In His administration in the universe, God established Adam as the head of the woman. Since Adam was the head of the woman, his wife, Eve, should have listened to him, and he ought to have stood in his position as the head. However, he not only failed to keep his position as the head, but he also followed his wife and acted contrary to God’s ordination, causing all mankind to fall into sin and to be constituted sinners. This should serve as a warning to all his descendants, to all men and women, in their married life as husbands and wives.
After Adam sinned and fell, he was in fear and trembling, and he hid from the face of God and awaited death. However, God came to seek him and to call him. God did not put him to death; rather, He gave him the promise of redemption. He promised that Christ would be the seed of the woman, who would bruise the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15) and thus cause the serpent’s death; that is, that Christ would destroy Satan, who deceived man and poisoned man with sin (Heb. 2:14). Furthermore, according to this promise, Christ would become the sacrifice for redemption and would shed His blood to accomplish propitiation (Gen. 3:21; John 1:29) in order to save and bring back fallen man that he might receive God’s life and become God’s expression. Adam believed and received this promise and gave his wife the name Eve, which means “living” or “life” (Gen. 3:20). God then used skins from the sacrifice to make coats for the man and his wife that they might be clothed. The skins from the sacrifice typify Christ as righteousness to those who believe (1 Cor. 1:30). Such righteousness makes it possible for fallen sinners to be justified by God (Rom. 3:24), to become acceptable to God, and thereby to be able to fellowship with God. Therefore, through the substitution by the bleeding sacrifice and through the union with the covering coat of skin, Adam received the anticipated redemption of God. Adam and Eve were then able to continue to live on the earth, and through Eve, whom Adam considered as one who was qualified to have life and live, they were able to beget generation after generation of descendants.
Although Adam believed and received the promise of God’s redemption and also experienced God’s anticipated redemption, he, including all the descendants who were to be born of him, was driven by God out of the garden of Eden and was separated from the tree of life in accordance with God’s economical arrangement. God would not allow a fallen sinner with a sinful nature to contact Him and to receive Him as life. Not until Christ came to accomplish God’s redemption and thereby deal with the fallen sinner and his sinful nature, thus fulfilling the requirements of God’s glory, holiness, and righteousness, did God open anew for man the way to the tree of life. By so doing He caused all fallen sinners in Adam to be justified by faith and to be accepted by God through the redemption of Jesus Christ, that they might be able to come forward to God, who is signified by the tree of life, to enjoy God as life and the life supply for the fulfillment of God’s eternal plan.
In the process of creation, God created Adam and then took a rib from him to make a woman, Eve. They, Adam and Eve, typify different things. Adam typifies Christ (1 Cor. 15:45, 47) and is a prefigure of Christ (Rom. 5:14b), whereas Eve represents the church. In Genesis 2 the Bible speaks in detail concerning the creation of the woman, and in Ephesians 5 it tells us that Eve refers to the church (vv. 31-32).