Where Do We Come From?预览

Formed by God (2)

“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 then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib He had taken out of the man, and He brought her to the man.” (Genesis 2:21-22)

When God created the dry land and the seas, the plants and trees, the sun, moon and stars, and all the different animals, “He saw that it was good.” Each part of creation was complete and fully functional once God had made it. However, when He had created the first human, God said: “It is not good that the man should be alone.” Something important was missing. This first man needed “a helper suitable for him.” So, God formed a second human, not out of dust but out of one of the man’s ribs. This second person was literally “taken out of man.” She was his counterpart. That is, the Bible tells us, why a man leaves his parents to be united to his wife. The two belong together.

Both man and woman were uniquely formed by the Lord God. They were not literal copies. And yet, both were similarly created in God’s image, which set them apart from any other creatures. This is, in a nutshell, the biblical view on men and women: both were uniquely designed and created by God to help and complement one another.

In our broken world, the unity between husband and wife is not a given anymore. Do you think this institution is still valid? Why or why not?