Wednesday AM Bible Study; August 20, 2025 – Genesis 2:18-25

Theme: God designed marriage for the good of humanity and the advancement of its created design.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

Click HERE for the audio version of this Bible Study.

Click HERE for the livestream archive of this Bible Study.

¹ Over the past few weeks, we have been considering how the Book of Genesis gives us the basic building blocks for a biblical view of humankind. So far, we have looked at what Genesis tells us about the objective aspects of man’s created nature (that is that, toward his Creator, he is “image-bearer”, and that, toward the creation, he is “dominion-keeper”); and also what it tells us of the subjective aspects of his nature (that is that he was made with an essential need for relationship with his Creator; and that this relationship with One who made Him for Himself is to be expressed in a loving obedience). And now, we consider what Genesis tells us about God’s design for the deepest inter-human relationship possible—the marital relationship. If ever there was a subject in which we needed a sure word from God, it is this one; and if ever there was a time when that sure word needed to be faithfully declared, it is today. Genesis 2:18-25 tells us the story:

And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said:

“This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed (Genesis 2:18-25).

This passage tells us a story that is filled with beauty and majesty in its own right. But more, it tells us something that informs our understanding of God’s design for humankind. It begins by telling us that … 1. MARRIAGE BETWEEN ONE MAN AND ONE WOMAN IS IN ACCORDANCE WITH GOD’S DESIGN OF HUMANITY ITSELF. This is reflected to us in the first passage of the Bible that tells us anything about humankind at all. In Genesis 1:26-28, we’re told,

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth (1:26-28).

At the very beginning of humanity’s story, we’re told that its basic identity as a creation of God was not as something singular, but as something plural. As we read in the latter half of verse 27, “male and female He created them.” In other words, humankind is not to be considered completely humankind—or, if you will, ‘man’ as a unique creation of God, is not to be considered completely ‘man’ as God intended—unless it is understood to be constituted of both male and female together. Both are made in the image of God, and both are fundamental to the full definition of humanity. Note also that God’s design of humanity as both male and female is essential to the “dominion-keeping” mandate that He gave to them. We read in verse 28, “Then God blessed them [that is, blessed them both together equally], and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” That mandate was not given to the man alone, or to the woman alone, but to both together. Obviously, the command of God to “be fruitful and multiply” cannot be fulfilled except by them both together in the complementarity of male and female. In our day, this needs to be graciously but resolutely affirmed—not from out of the motive of bigotry and intolerance, but out of the motive of humble and reverent faithfulness to God’s expressed design in His word. Based on Genesis 1, we must affirm that mankind was designed by the Creator—at the very beginning—for heterosexual monogamy. No provision was made at the beginning for any other kind of coupling; nor was any provision made for the idea of freely transitioning from one gender to another, or for the identification of any other gender than those two alone. This design for human physiology and human marriage, as it was given in Genesis 1 and 2, was also affirmed (although in a different context) by our Lord Jesus Christ. In Matthew 19, He was being confronted by the Pharisees, who were testing Him. They presented Him with the question of whether or not it was lawful—according to the law of Moses—for a man to divorce his wife for any reason. They were hoping in this way to catch Him in a contradiction with the law of Moses and to thus embarrass Him in front of the people. But the Lord answered:

“Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:4-6).

What is so often ignored in the current debate over whether or not gender is fluid, or whether or not marriage can be freely redefined in order to conform to changing cultural attitudes, is the all-important question of Who designed and established these designations first. If ‘marriage’ was defined only by human culture and custom, then of course marriage between one man and one woman would not be an authoritative pattern; and people can redefine its meaning, and can freely alter it into whatever configuration that changing cultural values or changing human wishes may imagine—or even abolish it altogether. And if gender is a mere cultural construct, then a person’s gender can be whatever any particular individual person may wish it to be. But if these things are defined and established by the Creator as an immutable expression of His fundamental design at the point of creation, then they cannot be dispensed with or altered without rebelling against God’s design and causing harm to humanity itself. As an aside, note that in our Lord’s words, He quoted from both the Genesis 1 passage (‘made them male and female,’ ) and the Genesis 2 passage (‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’) together; and treated them as a unit. Many have argued that the story of Genesis 1 is so different from the story of Genesis 2 that they must be two different ‘creation’ myths from two different sources that stand in contradiction to one another. But our Lord’s words show that there is no contradiction between them at all. He quoted from both passages in immediate context to one another; and He treated them as two accounts, with two different purposes, that harmonized into one whole in such a way as to tell the same story of human creation and human marriage in completion. The second thing that this passage in Genesis 2 tells us about God’s design for marriage is that … 2. THE INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE MEETS AN ESSENTIAL HUMAN NEED. The main focus of the story of the creation of the first man and first woman in Genesis 1 is to tell us the story of God’s basic design for humankind, and to show us the mandate He gave to the first couple after they were both made. But the main focus of the story of the man and woman in Genesis 2 is to tell us the story of the beginning of marriage itself. There, the passage begins with these words in verse 18: “And the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him’” Note that, for the first time, God—who had declared His creation to be good—now declared that something about His creation is not good. It was not that it was not truly good at the beginning, but rather that what was good had not yet been fully completed. This lets us know that God made the first woman to fill his need for a companion suitable to him. Consider how God gently revealed Adam’s need to him. We’re told, “Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.” As we’ve seen previously, the naming of the creatures would have required careful study on the part of the man in order to capture each one’s essence in a name. But the process of doing so helped raise within man a perhaps-painful sense of his own incompleteness. “So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him” (vv. 19-20). Adam thus having looked at all the animals God had made, seen their pairing, and having realized that no other creature was compatible to him, we’re told, “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man” (vv. 21-22). Note that the woman was not taken from his head in order to be his ruler, nor from his foot in order to be his underling, but from his side in order to be his partner. And the woman was not taken from a different source than him, but from his own body, so that man and woman may truly become ‘one flesh’—with the woman being just as much an image-bearer of God as the man. Man’s response at seeing her was enthusiastic: “And Adam said: ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman [Ishshah], because she was taken out of Man’ [Ish]” (v. 23). This may have indicated that Adam was allowed to know in advance what God was putting him to sleep to do for him. Now; while affirming that there is no other design for marriage than as one man and one woman for life—and while demonstrating that marriage is necessary for the fulfillment of God’s dominion mandate over creation—it’s important to recognize that the New Testament nevertheless teaches that not all men or all women need to be in a marriage relationship. When the apostles suggested to the Lord that it may be better not to marry, He responded by saying,

“All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given: For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it” (Matthew 19:10-12).

In writing his instructions to the Corinthian believers about marriage, the apostle Paul expressed his desire that he wished, because of the hardness of the times, that all could be as he was—that is, unmarried (see 1 Corinthians 7:7, 17, 28-35). If a particular believer, then, has the ‘gift’ of singleness—feeling no compelling need for sexual intimacy or for the building up of a family—that gift should be recognized and respected. But in consistency with the Scriptures, we need to faithfully affirm that heterosexual/monogamous marriage is God’s only provision to meet the essential and legitimate need that men and women have for companionship, sexuality, and the raising of a family; and that it is the only institution given within which those needs may be fully met with His blessings and with innocence in His sight (1 Corinthians 7:1-9). And finally, this passage in Genesis 2 affirms to us that … 3. MARRIAGE IS ITSELF ORDAINED AND BLESSED BY GOD. The Holy Spirit saw fit to include this closing comment after the story of the woman’s creation from man: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (v. 24). God’s word thus defines a marriage as being constituted of these three basic essentials: that (1) a man (a male) “leave” the direct supervision and authority of the home of his father and mother—making a socially recognized and sanctioned separation of his household from theirs; (2) that he “cleave” to his wife (a female)—entering into a publicly recognized covenant with her in such a way that the newly formed bond is life-long and inseparable; and (3) that the thus-covenanted man and woman exclusively becoming “one flesh”—which involves not only the physical relationship, but the unity of the whole life in such a way that a new “kinship” is formed. (See Judges 9:2; where a man went to a relative—one of his own kinsmen—and said, “Remember that I am your own flesh and bone”). As God our Creator has specifically defined it, marriage is an essential institution that He has ordained for the good of humanity that involves—at the barest minimum—the three components of a man leaving father and mother, cleaving to his wife, and the two becoming one flesh. It’s not ‘obsolete’ for our day, nor is it merely optional for those who may wish to choose not to enter into it as the context for their sexuality. It is an institution that is based on mankind’s fundamental design as a created being, and that is to be honored as such in all cultures and at all times. As it says in Hebrews 13:4;

Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge (Hebrews 13:4).

In fact, God’s word speaks of it in a way that is not true of any other human institution. God has declared that He gave it to humankind as the picture of the greater relationship that Jesus Christ holds forever with His redeemed people:

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband (Ephesians 5:22-33).

It’s no coincidence that God caused Adam to sleep when his bride was formed for him; because this is a picture of how our Lord Jesus ‘slept’ in death in order for His bride to be formed for Him after His resurrection. And it’s no coincidence that our Lord was pierced in His side on the cross for us; just as Adam’s bride was taken from his own side to be formed from him as one with him. Truly, earthly marriage can have no greater honor—or be sanctified to a higher level—than to be declared to have been given by God as a picture on earth of the eternal relationship Christ enjoys with His precious Bride, the Church.

________________________________________

¹Much of the material for this study was adapted from the Bethany Bible Church study, Genesis & A Biblical Worldview (2012), Lesson 10.

AE