In the second chapter of Genesis, we hear about how God created the woman out of the man. One of the most important points to grasp from this story is how men and women are made to be equal in dignity. To be sure, God did not make men and women to be exactly the same. But it is clear from the reading that one was not made to have less value than the other.
We can see in the story that Adam is lonely: he needs a “helper.” The word used here for “helper” does not mean an inferior servant, but is the same word used to describe how God is our “helper.” But how can Adam be lonely if he has God? It is because there is no one like him on his level. God creates the beasts and Adam names them as a sign of his authority over them. But none of them are suitable partners for him. God is above him and the beasts are below him. Adam needs someone who is at his level.
So God makes the woman out of Adam’s side. It is important to note that she is not made out of a separate lump of earth as Adam was. This is to show that there is to be a unity, a connectedness, between the man and woman. When Adam sees her, he says she is “bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.” (Genesis 2:23) These are words that correspond to the covenant bond between the man and the woman in marriage. He says that she is “woman.” The Hebrew word for this is isshah, which is so strikingly close to ish (which is the Hebrew word for “man”) that it shows that men and women are made of the same stuff and have the same value.
The marriage language found at the end of the passage also points to this unity and equality. It states, “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24) In the ancient world, Near East cultures often viewed women as subordinate to men. But in this verse, it is the man, and not the woman, who leaves or “forsakes” his parents. If the woman was purely subordinate to man, then it would make sense that the woman would forsake her family and cling to her husband. But in this marriage verse, it describes the man forsaking his old family and clinging to his wife, his equal partner, to start a new family.
It is not until woman, his equal helper, that he can know who he really is because he derives much of his identity by his relationship to her. And the woman, in her creation from Adam, finds her identity and completeness by her relationship to the man.
The reference to sexuality in this passage also points to this unity of man and woman. It is interesting to note that even though there is a reference to the sexuality of the two, procreation is not mentioned. The concept of having children has not been introduced. But man sees in the woman a person to whom he can be united. And in that unity, there is a completeness.
This implies equality, because the unity with one who is lesser would not describe a fulfillment that completes humanity. For us, this points to how men and women should treat each other, particularly in marriage. In Christ, we are called to love and serve one another. But this is always with the acknowledgment that we are equal in dignity before God. He made us for each other and for Himself. Men are not better than women and women are not better than men.
Instead, we are to see the image of God in all of our brothers and sisters today.
Copyright 2025, WL Grayson
W.L. Grayson
I am a devoutly Catholic theology teacher who loves a popular culture that often, quite frankly, hates me. I grew up absorbing every movie, TV show, comic book, science fiction novel, etc. I could find. As of today I’ve watched over 2100 movies and tv shows. They take up a huge part of my life. I don’t know that this is a good thing, but it has given me a common vocabulary to draw from in order to illustrate whatever theological point I make in class. I’ve used American Pie the song to explain the Book of Revelation (I’ll post on this some time later) and American Pie the movie to help explain Eucharist (don’t ask). The point is that the popular culture is popular for a reason. It is woven into the fabric of our lives and imaginations, for good or ill. In this blog I will attempt to bring together the things of heaven with the things of earth. Of course this goal may be too lofty for someone like me.
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