… and Man’s Mandate to Rule the Earth
Adam Needed a Helpmate Gen. 1:27-30; 2:19-20
Adam became familiar with all the animals that he was to rule over and be responsible for. (Gen.1:28). However he could not have fellowship with them. God formed the animals out of the “ground” just as he made Adams body. However, though the physical elements were the same in the bodies of both man and beast, there was not one among them to be a helper suitable for his own needs. God probably brought all the domesticated beasts before him. It was probably only those who were in the Garden of Eden. In five hours 3000 kinds could have passed before him at the rate of 10 a minute. He gave names to them as they passed before him. As one pair after another passed before him Adam could not help but be impressed with his own uniqueness, his intelligence and spirituality, but he was “alone” with no one else like him. Each animal had a mate, “but for Adam there was not found a help meet for him.” There was none like him, none he cold have fellowship with, no companion for him. He did not find one recently as there would have been no time for evolution nothing looked anything like him. His body was a human body not one of an ape. There was no evolution involved here. None of the animals were created in “Gods image,” as Adam was and he required a being of like nature to himself. He was yet incomplete without such a helper. God had do a special creation for him. He made a woman as a “helpmeet for him”.
Male and Female
Gen. 1:27 “He made them male and female”. Adam was made in the image of God. He was a person who had a relationship with Him. God made him to be king of the earth, he was to tend the garden of God, do everything he can in leading and subduing the created order to put God’s glorious power on display and he is the propagator of human life. “Male and female, He created them.” That was God’s design for marriage and procreation. Chapter 2 is an expansion on the original.
Man is to Propagate Human Life – God Pronounced a Blessing on Them
1) Gen.1:28 “And God blessed them and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” God gave them basic instructions and commission. God had created many swarms of life abundantly but with man he only created one pair. One man and one woman were made. Man has not filled the earth yet. There is enough for all 6 billion people to live off. Christ will come before man has completely destroyed the earth. Some speculate that if Adam had not fallen mankind would have gone on to colonize other planets.
It was a monogamous relationship between a man and a woman. Anything else is a distortion, and must not be condoned even by the Church. Homosexuality, bestiality, which God will judge (Rom. 1:18-32). Man is to manifest the image of God. Procreation exists in the entire animal world. There is even a procreative capacity among the plants that reproduce by means of seed or seed in fruit. God gave man relational capacities and then God gave man a helper.
God Formed Man Out of The Dust
2:7 God formed man out of the dust of the ground, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, he became a living being. However he was alone.
A Wife for Adam
2:18 “The Lord God said, “It’s not good for the man to be alone.” God made a suitable for helper for him.
Up to this point God said everything was good but now he says “it is not God for the man to be alone.” This was not someone to clean the house, do the dishes, wash his dirty cloths, and make the bed. It was someone he needed for companionship, procreation and propagation of the human race. He needs a helper, a partner, someone to compliment him, to make him complete. He needs a perfect match. God formed everything out of the ground, but there was something different about the way he formed this helper.
Vs 19. God “brought them (the beasts of the field and birds of the air) to see what Adam would name them.” What a privilege, man gave names to all the animals. The zebra, the monkey, the bear, the tiger, all the animals Adam studied them and named them. He categorized them all.
A Counterpart Could Not Be Found For Adam
Vs 20 “There was no suitable helper maybe one suitable for him.” He realized that none of the animals had been created in the image of God. They had bodies and in a sense souls but no spirits. They could not commune with Adam on a spiritual level. Any fellowship would have to be on the animal’s level. This is what happens when we try and commune with dogs etc, we have to get down to their level they cannot come up tours. There wasn’t a partner for Adam in all other creation, there wasn’t anything in the created order that was at his level. No ape or monkey would do. It had to be a human being is not to be a glorified animal, it’s to be an eternal being made in the image of God. And there was only one, and that was Adam. In all the animal kingdom, there could be found no “helper like him.” He was alone and that was not good. Before God could declare his creation “finished” and “very good” this important deficiency must be eleminated. God would provide such a helper and companion for Adam, one “like “ him, and yet different, perfectly complementing him and completing God’s work.
God Performs Surgery on Adam
Vs 21-22 “So the Lord caused the man to fall into a deep sleep.” He anesthetized him. God was preparing him for Eve. God may have explained to Adam what he was about to do. He put him in a “deep sleep” and while Adam slept, performed a marvelous surgical operation. Adam may not at first understood this but he would be greatly impressed with the formation of this new life and have wonderful fellowship with this new person.
“while he was sleeping he took one of mans ribs (or from his side) and closed up the place with flesh, and he brought her to the man.” The woman was not taken from his head (suggesting superiority to him) or from his feet (suggesting inferiority to him) but from his side suggesting equality and companionship. “and closed up the flesh thereof.” The Lord God fashioned the rib into a woman, and brought her to the man. She was made of his side to be equal with him but had a different role. She was different to him in many ways. Adam must have went like jelly at the knees and said “WOW”.
He saw the companion he was to share his life with. She was the ideal woman, the right counterpart. She was fantastically beautiful, perfect flesh, perfect bone structure, perfection altogether. She excelled in beauty and grace above all the animal and bird kingdom. She was highly intelligent, had moral and mental excellence and had Gods image. She far surpassed any woman of today. She was made for Adam because he was incomplete without her. He needed her to compliment him. Nothing can be compared to a beautiful woman. Adam saw her in her pristine glory.
The First Wedding
Gen. 2:22 – 24 When God brought the woman to the man he established marriage, the first institution. Marriage came before children, schools, governments, churches or any other social structures. God establishes the marriage and the home first. It is built upon mutual respect and love of a husband and wife. All other human institutions come form it. The following quote comes from J. Montgomery Boice “Genesis”. “Marriage is under attack today from:
A) Hedonism- the Playboy philosophy. The chief goal is pleasure not love. Sex is fun they say and there should be no restraints. One is free to have as many partners as they want. This is the “new morality”. Even Churches have taken on this philosophy or condone it. Intercourse is not private anymore.
B) Widespread acceptance of adultery. Some say having an affair spices up their marriage. But if their spouse is having an affair they are outraged, angry and shocked. Adultery has cause d the divorce rate to rise significantly. If adultery is good them why are here so many divorces? Adultery destroys marriages it des not help them. Those who sin this way try to justify themselves.
C) Ease of divorce itself. The law has made it easier. A few years back it was not as easy. The commitment taken in marriage vows is easily forgotten. Divorce cause suffering to parties, their children and relatives and friends. It is important for children to have both parents. The first thing we should do as believers is to try and repair the marriage. Divorce undermines the stability society. Divorce is not the ideal and Jesus gives the “exception rule” –“except for fornication” or sex outside of marriage. Some see divorce as an unavoidable, but regrettable, part of life; others believe that a divorce is never truly recognized by God, and view it as universally wrong. There are many views in between these extremes.
D) Legalization of abortion on demand. It has become a private affair between the woman and her doctor. The man may be left out of the decision. He is excluded form the decision even though it is his own offspring. He des not get the right to defend the child. All his rights are taken away. Each human life is precious and should be defended. Even daughters now have the right to have an abortion without parents consent.” End quote
Vs 23 The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, she shall be called woman (‘ishshah), because she was taken out of man (ish).” It seemed God took the bone as well as the flesh. Both are sustained by blood. It reminds us of Christ side being pierced for us, He entered death and not a bone of him was broken (Jn.19:34-36). From the blood of the Second Adam, Christ we receive life. Adam had a bride and Christ has a bride, the Church, “the bride of Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2). We have received life by his blood (Jn. 6:54-56).. “Thereby we become “members of his body, of his flesh, and his bones” (Eph.5:30).
A New Unit – Leaving and Cleaving
Vs 24 “Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife.” Jesus added his emphasis on marriage being God-made and lifelong: “Have you not read, he replied, that at the beginning the Creator “made them male and female,” and said, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh”? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate Matt. 19;4-6). Paul quoted this passage both form Genesis and Jesus. Christian marriage is seen by Paul (Eph.5) as paralleling the relationship between Christ. All major Christian groups take marriage to be normal and proper, to be “held in honor among all” (Heb. 13:4). Biblically, weddings are described as times of joy. In 1 Timothy 4, Paul talks of heretics who, among other things, “forbid marriage” and he describes their views as “doctrines of demons.” Other forms of marriage such as polygamy or same sex marriage contravene God’s command. Both man and woman have an inclination, desire and a capacity to be one unit in marriage. Both are called man, referring to mankind in Gen.5:1-2).
Nakedness and Sin
Vs 25 “And they were both naked.” They were not ashamed because there was nothing to be ashamed of. There wasn’t any sin. There is nothing wrong in a husband and wife being naked in their home. There is nothing to be ashamed of. We were all born naked “Naked I came form my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart” (Job 1:21). But for adults nakedness involves shame. Later because of sin they would try and cloth themselves with fig leaves and God would cover them with animal skin. “The eyes of them both were opened” (Gen.3:7). Obviously they saw each other naked before the Fall what is the difference here. The eyes were not opened physically but spiritually. “Spiritual naked ness was involved, nakedness before the holy god against whom they had sinned. (J. M. Boice-Genesis). They became aware of their sinful state.
Male and Female
Vs 27 “Male and female, He created them.” This is important. “The male is placed first and this is necessary in creation. And it shows the amazing accuracy of the book of Genesis. Genetic research confirms this, for the male has both x-chromosomes which, engender females. And y-chromosomes which engender males. Males are x and y. Females are not. If the female had been created first and the male taken out of her body, then reproduction would have been possible…impossible for there would have been nothing but x-chromosomes in which case only females could have been reproduced because females don’t have a y-chromosome. Man had to be created first because he has an x and a y chromosome and the y-chromosome produces a male and the x, female.” (John Mc Arthur- Genesis).
The Christian views of marriage.
Christians believe marriage is ordained by God for the lifelong union of a man and a woman. The foundation for this principle is in Genesis (2:24). Jesus later endorsed the scriptural principle (Gen. 1:27; 2:7-25). He pointed to the completion of the creation “male and female he created them.” And he described marriage as a relationship, a union, so intimate and real that “the two become one flesh.” The husband and wife are individually of equal value and are one. Jesus then emphasized that marriage was God-made and lifelong: “Have you not read, he replied, that at the beginning the Creator “made them male and female,” and said, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh”? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate (Matt.19:4-6; Mk. 10:6:9).
Paul quoted these passages from both Genesis and Jesus. (1 Cor. 6:15-17; Eph. 5:30-32).
Jesus put his seal on the dignity of the institution of marriage by performing the first of the recorded miracles of Jesus at a wedding. (Jn.2:1-11).
Christian marriage is seen by Paul (Eph.5) as paralleling the relationship between Christ and the Church. He showed the parallel with the Old Testament relationship between God and Israel (Eph. 5:21-33; Rev. 19:7).
Christian Marriage is often viewed as a picture of the Trinity. The man and woman man are separate individuals, and in Christian marriage they become joined by God as one flesh in a manner analogous to Adam and Eve, who were distinct persons though literally created from the same flesh (Gen. 2:23-25; Matt. 19:4-6; Mk. 10:7-9; 1 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 5:30-32). The relationships — (a) in the Trinity, (b) between husband and wife, and (c) between Christ and individual believers — are analogous to each other. Each of these relationships points to the unity of individual believers and the Church with Christ and with the Father. Christian marriage is portrayed as the epitome of mutuality. Neither spouse owns her or his own body; that body belongs to the other spouse, and to them both jointly (1 Cor.7:4).
Christians view marriage to be normal and proper, to be “held in honor among all” (Heb. 13:4). Scripture describes weddings as times of joy. In 1 Tim. 4:1-3, Paul talks of heretics who, “forbid marriage” and some other heresies and describes their views as “doctrines of demons.” Not everyone is gifted to marry celibacy is a gift of God but marriage is the norm and standard. (1 Cor.7:8-9). Some may decide no to marry because they are living in difficult times and marriage would be out of the question i.e. extreme persecution for Christians.
Most Christian wedding ceremonies take place in churches. But now that the person who is responsible for the ceremony is registered he may marry the couple where he deems appropriate.
Divorce is less than ideal. However, some see divorce as an unavoidable, but regrettable, part of life; others believe that a divorce is never truly recognized by God, and view it as universally wrong. There are many views in between these extremes.
Liberals who say they are Christians have permitted non Biblical relationships such as homosexual marriage or endorsing the right for two individuals to live together and have sexual relationships or even sex before marriage (fornication) without being married. Even extramarital affairs (adultery) and no-fault divorce is tolerated by liberals. This is happening in spite of the fact that these practices conflict with doctrinal beliefs present in Christianity since its founding.
Marriage an interpersonal relationship by two people and is recognized by the state, or given religious recognition. It is often created as a contract or through civil processes. Civil marriage is the legal concept of marriage as a governmental institution.
Other forms of marriage that are not recognized by God are polygamy—in which a person takes more than one spouse (marriage partner), same sex marriage, or forced marriage.
There are many wrong reasons for marriage, some marry because they are lonely, others because all there are married, others because it will give them security, others for economic reason, to obtain citizenship, just to have children, some because it fulfills a legal obligation i.e. a will that states the beneficiary should be married, some because it raises their status in society or it may help there education, some because it legitimizes sexual relations or a public declaration of love. People should marry for love.
The wedding ceremony can be performed by either by a religious officiant, by a secular government-sanctioned officiator, or (in weddings that have no church or state affiliation) by someone registered by the state. Marriage creates obligations between the individuals involved, and in many societies, their extended families, that is why vows are made.