The Curse of Sin Affects Communication in Marriage
The fall narrative in Genesis 3 describes sin's entry into creation as fracturing every dimension of human relationship, including the bond between husband and wife. When God addresses the woman after the transgression, He declares, "I will greatly multiply thy sorrows... and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee" (Genesis 3:16). This pronouncement establishes a state of subjection and sorrow as consequences of sin [6, 7], fundamentally altering the relational dynamics that marriage was created to embody.
Sin's Corruption of Human Nature
The fall introduced a universal corruption that affects all human faculties from birth. As one commentary notes, "All human beings are born sinners," and while the godly fight against this sinful nature, it remains an active force [1]. This inherited corruption manifests not merely in isolated acts but as a comprehensive distortion of human relating. The first transgression involved "a love of self, dishonor to God, ingratitude to a benefactor, disobedience to the best of Masters—a preference of the creature to the Creator" [3]—attitudes that inevitably poison interpersonal communication when self-interest supplants mutual service.
The Relational Consequences
The curse specifically targets the woman's relational sphere, introducing conflict where partnership was intended. Matthew Henry observes that she is condemned to "a state of sorrow, and a state of subjection, proper punishments of a sin in which she had gratified her pleasure and her pride" [6]. Adam Clarke emphasizes that this multiplication of sorrows extends beyond physical pain to encompass the entire experience of conception, pregnancy, and childbearing [7]. The hierarchical tension introduced—"he shall rule over thee"—represents a distortion of the original created order, where sin transforms complementarity into domination and mutual submission into power struggle.
Communication Under the Weight of Sin
Because sin corrupts from within, marital communication bears the marks of this fallenness. The Augustinian principle that "whoever imitates the devil becomes a child of the devil by imitating him" [2] applies to patterns of deception, manipulation, and self-justification that characterize fallen speech. Even regenerate believers continue to commit actual sins after conversion [5], meaning that no marriage escapes the ongoing struggle against sinful communication patterns. The "great sin" of rebellion [4] manifests in marriages through insolent attitudes, refusal to listen, and the assertion of individual will over covenant unity—all failures of communication rooted in the original transgression that preferred self to God.
Sources
- Psalms (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Psalms 58:3: 58:3 All human beings are born sinners (see 51:5); however, whereas the wicked indulge their sinful nature, the godly fight against it (Rom 7:19-23; Jas 4:1-10).”
- 1 John (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 1 John 3:8: He that committeth sin is of the devil--in contrast to "He that doeth righteousness," Jo1 3:7. He is a son of the devil (Jo1 3:10; Joh 8:44). John does not, however, say, "born of the devil." as he does "born of God," for "the devil begets none, nor does he create any; but whoever imitates the devil becomes a child of the devil by imitating him, not by proper birth" [AUGUSTINE, Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Homily 4.10]. From the devil there is not generation, but corruption [BENGEL]. sinneth from the beginning--from the time that any beg”
- Genesis (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Genesis 3:13: beguiled--cajoled by flattering lies. This sin of the first pair was heinous and aggravated--it was not simply eating an apple, but a love of self, dishonor to God, ingratitude to a benefactor, disobedience to the best of Masters--a preference of the creature to the Creator.”
- Psalms (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Psalms 19:13: 19:13 An individual who commits deliberate sins does so with an insolent (86:14) or arrogant (119:21, 69) attitude. • The great sin is rebellion (see 32:1).”
- 1 John (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 1 John 1:10: Parallel to Jo1 1:8. we have not sinned--referring to the commission of actual sins, even after regeneration and conversion; whereas in Jo1 1:8, "we have no sin," refers to the present GUILT remaining (until cleansed) from the actual sins committed, and to the SIN of our corrupt old nature still adhering to us. The perfect "have . . . sinned" brings down the commission of sins to the present time, not merely sins committed before, but since, conversion. we make him a liar--a gradation; Jo1 1:6, "we lie"; Jo1 1:8, "we deceive ourselves"; worst of al”
- Genesis (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Genesis 3:16: We have here the sentence passed upon the woman for her sin. Two things she is condemned to: a state of sorrow, and a state of subjection, proper punishments of a sin in which she had gratified her pleasure and her pride. I. She is here put into a state of sorrow, one particular of which only is specified, that in bringing forth children; but it includes all those impressions of grief and fear which the mind of that tender sex is most apt to receive, and all the common calamities which they are liable to. Note, Sin brought sorrow into the world; it was this that ”
- Genesis (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Genesis 3:16: Unto the woman he said - She being second in the transgression is brought up the second to receive her condemnation, and to hear her punishment: I will greatly multiply, or multiplying I will multiply; i.e., I will multiply thy sorrows, and multiply those sorrows by other sorrows, and this during conception and pregnancy, and particularly so in parturition or child-bearing. And this curse has fallen in a heavier degree on the woman than on any other female. Nothing is better attested than this, and yet there is certainly no natural reason why it should be so; it is”