Eve, Mother Of All Living

Eve, Mother of all Living Gen. 3:20

INTRO.: After creating all things necessary to sustain life and setting everything in perfect order, God made the living creatures. The first chapter of the Bible states five times that God saw His creation and it was good. Every stage of the creative process was inspected and, in Gen. 1:31, “God saw all that He had made and it was very good.”

God planted a garden and put the man in it to care for it, giving him access to all the trees and plants of the garden except one. Man was in his paradise.

Then, a sad note. Man’s paradise is not complete. God reviews the situation and concludes, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” it’s God’s first negative response to His creation.

God then determines to make a “help meet” for the man. I’m told the literal translation is an “answering back,” as a structure answers to its plans and specs or as a provision answers to a need. This means Eve was made in the man’s image to answer the man’s need. The NIV translates it “a helper suitable,” an excellent translation.

Sin reared its ugly head. She heard, believed and obeyed a lie. She ate of the forbidden fruit and led the man to do the same.

God’s sentence is pronounced on the serpent, the woman and the man in Gen. 3:14-19. The words of our text follow this.

It isn’t until after all this Eve is given her name, “Life.” She is so named because she is to be the mother of all living in at least two senses.

I. Eve is mother of all living in the physical sense:

A. She was mother to Adam’s children.

1. Thus, mother of the human race. Acts 17:26

2. She shared in the creative work of God.

3. This is a great honor. The process of creation is not to end. The man and woman are to carry it on.

B. God intends for women to bear children:

1. Not her only function, of course.

2. Man’s conceit makes him think he can create life some other way. We abuse the technology God gave us.

3. He also gave us the technology to prevent birth. We abuse this also.

4. We have forgotten the great honor God gave parents to share in the creation process.

C. God intends for monogamous marriage to be the norm:

1. This means one man and one woman living together for the rest of their lives.

2. Jesus expressed God’s ideal. Matt. 19:4-6

3. Marriage involves responsibility to one’s spouse and children.

4. God always intended children to be raised by two parents.

D. The home is the seed bed of Christian character.

1. Religion is to be taught in the home:

2. Both by word and example.

3. Mothers need the support of their spouses in this.

4. But mother must be the main source of instruction. By her nature, she is better suited.

II. Eve is mother of all living in the eternal, spiritual sense:

A. Christ is to be the seed of the woman: Gen. 3:15

1. The name “Eve” (“life”) may be an expression of Adam’s faith in God’s promise.

2. She participated in preparing God’s final sacrifice for man’s sin. Heb. 10:5

3. Her offspring, the Christ, eventually crushed the serpent’s head.

B. Not only is Christ the seed of the woman, He is the seed of the woman ALONE.

1. He is the Son of God, not of any man.

2. He came by the power of the Holy Spirit. Luke 1:35

3. Along with her creative role, the woman assumes a redemptive role as well.

C. Salvation comes through faith in Christ.

1. This is the meaning of Gen. 3:15

2. When the first couple are restored to God’s favor, they are clothed with skins.

3. We are clothed with the righteousness of Christ. He covers the guilt of our sin. Rom. 13:14

D. On the individual level, the woman is often the mother of the child’s faith.

1. II Tim. 1:5 & 3:15 provides an example.

2. ILLUS.: Alexander the Great, when he entertained kings and nobles at the court of Persia, wore only clothing woven for him by his mother, Olympia. He honored her. My mother made many of my clothes. Long ago, I outgrew them. But, in another sense, as to life and character, we are still wearing the garments made by our mothers.

CONC.: Obviously, motherhood is no mere physical function. It is a spiritual privilege and responsibility. Mothers need all the honor and support we can give them.