Reading: Genesis 3:20

The woman was originally called Ishah because she was taken out of man, Ish. Eve, the name that she has now, is a name that has not so much to do with who she is but with the hope that she holds. The emphasis of the name is not universality but quality, not biological life but spiritual and eternal life. She is the mother of the “living one” or the “one who gives life”: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22).

“Eve” is a statement of devotion, of a living and active faith in the face of unrelenting hardship. It presents us with a stunning response to the problems of life. After all the predicted pain and struggle, the groaning of life on earth, and after hearing God declare that the climax of all this is going to be physical death (“unto dust shalt thou return”), Adam’s state of mind is in remarkable condition while his body is subjected to hard labour and the thorns and thistles of life.

It seems that Adam hears all this regarding himself, but the message of gospel grace and hope in verse 15 so impressed his heart that there is no room for doubt, no place for despair. So relieved is he of the promise of life out of the death he had pursued that the “sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed.”

The declaration of Eve’s name  also presents us with insight into the renewed Christian marriage. The relationship had been damaged in the fall and they played a little of the blame game. But now, with a little sanctified imagination, we see Adam taking Eve by the hand and saying, “Don’t worry dear. There is hope in the promise of God. Though thorns and thistles might scratch us and make us bleed through life, yet by the grace of our creator there is a life above and beyond this. We know that our Redeemer lives, and because He lives, we will live also!” Lord, help me understand with Adam that the life of the gospel is not so much a quantity but a quality; it is “life more abundant.”

“Life is an excellency added to being.” Thomas Goodwin

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