Transcript Hypocrites and Backsliders: Human Nature and the Christian

Hypocrites and Backsliders008
Adam and Eve:
Part 2 mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur
("The world wants to be deceived, so let it be
deceived.")
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Now, in secular reference, Adam's rib is associated with
little more than facetious comments.
Humor ranges from "woman is only a side issue".
And, "Adam was the earliest electrician because he
furnished the spare parts for the first loud speaker."
Another "side-splitter" states that "woman was taken
from Adam's side, halfway between his heart and his
wallet and has had control of both ever since."
But these misogynist jokes are not as bad as some of
the Biblical commentaries have been:
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Jewish commentary:
"I will not create her from the head for she may carry herself
haughtily; nor from the eye for she may be too inquisitive; nor
from the ear, for she may be an eavesdropper, nor from the
mouth for she may be too talkative; nor from the heart for she
may be too jealous; nor from the hand for she may be too
acquisitive; nor from the foot for she may be a gadabout.
I will create her from a hidden part of the body that she may be
modest. Even when man stands naked, his rib is covered."
But this midrash on Genesis goes on to say that God's careful
planning went awry, for woman is conceited, curious, a gossip,
a chatterbox, envious, grasping, and a gadabout. (Genesis
Rabbah 18, 2.)
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It was right for the woman to be made from a rib of man
... to signify the social union of man and woman; for the
woman should neither use authority over man, and so
she was not made from his head; nor was it right for
her to be subject to man's contempt as his slave, and
so she was not made from his feet. (Thomas Aquinas)
The "social union" to which Aquinas referred is coupling
for the purposes of procreation, even though the
original rib story makes no reference to this.
Aquinas made this Augustinian comment about Eve:
"She was not fitted to help man except in generation,
because another man would have proved a more
effective help in anything else."
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Aquinas borrowed from Aristotle the judgment that
"the female is a mutilated male." However, he
was hesitant to accept Aristotle's description as
completely true for he found no defect in a woman
with regard to her reproductive function.
For Aquinas, woman was essentially a wombman.
It was not until two centuries later that some other
Dominican scholars related Aristotle's view of
woman to Mohammed's view of Adam's rib.
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Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, who were
commissioned by Pope Innocent VIII to stamp out
witches, wrote:
"There was a defect in the formation of the first
woman, since she was formed from a bent rib,
that is, a rib of the breast, which is bent as it were
in a contrary direction to a man. And since
through this defect she is an imperfect animal,
she always deceives."
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The book from which this misogyny is taken, Malleus
Maleficarum, "was the ultimate, irrefutable, unarguable
authority" wherever witchcraft trials were held.
The book was a prime basis for the torture and
execution of many thousands of European women.
Montague Summers, a prominent witchcraft researcher,
and a twentieth century Roman Catholic priest,
evaluates the book as "among the most important,
wisest, and weightiest books in the world."
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Another example of anti-feminist sentiment is contained
in The Taming of a Shrew, by an anonymous
Englishman.
A rib was taken, of which the Lord did make The woe
of man, so termed by Adam then "Wo-man," for that by
her came sin to us; And for her sin was Adam doomed
to die. As Sarah to her husband, so should we Obey
them, love them, keep, and nourish them, If they by
any means do want our helps; Laying our hands under
their feet to tread." (F. S. Boas (ed.), The Taming of a
Shrew (London, 1908), p. 62.)
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More kindly commentary is found here:
Jesuit Francis de Sales wrote:
“Woman was taken from that side of the first man which
was nearest his heart, to the end that she might be
loved by him cordially and tenderly ... God ... was
pleased to ordain that the woman should depend upon
the man, being bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh,
and that she should be made of a rib taken from under
his arm, to show that she ought to be under the hand
and guidance of her husband.”
Puritan John Milton also associated the rib cage with
the heart.
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Adam, in Paradise Lost, speaks endearingly of
the formation of his "other half": "Out of my side
to thee, nearest my heart."
Adam expresses an ambivalence toward Eve
for she is at once a lovely and gracious being
but an imperfect expression of true humanity.
Regarding the former, there is this ode to Eve:
O fairest of Creation, last and best Of all God's
Works, Creature in whom excell'd Whatever
can to sight or thought be formd, Holy, divine,
good, amiable, or sweet!
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Literary historian Katharine Rogers considers the
[Adam and Eve] myth to be "unquestionably
misogynistic" for it shows that "woman was created
almost reluctantly, when no other creature could satisfy
man's needs."
James Frazer likewise believes that the ancient mythmaker had a "deep contempt for woman": "The
lateness of her creation, and the irregular and
undignified manner of it-made out of a piece of her lord
and master, after all the lower animals had been
created in a regular and decent manner-sufficiently
mark the low opinion he held of her nature."
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A Gentile ruler said to Rabbi Gamaliel, "Your
God is a thief, because he stole one of Adam's
ribs." Thereupon the rabbi's daughter said to
her father, "Leave him to me; I will answer him."
Turning to the ruler she exclaimed, "Thieves
broke into our house and stole a silver vessel,
leaving a gold one in its place!" The ruler
laughed and said, "I wish I could have burglars
like that every day." "Well," she retorted, "that is
what our God did: he took a mere rib from the
first man but in exchange he gave him a wife."
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"Behold de Rib!" an unidentified black preacher’s
sermon:
“So God put Adam into a deep sleep And took out a
bone, ah ha! And it is said that it was a rib.
Behold de rib!
A bone out of man's side. He put de man to sleep and
made wo-man, And men and women been sleeping
together ever since.
Behold de rib!
Brothers, if God Had taken dat bone out of man's
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“If he had taken a bone out of his foot, He would
have meant for us to dominize and rule.
He could have made her out of back-bone And then
she would have been behind us.
But, no, God Almighty, he took de bone out of his
side
So dat places de woman beside us. Hah!
God knowed his own mind.
Behold de rib!” ("The Story Context of Black
Theology," THEOLOGY TODAY, July, 1975, pp. 144150.)
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According to the Hebrew of Genesis 2:20,
woman is created to be an “ezer neged”, which
is commonly translated "a fitting helper."
In contemporary usage a helper refers to a
person in a menial position.
However, an examination of the twenty other
usages of ezer in Hebrew Scriptures displays
that it never connotes someone in a servile
role.
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It often refers to a superior person and
occasionally is associated with divine
assistance.
For example, a psalmist proclaims: "Happy is
he whose helper (ezer) is the God of Jacob."
Ezer is joined by neged, which means a like
counterpart.
Ezer neged can best be translated "a partner
corresponding to him."
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God made Eve out of Adam's rib and not out of the
dust, and it has a great spiritual significance to it.
Eph 5:28-33
''So ought men to love their wives as their own
bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no
man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth
and cherisheth it, even as the Lord, the church: For
we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his
bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father
and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they two shall be one flesh.
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This is a great mystery: but I speak
concerning Christ and the church.
Nevertheless, let every one of you in
particular so love his wife even as himself;
and the wife see that she reverence her
husband." (Eph 5:28-33)
In the twenty-eighth verse, we see that a
woman is a part of man, for God made man
male and female.
And the women was taken out of his side.
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So then she is flesh of his flesh and bone of his
bone.
So Adam loved Eve because he loved himself
and the two were one flesh.
And so the apostle refers all the time back to the
Creation and this original state of the human pair,
Adam and Eve.
This is a natural reason why he should love his
wife, and nourish and cherish her because the
twenty-ninth verse says no man ever yet hateth
his own flesh.
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Now we are members of His body.
30 “We are members of His body and of His
flesh and of His bone.''
We are partakers of the nature of Adam, but
we are also in our state of regeneration
through Jesus Christ.
He becomes the head of the church and the
savior of the body of the church.
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So we as members of the church are
members of this Spiritual body.
So we are united to Him by one spirit in the
closest way possible.
Paul compares that and he finds that similar
to that relationship which Adam and Eve had.
Now verse thirty-one says, “shall be joined
unto his wife.''
This word, joined, is an interesting word.
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It really means glued or cemented to her. So he
should be cemented to his wife.
A well-glued board will break easier in some other
place than where the joint is glued. So the Lord
meant that only death should part the husband
and wife, and nothing but death should dissolve
their affection for one another. And so God meant
for this to be a wonderful, pure, holy union.
Paul in the thirty-second verse says, “This is a
great mystery.'' And it had been a great mystery
all down through the ages.
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I suppose many of the Old Testament saints asked
themselves this question, "Why did God make Eve out
of Adam's rib instead of going ahead and making her
out of the dirt?''
Paul says it's a great mystery.
But he says, "I speak concerning Christ and the
church.''
And now this mystery is going to be revealed thorough
the Holy Spirit.
We understand that the mysteries in the Bible are often
natural things, but they signify some great spiritual
matter.
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Only the Spirit of God can reveal these mysteries, but
there are times when they should be revealed.
Here is the time.
Paul is revealing through the power of the Holy Spirit,
this mystery to the church at Ephesus.
He is talking all the time about the Creation and about
Adam and Eve, and the relationship that they were to
have one with another, the great love that God meant
for Adam to have for his helpmeet, Eve. Adam couldn't
help but her so much because she was a part of his
own flesh.
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So it was intended, no doubt, from the very beginning,
from the Creation.
The church is the bride of Christ.
There should be this same union and same relationship
and same love one for another, Christ for His bride, and
the bride for the bridegroom.
The church, the redeemed are the bride.
So we see here that the great mystery has been
revealed. We are highly privileged not only to be a part
of understanding this mystery, but also the glorious
privilege of being part of the body of Christ and of the
bride of Christ.
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So the thirty-third verse says, "nevertheless let
every one of you in particular so love his wife
even as himself.''
So God's design in the institution of marriage is
"Let everyone of you love his wife as himself,''
because she's both naturally and by divine
ordinance part of himself.
And she is to reverence her husband, consider
the husband as her head and not only by
nature but by the ordinance of God.
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The Bible clearly points to a definite role in the home.
There's a place for the wife and the mother, a very
honored place, and a very particular place that she has
in the home, her relationship to her husband and to her
family, and her children.
Also there's a particular place for the husband, and
particular joys and obligations that he has to fulfill.
Working together in perfect love and harmony seems to
be what the Lord had in mind when he first designed
the institution of marriage.
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Going on looking at these verses that we just looked at,
we think of this mystery that the Lord has revealed to
us, this great mystery which was kept secret for many
many centuries.
We see here very plainly now that the Lord makes this
allusion to Adam when he said of Eve, "This is now
bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.'' (Gen 2:23)
So the apostle says concerning Christ and believers,
"We are bone of His bones, and flesh of His flesh.'' (cf
Eph 5:30)
That is we are parts of His body and the body is the
church.
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By this application of Adam's words concerning Eve, to
Christ and His church, He intimates first that the
formation of Eve from a rib taken out of Adam's body
was a figure of the regeneration of believers by us
coming from Christ's body.
Secondly, Adam's love to Eve on account of her being
formed of his body was a figure of Christ's love to
believers because they become a part of His body.
Thirdly, Adam's marriage with Eve was a figure of the
eternal union of Christ with believers in heaven.
That's mentioned in verse twenty-seven. "For he left his
father to be united to his church.''
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Now when Adam says,This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman
because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a
man leave his father and mother... (Gn 2:23-24)
So although the taking of Eve out of Adam might be a
reason for Adam's affection toward her, it was no
reason for the affection of his posterity toward their
wives who were not formed the same way as Eve was.
The reason of their love to their wives is their being
creatures of the same species with themselves.
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There is no other conclusion than that by
the most ancient Divine institution, God
intended Eve's creation account as a
figurative representative of the
regeneration of believers by the death of
Christ and of His eternal union with them in
heaven, and that Adam and Eve were
taught by God himself to consider
themselves as such.
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We have a number of expressions and images
that will bear out this interpretation.
For instance, in Romans 5:14 Adam is called a
type of him who was to come and in I
Corinthians 15:45 Christ is called "the last
Adam''.
The church, the espoused Bride, consisting of
believers of all nations is called the body of
Christ, and the members are said to be
members of His body, of His flesh, and of His
bones.
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In Revelation 19:7, the New Jerusalem is
termed "the bride, the Lamb's wife.''
The preparing of man for that happy union
by introducing them into the church upon
earth through faith, and by sanctifying them
through the Word is called in II Corinthians
11:2, "fitting them for one husband, that at
the resurrection they might be presented a
chaste virgin to Christ.''
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Twenty-fifth verse: "Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it.''
Of course this is quite clear to everyone, there's no
hidden meaning there, Jesus laid down His life for the
church.
So husbands, if necessary according to the scripture,
should be willing to lay down their lives for their wives.
As Christ gave himself for the church to save it, so
husbands should, by all means in their power, labor to
promote the salvation of their wives and their edification
and righteousness.
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Now, the next verse, twenty-six: “That he might sanctify
it”
Paul is speaking about Christ loving the church, and He
laid down His life for it, that He might sanctify and
cleanse it with the washing of the water of the word that
he might present it to himself a glorious church, not
having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it
should be holy and without blemish.
And so Jesus died so that He could present His bride to
himself pure and holy--a beautiful, beautiful description
here of His bride, cleansed, washed, and sanctified.
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This presentation is going to take place
prior to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb
during the Tribulation and the church is to
be glorious, without spot or wrinkle, it says
in the twenty-seventh verse. “That he might
present it to himself a glorious church not
having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
But it should be holy and without blemish.
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So it was for this purpose that Christ gave himself
for the church. What purpose?
That we could be without spot or wrinkle, without
blemish, that we could be pure and holy, and
should be presented to Christ pure and holy, a
beautiful bride for Jesus Christ in all holiness and
purity.
He most certainly did not plan for us to be
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And so, why did the Lord take the rib out of Adam
and make Eve?
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Well, it all goes back to this. It's symbolic of the
love Jesus Christ has for the church because
we are part of Him, and because we are part of
Him we are cleansed and purified, as long as
we “reverence” Him.
To reverence Him is to reverence the life that
He provides for us -- The Reservoir of
Righteousness that is ours in Him.
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Ribs and the like:
DNA sequences of humans and other living
things have now been compared. Here are
some very surprising insights we have at this
time from that effort...A tiny fruit fly has 13,601
genes. It appears we humans have about
25,000 genes, not the 100,000-140,000 genes
scientists had anticipated, since we are far
more “evolved” than other forms of life.There is
hardly any uniqueness to our human genes.
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For example, our genes are the same as 99%
of those found in chimpanzees and are
common to 70% of those found in mice. Many
human genes have similar or identical functions
as genes found in other living organisms, both
complex and simple. All of the information that
is available about DNA today leads scientists to
conclude that there was a common source for
the DNA that has found its way into every living
thing on this planet.
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One can say that our DNA is in many ways a
general blend of all other DNA that exists, with
one big exception. Here is the part that
continues to mystify the best scientists in the
world:
There are 223 genes in the human DNA code
that are not found in any other living organisms
studied. In other words, it appears we did not
inherit this package of genes from any other
form of life on this planet.
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There are various attempts of science to copy what has
already been created by the Almighty God. Don't you
find it ironic that the worldly mind that rejects or
diminishes the idea of God, attempts to duplicate that
which has already been made by the creator they
deny?
God had taken a man's rib and out of it made a woman,
which was much more advanced than cloning. From
this rib God formed a brand new personage - a female,
man's counterpart, who had the ability to reproduce and
nourish a new member of the human family.
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But it was with a rib. And, by the way, here is
where we have the first use of general
anesthesia - used by God, created by God.
The Bible says in Genesis 2:21,1.And the
LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon
Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his
ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
Why did God choose a rib?
Was this account in Genesis simply words of
mere men, as the critics claim?
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Science now knows that the rib which God
chose to create Eve has some very unique
characteristics that we are just beginning to
understand ﾐ characteristics the engineer of all
life knew perfectly.Why a rib? Why didnﾕt he
choose another pile of dust? Why didnﾕt he
choose some other physical part of Adamﾕs
anatomy? Why a rib? For one thing, when bone
grafting is necessary, oneﾕs own rib is the most
likely candidate to contribute. This ideal
candidate is full of bone marrow.
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Bone marrow is a spongy tissue found
inside bones, but super power-filled bones
such as the breast bone, skull, hips, spine,
and ribs actually contain stem cells that
manufacture the bodyﾕs red and white
blood cells. White blood cells defend
against disease and red blood cells bring
oxygen and nourishment to the body and
remove waste products. God chose a rib.
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In a 2003 article in Science News titled, “From
Bone to Brain,” and subtitled, “Transplanted
male bone marrow makes nerve cells in women
and girls,” the following excerpts were taken:
An unusual study of the brains of women and
girls who had received transplants of bone
marrow from men indicates that marrow cells
can transform into nerve cells. Researchers
found that each female brain had nerve cells
containing a Y chromosome, presumably
derived from the transplanted bone marrow.
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Hypocrites and Backsliders:
Human Nature and the Christian Life
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Over the past several years, numerous
research groups have reported that bone
marrow, the source of a person’s blood cells,
can transform into cells of the skin, muscle,
heart, liver, and even brain. These lab and
animal studies have raised hopes that bone
marrow or cells derived from it could repair
hearts, cure neurological disorders, and treat
many other medical conditions.
Funny how God knew about the wonders of the
contents of a “Rib”.
Hypocrites and
Backsliders 2007
12/09/07
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