Week 2: Genesis 2

Weddings nowadays are elaborate affairs. Venues must be booked months if not years in advance, food and drink carefully chosen, and seating arrangements painstakingly coordinated. In contrast to this, the very first wedding scene in Genesis 2:22-24 is strikingly simple: There is a groom, a bride, a rib, and an officiant: God. God saw Adam’s need for intimate human relationship, and he moved to meet that need. In God’s good Creation, one thing was not good: Adam was alone. So God provided a helper suitable for him (Gen 2:18). The word “helper” is used elsewhere to describe the role of God himself in relation to humans, so it carries no connotation of inferiority. The word “suitable” is also key. The idea here is that Adam and Eve were a good and proper fit, with the woman (isha, in Hebrew) literally being formed from the man (ish, in Hebrew). This is God’s original intention for marriage, sexuality, and gender. Anything less falls short of his design. Our identities are given by God, not self-determined. Everything is a gift. God gives Adam and Eve their gender, he gives them to one another in marriage, and he gives them the joy of being fruitful and multiplying. Ultimately, God gives us the gift of telling us who we are, rather than leaving us to our own devices to figure out our identities on our own.

Reflection Questions

1.) What do you observe about the marriage relationship in these verses?

2.) When in your life have you experienced loneliness? Why are human relationships such a crucial part of God’s design?

3.) How can we as a church best position ourselves to minister to those experiencing loneliness? How does the brokenness of our identities—sexual, gender, or otherwise—contribute to loneliness?