Genesis 2:21 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Genesis 2:21

Comments

‘The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam.’ There is no sin yet, and so there is no punishment. There's no disorder or deterioration; there's no nothing like pain. ‘And he took one of his ribs’ – literally one of his sides, but everybody agrees that though it is ‘sides’ in the Hebrew, it should be translated ‘ribs’ here – ‘and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.’ This is not a new creation, but mysteriously part of him.The woman was not subordinate in the Garden of Eden – that subordination came after the fall. After the fall women had their joint authority reduced. After the fall there was a great difference made, but from the beginning she was a counterpart; she was ‘an help meet’ or suitable to him. Literally, the Hebrew says, a help corresponding to him; she was his counterpart; she corresponded to him. The creation of man wasn’t actually complete until the woman was formed – ‘built’ is the word in the Hebrew – and together they constituted mankind. She had things he did not have; she complemented him. She was his helper, his counterpart; actually, from the beginning, his equal, his companion. and to some extent she still is. When we think of the fall and the exercise of authority, then certainly in spiritual matters, in the church, the office of teaching men – she is subordinate. I am not talking about outside spiritual matters or the church; that is another discussion. But her desire is to please the man. Of course she can rebel against that, and a woman can be very much against her husband, very hostile to him, very critical of him, and want to dominate him, but it is not what is natural for her. For a woman to sin in that way she has got to overcome something which is natural for her – to want to consider first her husband and follow him. So it is a double sin if you like. However, there are some things unchanged. She is still his counterpart. She is still his equal in a sense. He needs her, and though he is to be her head in marriage and in the church, he had better consider her and take account of her and be very sensitive, very kind, and very careful.

Application

Some cultures in the world have got it all wrong. The husband is not only dominant, he is regarded as superior, as special. He can be rough; he can be unkind; he need not take account of her; her feelings and her views are inadequate and inferior. Well that is sinful. She was appointed to be his helper. There are some people who say a woman must not do anything for the Lord. She should stay at home, cook the meals, wash the dishes, bring up the children, and do as she is told. But in the beginning she was Adam’s equal, his counterpart, his helper, engaged with him in all he did. So husbands have a duty and a task (born-again husbands with hopefully born-again wives) to potentiate them. Do they not have their areas of Christian service, their right to fulfilment, and exercise of gifts for the Lord of Glory? Of course they do. But there are some Christian people who deny that, and that is a total failure to read even the narrative of the Garden of Eden. So she was his counterpart.

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Introduction

Genesis 2:21 Commentary and Bible Study