Sex in Genesis 2:18-25
Summarising this, by Martin Davie.
- Humanity has always been sexually differentiated. The man was always a man, and the woman was a woman from the moment she was formed from his side.
- Men and women can only fulfil their God given vocation together. Even as he carried out his God-given work in the garden (Gen 2:15), it was ‘not good’ for the man to be alone (Gen 2:18).
- Men and women are suitable helpers for one another because they share in an equal humanity. But they are not equal and the same; they are equal and opposite, as are the opposite banks of a river.
- Although the man has a certain precedence over the woman (1 Cor 8 and 1 Tim 2:13), the emphasis in Gen 2 is not on his priority but on their equality. To quote Bromiley: ‘As in the Trinity the Father, as the fount of deity, has a certain precedence over the Son and the Spirit, yet all are equally God in eternal interrelation, so it is with man and woman in the fellowship which God has purposed and created.’
- Marriage is founded in God’s creation of human beings as male and female. According to Gen 2:24, ‘God’s bringing together of the first man and woman is the origin of the social institution of marriage.’
- This chapter sets out the character of marriage as ordained by God:
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- It is a relationship outside the family circle. ‘A man leaves his father and mother’. This rules out incest.
- It is a relationship that is to be freely chosen. It is recognised and affirmed by the man himself.
- It is an exclusive relationship between one man and one woman. Polygamy, which is mentioned from Gen 4:19, is contrary to the nature of marriage as ordained by God.
- It is a sexual relationship. There is a physical union which follows the ‘leaving’ and ‘cleaving’.
- It is a permanent relationship. The word translated ‘cleave’ is also used for the permanent bond which joins God and his covenant people (Deuteronomy 10:20, Joshua 22:5, 2 Kings 18:6).
- It is ordered towards procreation. Gen 2:24 itself is silent about this, leaving us to infer that the marriage relationship has value in and of itself. Yet it is through marriage that human beings begin to fulfil the command to ‘be fruitful and multiply’ (Gen 1:28).
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- It is a relationship which was, at first, untainted by sin and guilt. Gen 2:25 tells us that the man and his wife were naked, but not ashamed. This echoes God’s original verdict on his creation as ‘very good’.