Eve's Faith

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When Eve is mentioned in Christian circles, it is rather common to find her name associated with her act of listening to Satan in a serpent’s form and then being tempted to distrust God and believe a lie. Doubtless this was true, for it was Eve who was deceived by the devil, not Adam. It was she who first looked on the forbidden fruit, noting that it was “good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise” (Gen. 3:66And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (Genesis 3:6)). It was she who first ate of it and then gave it to her husband. In all of this she must bear her share of the blame for the havoc that has resulted, and the subsequent pain pronounced on her by the Lord reflects this. Thousands of years later, Paul could remind the Corinthians of Satan’s subtlety and warn them of how he had deceived Eve. It might be easy for us to point the finger at Eve for being taken in by Satan, but who of us has not also been deceived by Satan’s subtlety?
The Lord’s Promise
However, it is important also to take note of the fact that she was indeed a woman of faith, in spite of her failure. Before the Lord pronounced the consequences on both Eve and Adam for their sin, He not only laid a curse on the serpent, but also stated the eventual victory of the Seed of the woman over him. At first, it might seem as if Satan would be victorious, for not only had he succeeded in bringing sin into the world, with sorrow and death, but the Lord predicted that he would bruise the heel of the Seed of the woman. No doubt this came to pass at the cross, but before the Lord mentions this, He states that “It [the Seed of the woman] shall bruise [or crush] thy head” (Gen. 3:1515And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15)). The Seed of the woman, which is Christ, is clearly identified as such in Galatians 3:1616Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. (Galatians 3:16): “To thy Seed, which is Christ.” This, of course, was said to Abraham, from whose family Christ, as a man, would arise. God will have the victory in Christ, when the serpent’s head is finally crushed and he is cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:1010And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10)). This is brought out first, before even the declaration that the serpent would bruise the heel of the Seed of the woman and before the consequences of their sins were pronounced on Eve and Adam.
It seems that Eve, along with Adam, fully laid hold of this clear statement, and by faith they went on with God, even in an earth that would, from that point on, be characterized by sin, disease, distress and death. Adam, in a world of death, could so count on God that he called his wife Eve “the mother of all living” (Gen. 3:2020And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. (Genesis 3:20)). Eve, on her part, also believed that God would fulfill His Word to them in providing a Redeemer through her, and when Cain was born, she could say, “I have gotten a man from the Lord” (Gen. 4:11And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. (Genesis 4:1)). But she was to reap sorrow and heartache from this firstborn son, for “the first man is of the earth, earthy” (1 Cor. 15:4747The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:47)), and he was to demonstrate both the violence and corruption that sin had brought into the world. It remained for a second son, Abel, to display what was pleasing to God, for “the second man is the Lord from heaven” (1 Cor. 15:4747The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:47)).
The Lord’s Reward
We do not read much more about Eve, for her name is mentioned only four times in the Word of God. Yet it is important to recognize that her faith was real, and the Lord rewarded it, even in her lifetime. She did not see the real Seed that would crush the serpent’s head, but her third son, Seth, was a man of God, and Eve again recognized that the Lord had given him to her instead of Abel, whom Cain had killed. And when Seth in turn had a son, Enos (meaning man in his weakness and mortality), we have the encouraging word, “Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord” (Gen. 4:2626And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. (Genesis 4:26)). It would seem that Seth, in the middle of a world system that his brother Cain had created, recognized what man had become as a result of sin, and he began to call upon the name of the Lord. Thus began the family of faith — a family that eventually produced Noah and then the Abrahamic line. We are not told how old Eve lived, but there is every reason to believe that she lived a long life, as did her husband and others of that era. We know that Adam lived for 800 years after the birth of Seth, and he “begat sons and daughters” (Gen. 5:44And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: (Genesis 5:4)). She would, no doubt, have seen her grandson Enos born and experienced the joy of seeing her family call upon the name of the Lord.
W. J. Prost