Nurturing the NationsReclaiming the Dignity of Women in the Building of Healthy Cultures

Genesis 2Genesis 2Corresponding (Different) Corresponding (Different)

in Functionin Function

Humankind

• Two complementary types of humankind – male-adam – female-adam

• Both have been gifted differently for their community task, their complementary roles and functions are equally valuable

• And necessary for fulfilling the cultural mandate

The Unfolding of the Story

• Alone in Kind - Genesis 2:18a, 20b

• The Counterpart - Genesis 2:20

• The Creation of Eve - Genesis 2:21-22

• She Shall be Called Woman - Genesis 2:23

• The Sacred Mystery – One Flesh - Genesis 2:24

• Naked and Not Ashamed - Genesis 2:25

The Context for the Creation of the Glorious Eve

• Set # 1 Genesis 2:1-3– Questions: What role does Genesis 2:1-3

have in the narrative? What does it reveal about God?

• Set # 2 Genesis 2:4-6– Question: What are the things lacking in the

garden as we move through this transition?

• Set # 3 Genesis 2:7-8, 15– Question: How did God respond to this lack?

Play on Words:adam & adama

“Initially, God made adam out of the adama to till the adama (Gen 3:23), to bring forth life. The adama was God’s possession and under his care (Gen 2:6). Thus, the first adam (the man, Adam) and his family were to act as God’s servants by obeying him in maintaining the divinely created and intended relationships vertically and horizontally.”

Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament

Humankind: The Connection between

Heaven and Earth

Man is the one creature whose eyes are towards heaven and whose feet and hands are in the soil. Man is the connector for the carrying out of the heavenly mandate on the earth.

Alone!

• Genesis 2:18a, 20b– Questions:

• Again, here is something missing! What is missing?

• What is the relationship between these verses and Genesis 2:5b?

• Is man really alone?• What does this mean?

Alone in Kind!

• And yet Adam is alone!

• His counterpart is missing

• He is alone in kind

• The imago Dei is male and female

• Adam is “incomplete”

The Counterpart

The task of pro-creation and stewardship required not an identical one, but a similar one to complete God’s mandate!

“Suitable Helper”

• Kenegdo: “suitable,” “like him,” “corresponding-to-him,” “matching him,” or “counterpart”

• Ezer: “help,” “succor,” “assist,” “support,” “comfort”

Ezer

• Question # 1: When you think of the word “helper” what images come to your mind?

• Question # 2: What kind of status does someone who is a “helper” have in your culture?

• Question # 3: What do you think the scripture means when it says that the woman is the helper of the man?

Ezer

• Set # 1: Deu. 33:26, 29; Ps. 115:9-11; Ps. 121:1-2– Questions: Who is being called ezer? What is

the nature of this ezer?

• Set # 2: Isa. 30:5; Ezk. 12:14; Dan.11:34 – Questions: What is an ezer doing in these

passages? What does this reveal about the character of an ezer?

Ezer

• Used 21 times in the O.T.– 16 times for God– 3 times for aid given to needy people– 2 times for women

The Divine Humility

“So it is with God. When He helps His people, He retains His glorious deity but (amazingly!) steps into the servant role, under us, to lift us up. He is the God who emptied Himself and came down to our level – below us, to the level of slavery – to help us supremely at the cross. Therefore, the fact that the Old Testament portrays God as our helper proves only that the helper role is a glorious one, worthy even of the Almighty.”

John Piper

Kenegdo

• The helper is a “suitable” helper.

• This is the Hebrew word kenegdo. It means “like him,” “corresponding-to-him,” “matching him,” or “counterpart.”

• Further synonyms: “suited,” “appropriate,” or “complementary.”

The Creation of Eve

Genesis 2:21-22: “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. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.”

Source of the 2nd Adam

• the first adam – male, came from the ground adama

• The second and complementary adam-female was formed from the first adam

• The man’s source was the ground. The woman’s source was the man.

Adam’s Counterpart

“She was not taken from the head, to show she was not to rule over him; nor from his foot, to teach that she was not to be his slave; nor from his hand, to show that she was not to be his tool; but from his side, to show that she was to be his companion.”

Pastor John Angell

The Glory of Woman

• Here is no slave to be ill-treated.

• Here is no property to be bought and sold.

• Here is no sex object for male pleasure.

• Here is one, not to be despised and crushed by Sexism, nor one to run from as does feminism.

The Glory of Woman

• Here is the crown of creation.• Here, in human form, from the hand of the

Creator Himself, is the manifestation of the Mother-Heart of God.

• Here is the Mother of all Living, the Wife of the first man.

• Here is the prequel to none other than the Bride of the Son of God, the one who is worthy of God Himself.

The Crown of Creation

• The crown of God’s creation is adam.

• The crown of adam-male is adam-female. Woman is the glory of the man!

She Shall Be Called Woman:

Genesis 2:23: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Õishshah [ish-shaw’] ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of Õiysh [eesh]man.”

“Called” – qara

• Hebrew word qara means “call,” “calling”• It is used in two ways

– For calling into existence– For the process of naming

• (Genesis 1:3-5): “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.”

The Concept of Naming

• Naming establishes authority of the one who names

• Naming identifies the one or thing named

Word adam used in three ways

• The generic name for the human species (Genesis 1:26)

• The name for a particular human being, the first human being – Adam (Genesis 3:17, 21, 4:1, 25; 5:1)

• A name for the male of the species (Genesis 2:5, 7, 8, 15, 16 18, 19, 20)

God spoke and created the universe. Man speaks and

creates culture.

Man’s Naming

• adam – mankind establishes its authority of creation by naming the animals (Genesis 2:19-20)

• Names woman– Generic name woman – Õishshah [ish-shaw’]

(Genesis 2:23b)– Particular name for his wife - Chavvah - Eve

(Genesis 3:20) meaning “life” or “living,” because she would become the mother of all the living.

Õiysh – Õishshah

• Õiysh is the Hebrew word for “male” and for “husband” (Genesis 2:23-24).

• Õishshah is the Hebrew word for woman.

• A Hebrew play on words: She shall be called Õishshah, because she has been taken out of Õiysh.

Õiysh – Õishshah

“this word play points to the fact that woman too is man –she man, womb-man, or female man.”

Counselor and Author Leanne Payne

Ish

The name symbolic of Yahweh’s relation to Israel

The covenant marriage between God and Israel (Exodus 19-24)

• Exodus 20:1-2 The Bridegroom reminds Israel what He has done for her

• Exodus 20-23 God tells His people how they are to live as His holy people

• Exodus 24:3 Israel says “I do!”

• Exodus 24:9-11 Wedding Feast

The Order & Ordinances of Creation

• The order of creation reveals that the man was created first (Genesis 2:7, 18).

• The woman was created for the man (Genesis 2:18, 20).

• The woman was created from the man (Genesis 21-23a).

• The woman was brought to the man (Genesis 22a).

• The woman was named by the man (Genesis 23b).

Functional Distinctions

While men and women are equal in their being, they are different in both their pro-creative and developmental responsibilities of the Cultural Mandate.

Functional Distinctions

• In the Cultural Mandate, adam-male will most fully manifest the Father-heart of God, while adam-female will most fully manifest the Mother-heart of God.

• Together as imago Dei, the purpose of their creation – to create godly culture and be Vice-regents of creation, will be fulfilled.

Complementary Roles

• The Husband: loving-serving-headship of his wife

• The Wife: loving-respectful-helping of her husband

Biblical Balance

“It is important that the cause of not imposing on women restrictions that Scripture does not impose should not be confused with the quite different goals of minimizing the distinctness of the sexes as created and of the diminishing the male’s inalienable responsibilities in man-woman relationships as such.”

J.I. Packer

The Sacred Mystery – One Flesh

Genesis 2:24: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one [echad] flesh.”

The First Wedding

• The glorious finale of the Creation story is the “wedding” of the first couple Adam and Eve

• As a picture and model– For our lives– For the consummate history when Christ

comes back for his bride

Two Hebrew Words for “One”

• Yachid – “single,” “absolute,” or “indivisible” one

• Echad – “united,” “compound, “ or “bound together” one

Hebrew “One”

• This is a unity of diversity. The perfect fitting together of very different human beings. It is the very nature of Trinity – Complementarian.

• This is not:– Unity of uniformity – the Feminist model -

Monism– Absolute diversity – The Sexist model -

Atomism

The Hauntingly Beautiful Words of Ruth to Naomi

“Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”

Three Paradigms

• In Secularism there is no soul, only flesh.

• Dualism separates the soul from the body and says that the soul is good and the flesh is bad.

• In Theism there is no split between the soul and the body. The body and soul reside together.

Yada

• Set # 1: Genesis 18:19; Deut. 34:10; Isaiah 48:8; Psalms 1:6; 37:18

• Set # 2: Ex. 33:17; Deu. 34:10

• Set # 3: Genesis 4:1; 19:8; Numbers 31: 17, 35

Marriage a Holy Estate (Domain)

• Ordained by God• Patterned on the

Trinity• Is God-Centered• Between one man

and one woman and God

• For life

• Not a social contract• Not merely a personal

contract• Not patterned after

animal behavior• Not individual-

centered• Not between

members of same sex• Not multiple partners

Three God-Ordained Institutions

• Marriage: First institution existing to fill the earth and have dominion over creation

• Civil Government: promote justice, civil order, social justice and protect against external threats

• The Church: a community of love to represent Christ and His agenda in a broken world

Family – The Building Block of Society

“It is a life-long commitment that restrains self-centeredness, self-indulgence and self-gratification. It is the one relationship that effectively prepares and conditions us for community.”

Marriage the Foundation for Social Order

By restraining self-centeredness and promoting love of another, marriage becomes the foundation for social order. Self-centeredness harms not only that relationship but also others as well until it spreads throughout society like ripples in a pond.”

Equal Different

Imago Dei Dignity-value-worth

Person-role-function

Procreation One Flesh (both equally needed)

Mother heart of God

Father heart of God

Dominion Both vice- regents:

Co-Rule

Co-Steward

Create Culture

Man: loving-serving-headship

Woman: loving-respectful-helper