When I think of women of faith, I can’t help but think of the mother of all living, Eve. This remarkable woman showed remarkable faith throughout her life. I want to focus on two different occasions in which Eve demonstrated her remarkable faith. The first deals with partaking the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil; the second is the faith she showed upon being cast out of the Garden of Eden.
The Book of Genesis and The Old Testament and the Book of Moses in The Pearl of Great Price both give an account of the Garden of Eden. While there, Satan used the serpent to tempt Eve to partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. I once believed Eve was not deceived, but decided to partake of the fruit because she knew she must. I have learned through study, though, that Eve was deceived by the cunning of Lucifer. She partook of the fruit believing the serpent had told her the truth.
Nevertheless, we learn through Moses 5:11-12 that Eve later rejoiced that this transgression brought about the Fall of mankind and, through it, the ability to become like God. This shows us that Eve had faith in the Savior Jesus Christ. She knew she had entered a fallen state through her choice. She knew this separated her from the presence of God and placed her in a state subject to pain and affliction, temptation and sin. Yet she believed that Jehovah would come to perform His mission. She believed that through His actions, Adam and Eve and all their posterity could be saved from sin if they would repent and turn unto Christ. She believed Jesus would overcome the effects of the Fall, making it possible for Adam and Eve and their posterity to enter the presence of God again.
Eve’s example teaches us that we can have hope and faith in the Savior as well. We will make mistakes, just as Eve did. But we can rejoice in the knowledge we gain from these mistakes. We can rejoice because Jesus overcame the effects of the Fall and the effects of sin. We can rejoice because Jesus can grant us freedom from these effects if we turn to Him in faith. He may not grant us freedom from the temporal consequences (though sometimes He does), but He will grant us freedom from the eternal consequences. All that is required of us is faith in Him and repentance.
The second example of faith Eve demonstrates is faith in her spouse, Adam. She demonstrated this faith when the time came that she and Adam were cast out of the Garden of Eden. She continued to demonstrate it throughout the remainder of her life.
After Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit, God came to the Garden of Eden to bestow upon Adam and Eve the consequences of their choice. Adam, the provider of the family, would find he must work to bring support for his family. No longer would the earth just provide this sustenance. He had to covenant with God that he would obey the commandments of God given to him through revelation. All men were subject to these consequences.
Eve, the primary nurturer of the family, would suffer the pains of giving birth. In addition, she was to subject herself to the council of her husband, so long as he acted in accordance to the laws of God. All women were subject to these consequences. Eve had faith in Adam. She knew he would follow the laws of God. She knew he would be good to her, loving her and treating her as his equal (for she was his equal). She trusted he would do what was right and that subjecting herself to him would help her live in righteousness so that she could return with him to Heavenly Father. She let this faith guide her through her life with Adam.
When we study this example of faith, we find valuable lessons for ourselves. We learn that we need to have faith in our spouse. They are our equal. We should believe in their ability to make righteous choices, in spite of their weaknesses, that will help us return to Heavenly Father. We should believe their righteous examples can help us become better individuals who are more capable of following God. We need our spouses more than we could ever know. And we will be stronger and more capable of coming back to Christ in faith when we love and revere our spouses.
Eve was a remarkable woman. She demonstrated remarkable faith throughout her life. I’ve touched on two occasions, and even then only on portions of the faith she showed in those two circumstances. But even from the little covered in just those two circumstances, we can learn so much about faith from the life of Eve.
Scriptures used for this post:
Genesis 3-4
Moses 4-5
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