, creating the best conditions for success is an important part of that. And one of the conditions for the greatest success is having God’s intended hierarchy.
To that end, it is not enough to put men in positions of leadership. It is not enough simply to impose the hierarchy and expect that, that, in and of itself, will lead to success. A man is not going to lead in a godly fashion because he is a man. In fact, we should expect, due to the curse and our knowledge of the sinful nature, that men will need to be trained in godly leadership and expected to carry it out. Moreover, part of that training must also include training in submission. One because all men are to submit to a greater authority, just as Jesus submitted to God the Father. And two, just as Jesus took on the human form and can sympathize with our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:14-16), men, too, must learn submission to be able to sympathize with the woman’s weaknesses (1 Peter 3:7). Moreover, do we love Jesus more or less because we believe He understands us? Do we have greater boldness to come to Him with our needs and desires because we see that He understands us?
Likewise, it is not enough to put women into positions under an authority and expect them to be good at being submissive in a godly way. After all, the curse and our knowledge of the sinful nature tell us that that is not true. Therefore, we cannot expect that women will follow or be submissive even if the men lead perfectly. (Israel’s rebellion against God’s leadership and wanting a king is demonstrative of that. Unless God erred in any way in His leadership.)
Do you struggle with leadership and submission? What has helped you learn to better fulfill your role as a man or woman?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®.
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission.
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© Copyright 2025 Peter Kucenski