Study #3: Examining the Effects of the Fall (Gen 3)

Information relating to our gathering on May 3rd, 2022 (7-9 pm)

Study: Genesis 3 using the inductive Bible study worksheet.
Reflect: Update the journal/notebook where you are keeping track of your questions, impressions and evolving thinking. Consider the conclusions we drew from the study and the questions that linger.
Ponder: To what extent has Creation and the Fall impacted/shaped/directed your understanding of gender to this point?
Pray: For ourselves, our fellow study participants and our church body

Instruction: Bible Translations

"I wish I knew what it really says!"

The fear that we can't ever really know what God's said because we don't know the original language is pretty much completely unnecessary. The mainstream translations of the Bible we have (i.e., CSB, NIV, ESV, NLT, etc) are the work of large, multi-disciplinary committees who labour for countless hours together over the course of many years; checking each other's work to ensure that the finished product is accurate as possible.

Two Basic Approaches to Bible Translation:

Formal (Word-for-Word): seek to translate in such a way that capturing the words and sentence structure used by the original authors in their language is the priority. If a phrase is ambiguous in the original, they will try to reflect the ambiguity rather than making an interpretive decision for the reader.

Dynamic (Thought-for-Thought): the goal is to capture the meaning of the original text as clearly and concisely as possible in the translation, even it that means losing some of the precision of word usage or structure.

“...the main reason we have different translations [of the Bible is] for different
uses of the Bible. Sometimes a stricter, more word-for-word translation of the
original language is exactly what you need. But at other times, you want
something a bit more readable, a bit more readily understandable, and so

some translations offer a more phrase-for-phrase (or even thought-for-
thought) approach...in a form that an English-speaking reader will better

understand. To put it slightly more technically, every translation of the Bible
has to aim, to one degree or another, at both accuracy and readability.”

Greg Gilbert, Why Trust the Bible? (p.39)

Discussion

Pastor Thomas' PPT for the Discussion Portion of the Meeting

Conclusions

Confident Conclusions

Ways that we can have a good degree of confidence this passage speaks to the topic of gender and leadership.

1. The consequences of the man and woman's disobedience are severe and far-reaching:

There is a relational separation between God and the man/woman where there wasn't before (cf. Gen 3:8-10, 12, 22-24)*
The man (with the woman) is expelled from the garden and the tree of life to work the ground (cf. Gen 3:22,23)
Childbearing will be a painful effort with intensified labour pains (Gen 3:16)
The ground is cursed, meaning food will be reaped from it through painful labour (Gen 3:17-19)
Where there was harmony in the (as yet not necessarily specific) roles in the mission God gave them and in the relationship of the man and the woman, there is now conflict (cf. Gen 3:12, 16)

*These points came up in the discussion process but were not expressly mentioned in the conclusion process. These need to be confirmed at a later meeting.

Not Yet Conclusive Conclusions / To Be Discerned

Ideas that are not yet conclusive, but noted because they might be inferred/implied in the passage. We will return to these as we work through other passages.

Since power differential (may?) be a result of the Fall (cf. Gen 3:16), does the cross nullify this?
What (if any) significance is there to the fact that the command to not eat the fruit was first given to the man? (cf. Gen 3:16-17)
What (if any) significance is there to the fact that it was the man who named the woman (not God nor the woman who named the man)? (cf. Gen 3:20)
What (if any) significance is there to the order of: creation in Gen 2:7, 22 (the man then the woman); questioning in Gen 3:9-13 (the man then the woman); or the curses in Gen 3:14-19 (the serpent, the woman, and then the man)?
Who let the serpent in?
When Eve ate, was it a source of folly or disobedience?

Next Gathering:

May 31st, 7-9 pm
Searching for Patterns in the Gospels (Asst.)

Between Now & May 31st

Study: Read the Gospel of John + one of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke)
Note: Every verse or instance that speaks to gender and/or leadership
Reflect: Identify any patterns, themes or threads that emerge with regards to gender and/or leadership.
Pray: For ourselves, our fellow study participants and our church body

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