He Created Male and Female
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The Adam’s Family
God has giving us the backdrop of a heavenly family in Genesis 1 that culminated in His desire for an earthly family.
He presides over the angelic host in Heaven as the Good and loving Heavenly Father.
He invites His heavenly family to join Him in the excitement of creating that realm as we read last week in Chapter 1 and Isaiah. creates a place for an earthly family to live where both families can live together.
The earthly family that begins with Adam and Eve.
We see the Father educati
The theological messaging here speaks of order and design that is good and not chaotic. In fact, everything is good in heaven and on earth.
The structure and plan God creates comes not as the result of the Fall, but from design. The Fall complicates things, but it didn’t fundamentally change God’s created plan for the family.
2. It also speaks of male and female calling. Here’s what it says in Genesis 1:28;
“And God blessed this couple and He said to them, ‘be fruitful and
multiply and fill the earth and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the
sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves
on the earth.’”
28 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.”
I want to mention three things real briefly, as you look at that. Look carefully at it, because there are 3 commands embedded in this opening statement. This is the opening blueprint that will get fleshed out for the next thousands of years thru the rest of Scripture – but here we see it as it was originally established by God.
1. Three Commands for Men and Women to Fulfill:
Be Fruitful and Multiply.
a. He says first of all, to fulfill your humanity as a man, you need to be fruitful and multiply. This speaks to the bearing and releasing of a healthy next generation -- healthy children – into the world that God had created.
b. Bring Creative order over the earth.
Bloom where you have been planted.
He says subdue the earth, which means that, on whatever part of the planet you’ve been placed, you need to use your creativity and your intellect to bring out the best in that part of the planet.
See Proverbs 31.
There are those who the role differentiation between men and women as encompassing all spheres and limiting women to very narrow roles. There are those who put all men above all women in every sphere of life. I don’t see that in Genesis. A woman’s first order of relationship is to God. A married women is to respond and respect her husband. That does not extend to all men.
Further while we see the first command is to multiply which also infers the first duty is to raising up the next generation before career, calling, or anything else (and that too can impact how a man views his vocation),
I don’t see in Genesis that women would be limited in bringing creative order in the earth. I can see women as an engineer who brings life to a desert valley through irrigation. I can see a woman who discovers a cure for cancer as a biologist.
However, the reality that while both male and female have equal value, by design both biologically and spiritually, they will in overall practice generally place greater value on expressing that creativity through the way God designed the genders.
Similarity does not equal sameness.
From a study of college major selection:
In Chicago Tribune
College majors with the greatest gender disparities
Published: Aug 03, 2021
Information technology | Total students: 10,054 - Percent male students: 79.8% 20.2 Female
Animal sciences, general | Total students: 5,890 - Percent male students: 20.1% - Percent female students: 79.9%
Public health, general | Total students: 6,656 - Percent male students: 19.1% - Percent female students: 80.9% |
Electrical and electronics engineering | Total students: 16,694 - Percent male students: 85.6% - Percent female students: 14.4%
Mechanical engineering | Total students: 35,182 - Percent male students: 85.7% - Percent female students: 14.3% | Only 13.2% of bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering went to women in 2015
Human services, general | Total students: 6,938 - Percent male students: 13.7% - Percent female students: 86.3%
Registered nursing/registered nurse | Total students: 139,952 - Percent male students: 12.5% - Percent female students: 87.5%
Social work | Total students: 21,698 - Percent male students: 11.3% - Percent female students: 88.7%
Early childhood education and teaching | Total students: 12,179 - Percent male students: 3.8% - Percent female students: 96.2%
Special education and teaching, general | Total students: 6,197 - Percent male students: 10.6% - Percent female students: 89.4%
There has been a constant push from those who demand the Bible is ridiculous and human nature not designed but malleable to have equity in all fields. They claimed that just open the gates and they’ll see that men and women like the same things, pursue the same type of fulfillment etc...
c. Steward the resources of the earth.
Be a Then He says that you’re to rule over the earth, meaning that you’re to be a good steward of the earth and its resources.
Now those are just three simple statements, but guys, let me tell you, I still believe that within those three simple statements is the calling of people in general. Your calling. As we’ll see later, how well you fulfill those three statements has a lot to do with . It will determine how much of a sense of meaning and satisfaction you give to your particular life.
We live in a modern age, the 21st Century. Our modern age would immediately feel a sense of discrimination in those verses, wouldn’t they? Don’t you feel that even today? Even as I read those – even as I said God called the male and female ‘man’ didn’t you feel kind of funny. Well it just didn’t feel politically correct, did it? Because it’s not. That’s why we’ve changed ‘chairman’ to ‘chairperson.’ And ‘layman’ to ‘layperson.’ That’s why I recently heard in one city they changed the manhole covers to the ‘personhole’ covers. That’s the world we live in! It’s because in our world, sameness and uniformity are the only acceptable direction.
As we move in those directions, and we bring the richness of male and female down on a kind of a bland, uniform level. But that’s not true in the original blueprints. The original blueprints have something different to say. Here at the beginning, regardless of how we feel, God chooses to call the human race by the term ‘man.’ The question is: Why?
That is the big question as we start constructing a definition of masculinity. The question is Why? The answer is this; it’s the same reason why, after a traditional wedding, we call the couple “Mr. and Mrs. Ron Wilson, “ rather than calling the couple ‘Mrs. and Mrs. Elizabeth Cole.” That’s the answer. In these titles – in this ceremony – or in this moment – in these titles a social structure is being hinted at and anticipated for the man and for the woman in the future – a social structure that will get fleshed out a little bit more in Genesis 2 and 3 – a social structure that is still being grappled with as we enter the 21stCentury.
Right here, in the original blueprints, you hear that social structure whispered –ever so softly when God creates the male and the female and He says, “And I call them ‘man.’”
So these are the 3 wide-angle observations that stand out in Genesis about value and calling and social structure.
What does Genesis 2 have to tell us about gender and marriage relationship? I think you’ll find this even more interesting. Maybe even a little bit more uncomfortable, but that’s okay, because we’re men, right – and we’re on a journey.
1. Here’s the first. I want you to notice when we go into Chapter 2, one of the first things we’ll notice as the lens goes from this wide-angle view of creation to a little bit more of a close-up over this first couple – One of the first things you’ll notice as an original researcher is this: Adam was created first.
Now in Genesis 1, you didn’t know that. It just said He created them male and female. But when we go back over this 6th day of creation and take a closer look, we realize it didn’t just happen instantaneously like that. It
happened in sequence. Adam was created first. Here’s what it says in
2. In Genesis 2 God gives the Social Structure to find relational fulfillment through.
7 Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
2a. God designates leadership for the family.
“Then the Lord formed man (this is the start of it) of dust from the
ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and this man
(as male) became a living being.”
Now, you go, ‘okay; he was created first. Is that really significant?’ If you’ve been to the mountain, you know it’s significant. Everything at this mythical mountain is significant. God could have easily created both the man and the woman at the same time, couldn’t He? Why didn’t He? That’s the question that’s being asked here to any original researcher in the book of Genesis.
He could have created them at the same time, brought them into existence with just a spoken word. But he didn’t do it that way. And the question is “Why? Is there meaning here?” Listen, everything in Genesis has meaning.
The people of Israel would be familiar with the law of the primogenitor. In fact, that is the normal way in which leadership would be assigned. That’s why in many accounts where it doesn’t occur in the Bible such as Jacob, it is a shock. The exceptions prove the rule in the story of the Bible.
‘First’ always means something, especially in the Scriptures as you go through it, because it speaks of some kind of preeminence. For instance, when Jesus was asked what was the first and foremost commandment, He was able to tell them; “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind; with all Your strength.”
The firstborn son throughout Scripture is the son who receives the blessing; the special blessing of his father. In Proverbs 3:9 it says, “Honor the Lord from the first of your wealth.” ‘First’ is very significant there. It’s to come off the top -- right at the beginning; not at the end of what’s left over. That’s significant.
In Revelation 2, Jesus speaks to the Ephesian church and He says, “you’ve left your first love.” (‘You’re doing a lot of things well, but at the core – the most important thing – has been forgotten, the first.’) Jesus is called the firstborn from the dead, the first fruits of creation. We are called, as Christians, to seek first the kingdom of God, and then, all these things will be added to you.
If you just took the word ‘first’ as you go through the Scriptures you get a sense of that priority, don’t you. In the beginning of man, as male and female, Adam was created first. First. The question is “why?” I think it’s because God was making a statement about social structure, social positioning, and manhood as it should be. Not necessarily as it is now - we’re looking at the original blueprints -- but the way God created it to be.
You may say well that’s arbitrary. What about equality. Let remind you that God selected Abraham out of all the people on the earth.
When God birthed Israel, He selected a family, the Levites who alone can be priests and priests had a great deal of responsibilities and control over the lives of the Jews as a whole. They were the worship leaders, the doctors in certain ways and a host of other things. But no one else, no matter how smart or capable could be a priest except for the Levites.
Structure and order are necessary for any group of people from a family, to a school, to a church, to a company, to a church. And there has been no replacement for the structure of a family that has better outcomes for the next generation than a married couple where the father leads out spiritually and the mother focuses on the children during their younger years. The data is astounding.
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― Oprah Winfrey“You can have it all. Just not all at once.”
Now I’m going to bring us up to a really tense social issue. Thousands of years later, in Paul’s day, he was asked why women couldn’t be pastors of churches. A lot of us ask that same question today as we see both males and females become pastors, but in Paul’s day, he was asked the question, ‘why can’t a woman be a pastor of a church?’ - the leader. You want to see Paul’s answer? Here it is in 1 Timothy 2, Paul says this:
12 I do not allow a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; instead, she is to remain quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve.
“I don’t allow women to teach or exercise authority over a man but
remain quiet, for it was Adam who was first created, then Eve.”
See, here he was in his day – thousands of years removed from the day God created man and they were asking him about an intensely difficult issue. This was especially true in Ephesus, because Ephesus was a city of pagan religions where all the religious leaders were women. These people who had become Christians were wondering why the women couldn’t lead this church too. So Paul goes back to , back to the Garden, and he says, ‘well, here’s why I don’t think that should happen….because I think God had some original designs in mind.’ And he points to this ‘first’ in creation.
2b. Adam receives an occupation and responsibility before Eve’s creation.
15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.
“Then the Lord God took the man [the male] and put him into the
Garden of Eden to cultivate it, and keep it.”
I don’t know how much time has passed at this point before God created the woman, but here’s what we do know; that God created the man. After He created the man as male, He gave him a job to do – a vocation in the garden of Eden. Then He gave him other responsibilities, orders to obey. During this whole time Eve’s not been created yet. These directions are given to the man exclusively and not to his wife, Eve. We ask “Why?”
All it does is invite the question “why?” It doesn’t answer it; it just asks it by the way it’s set forth there. But if you look at it long enough, you begin to think that it’s almost like there’s some kind of leadership training program going on here.
I believe in many ways, that that’s exactly what’s taking place, because it hints at something central to, and basic about, authentic relationships and meaning that we see played out in the Bible and in reality no matter how hard moderns attempt to deny gender, gender differences and gender roles. I just want you to see the original blueprints at this point.
2c. God Instructs Adam with the responsibility of leading with His word.
Genesis 2:16-17 says this;
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”
“And the Lord God commanded the man saying, ‘from any tree of
the garden you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil you shall not eat, for in that day you eat from it, you
shall surely die.’”
By now Eve has still not been created. At this point, there was no Bible, there was only the spoken word of God. God literally spoke to Adam. He’s saying ‘okay, I’ve given you this place. I want you to cultivate it. Now I want to give you some instruction about how to live in this place.’ The thing that’s fascinating is the instruction was not given to Eve, but was given to Adam to then give to Eve, which is what we’ll see a little later on.
But we have to ask the question “Why?” Why did it occur this way? Again, I believe it hints at the spiritual responsibility that God created men to assume as part of real masculinity. A responsibility that thousands of years later is stated outright in Ephesians 5:25-26, when Paul is speaking to men about how to live with their wives. And he says this;
Ephesians 5:25–26 (CSB)
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word.
“Husbands, love your wives (I’m just shortening it here to get the essence
of it) love your wives with the Word.”
In other words, a man should lead with spiritual truth when he’s in relationship to a woman. He should lead with spiritual truth – not she should lead. He should lead. That’s a real key — a real nugget to satisfaction and social health, not just for the marriage itself, but for the community at large. It comes under the banner and command, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” - not with dysfunctional kids, but with healthy ones.
To do that, someone’s got to deposit the truth and be the standard bearer. In the “original blueprints”, that scepter is given to the man.
2d. God then gifts Adam is given a helper to compliment him and fulfill the call to build an earthly family and rule the earth.
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him.”
“Then the Lord God said, ‘it is not good for the man to be alone (up
to this point everything I’ve told you Adam’s been alone, but at this
point He says…) I will make him a helper suitable for him.’”
Now, I want you guys to listen real closely. I know some of this is a little uncomfortable. The deepest and most profound differences between a man and a woman – male and female – are not physical. They’re intensely sociological. What’s happening here in Genesis is what you and I as men feel right now. It is a relational dance between these two equally endowed, equally valuable counterparts. This relational dance poses a very big question that is pertinent to the very core of masculinity - if it’s a relational dance, then who leads? And who follows?
Do you see how relevant Genesis is? Is that not the question of the 21st Century? Today, in the sociological realms of the everyday life, we as men will experience this - whether this week when you take a girl out on a date – or when you go home to the woman you married. This world is intensely sociological. There’s a relational dance going on between man and woman - who leads? - who follows?
Sarah and I recently attempted to prepare for Aaron and Chloe’s wedding by trying to get a few ballroom dances down. Now, this had been instigated by Paul and Heather Painter. Well needless to say, I was supposed to lead. There had been many miscues and stepped on toes. We got it down enough for me not to make a total fool of myself. However, Paul and Heather worked at it and as he lead at the wedding, and they moved together, each playing their part, it would make Justin Timberlake feel insecure. But that’s the beauty of willingling enjoying your roles.
So, in this moment in Genesis, here’s what I want you to understand, Adam discovered more than a work to do in the garden. He discovered more than a will to obey. He also discovered a social counterpart, who will not only offer him help – great help in his life – but is also looking to him and looking at him to lovingly lead her to fulfillment. That’s what we begin to discover here in Genesis.
This is an incredible moment, and God calls her ‘helper.’ Now, if she’s called ‘helper,’ what does that make the man? Well, it doesn’t tell us in the passage. We’re supposed to assume that meaning. But thousands of years later in the Scriptures they have a term for what the man is. Here’s what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11, as he’s speaking to a church;
1 Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.
“I want you to understand, that Christ is the Head of every man, and the
man is the head of a woman, and God is the Head of Christ.”
3 But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ.
Now what you see in that is Christ is not inferior to God. Christ is equal to God. That’s part of the whole wonder of the Trinity. Yet they have a relationship that requires roles and order. You see it in that passage. In the midst of explaining that, he also says ‘I want you to also know that, as I created man and woman in My likeness, I also created relationships and roles and social order.’ Men, we need to understand this because, it is the key to your masculinity – at least one of the keys.
So, here, at the beginning – in this foundational work – what we begin to understand is that there’s a woman who’s going to be looking at a man, and to a man, to take the lead in order to bring about fulfillment in her life. That’s the way it is even to this day because men are called, from the very beginning, to be social and spiritual leaders. This principal is at the very core of real authentic manhood.
Genesis has a lot more to say about this and a lot of other things that will help us formulate the definition of manhood – a lot more! We’ll look at it next week.
Thoughts to discuss about family and marriage:
1. How can couples apply the principle of leaving and cleaving in their marriages?
2. What does Genesis 2 teach us about the roles and responsibilities of husbands and wives?
3. How can couples cultivate intimacy and emotional connection in their marriages?
4. What does it mean to have a God-centered marriage, and how can couples strive for this in their relationship?