Authority in Andromony

Man with white beard in front of women. xAI generated image. Thanks xAI
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Andromony, that original relationship between Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, had Adam in the position of authority over Eve, even before God said, “…he shall rule over her.” Genesis 3:16
Remember, the fall of man had already taken place, Adam had already hearkened unto his wife, then God said, “he shall rule over her.” (Adam shall rule over Eve.)
But that statement that Adam would rule over Eve was not a reversal of any previous doctrine that was in place from the beginning. It was stated because Eve’s desire would be to control Adam and God was making clear that Eve wasn’t going to have her way. Eve had her way when she tempted Adam and he hearkened unto her voice and ate of the tree, but now, the Lord was reiterating the order already in place, that Adam would rule over her.
So let’s look at what God meant when he said her desire would be for Adam?
“…and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” Genesis 3:16
When did the Lord say anything like that to anyone? How about to Cain?
“If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” Genesis 4:7
In the case of Cain, sin’s desire was for Cain, to control him. In the case of Adam, Eve’s desire was to control him. Sin won and Cain murdered righteous Abel. Eve won and “…death reigned from Adam to Moses..” Romans 5:14
Because Cain failed to resist what wished to control him and Adam failed to resist what wished to control him, that is Eve, does that mean we must fail? Well, fail we will, but it is our job as servants of Christ that we immerse ourselves in his Word and in prayer that our failures decrease and our successes will increase, and we will indeed rule our women in accordance with what the Lord has said we shall do. Let’s not let him down. And wives, don’t pull down your husbands into failure. Don’t test them till you destroy your life, their life, and the life of your children.
So let’s be clear, the statement “he shall rule over thee” is not a fait accompli. It is what God wants, for a Cain or any other man, to rule over sin. And for an Adam or any other man, to rule over his woman. And I might add, that women will submit to their man in a way that facilitates this obedience to God’s will. The Scripture, when rightly divided, is God’s cheering us on to do right. So being under the authority of the man wasn’t a punishment for Eve, but in fact the normal condition of a righteous relationship. Since a desire to control their man is a natural frailty of women, then women must uplifted and encouraged to allow their man to rule. But without prayer and immersion in God’s Word, the temptation to control him and lead him astray can be too much. Women must admit and face up to this frailty. This is the first step toward accepting the Lord’s help in submitting to their husband’s will. Eve’s punishment wasn’t submission to Adam. It was sorrow and pain! The Lord’s said this about it:

“Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.” Genesis 3:16

So Adam’s ruling Eve wasn’t Eve’s punishment. It was simply the way God had ordered the world. So what about Adam, what was the punishment for Adam?

WEEDS AND HARD LABOR

“And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.” Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Genesis 3:17-19
The Apostle Paul gave more reasons that Adam had authority over Eve from the beginning writing the following Scripture:
“But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” 1 Corinthians 11:3
Then by the time we read down to verses 8 and 9 Paul states:
“For the man is not of the woman: but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.”
So God ordained women to be subordinate to their man before the fall, for the first woman, Eve, the mother of all living, was taken from the man, and she was taken, as we learned just 65 years ago, minus the Y chromosome. It was only man who was let with both the X and the Y chromosome, created in the image of God, who was ordained to hold that similar position to God over his woman.
“Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.”
Ephesians 5:24
Then through that which she was given by the man, by coming out of him, she gave us male and female through the miracle of procreation by joining to Adam. And yet, it is the man’s sperm that determines whether that newborn will be a boy or a girl.
“And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.” Genesis 3:20
Eve was the repository of all living, in other words, when the Lord tells us “male and female he created them.” The Lord is referring to procreation.
Giving us more Scripture on man’s authority, Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:7
“For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.”
It was the man only who was made in the image of God! We see this in the DNA.
Man – XY
Woman – XX
A woman cannot possibly have been made in the image of God if she doesn’t even have all the characteristics of God within her DNA. She is lacking the Y chromosome.
Sorry to disturb some readers with the facts but to some, the truth is unsettling, the truth proven in the last 65 years. That’s when the X & Y chromosomes in relation to humans was discovered. Funny how God had already explained it in the Bible.
When we look at Genesis, it says the same thing.
Genesis 1:27
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
God is clear in His word that first, “God created man in his own image.” Then he repeated the statement to be clear, “in the image of God created he him.” Then God follows up in his Word without mentioning “in his image” when referring to them. “male and female created he them.” And what does this last sentence refer to? To procreation, to all the people who came from Eve’s womb, and those born to those children. Since they were not all male, they can’t be said to have been created in the image of God.
So what’s the big deal if this upsets you. If God said it in his word, we shouldn’t be upset with it. We should find out what meaning this provides us to better serve him. And service to God applies to both men and women as well as service to our neighbors, both men and women.
As for a man’s ability to rule his woman, this is what one wise man once said.

Wives unprovok’d think not of Sway,
Without commanding they obey.
But if your dear Ones take the Field,
Resolve at once to win or yield,
For Heav’n no Medium ever gave
Betwixt a Sovereign and a Slave.
Samuel Wesley (Father of John Wesley, Founder of the Methodist Denomination)

And may you make every discussion in your andromonious union be one of how to strengthen your relationship. If a topic leads toward weakening the relationship, you are not having a godly discussion.

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385 footnotes. That’s got to be a record for a novel.

Prince of Sumba, Husband to Many Wives

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