We find in Genesis 1 that God made both the man and the woman in the image of God and gave them a shared mandate to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. In Genesis 2 we are given details about how man and woman are different, created differently to contribute to this shared task in unique ways.
A common but erroneous view today treats men and women as the same and expects equal outcomes from them. Any difference or disparity between them in society is due to discrimination and custom, both of which are seen as evil restrictions on individual autonomy. When they get married, they are supposed to have the same role in the marriage by default. Marriage is subordinated to the pursuit of individual dreams and is a wax nose which the couple can shape as they will. This is not in accord with Scripture or the creation order it describes.
In Genesis 2, we find man and woman distinguished by their origins, names, and distinctive purposes.
What was Adam made from? Adam was formed from the ground (Gen. 2:7). What was the woman formed from? The woman was formed from Adam’s rib (Gen. 2:22)
Where does the word "Adam" come from? "Adam" (אָדָם), which can be translated as man or as the name Adam, comes from adamah (אֲדָמָה), the word for “ground” used in Genesis 2:5-7. “...the LORD God formed the Adam of dust from the adamah…” Where does the word "woman" come from? The word for the "woman" (אִשָּׁה, ishshah) is linked to אִישׁ (ish), which means man. Adam said, "she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man" (Gen. 2:23). And where does the name Eve come from? Eve (חַוָּה), the woman's second name given to her in Genesis 3:20, is from חַי, the word for living. "The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living" (Gen. 3:20).
What was Adam made from? Adam was formed from the ground (Gen. 2:7). What was the woman formed from? The woman was formed from Adam’s rib (Gen. 2:22)
Where does the word "Adam" come from? "Adam" (אָדָם), which can be translated as man or as the name Adam, comes from adamah (אֲדָמָה), the word for “ground” used in Genesis 2:5-7. “...the LORD God formed the Adam of dust from the adamah…” Where does the word "woman" come from? The word for the "woman" (אִשָּׁה, ishshah) is linked to אִישׁ (ish), which means man. Adam said, "she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man" (Gen. 2:23). And where does the name Eve come from? Eve (חַוָּה), the woman's second name given to her in Genesis 3:20, is from חַי, the word for living. "The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living" (Gen. 3:20).
Genesis 1 spoke of how mankind was made to glorify God as his image, but Genesis 2 points to additional and distinctive purposes behind the creation of man and woman. Why was Adam created? Adam was created to work the ground and keep it (2:5, 15). Before he was created, "there was no man to work the ground" (2:5), and after he was created, the Lord God "took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it" (2:15). Why was the woman created? The woman was created for Adam as a helper fit for him. God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him" (2:18, cp. 2:20).
Thus, the man was taken from the ground, named after the ground, to work the ground. The woman was taken from the man, named after the man, to help the man as one fit for him. There is a clear orientation of the man to the ground and the woman to the man. The ultimate end for both of them was the creation mandate as God's image, but Adam found the task and therefore received a beloved helper, while Eve found the man and thus received the task.
This is not just about marriage. This is about our origin as men and women. This is about how we were made and designed and named. Now, this text does show how important marriage is, how it is tied up in our very creation. Our design corresponds with marriage. Woman was taken from man, and ever since there has been a desire to become one flesh again, to be fulfilled in marriage. But these distinctions which are especially evident in the context of marriage are rooted in our natures, in our identities as men and women, and thus have implications for all of life. Here are a few of those implications.
1. With respect to each other, the man is designed for leadership. God gave his command about the trees to the man, leaving it for the man to communicate it to the woman. The man was to give instruction, direct the work, and communicate the mission.
The woman was made for the man. As 1 Corinthians 11:8-9 says, "man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man." Thus, this inequality and order is not a product of the fall, but of creation. This does not mean she was made for the man’s self-satisfying whims. She was made for the man so as to help the man with the task God had given him. So the man is designed not only to pursue this task, but is placed to lead others onward.
2. Men are designed with an orientation outward to the world while women are designed with an orientation inward to the family. Thus, men go to the front lines of work, war, and politics, while women are to be workers at home (Titus 2:5), that being the center of their work.
2. Men are designed with an orientation outward to the world while women are designed with an orientation inward to the family. Thus, men go to the front lines of work, war, and politics, while women are to be workers at home (Titus 2:5), that being the center of their work.
Not that the man should neglect his family. He cleaves to his wife (Gen. 2:24) and is responsible to raise his children well (Eph. 6:4). Nor does the woman neglect the world. She is to be a diligent and productive manager of resources as she tends to her household, and Proverbs 31 illustrates the diversity of this work. But the work and priorities of each are shaped by these basic orientations.
3. One way this orientation manifests itself is that men are given the primary task of guarding the community. The man is placed in the garden “to work it and keep it.” To “keep” is to guard and protect it. The man should defend his ground and protect his territory and home. This responsibility was expanded more in time (e.g. Neh. 4:14, Num. 1), but foundations were laid in Eden.
4. Another way this orientation manifests itself is that women are given the unique task of giving birth and nurturing the young. Eve is named as the life-giver. Women are uniquely designed to nurture and nourish children. While obviously men and women are both needed to be fruitful and multiply (and the father has responsibility for and claim to his children), yet this responsibility is especially borne by women. This takes up a great deal of energy, time, and strength. It is something that only they can do, to their credit and honor, and it also uniquely limits them. This design is a good thing, but it is considered a bad thing by egalitarians, so that abortion is brought it to abolish this difference between men and women. As the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, “It is essential to woman’s equality with man that she be the decision maker, that her choice be controlling. If you impose restraints that impede her choice, you are disadvantaging her because of her sex.”
The unique orientations of man and woman also show up in Genesis 3 after Eve and Adam sinned. What God said then to the woman had to do with her relation to childbirth and the man. The woman was cursed with pain in childbirth. She was placed again with and under her husband (see more about that here). There would be hope through childbirth.
The man was cursed in his relation to the ground. He would have pain and difficulty in his work and opposition to his cultivation of it. The ground would gain dominion over him in the end in death. From Adam came death to all mankind. Yet he would produce and eat bread. And one man would be born of woman to crush the serpent, the Lord Jesus Christ.
4. Another way this orientation manifests itself is that women are given the unique task of giving birth and nurturing the young. Eve is named as the life-giver. Women are uniquely designed to nurture and nourish children. While obviously men and women are both needed to be fruitful and multiply (and the father has responsibility for and claim to his children), yet this responsibility is especially borne by women. This takes up a great deal of energy, time, and strength. It is something that only they can do, to their credit and honor, and it also uniquely limits them. This design is a good thing, but it is considered a bad thing by egalitarians, so that abortion is brought it to abolish this difference between men and women. As the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, “It is essential to woman’s equality with man that she be the decision maker, that her choice be controlling. If you impose restraints that impede her choice, you are disadvantaging her because of her sex.”
The unique orientations of man and woman also show up in Genesis 3 after Eve and Adam sinned. What God said then to the woman had to do with her relation to childbirth and the man. The woman was cursed with pain in childbirth. She was placed again with and under her husband (see more about that here). There would be hope through childbirth.
The man was cursed in his relation to the ground. He would have pain and difficulty in his work and opposition to his cultivation of it. The ground would gain dominion over him in the end in death. From Adam came death to all mankind. Yet he would produce and eat bread. And one man would be born of woman to crush the serpent, the Lord Jesus Christ.
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