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anything, let them ask their own husbands at home: for it is shameful for a woman to
speak in church" (R.V.).
The same subjection is resident in I Tim. 2: 11, 12. If any woman has any doubt as
to what God thinks of this subjective quietness, let her consider I Pet. 3: 1-5:
"Wives, be subject unto your own husbands . . . . . whose adorning let it not be that
outward . . . . . but the hidden man of the heart . . . . . the ornament of a meek and quiet
spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price."
The headship of man therefore involved him in a position of responsibility, a position
for which he was fitted in the purpose of God. When he (in the person of Adam) allowed
the woman to usurp that place in Eden, a position for which she was evidently not fitted
(hence her deception), tragedy ensued. The aspect of this responsibility given to Adam
which Paul (in a post-Acts epistle) sees fit to dwell upon, concerns the teaching of the
word of God. This must therefore be given a large place in our understanding of man's
headship.
Whilst thinking of the tragedy in Eden, note that the responsibility of Adam is further
brought out when the Lord takes the reckoning. Note in particular the singular forms
"him", "thou" and "thee" in the following quotation:
"And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? . . . . . Who
told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee
that thou should not eat?" (Gen. 3: 9-11).
Adam is the one first sought by the Lord; he is to first give account, insofar that the
Lord commanded him. The word of God was given to him and he was held responsible
for the failure.
". . . . . by one man sin entered into the world . . . . . by one man's offence death
reigned . . . by one man's disobedience many were constituted sinners" (Rom. 5: 12-19).
It is evident from the context of this last passage that although Paul uses the Greek
anthropos (which can be "a human being whether male or female") he has Adam in mind
(verse 14) and not Eve, or man in general. Adam could be looked upon as being, in a
sense, in covenant relationship with the Lord:
"They (Ephraim and Judah) like Adam have transgressed the covenant" (Hosea 6: 7
R.V.),
and this would explain how it was that "from Adam to Moses" there were those who did
not sin "in the likeness of Adam's transgression" (Rom. 5: 14), i.e. against a direct
commandment from God. Moses is no doubt meant to represent the Law which brought
Israel into covenant relationship to the Lord and which involved a number of direct
commandments from Him (Exod. 19: 5, 6; 20: 1-17, etc.). Adam, in that the Lord God
gave a direct commandment to him, was, in a sense, in a similar position to Israel, and
this is probably what is in mind in both Hosea 6: 7 and Rom. 5: 14, referred to above.