Building up believers and the New Testament church

The Godly Woman

Chapter 2: The Woman's Nature

"...male and female He created them." (Genesis 1:27)

When God created the first human beings, male and female, He built into them certain basic differences. Physically men and women are different, of course; but beyond that, their natures are different. When God created men and women He did not make them just alike; rather He made them "complementary." He made their natures different from each other but able to complement and balance each other. Men and women are not like salt and pepper shakers; they are more like gears. They are made to fit together and mesh perfectly. Each is made a little bit different from the other, but they are designed to work in harmony and together to produce a functioning unit.

The Two Basic Natures

Women are basically emotional creatures. God has built into woman an emotional nature which supersedes her rational nature. This is not to say that women do not have a rational nature; they do, but it is not the dominant nature. Women have minds and are able to exercise their intellectual capacities, but the basic quality of a woman's nature is emotion. She tends to "think" with her heart. In making decisions she tends to be guided more by her emotions than by her reasoning capacities.

The corollary of this emotional nature is the woman's tendency to be easily deceived. We have already seen that Eve "being quite deceived, fell into transgression" (I Timothy 2:14). All women have inherited this tendency (some to a greater extent than others). But the inclination toward deception among women is universal because of their emotional nature.

Men, on the other hand, are basically rational. God has built into men a reasoning capacity which supersedes their emotional capacity. Naturally, men have emotions, but their emotions do not dominate. They are more likely to be guided by reason, and more prone to think with their heads. Their decisions are made largely on the basis of reasoning.

In conjunction with this, men are not easily deceived. "It was not Adam who was deceived..." (I Timothy 2:14). Men can be tempted, but not easily deceived. Adam's fall was not caused by deception, but by disobedience. He chose to sin. "By the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one....So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men; ...as through one man's disobedience the many were made sinners..." (Romans 5:17-19). These verses indicate the sin was deliberate, rather than occasioned by deception.

It is wonderful to see God's plan in giving men and women different natures. He intended for them to balance each other. The warm and tender emotions of a woman balance the cold intellect of the man; and the calculated reasoning capacity of the man balances the deceivable nature of the woman. The two natures are not the same; instead each one fills up what is lacking in the other.

The Woman's Reminder of Her Nature

When Eve was tempted by Satan, it was her emotional nature which responded to the temptation. "The serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness..." (II Corinthians 11:3). Without the tendency to be deceived, the serpent's craftiness would have been ineffective. But Eve's nature aided in the temptation and God punished her accordingly. He meted out a punishment which provided a constant reminder of her nature.

God increased Eve's ability to conceive. (You may think that has nothing to do with her nature, but bear with me, I think it does.) The literal rendering of Genesis 3:16 is, "To the woman He said, 'I will greatly multiply your pain and your pregnancy [or conception]; in pain you shall bring forth children; yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you' " God said He would not only multiply her pain in childbirth but also multiply her conception. Evidently God changed Eve's cycle of fertility. He made her cycle complete its revolution more frequently so that she would produce an ovum more often and therefore be capable of conception more often.

Perhaps God had intended human beings to experience only seasonal or infrequent periods of fertility. Or perhaps God fixed a small number of periods in a woman's life in which she would be able to conceive. Whatever the previous plan, today we live under the "curse." God punished Eve (and all of her daughters) by speeding up her cycle and increasing her conception.

The tangible evidence of a woman's changed cycle is her monthly menstrual period. In this, God provides a constant reminder of Eve's emotional nature. It is during this time that a woman's emotions are most noticeable and most out of control. Many women experience great emotional upheavals at this time. There are peaks of ecstasy, but more often valleys of depression. Some women have "black" days of depression in which they actually contemplate suicide. For others it is manifested as the "blues" or just simply as their "flat side" in which they cannot get going. But all of this is mute testimony to the fact that woman's nature is emotional and that her emotions caused the human race trouble at one time, so she should be careful.

In the monthly period God also provided a constant reminder of Eve's deception. It was deception which caused the fall of Eve. "The woman being quite deceived, fell into transgression " (I Timothy 2:14) .The instability of a woman's nature is most evident during this time of the month. She is most likely to be deceived then, or to succumb to faulty judgment. Her mind and emotions may play tricks on her so that insignificant things are blown out of proportion. Simple decisions seem complex and almost impossible to make. All of these signals should draw a woman's attention right back to the garden of Eden and caution her to beware because she is susceptible to the same deception which beguiled Eve.

The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life are still luring women today, but God has provided this monthly reminder so that women will not forget their potential for deception; and so they will look to Him for deliverance. Each time the cycle rolls around it should cause women to remember and to recommit themselves to God for His protection.

In the monthly period God also provided a constant reminder of Eve's sin. God did not want any woman to forget the tragedy of the fall. This monthly inconvenience is the direct result of Eve's fall. Each time it occurs it is like a whisper from God saying, "Don't forget, don't forget." Don't forget your potential for sin; don't forget your powers to seduce men and cause them to sin; don't forget the evil which can be occasioned by your choices and suggestions. Don't deceive yourself into thinking you do not have these powers--you do. Just make sure they have been "crucified with Christ" along with all the rest of your self-life.

Unless these powers to seduce and tempt have been dealt with at the cross, they will manifest themselves in the maneuvering and wheedling so many women practice. You may think, "I'm not a seductress, I don't wear revealing clothes nor act in a provocative way." But you may be pulling strings and manipulating, which is the same thing. Any time you try to "manage" men for your own benefit, you are being a seductress. When a woman is reminded of her nature during her monthly period she should also be reminded that sin need not have dominion over her. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death" (Romans 8:2).

Although the physical aspects of the woman's punishment are fixed, the emotional aspects can be alleviated. Dependence upon the Lord Jesus will not change the woman's cycle, but it will change her attitude. She does not need to be mastered and defeated by these monthly emotional upheavals. The Word of God says: "When you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness" (Romans 6:16). If a woman succumbs to her emotions during this time of the month and allows herself to be mastered, she will be defeated spiritually. She will be walking according to her feelings rather than by faith. But if she commits herself, emotions included, to the Lord Jesus Christ and asks Him to take control, He will deliver her from this bondage and defeat. He is able to do "exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20), so He is able to lift her out of this depression and give her victory over it. This must be a moment-by-moment commitment. It must be a deliberate effort to live by faith, but the power is available to see her through.

Satan's Temptation

Satan's character is repeatedly described as being "crafty" and his method as that of deception. "Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made..." (Genesis 3:1). "The serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness..." (II Corinthians 11:3; see also Revelation 12:9, Revelation 20:3,8,10; Acts 13:10). But it is interesting that although Satan is cunning and crafty, his tactics have not changed much over the years. He is deceiving people today with the same lies he used before time began. He seems to know human nature so well that he does not need a whole bag full of tricks--he can keep using the same ones over and over again and people continue to fall for them.

The first tactic used by Satan to deceive Eve was to put doubt into her mind. "And he said to the woman, 'Indeed, has God said, "You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?"'" (Genesis 3:1). It was a very simple but insidious question. "Has God said?" It made her question God's character, His motives, His purposes, His veracity, His commands and ultimately God Himself. It undermined the foundation of trust which was vital to Eve's relationship with God. "Has God said?" It made Eve wonder if the commandment of God regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the very best. Perhaps there was something good to be obtained by eating from the tree, and God was keeping it from them. This thought was like a wedge which opened up her mind to questions and doubts. After the wedge had been driven in, it was but a short step to sin.

Satan is using this same tactic on women today. He is trying to deceive them by making them question God's commandments. "Has God said that women should be in subjection to men? Has God said women should be submissive?" He is jeering at women and provoking them to doubt. He is not saying, "Is it true that God said this to you ?" He knows what God said. He is really saying, "Why did God say this to you? Why is God being so mean to you, why is He treating you unfairly, why is He putting you in the lower place?" Once again Satan is driving in that wedge of doubt.

Anytime Satan can cause a believer to doubt God, he has pretty much won the victory. Doubt and unbelief go hand in hand. Doubt refuses to believe that God is who He says He is, and that He will do what He says He will do. It misconstrues God as a liar and a deceiver. "Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God" (Hebrews 3:12). Faith is the key to the Christian life because faith trusts God. Faith believes that God is who He says He is. "Without faith it is impossible to please God," because without faith it is impossible to perceive God correctly. If my perception of God does not conform to His revealed image, then I have constructed my own god and am worshipping an idol.

The second tactic used by Satan to deceive Eve was to make her covetous. He puffed up her ego and provoked her to vainglory. He lied to her and said that if she ate the fruit she would be like God. "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5). Satan tricked Eve into becoming dissatisfied with her position, and persuaded her to seek a higher status. He planted within her an evil, covetous desire for self-advancement. He made her want to be like God.

Does this sound familiar? Was there someone else who wanted to be like God? Of course. This was the very temptation which caused the fall of Lucifer. He said in his heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High" (Isaiah 14:13-14). The pride and covetousness which caused Satan's downfall were the bait he used to cause Eve's downfall.

Since Satan's doom has already been sealed, his purpose now is to take as many people down with him as possible. Do not be deceived into thinking this is going to be one grand fraternity of happy sinners joining together in the bonds of sin. There is no love or comradeship in Satan. Once he has deceived someone and caused them to fall into sin, he shrieks in derision and leaves them to reap the results of what they have sown. There is neither companionship nor succor among Satan's followers.

Eve was deceived and said in her heart, "I will ascend." She was not content in the place God had given her, so she reached out to grasp a higher position. This is the exact deception Satan is using on women today. He is planting within them a dissatisfaction with their God-given position and prompting them to reach out for a higher status. Satan is deceiving women into saying in their hearts, "I will ascend." After all, it worked with Lucifer and it worked with Eve; why wouldn't it work on women today?

These two ancient but alarmingly successful ploys are still deceiving: "Has God said?" and "I will ascend." The first rings with rebellion. "Has God said I should be in subjection to men?" Defiance and contempt fling out this challenge. And the response? "I will ascend and be like men! I will not grovel and whimper like a child; I will be like men." The pride, covetousness, and self-assertiveness of a fallen heart incite this response. From the initial weakening of doubt to the total collapse of open rebellion is but a short step and Satan laughs in scorn every time he is successful at this deception.

To gauge Satan's success, just take a quick glance at the state of affairs in the world today. Women are advancing their status in all areas of society. Fashion, entertainment, and advertising have all cheerfully fallen into the deception. Though the human race professes wisdom and sophistication, it has not managed to avoid this oldest and most obvious trick of the deceiver.

It is the woman's nature which allows her to be deceived in this manner. The fact that she is basically emotional and easily deceived leaves her open to the wiles of Satan. When she is relying solely upon her own perception she is most likely to fall into deception. But if she remains in her place of submission and defers to man's authority, she will be protected by God. It is possible to avoid deception--God has made provision for it. Knowing that the tendency toward deception is ever-present should motivate godly women to continually remain in their God-given position.