Genesis - "order of creation"

The "Order of Creation" idea, also known by other names, is the man-made idea that because the woman was made, after, for, and from the man, the woman is therefore under some sort of extra "authority" that men possess over women. This is a false idea; it is unBiblical.

The woman was made after the man. This fact says nothing about any extra authority in the man. An argument could be made that this fact means woman is superior to man since she was made last. I make no such argument. However, being made after certainly does not mean man is superior to woman nor that the man has any sort of extra authority.

Woman was made from the man. Genesis 2:22-23 says "Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called "woman" for she was taken out of man.'" This statement Adam speaks says nothing about him ruling over the woman, but rather that she is a human being just like himself; equal to himself - "bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh."

The woman was made for the man. Genesis 2:18 says: "The Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable to him.'" The original word for "helper" is used often in the Old Testament, most often in reference to God being a "helper" to His people. It has no connotation of rank.

The facts that the woman was made after, for, and from the man does not suggest or say that the man is superior the woman, or has any sort of extra authority over the woman.

Rather that the woman is a human being, the same as a man.

We need to be aware of this Order-of-Creation, false, unBiblical idea, which goes by other names, and when we encounter it, recognize it, and refute it.

Genesis - the Fall

I am reading Margaret Atwood's book, "Burning Questions," a book of essays. in one essay she is talking about the question - why are women throughout history so belittled?

As Christians we know why.

Eve and Adam ate the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil which God had told them not to eat. The results of that disobedience of their Maker are listed in Genesis 3:16-19

"To the woman he said, 'I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.'

To Adam he said, 'Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, "You must not eat of it," 'Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field, By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."

This is telling us what our lives are like in this world, since we now have sinful natures. So, in the sinful nature of both men and women is the to-the-bone conviction that men should rule over women. Both women and men believe it, and act on it. Therefore, women are belittled throughout history in various ways. This conviction comes out of sin. It is not how God created us to be toward one another, nor how God wants us, as born-again Christians, to be.

Jesus is the answer to all the results of sin. Jesus won for us eternal life, thus overcoming death.

For toil and sweat and a cursed ground, Jesus says, in Matthew 6:33, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself."

For the pain in childbearing that is greater than the physical; the pain of no hope for the babe, we have baptism and the Word of God to teach the child about salvation in Jesus, that the babe may have a sure hope.

For the rule of men over women, we pay attention in life and get proficient in recognizing its manifestations as sinful and as things to fight against. We fight this sinful "men ruling over women" in ourselves by following Jesus Who tells us to love our neighbor as ourself. Our closest neighbor is our spouse. Ephesians 5:28 ". . . husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies."

What Jesus won for us on the cross makes each of us equal to one another as human beings. As we strive to uphold and act on this right attitude toward each other, we fight against the result-of-sin idea of men ruling over women; an idea that is not in accordance with how God wants us to treat one another, but which resides in our sinful natures. We are to fight against our sinful natures.

Genesis - "authority"

Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." NIV

Take note: Both male and female were to rule over the earth. Nothing is said about one ruling over the other.

Take note: God made both the male and the female in His image.

These two points are important.

After the fall into sin; after the man and the woman disobeyed God, God said to the woman, Genesis 3:16, "Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."

The rule of man over woman came about as a result of sin. It is not how man and woman were created to be.

Jesus is the One Who overcomes sin. In Jesus, the rule of man over woman can be fought against; viewed correctly; and will be overcome.

Female and male were made in the image of God. Remember that when you read 1 Corinthians 11:7 "A man ought not to cover his head since he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man."

This is the clue to tell us that Paul was stating what others thought, not what he taught. Paul knew the Scriptures. He would not let stand an argument based on a falsehood. 1 Corinthians 11:3-10 is what others thought. Then Paul refutes them: "In the Lord, however, . . ."

This part of 1 Corinthians is an argument about whether a woman should wear a head covering when she was speaking in the church. Paul says there is no requirement for it. It should also be noted that the ones making the false argument did not say the woman should not speak in church, but the argument was that the woman should wear a head covering when speaking.

1 Corinthians 11:16 is better translated "we have no such practice."