Have you ever heard someone say that your period is a curse? I’ve definitely blamed Eve for my painful periods before! Today though I’m here to tell you that isn’t true: Your period is not a curse.
About a month ago I started helping out with the 8th-grade girls Sunday School at my church. We start out as a combined youth group and then break out for discussion groups after the message.
Currently, we’re slowly working our way through the Bible. Yesterday’s topic was Genesis 3- the fall of Adam and Eve.
One of our discussion questions was “What do the curses in this chapter reveal about God?”
Before I asked that question, we reread those verses.
“So the Lord God said to the serpent:
Because you have done this,
you are cursed more than any livestock
and more than any wild animal.
You will move on your belly
and eat dust all the days of your life.
I will put hostility between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.” (Gen 3:14-15, CSB)
“Who was cursed in these verses?” I asked them.
“The serpent, AKA Satan,” the girls replied.
We then discussed how verse 15 is a promise of Jesus- the offspring from the woman who would ultimately crush Satan.
We continued reading:
“He said to the woman:
I will intensify your labor pains;
you will bear children with painful effort.
Your desire will be for your husband,
yet he will rule over you.” (Gen 3:16 CSV)
“Did God curse the woman?” I asked.
“Yes. Wait… No! He didn’t!”
“Exactly,” I said. The woman received a consequence for her sin- painful labor- but God didn’t curse her.”
I continued, “If you haven’t heard this yet, you probably will someday. Some people like to refer to their periods as a ‘curse.’ I’ve done this, thinking to myself, ‘Gee, thanks for sinning Eve! I have a painful period thanks to you!
“But that isn’t what happened! In fact, God told Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:28 God commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. Eve would have had a period in the garden of Eden even if they didn’t sin. Periods are a part of God’s design for women; they aren’t a curse.”
I think it’s so important that we as Christian women know that periods aren’t a curse.
Why?
Well, our beliefs affect our actions. If we believe our periods are a result of sin, then if our period is painful then that’s a consequence of our sin.
But painful periods are NOT normal!
It could be a sign that something is off hormonally. It could be a symptom of Endometriosis or PCOS… it’s not something to “grin and bear” because that makes us a good Christian… nope! That’s not the truth.
Eve would have had a period before sin entered the world because she had the capacity to obey God’s command to “Be fruitful and multiply.”
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Let’s keep reading in Genesis…
And he said to the man, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’:
The ground is cursed because of you.
You will eat from it by means of painful labor
all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow
until you return to the ground,
since you were taken from it.
For you are dust,
and you will return to dust.” (Genesis 3:17-19 CSB)
I read from the Christian Standard Bible and I really like how it contrasts Eve’s “labor pains” with Adam’s “painful labor.”
Not only were Adam and Eve told to be fruitful and multiply, but they were also told to care for the earth.
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This will be food for you (Genesis 1:28-29 CSB)
As a result of their sin, Adam and Eve would have painful labor to fulfill God’s calling on their lives.
Notice how God didn’t curse Adam and Eve. God cursed two things in Genesis 3: the serpent and the ground.
It also says that the ground was cursed because of Adam. Because of sin, our world is broken. There are hurricanes and diseases because the world broke thousands of years ago in the Garden of Eden.
Adam and Eve received consequences for their sins. A huge consequence was that they had to leave the Garden of Eden.
God is a holy God. Sin cannot be in His presence and so He no longer could be in a relationship with humans. Because each of us sin, our relationship with God is broken.
But it doesn’t have to stay broken. God had a plan from the beginning.
Genesis 3:15 is a promise of hope: A Savior would come. The serpent would strike His heel- AKA Jesus’ crucifixion. But Jesus would crush the serpent’s head through His resurrection.
Jesus took the ultimate consequence of sin (death & eternal separation from God) upon Himself. Because of His sacrifice, our relationship with God can be restored.
And someday, Jesus will return to make all things new. There will be a new heaven and a new earth! Read the end of Revelation to learn more :)
Also, I have a podcast recommendation for you!
In Episode 99 of The Bare Marriage Podcast, titled “Don’t Let Your Voice Be Small Just Because You Are a Woman,” Sheila Gregore interviews Bruce C. E. Fleming who has studied the Hebrew in Genesis 3. He goes over this passage and explains Genesis 3:16- Eve’s consequences- in depth.
I found it fascinating and I hope you will too!
Carla Corelli
I found this post very intriguing. I grew up with very painful periods – terrible cramps and very heavy blood loss. So as you may imagine I was not too fond of those days of the month. However I never thought of my period as a curse. As far as I am concerned it is wonderful that my body can bear children, and periods are simply part of the process. I have three children nowadays – the blessings of my life :) Those periods were well worth it :)
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Isaac Hunter
Interesting post. There were a few points I took issue with, though. First, while Adam and Eve did not receive the same kind of “curse” that Satan did, Paul makes it clear in Ro 8:19-25 that the whole of creation (which would include humans, animals, plants, the earth, and even the entire physical universe) was subjected to futility, placed under bondage of corruption. This is the curse of Adam. Though it is absolutely correct that menstruation is not caused by sin or the fall, it is not accurate to say Adam and Eve were not cursed. Their actions led to death seizing power over all living things, the bringing about of entropy, and ultimately the imprisonment of humanity at death into hades (as disembodied souls). Without Christ the human race would be eternally separated from not only their bodies but also from God.
Second, I wonder if the oft used adage that sin cannot be in the presence God is a little misguided. Satan fell at some point before Genesis 3, and yet we still see him in God’s presence, giving an account of his activities to God in Job 2. He did not have any kind of covering like believers have in Christ’s blood. Yet, he conversed with God. Argued with God. Even challenged God. So it seem arguable that sin can be in the presence of God.
It’s often fascinating what kinds of folk theologies we have acquired throughout our lives – from our parents, from society, from the church – without even realizing it. I personally always thought menstruation was the result of the fall, the result of sin and the curse. Then it dawned on me that I never actually remembered reading that in the Bible. When I checked Genesis 3 I discovered menstruation would have occurred even before the fall (unless the process of pregnancy was fundamentally different in a pre-fall world). We can assume from the text that childbirth was at least less painful than it currently is. It’s an odd juxtaposition that something that occurred naturally pre-fall would still be considered unclean by the Law and Prophets (Leviticus 11:1-15:33), and, yet, Jesus authenticated all of the OT as being unbreakable (John 10:35).
ShunCy
There are a few words I cannot say, even in the most professional of settings. My personal words to you, and your family’s are “I’m sorry.” Especially because most things I do not enjoy, so the thought of saying those things even to myself brings me so much pain. But there is a phrase that has replaced them with relief. What does it mean? Not even by your name! It’s “Joy because grace.” In other instances you’ll hear something like it when someone passes away or gets diagnosed for their medical issues. Now, my last phrase, joy because of grace, I always say it first-when I need it on a more serious level. The most important thing about this phrase is it can be applied to anything from not having cancer or anything like them to getting married, getting pregnant, giving birth, dying. For the latter, I cannot go without using the word joy, but with that comes an appropriate feeling with hope, and acceptance all while keeping in fear. Without knowing it or believing, they are two sides of a coin, but I do believe in them (though in what ways they aren’t). This “e…
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