THE FIRST MINISTERS

Let us start from the beginning.

Genesis 1:26-27

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own

image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

When we look at God’s original intent for humanity, we see that He made mankind to rule and reign over all His earthly creations. He made mankind in His image (we will look into this later on). The image of God did not solely relate to the physical appearance of humanity, but also to their responsibility. Notice the colon after the word “likeness” in Genesis 1:26? It means an explanation is going to follow. Apparently, the explanation of being made in God’s image and likeness is the fact that mankind would have dominion and responsibility over all creation.

Important to note, at the end of it all, God included the woman in this responsibility, so that she too would have dominion. In fact, she would share in the same dominion as the man.

Genesis 2:18

And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

Many of us have taken this to mean that Adam was simply lonely, and needed emotional and sexual gratification, but this was not the only truth. The scripture said that Adam needed a help meet. The word “meet” means suitable. He needed suitable help with the labor he had to do. He needed assistance. Thus, God made the woman to be a wife to the man, and to also equally share in the responsibility God gave to Adam in the first place. Thus, in the beginning the woman shared in carrying out the God given responsibilities. She worked the ministry (carrying out the commandments of God). This is not hard to comprehend because she was simply an extension of Adam. Consider this crazy analogy. What if your leg disconnects from your body and grows into another person. Wouldn’t you consider that person as yourself? Likewise, Eve was the bone of Adam who had grown into a female. She was Adam (Gen 5:2). Hence Adam said...

Genesis 2:23-25

23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Adam and Eve were one. They were “same”. They were even comfortable being naked around each other, because as far as they were concerned they were one person. Even as we are not afraid/ashamed of our own bodies, they were not ashamed of each other, because they both were one man. Thus, we see the woman in the beginning carrying out the same God-given functions as the man. It is important to start here, because this reality changed when man fell

(ate the forbidden fruit). Nevertheless, it is important to concretize in your minds the original intent for the woman, so that when Christ comes on the scene to reverse the works of Satan, we will not be alarmed by the fact that God has called the woman to reclaim her place, in the work of the ministry.

THE CURSE

We can see how the man and woman were made to work together as equals and partners, however, this did not last. God had instructed Adam and his wife not to eat of the fruit, because they would die. This death includes 3 things.

1. The physical body would one day die. Man was never, ever supposed to die. However, when Adam and Eve sinned, they were banished from the Garden of Eden and from the tree of life. Thus, from that moment their bodies decayed, and they eventually died (gave up the ghost).

This, however, was not what God meant when He spoke of death. Notice He said, “ ...in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17), Adam and Eve did not give up the ghost till 900+ years after eating the fruit.

2. Man would be separated from God, from the moment they sinned, they no longer walked with God. They were separated from Him. However, this was not just a mood God was in. They were actually spiritually separated from Him, because the moment they ate the fruit, the spirit of death possessed them. Ephesians 2:2, calls this spirit, the prince of the power of the air. Satan is the principality of the air, or as Ezekiel 28 calls him, he is the anointed cherub that covers the earth (air). By Adam’s sin, Satan entered into him as a spirit of sin and death (Romans 8:2). The presence of Satan in the flesh, restricts God from fellowshipping with mankind.

3. Man would be separated from each other. Here is where the rubber meets the road. The presence of Satan in the flesh, caused a separation between mankind. This separation was something called “self”. Self was created the day Adam sinned. Self is defined as a person’s essential being that distinguishes them from others. Remember when God made Adam and Eve He made them one. Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created (Genesis 5:2). However, when self was created because of sin it caused a turn in their hearts from God’s original intent. Adam was no longer willing to die

along with his wife. He was no longer boasting about how she was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. He now considered her another person.

Genesis 3:12

And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

Notice the separation in Adam’s speech. Eve was no longer considered “of Adam” when judgment came into play. He was now willing to allow Eve to receive the brunt of God’s wrath. With self, there is always self-preservation. Self Preservation is the enemy of God. Hence Jesus’ message on salvation instructs us to deny self (Luke 9:23). What does all this have to do with the woman and ministry? The fall of man caused a separation between the man and the woman, by the spirit of death within them. However, this was not what cost the woman her role in ministry.

THE CURSE…

Genesis 3:16

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

The woman was judged severely for her actions. She not only was judged in child bearing, but she was judged in her emotions. Her emotions would now be constantly toward a lover (desire to the husband). She will seek and yearn for love from the man. However, consider this other aspect of the curse....and he shall rule over thee.

The woman and the man from here on out, would no longer work together as equals. They would no longer share the responsibility of ministry. Instead, the man would be a ruler over the woman. The woman was now included in the group of those whom Adam would rule over and have dominion over. Even as he ruled over the animals and plants, so would he also rule the woman. Moreover, she had lost her right to ministry. She had to subject herself to the man. From this point all the way to Christ, God rarely ever used the woman to head up his mighty moves. She was restricted from ministry in the temple. The testimonies of men in the Old Covenant far exceed (numerically) the works of the women. Nevertheless, God always gives glimpses of His eternal purpose for the woman. We will continue to look at those throughout this book.

Praise God for Christ Jesus, who was able to reverse the curse, and bring the woman back alongside the man, to work the work of the ministry. To see exactly how He did this, you have to continue to read.