The Complementarity of Male and Female in the Genesis Creation Account
Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” [1] The remainder of the chapter describes the process of creation in which God worked to shape the earth and fill it, for then “the earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters.” [2] This primal state of formlessness and emptiness was not created by some evil entity that opposed God in the beginning (the “Demiurge” [3]) as some Gnostic heresies maintained. God only is Creator, and everything He created was good. He created light to distinguish it from darkness and called the former “day” and the latter “night.” Both were necessary for life. The waters were created by God’s initial decree because the narrative of Genesis says that they covered the whole earth; furthermore, it seems, they rose above it vertically. God separated the waters on the surface of the earth from the waters that rose above it to create the sky-space (Genesis 1:8). Then he parted the waters that were on the surface, and thus the dry land was exposed, surrounded by the oceans.
The word “sky,” understood as “space” in 1:8, is from the Hebrew mayim, but in 1:1, the term “heavens” is from the Hebrew shamayim. Although both have the same root, and shamayim is translated in v. 26 as “sky,” its use in v. 1 could include the spiritual world inhabited by angels, among which would be that being that became an enemy of the Most High God whom the Bible calls Devil and Satan. His disobedience assumes that he and his followers enjoyed free will.
Regarding the human being, Genesis offers two approaches. The first, in chapter 1, describes the creation of man and woman as simultaneous and without distinction of roles. Genesis 1:26-27 says:
Then God said, “Let us make mankind (Hebrew adam) in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind (Hebrew adam) in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male (Hebrew zakar) and female (Hebrew neqebah) he created them.
The word “mankind” (adam) is used here generically, and at the end of verse 27 the differentiation of the sexes is made by means of the Hebrew words zakar (male) and neqebah (female). It is evident that both male and female were made in the image and likeness of God. The concepts of “image” and “likeness” have generated much discussion over time, but perhaps their meaning can be restricted to the immediate context. The second part of verse 26 says, “and rule over the fish in the sea and the birds of the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” This means that Adam and Eve would exercise dominion over creation. In this they reflected God—that is, they were the image and likeness of Him. The same idea is repeated in the second part of verse 28: “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
The second approach to the creation of humankind is found in Genesis 2:4ff. There the creation of the male occurs first in time. God formed him from the dust of the ground, and forbade him—before the woman was made—to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (2:16). Then, God perceived the loneliness of the man and said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (2:18). The word “alone” (Hebrew lebadó), also means “separated,” “set apart,” “excluded,” “without portion.” He was missing something that creation could not provide him. So, God put him to sleep and made a woman for him from one of his ribs. Adam received her with wonder and called her ishah (woman) because she was taken from ish (man). [4] At the end, the editor of this section of the book of Genesis declares, “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh” (v. 24).
In conclusion, the account of creation in Genesis 1-2 presents male and female in a complementary relationship. Genesis 3 links the subsequent subjection of Eve to Adam with the introduction of sin into the world, as a punishment imposed by God on her, as stated in Genesis 3:16b: “your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” Consider the future tense of the verbs in this passage. Before the transgression, Eve’s desire was not for her husband, nor was he ruling over her.
Inequality of sexes was not God’s original idea but a consequence of the fall; therefore, it is temporary in nature and destined to disappear under the reign of Christ: “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26-28).
1. All biblical quotations are taken from the New International Version, unless otherwise indicated.
2. Genesis 1:2, New Living Translation.
3. Greek demiurgos (“craftsman”).
4. In Hebrew, both words have the same root. The ending ah forms the feminine.
