Cheryl Schatz

Lin,
You asked:

My point was why did God have to warn her about something she was supposedly already doing that was good?

Excellent question!

First of all we need to remember that when God spoke the words in Genesis 3:16 Adam had not yet been kicked out of the garden. So the application of this verse was in the future. It gave the foundation for why a woman with choices would choose what seemed like a bad choice for her own good. And Eve was not to think that just because she treated Adam in a respectful and loving way that she would receive the same treatment back. No matter what Eve did, she was going to get mistreatment back from Adam because he was living a life of the rebellious sinner.

Now the next question is whether God can warn her about negative things in her future yet still allow her (or perhaps want her) to go through with the bonding with her husband that will bring about the those negative things?

Here is a case in point. Paul was on his way to Jerusalem and in every city along the way, people were prophesying to Paul that bonds and afflictions were waiting for him.

Acts 20:22–24 (NASB)
22 “And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,
23 except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.
24 “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.

So was Paul wrong in continuing to go to Jerusalem to give his life as a testimony to the gospel? Were the warnings given to stop him from going or were they given to prepare him so that he was not unprepared for the hardships that would await him?

I believe that Paul was in the center of God’s will and he would die a martyr’s death that would start from his arrest in Jerusalem.

In a similar way Eve was warned about what would await her outside the garden in her marriage with Adam, but the warnings were not given to command her to stay in the garden. They were given to prepare her so that she was not blindsided by the hardships that she would face.