Men and Women in Genesis

Definition

God has prepared human beings, male and female, with the spiritual capacity and communal assistance to serve him and to keep his commands so that they might live and enjoy the bounty of His creation.

Three Truths from Genesis

1. God made Adam before Eve (The Father begot the Son, the Father and Son begot the Spirit)

The Father sends the Son, the Father and Son send the Spirit

It is easy for us to think “so what that Adam was made first, is that really important?” And there are wrong interpretations of this, there are misapplications of this truth, and there is the way that culture shapes how we look at this subject. Our cultural context emphasizes individualism, that no one has authority over me.

But we have to look what is happening in the Garden. Because what happened before Adam and Eve? God made order out of the universe and out of the earth. Then after God has made order out of the rest of creation God makes Adam and then Eve and God entrusts them with all of creation as His image bearers. They have been given a job. So with a job there are roles given.

1 Corinthians 11:8–12 “For man did not come from woman, but woman came from man. Neither was man created for the sake of woman, but woman for the sake of man. This is why a woman should have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, and man is not independent of woman. For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman, and all things come from God.”

Genesis 1–11:26 (3) The Man’s Companion, the First Woman (2:18–25)

First, the participant structure of Genesis 2–3 shows implicitly the hierarchy of creation: God, the man, woman, and animal (serpent). But this was reversed in the fall: the woman listens to the serpent, the man listens to the woman, and no one listens to God

What we see is that there are consequences to the authority given to Adam. That He has to take responsibility for His choices and for Eve’s. And in fact Adam now bears the responsibility for all sins for all people until Jesus.

God made them the same but different

Give me some words to describe what a man is.

Give me some words you would use to describe what a woman is.

Notice there are far more things that are the same about us than different.

When God made humankind in Genesis 1:27 notice what is says. “So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.”

-This is already giving us a countercultural idea of men and women. Women not as property, but as equal image bearers in creation.

-Women are not “lesser man” but equally important

Then when God takes Eve from Adam’s “side” it shows that they come from the same source of creation. People like to take a lot of liberties in their belief about what it means that Eve was made from Adam.

There is a famous quote from an old commentary that says ““He [God] thought to himself: ‘We should not create her beginning with the head, so that she not be frivolous, nor from the eye, that she not be a starer [at men], nor from the ear, that she not be an eavesdropper, nor from the mouth, that she not talk too much [a gossip], nor from the heart, that she not be jealous, nor from the hand, that she not be light-fingered, nor from the foot, that she not be a gadabout, but from a covered up place on man.”

But the text doesn’t tell us this, it doesn’t imply it.

(and no, Adam was not “bisexual” before he made Eve)

2. God made them to complement one another (Each part of the Trinity has an “economic” role to play)

The Son and Spirit are equal to the Father in power, glory, and being. The Father initiates the plan of Salvation, the Son accomplishes salvation, the Spirit applies salvation.

God said it was “not good for man to be alone”.

Adam goes to all the other animals, but none of them are a “suitable” helpmate.

Eve was made as a “helper” (or corresponding to) and made from his side

They are made to fellowship with one another

What is a helpmate?

It is someone who provides what is lacking in another. What one is not able to do on their own.

Exodus 18:4 “and the other Eliezer (because he had said, “The God of my father was my helper and rescued me from Pharaoh’s sword”).”

1 Samuel 7:12 “Afterward, Samuel took a stone and set it upright between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, explaining, “The Lord has helped us to this point.””

So what we see is that what Adam lacked is what Eve would supply, and what we can also assume is that where Eve lacked, Adam would supply.

It shows that from the beginning we weren’t made to be able to fulfill our purpose as mankind outside of others. That they couldn’t receive all of God’s blessing outside of relationship. They were to rule over creation together. We will see this even more fully when God will say that the “seed” of Eve will bring salvation. This means that Adam and Eve must be in relationship in order for this to occur.

Our tendency is to believe that our relationships should NOT define us, that our value should be based solely on our own character, to not need others. To NEED another person means that we are showing weakness, that there is a problem with us. But we were meant for that.

This isn’t just about marriage

-When we isolate ourselves, when we seek “independence” it is often us not knowing how to create good boundaries in healthy relationships.

-You all believe you want independence from your parents, but you will learn that it is okay to be dependent on their help as you grow into who you are as a person and don’t have the resources your parent do.

Community was made for our joy

Notice how Adam responds to Eve. He is overjoyed with one who is like him that he gets to enjoy this Garden with, one who is “flesh of his flesh”.

-He calls her issa which is play on the name for man which is is and also his name adam and him calling her adama

3. God made marriage as a perfection union between two people (The Trinity is an eve more perfect and holy union)

Marriage was always exclusive, it was always supposed to be permanent, and from the beginning God blessed this as a covenant that leads to the flourishing of mankind.

This union means that they are to love one another as much as themselves. No jealousy, greed, pride, or dishonesty. But the fall will cause issues here.

-”To love and to cherish” becomes “to desire and to dominate”

“One flesh” means a spiritual and intellectual unity

There are three parts given in this relationship.

Man will leave his father and mother

Be united to his wife

A public declaration of their unity

In the Garden, there was no division between Adam and Eve. Eve was his helpmate, but they didn’t have conflict or issues. What happens as mankind falls is that this order is reversed.

But before the fall they felt no “shame” there was no rivalry or exploitation. They were in a relationship of perfect integrity and unity. But Jesus calls husband to love their wives as Christ loved us and calls wives to submit to their husbands as to Christ.

Jesus tells us that what God has brought together man should not separate. Why? Because you can’t undo the “one flesh” that has been created in marriage. The emotional, spiritual, and physical bond can’t just be broken. That one now has an obligation to your spouses before anyone else. It means that one declares to care for this other person as their own flesh.

-One common misconception is that the Bible “condones” polygamy because we see many of the men that we think of in the Bible have more than one wife. But the readers of the Bible was clearly see that this was something done against the will of God. Then every time we see a man with more than one wife we see that it creates serious issues and often tragedy as a result of it.

Three ways the Gospel shapes our relationships

They are meant for human flourishing

It shows us we were made for relationships.

“Man will not live until he loves, giving himself away to another on his own level”

-Not power, but fellowship with another.

We weren’t meant to live in isolation but rather for community

We struggle to remember that the sense of self we have in the world now isn't something that is considered in the same way we think about it now. We are relational beings and our self is tied to the entirety of the community we live in (family, church, etc). When we think about Eve being in Adam, we must remember we all come from other people. The mother of all living was first taken from another body. It doesn't mean you can only be fully human in relationship to a man or woman but that there are beautiful generations we emerge from. Adam and Eve are tied to creation.

-How many of you remember the pandemic?

We noticed how much community is necessary for us.

The fall leads to broken relationships

We want to control our own lives

The word for “desire” is one of seeking evil. Should would be an enemy towards her husband and seek to be “master” over him just as she took of the apple and went over his authority over the created order. But what would happen is that man would “rule” over His wife. He would have mastery over her. It is harsh, but that is because the effects of sin are harsh. When men are not fulfilling their roles as husbands it is not because they are fulfilling their godly commitments but they are acting in ungodly ways in their sin nature rather than what God calls them to.

Often the issue we have is, “why does Adam represent me?” “Why is the husband the “head””? What makes someone qualified to represent me? We need to expand the categories of representation.

We believe it means someone who is as close to me as possible, but that is a problem that is brought to us by the fragmentation of our culture where we only find safety in likeness. We are so nervous about representations because we are scared they won't care for our needs, that marriage must be perfectly equal rather than recognize it is about one who is willing to stand and take responsibility. Jesus shows us this, He cares for our needs, Jesus becomes our spiritual head and He takes the responsibility for our sin.

Men can abuse their power. Men are also be prone to being passive towards their authority just like we see Adam was when Eve was talking with the serpent.

But women can often consider men “no good”, considering themselves smarter and on a moral highground compared to men.

We look for self-worth in the wrong places

Notice that Adam and Eve felt “no shame” in their nakedness. But then after the fall they do. Why do they feel shame? It isn’t actually an emotional response, it is a response to this new knowledge, of good and evil. That now this person may or may not enjoy the knowledge of my body.

-Now, in our culture people often don’t feel “shame” when people see their bodies and they let many people see them in their nakedness, to have this knowledge.

-But what this means is that we allow people to “know” our bodies in a way that only a spouse should know our bodies. There is a consequence to this.

-When our bodies become primarily “sexual” than our worth is then determined by our sexuality, by people enjoying this knowledge of us.

-Here is also a cruel fact, there is strong evidence that many people who do porn do so because they have been sexually abused in their life. They have been “known” in a violent manner. They show themselves because they start to feel that is where their value is.

-It leads to us never being satisfied. The more knowledge you have about other peoples bodies, the more you are not satisfied in a covenantal relationship but seek things outside of it.

Marriage reflects God’s forgiveness, love, and redemption

Eve is named “life”, because from her will come the life for all mankind.

Marriage shows us God’s love for us even when we make mistakes in relationships

Marriage shows us how we can be fully known in the right way rather than the wrong way.

Christ he was pierced "in his side", there is a representation and union that comes from this taking. "I'm crucified with Christ" takes new meaning in this creation piece.

Christ becomes what we are supposed to be as image-bearers and how we are to behave toward each other. Do we have a different obligation to our spiritual brothers and sisters? There is a greater loyalty, not of kind but of degree. We behave towards human brothers and sisters in a certain way, but our calling is to be the kind of sister who reflects the image of God. Part of the ethic of the OT is that the people are to live amongst themselves in a beautiful way, but you invite the outer world into as well. We have this kindred, familial relationship that is a witness to the world.