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"The Creation of Woman"

Genesis 2:18-25

October 6, 2002

Just a few weeks ago, I had the privilege of officiating at another wedding. Of all my responsibilities as a pastor, weddings are one of the most fun things I get to do. 

A wedding is a celebration! It is the joining of a man and a woman together in a beautiful picture of unity. They become a new family, “one flesh,” and we rejoice at that. It is wonderful because each person watching the ceremony, every man and every woman, feels this deep yearning and hope inside for a deep, intimate, satisfying relationship with somebody—with absolutely no barriers, with complete trust and confidence and fidelity. With every new marriage, that hope is rekindled in each of us. “Ahh, yes! The joy of an intimate union between two people. That is the way it is meant to be!” 

The second chapter of the book of Genesis tells the story of the first wedding ceremony. The first marriage of the first man and woman is meant to give us insight into the purpose of marriage. And on a larger scale, this chapter gives us insight into the very nature of humanity—we begin to understand that desire in each of us for intimate relationship.

1. We were made as relational creatures (Genesis 2:18)

“The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’” (Genesis 2:18)

In the Genesis 2:4, we began the second telling to the story of creation. Genesis 1:1 through Genesis 2:3 is the story of creation in a poetic version, with God as the only character. Starting in Genesis 2:4, we read the same story, told in a different way. In Genesis 2, verses 4 through 17, we are told the story of how God formed the first man from the ground and planted a garden in which this man would live in relation with God. Where we pick up the story here in verse 18, God says something startling in the flow of what we have been reading. He says, “It is not good…” So far, God’s evaluation has been that everything has been “good” or “very good.” But now something is “not good.” What is that? Why is that?

“It is not good for the man to be alone.” 

What God is saying is this: Humanity is created in the image and likeness of God. God is relational—God exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We read in the first creation account, “God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27).

God speaks in the plural, “Let us make humanity in our image, in our likeness…” The plural eternal relationship is indicated there—the relationship that has always eternally existed within the Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit). 

God therefore makes humanity in plurality as well, as creatures that will live in a triune relationship as well. We are meant to live in relationship with fellow human beings, and with God.

As God is relational, he created humanity to be relational.

So God says, “I will make a helper suitable for him.” (Genesis 2:18)

While this verse has been misinterpreted to justify our evil world’s determination to demean and belittle women, this Bible verse actually does the exact opposite. The Hebrew word  'ezer  “helper” is not a subordinate term. Nothing in the word “helper” suggests a subservient status of the one helping. In fact, that Hebrew word usually refers elsewhere in the Bible to God as our “helper.” God is not inferior to us when he helps us, so it cannot mean that the woman is somehow inferior to the man in being his helper. Maybe we would better say that the “helper” is more like a “partner,” one who willingly comes alongside and helps with the work that the man is responsible for doing there in paradise. 

We get even more insight into God’s intentions for the relationship between man and woman when we understand the next word—“I will make a helper suitable for him.” The Hebrew word literally means, “like opposite him,” or “matching him.” We could properly translate it as “his companion” or “his counterpart.” It means that this person is the exact match to compliment the man. 

So, God is actually saying, “We, in the Godhead, have created humanity to be relational like us. It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make a partner-counterpart for him.”

If we go back to the illustration of the relationship within the Trinity as a blueprint of the relationship within the human race, we will see this again:

The Holy Spirit is not inferior to the Son, but the Holy Spirit works alongside the Son to do the Father’s will. In the same way, but not exactly, the woman is not inferior to the man, but works alongside the man to do God’s will.

What this says to us today is this:

1. Men are to see women not as less, but as partner-counterparts. We are still in the midst of trying to figure out what’s what in the wake of the women’s rights movement. Some want to completely obliterate any differences between men and women, others want to take us back a couple centuries when women “knew their place.” Somewhere in there is a biblical balance. In God’s eyes, women are created in His image every bit as much as men. In God’s eyes, there are proper ways for men and women to relate to each other. In God’s eyes, women are not less than men, women are the partner-counterparts of men.

2. Women are to see themselves not as less, but as created in the image of God, and willing to work side-by-side with men. Culture still seeks to squash a woman’s desire to contribute in a meaningful way to society, to culture, to church, to business. Women are still paid less than men; women are still treated with less respect. But what is sad is that women are taught to accept this as normal—which it should not be. While there are certain roles that only men and women can fulfill—for instance, women are meant to be mothers, men are meant to be fathers (these are not interchangeable roles)—that does not mean that motherhood is less than fatherhood! Anybody with a mom or a wife that is a mom can tell you quite the opposite! Women should not see themselves as less, simply because they are women.

3. We need relationship. We have been created to be in relationship. It is not good to live in isolation. Now, this does not necessarily mean just in marital relationship, though this is the primary meaning here. If you are single, you still need relationship—you must find friends that you can be open and trusting with, and you, of course, have Jesus Christ as your spiritual spouse if you are a believer. That is the New Testament teaching (see 1 Corinthians 7). It is striking, almost shocking, that God’s words are, “It is not good to be alone.” We were created for intimate relationship.

2. We cannot find this kind of intimate relationship with the animals (Genesis 2:19-20)
"Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found." (Genesis 2:19-20)

In Ancient Near Eastern culture, the naming of something or someone denotes authority. We see Adam’s ruling over the animals as he names each one. This is what we read in the first creation story of chapter one when God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (Genesis 1:26)

But as all these animals are paraded in front of Adam, no partner-counterpart can be found among them. These animals are all inadequate for this awesome task. God knew this, so why would he first have Adam name all the animals before creating woman? Some have speculated that God purposely put Adam in this position of looking at all these pairs of animals so that he could think, “Hey! I need a partner too!” God waits until Adam is prepared to appreciate the gift of woman.

Now, your dog may be “man’s best friend,” but your dog cannot fulfill your deepest need for human companionship. This passage is telling us that we need to connect with others—not just in man-woman marital relationships, but in deep friendships as well. Animal companionship can only go so far. While some men treat their wives like dogs (“Fetch me a beer!”), our relationship is meant for more than that! If you are married, ask yourself, “How have I been treating my spouse? Like an animal, or like my partner-counterpart?”

3. We can only find intimate relationship with God’s created partner-counterpart (Genesis 2:21-25)

"So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man." (Genesis 2:21-22)

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