From Genesis 1:27 and 5:2, God created man and woman in His image and named them collectively as “Mankind”. While they were the same in some sense, they were different in gender and in their roles.
Helpers (Gen 2:18–25)
After Adam was created, God brought every creature before him to be named, but found that none of them matched Adam-there was no suitable helper for him. So, God created Eve from Adam’s rib; another “creature” who was Adam’s replica-the bone of his bones, the flesh of his flesh. “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” (v. 24). Women were therefore not created as men’s helpers in general; a wife was created as her husband’s helper. Therefore, until their union in marriage, a man and a woman should relate to each other as father/mother or brother/sister depending on age (1 Tim 5:1–3).
A wife’s role as helper comes from God’s order of creation and events in relation to it. We see that He created man first (Gen 2:7, 1 Tim 2:13); He gave him the moral pattern of the garden first (Gen 2:16–17) and He held him accountable for failure first (Gen 3:8–10)¹. It even appears that Adam’s punishment for falling when Satan lured Eve was more severe (Gen 3:17–20). God’s intention for Adam’s “firstness” or leadership was one of great responsibility and accountability, and for Eve to support this role as a helper. Paul emphasizes the role of the husband as leader and the wife as helper in Eph 5:22–24* by comparing it to Christ’s headship of the church. Here, Christ’s love for the church is shown by the husband’s loving headship toward his wife; and the church’s glad submission to Christ is shown in the wife’s submission to her own husband². So even though we are co-heirs with Christ as God’s heirs (Rom 8:17), we submit to Him as the image of God and firstborn of all creation (Col 1:15–20). We are same same, but different³.
Husbands shall rule (Gen 3:16)
During the fall, both the man (Adam) and his wife’s (Eve’s) roles were ruined when Satan deceived them to reverse roles¹. As a result of this, Eve’s punishment included God’s charge “Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” (KJV) or “And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.” (NLT). God also says to Adam, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you” (Gen 3:17, emphasis mine). In other words, “Adam, you were listening when you should have been leading.’’¹ So although there are other views about why Satan approached Eve instead of Adam-easier prey, more gullible or weak-could it be that Satan approached her first, to switch their roles, because that is exactly what should not have been done?¹
God’s curse on Adam and Eve are not a description of the way things should be but rather describe the effects of their sin-conflict between the sexes². When Satan ignored Adam and approached Eve, he made Adam what he wanted him to be: a silent, withdrawn, weak, fearful, passive wimp-a very dangerous person². One moment he’s passive and follows Eve; and the next moment he’s angry and blames her (and God) for their problems (Gen 3:12). At this,
Satan laughs to himself and says, “Now I have created such a confusion of roles they will never sort this out. They will look at the abusive man and tell him to be more passive with women. And they will look at the abused woman and tell her to be more assertive with men. And they will never get to the root of the problem.”²
Satan had ruined God’s order, leading to domineering men and contributing to domestic violence, wife abuse, rape, sexual slurs, and various ways of belittling woman whom God created in his own image². This is not what being created in God’s image looks like. It is the result of sin.
Christianity comes in to bring healing to the relationship between men and women/man and wife. If God created us in His image as male and female, that means “equality of personhood, equality of dignity, mutual respect, harmony, complementarity, a unified destiny”². We rarely see this in the history of the world and rely on Jesus for this healing.
* We will look at this scripture when we consider submission in another article.
References:
- Piper, J. (1989, May 28). Manhood and Womanhood Before Sin. Desiring God. Retrieved May 6, 2021, from https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/manhood-and-womanhood-before-sin
- Piper, J. (1989, May 14). Male and Female He Created Them in the Image of God. Desiring God. Retrieved May 6, 2021, from https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/male-and-female-he-created-them-in-the-image-of-god
- Farlex Inc. (2015). Same same, but different. The Free Dictionary. Retrieved May 6, 2021, from https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/same+same%2C+but+different
