Copyright © 1988 by
THE THEOLOGY OF SEXUALITY
IN THE BEGINNING: GENESIS 3
RICHARD M.
DAVIDSON
The creation accounts (Gen 1-2)
coupled with the portrayal of
disruption and divine judgment presented in Gen 3
have been
described as of seminal character and
determinative for a biblical
theology of human sexuality. In a previous
article we focused upon
the theology of sexuality in the creation accounts.1
Now we will
explore the theological insights on sexuality
emerging from Gen 3.
Two
basic issues related to sexuality call for our attention in
Gen
3. The first concerns the contention by some scholars that
Adam
and Eve's "knowledge of good and evil" and their knowledge
"that they were naked" (3:5, 7) both refer to the
awakening of their
sexual consciousness. The second issue involves the
debate over the
correct interpretation of the divine judgment on
Eve (3:16).
1. Sexuality in Genesis 3:5
We cannot be long detained by those
who contend that the
knowledge of good and evil gained by Adam and Eve
as a result of
eating the forbidden fruit was actually a
consciousness of sex.2
Stephen
Sapp rightly points out that "such a position assumes that
sexuality itself occasions shame by its very
nature (once one is
aware
of it)" and thus "suggests that sexuality was not part of
God's
intention for humans in creation," whereas both Gen 1 and
2,
to the contrary, "consider sexuality to be a purposeful part of
God's
good creation, with no indication whatsoever that sexual
experience was jealously withheld from Adam and
Eve."3
1 Richard M. Davidson, "The Theology of
Sexuality in the Beginning: Genesis
1-2,"
AUSS 26 (1988):5-24.
2 See, e.g., Cuthbert A. Simpson, "The Book
of Genesis: Introduction and
Exegesis,"
IB (New York, 1952), 1:485-486. For a
full discussion, cf. Robert Gordis,
"The
Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Old Testament and
JBL 76 (1957):123-138.
3 Stephen Sapp, Sexuality, the
Bible, and Science (
pp. 17-19 for further arguments advanced by Sapp
against this option.
121
122 RICHARD
M. DAVIDSON
The Nakedness of Adam
and Eve
The idea that a consciousness of sex
came only after the Fall
seems to be largely based on a misunderstanding of
the meaning of
Gen
3:7 and its relationship to Gen 2:25. It has been argued that
since, according to Gen 3:7, Adam and Eve knew that
they were
naked only after the Fall, then Gen 2:25 must mean
that they were
not aware of their nakedness (or sexuality) in the
beginning. But
this line of argument fails to recognize that Gen 2
and 3 utilize two
different Hebrew words for "naked."
In Gen 2:25 the word for
"naked" is arum, which
elsewhere in
Scripture
frequently refers to someone not fully clothed or not
clothed in the normal manner.4 Gen 2:25 does not explicitly indi-
cate in what way Adam and
Eve were without clothes in the
normal sense ("normal" from the post-Fall
perspective), but the
semantic range of arum is consonant with the conclusion toward
which parallel creation/Paradise passages point,
namely, that Adam
and Eve were originally "clothed" with
"garments" of light and
glory.5 If such is the case in
Gen 2:25, then the contrast with Gen 3
becomes clear. In Gen 3:7, 10, 11, the Hebrew
word for "naked" is
erom,
which elsewhere in Scripture always appears in a context of
total (and usually shameful) exposure, describing
someone "utterly
4 In 1 Sam 19:24, for instance,
the term is "used of one who, having taken off
his
mantle, goes only clad in his tunic" (William Gesenius, Hebrew and Chaldee
Lexicon to the Old
Testament Scriptures
[
in Isa 20:2 the
reference is to one "dressed with saq only" (Ludwig Koehler and
Walter
Baumgartner, Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros, 2d ed. [
p.
735); cf. Jn 21:7. Other passages employ the term in
the sense of "ragged, badly
clad" (Job 22:6; 24:7, 10; Isa
58:7; Gesenius, p. 653).
5 We note in particular the
parallel creation account in Ps 104. Jacques Doukhan,
The Genesis Creation
Story: Its Literary Structure,
Doctoral
Dissertation Series, Vol. 5 (Berrien Springs, MI, 1978), pp. 81-88, has
analyzed the point-by-point parallels between Ps
104 and the Genesis creation story.
What
is significant for our discussion at this point is that in Ps 104, along with
the
poetic description of God's creative work, there
appears to be at least one indication
of his appearance, or rather, his
"clothing" (vss. 1-2): "Thou art clothed
with honor
and majesty, who coverest
thyself with light as with a garment." If God is portrayed
as clothed with "garments" of light and
majesty, it is not unreasonable to deduce
that man, created in the image and likeness of God,
is similarly clothed. Ps 8:5
(6
Heb) may also point in this direction. According to this verse describing man
in
glory and honor.
THEOLOGY OF SEXUALITY 123
naked" or "bare.6 As a result
of sin, the human pair find them-
selves "utterly naked," bereft of the
garments of light and glory,
and they seek to clothe themselves with fig leaves.
Even this post-Fall
"nakedness" should not, however, be inter-
preted as causing Adam and Eve
to be ashamed of their own bodies
before each other. There is no mention of mutual
embarrassment
or shame before each other. The context is rather
one of fear and
dread before God. Adam says to God (3:10), "I
heard the sound of
thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was
naked, and I hid
myself."
Adam's nakedness described here is
also obviously more than
physical nudity, for Adam depicts himself as
still naked even
though already covered with fig leaves. The nakedness
of Gen 3
seems also to include a sense of "being
unmasked,"7 a conscious-
ness of guilt, a nakedness of soul. Likewise, God's
clothing of
Adam
and Eve with skins appears to represent more than a concern
for physical covering, more than a demonstration of
the modesty
appropriate in a sinful world, though these are no
doubt included.
The
skins from slain animals seem to intimate the beginning of
the sacrificial system and the awareness of a substitutionary atone-
ment, because of which
"man need no longer feel unmasked or
ashamed."8
2. The Divine judgment on Eve
When God comes to the Garden after
Adam and Eve sinned,
he initiates an encounter that constitutes nothing
less than "a legal
process," a "trial and punishment by
God."9 God begins the legal
proceedings with an interrogation of the
"defendants," and the
defensive and accusatory responses by Adam and Eve
(vss. 9-14)
indicate the rupture in interhuman
(husband-wife) and divine-
human relationships that has occurred as a result of
sin. Following
the legal interrogation and establishment of guilt,
God pronounces
6 See Ezek 16:7, 22, 39; 18:7,
16; 23:29; Deut 28:48. Cf. Gesenius, p. 625; Francis
Brown,
S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs, Hebrew
and English Lexicon of the Old
Testament (
Baumgartner,
p. 702.
7 Claus Westermann,
Creation (London, Eng., 1974), p. 95.
8 Ibid.,
p. 104.
9 Ibid.,
p. 96.
124 RICHARD
M. DAVIDSON
the sentence in the form of curses (over the
serpent and the ground,
vss. 14,
17) and judgments (for the man and the woman, vss.
16-19).
What is of particular concern to us
is the judgment pro-
nounced upon the woman (vs.
16):
(a) I will greatly multiply your
pain [labor] in childbearing;
(b) in pain
[labor] you shall bring forth children,
(c) yet
your desire shall be for your husband,
(d) and he
shall rule over you.
The first two lines of poetic
parallelism in this verse (a and b )
indicate that as a result of sin, childbearing
will involve much
issabon
(RSV, "pain") for the woman. The word issabon occurs
only three times in Scripture: here, vs. 17, and
5:29. The context of
vs.
17 demands that issabon
in that verse be translated as "toil" or
"labor" (as in RSV) and not "pain":
"Cursed is the ground because
of you; in toil/labor [issabon] you shall eat of it all
the days of
your life." The same translation of issabon is
required by the
context in Gen 5:29, and seems to be also more
appropriate in Gen
3:16,
with an emphasis upon the hard work and not the pain.10
Such
an emphasis is accurately captured by the English term
"labor" used to describe the birthing experience of
woman.
But what is the meaning of the last
two enigmatic lines (vs. 16
c and d) of the divine sentence upon the woman?
The answer to
this question is crucial for a proper understanding
of the nature of
God's
design for sexual relationships after the Fall.
Interpretations of the Divine judgment on Eve
Five major views have been advanced
in the history of biblical
interpretation. A first, and perhaps
the most common, position
maintains that the subordination of woman is a
creation ordinance,
God's
ideal from the beginning, but as a result of sin this original
form of hierarchy between the sexes is distorted and
corrupted and
must be restored by the Gospel.11
10 See BDB, pp. 780-781.
11 John Calvin, Commentary on Genesis (
instance, sees woman's position before the Fall
as "liberal and gentle subjection,"
but after the Fall she is "cast into
servitude." C. F. Keil, The First Book of Moses
(Grand
Rapids, MI, 1949), p. 103, similarly understands the original position of
THEOLOGY OF SEXUALITY 125
A second major interpretation also
views subordination as a
creation ordinance but sees in Gen 3:16 not a
distortion but a
reaffirmation of subordination as a
blessing and a comfort to the
woman in her difficulties as a mother. The meaning of
vs. 16c-d
may be paraphrased: "You will have labor and
difficulty in your
motherhood, yet you will be eager for your husband
and he will
rule over you (in the sense of care for and help
you, not in the sense
of
dominate and oppress you)."12
A third major view contends that the
subordination of woman
to man did not exist before the Fall, and the
mention of such a
subordination in Gen 3:16 is only a
description of the evil conse-
quences of sin (the usurpation
of authority by the husband), to be
removed by the Gospel, and not a permanent
prescription of God's
will for husband-wife relationships after sin.13
Proponents of this
position underscore the culturally conditioned
nature of this pas-
sage and vigorously deny that it represents a
divinely ordained
normative position for sexual relationships after
the Fall.
A fourth major position concurs with
the third view that the
submission of wife to husband is part of the evil
consequences of
man-woman as rule/subordination rooted in mutual
esteem and love, but he argues
that after sin the woman has a "desire
bordering on disease" and the husband
exercises "despotic rule" over his wife.
James B. Hurley, Man and Woman in
Biblical Perspective (Grand Rapids, MI,
1981), pp. 218-219, concurs with a pre-Fall
hierarchy of the sexes and a post-Fall distortion,
but argues that Gen 3:16 should be
interpreted along the lines of the similarly worded
statement of God to Cain in Gen
4:7.
Just as God warned Cain that sin's desire would be to control him, but he must
master it, so woman's desire would be to
control/manipulate man and the husband
must master her desire. Cf. a similar position in Samuele Bacchiocchi, Women in
the Church: A Biblical Study on the Role of Women in the Church
(Berrien
Springs, MI, 1987), pp. 79-84.
12 Stephen B. Clark, Man and Woman in Christ: An Examination of
the Roles
of Men and Women in the Light of Scripture and the Social
Sciences
(
MI,
1980), p. 35.
strongly favors view 1. See also Ambrose, De Paradiso, p. 350 (quoted in
p.
677): "Servitude, therefore, of this sort is a gift of God. Wherefore,
compliance
with this servitude is to be reckoned among
blessings."
13 "See, e.g., Leonard Swidler, Biblical
Affirmations of Women (
1979),
p. 80; Paul K. Jewett, Man as Male and
Female: A Study of Sexual
Relationships from a
Theological Point of View (Grand Rapids, MI, 1975), p. 114;
Phyllis
Trible, "Depatriarchalizing
in Biblical Interpretation," JAAR
41(1974):41; cf.
Raymond
Collins, "The Bible and Sexuality," BTB 7(1977):149; Helmut Thielicke,
The Ethics of Sex (New York, 1964), p. 8;
Patricia Gundry, Woman Be Free!
(Grand
Rapids,
MI, 1977), pp. 60-63.
126 RICHARD
M. DAVIDSON
the Fall and did not exist as a creation ordinance.
But in the fourth
view Gen 3:16 is to be understood as prescriptive
and not just
descriptive--i.e., it presents God's normative
pattern for the relation-
ship of husband and wife after the Fall.14
A final view agrees with the second that vs.
16c-d is a blessing
and not a curse, but differs in denying that
subordination of woman
to man is a creation ordinance. This position also
argues, in effect,
that even in Gen 3 no hierarchy or headship in the
sexes is either
prescribed or described.15 According to
this view, the word for
"rule" (vs. 16d) is translated "to be like,"
emphasizing the equality
of husband and wife.
Assessment of the Divine
judgment on Eve
In our attempt to assess the true intent of this
passage, we
must immediately call into question those interpictations which
proceed from the assumption that a hierarchy of
the sexes existed
before the Fall--i.e., views 1 and 2. The analysis of
Gen 1-2 in my
previous article has led to the conclusion that
no such subordina-
tion or subjection of woman
to man was present in the beginning.16
14 See e.g. Francis Schaeffer, Genesis in Space and Time (
1975),
pp. 93-94; cf. Theodorus C. Vriezen,
An Outline of Old Testament Theology,
rev.
ed. (
15 See, e.g., John H. Otwell, And Sarah
Laughed: The Status of Women in the
Old Testament (
16 See Davidson, pp. 5-24. The
views favoring a hierarchy of the sexes already in
creation seem to be largely based on the Pauline
passages that, at first sight, appear
to ground the subordination of woman in creation.
Two passages are especially in
view: 1 Tim 2:13 and 1 Cor
11:8-9. This is not the place for an exposition of these
Pauline statements. But it seems that most
studies of these passages have made Paul
say what in fact he does not say. Paul does indeed
refer to creation in discussing the
submission of wife to husband. But he does not say
that the submissive role was in
effect from creation. Rather, it seems more likely
that Paul is arguing that after the
Fall,
when a subjection of one spouse to another was necessary in order to preserve
union and harmony (see discussion below, pp.
127-130), God chose the man to
"rule," because, among other reasons, he was created
first and Eve was made from
and for Adam. It should be noted that in 1 Tim
2:14, Paul specifically places the
submission within the context of the Fall. Krister Stendahl seems to be
correct when
he points out that Gen 3:16 constitutes "the
decisive Scriptural passage for the
whole New Testament's instruction concerning the
submission of women." (Krister
Stendahl, The Bible and the Role
of Women: A Case Study in Hermeneutics
[
women, 1 Cor 14:34-35, support
for Paul's position is given as "the words of the
THEOLOGY OF SEXUALITY 127
Furthermore,
it appears that view 3 is unsatisfactory, for it fails to
take seriously the judgment/punishment context of
the passage. As
we have already noted, Gen 3:16 comes in a legal
"trial" setting.
God's
pronouncement is therefore not merely a culturally con-
ditioned description. It is a
divine sentence! It must be concluded
that "the judgments of God, who is Lord of time
and culture, are
universally applicable to the fallen (sinful)
world."17 Just as God
destines the snake to crawl on its belly; just as
God ordains that
woman's childbirth 'is to involve her
"going into labor"; just as
God
curses the ground so that it will not produce crops spon-
taneously but require man's
cultivation and labor--so God pro-
nounces the irrevocable
sentence upon Eve with regard to her
future relationship with Adam outside the Garden.
It seems clear that according to Gen 3:16c-d a
change is insti-
tuted in the relationship
between the sexes after the Fall, a change
which involves the subjection/submission of the wife
to the hus-
band. The force of vs. 16d is difficult to avoid:
"He [your husband]
shall rule over you." The word masal in this
form in vs. 16d
definitely means "to rule" (and not
"to be like") and definitely
implies subjection.18 Theodorus Vriezen correctly
concludes that
woman's position after the Fall is one of
subjection to her husband:
"This
is considered as a just and permanent punishment in Gen
iii."19 Umberto Cassuto
aptly paraphrases and amplifies the divine
law." In this phrase, according to Stendahl, "it is still Gen 3:16 which is alluded
to." Statements regarding creation are made
only with reference to their applicability
after the Fall. And significantly, only after the Fall is Adam representative (Gen 3:9;
cf.
Hurley, p. 216).
17 Susan T. Foh,
Women and the Word of God: A Response to
Biblical Feminism
(Phillipsburg,
NJ, 1979), p. 66.
18 Recent attempts by some
feminists to translate masal
as "to be like" instead of
"to rule" face insurmountable
lexical/grammatical/contextual obstacles. It is true
that (following BDB nomenclature) the root msl1
in the Niphal
does signify "to be
like, similar," but in Gen 3:16 the root msl is in the Qal. Both mslII
"to use a
proverb" and mslIII
"to rule" occur in the Qal, but the context
of Gen 3:16 seems to
clearly preclude the idea of "use a
proverb" (mslII). That mslII "to rule" is
intended in this passage is confirmed by the use
of the accompanying preposition be,
the normal preposition following mslIII (cf. BDB, p. 605), and other
Hebrew words
of ruling, governing, restraining (mlk, rdh, slt, sr, etc.), and never
used with msl1
or mn 11. Arguments
based largely on the meaning of ancient Near Eastern cognates
should not be allowed to override the biblical
context, grammar, and usage.
19 Vriezen,
p. 399.
128 RICHARD
M. DAVIDSON
sentence: "Measure for measure; you
influenced your husband and
caused him to do what you wished; henceforth, you and
your
female descendants will be subservient to your
husbands."20
But we should immediately note that the word masal,
"rule,"
employed in vs. 16 is not the same word used to
describe human-
kind's rulership over the
animals in Gen 1:26, 28. In the latter
passages the verb is radah, "to tread down, have
dominion over,"21
not masal. A careful distinction is maintained between human-
kind's dominion over the animals and the husband's
"rule" over
his wife. Furthermore, although the verb masal does consistently
indicate submission, subjection, or dominion in
Scripture, "the
idea of tyrannous exercise of power does not lie in
the verb."22 In
fact, there are many passages where masal is used
with the connota-
tion of "rule" in
the sense of "comfort, protect, care for, love."23
The
semantic range of the verb masal thus makes it possible to
understand the divine sentence in vs. 16 as
involving not only
punishment but blessing, just as the judgments
pronounced upon
the serpent and man included an implied blessing in
the curse/
judgment.24 That the element of
blessing is especially emphasized
in this verse appears to be confirmed by
recognizing the probable,
20 Umberto Cassuto,
A Commentary on the Book of Genesis (
1:165.
21 BDB, pp. 921-922.
22 John Skinner, Genesis, ICC (
23 See e.g., 2 Sam 23:3; Prov 17:2; Isa 40:10; 63:19; Zech
6:13. Cf. Robert D.
Culver,
"lwm (mashal)
III," TWOT, 1:534: "mashal usually
receives the transla-
tion 'to rule,' but the
precise nature of the rule is as various as the real situations in
which the action or state so designated occur."
Specific examples follow to support
this statement. Note, e.g., that the first usage of masal in
Scripture is in reference to
the two great lights created by God (Gen 1:16)-they
were to "dominate" (NJV) the
day and night.
24 Hurley, pp. 216-219, has
rightly pointed out how in each of the divine
judgments in this chapter there is a blessing as
well as a curse. In the curse upon the
serpent appears a veiled blessing in the Protoevangelion (3:15): "The warfare be-
tween Satan and the woman's
seed comes to its climax in the death of Christ."
(Hurley,
p. 217; cf. Walter Kaiser, Toward an Old
Testament Theology [Grand
Rapids,
MI, 1978], pp. 35-37, for persuasive evidence in favor of this traditional
interpretation in contrast to the
modern critical tendency to see here only an
aetiological reference.) Likewise,
in the curse of the ground and the "toil" that is the
punishment of Adam, there is at the same time a
blessing in that God promises the
ground will continue to yield its fruit and man will
still be able to eat of it.
Furthermore,
the term ba`abbz2r employed in vs. 17 probably means "for the sake
of"
THEOLOGY OF SEXUALITY 129
synonymous parallelism between vs. 16c and vs. 16d.25
God pro-
nounces that even though the
woman would have difficult "labor"
in childbirth--an ordeal that would seem naturally
to discourage
her from continuing to have relations with her
husband--"yet,"
God
assures her, "your desire shall be for your husband." The
meaning of the Hebrew word tesugah, "strong
desire, yearning,"26
which appears only three times in Scripture, is
illuminated by its
only other occurrence in a context of man-woman relationship,
i.e.,
Cant 7:10 (11 Heb).27 In this verse the Shulamite bride joyfully
exclaims, "I am my beloved's, and his desire
[tesugah]
is for me."
Along
the lines of this usage of tesugah in the Song of Songs
indicating a wholesome sexual desire, the term
appears to be
employed in Gen 3:16c to denote a positive
blessing accompanying
the divine judgment. A divinely ordained sexual
yearning of wife
for husband will serve to sustain the union that
has been threatened
in the ruptured relations resulting from sin.
If Gen 3:16d is seen to be in close parallelism
with vs. 16c, then
the emphasis upon blessing as well as judgment
seems to accrue
also to man's relationship with his wife. The
husband's "rule"
(KJV)
and not "because of " (RSV) inasmuch as the
meaning of "because" is already
expressed by ki earlier in the verse. The
ground is cursed "for his [Adam's] sake"-
that is, the curse is for Adam's benefit. Though it
did result from Adam's sin, it also
is to be regarded as a needful discipline, part of
the divine plan for man's recovery
from the results of sin.
25 Otwell,
p. 18, cogently argues that the normal structure of Hebrew parallelism
is followed here in that Gen 3:16a and b are in
parallel and 3:16c and d are likewise
in parallel. As the first two parallel members of
this verse duplicate content with
regard to childbearing, so "we may expect ...
that `he shall rule over you' parallels
`your desire shall be for your husband.'" Otwell's argument is strengthened by the
use of the conjunctive translated by
"yet."
26 See BDB, p. 1003.
27 The only other occurrence of this
word in the Hebrew Bible is in Gen 4:7,
which has no reference to a man-woman relationship.
Despite the similarity of
grammar and vocabulary, the latter verse must
not be held up as a standard of
interpretation for Gen 3:16, which
involves a completely different context. Those
who interpret Gen 3:16 by means of 4:7 generally
hold to the hierarchy of the sexes
as a creation ordinance, and therefore must find
something more than subordination
in 3:16. But it hardly seems justified to compare
the experience of Eve with the
picture of sin as a wild animal crouching in
wait for his prey (Derek Kidner,
Genesis:
An Introduction and Commentary [Downer's Grove, IL, 1967], p. 75). For a
discussion of the possible reasons for similar
wording between the widely different
contexts of Gen 3:16 and 4:7, see Cassuto, 1:212-213.
130 RICHARD
M. DAVIDSON
over his wife, even though it grows out of the
results of sin, may be
regarded as a blessing in preserving the harmony
and union of the
relationship. As is implied in the
semantic range of masal,
and as
becomes explicit in the Song of Songs, this is
to be a "rule," not of
tyrannical power, but of protection, care, and
love.
3. Conclusion
We thus conclude that of the suggested
interpretations for Gen
3:16
described above, view 4 is to be preferred, in that there is a
normative divine sentence announcing a
subjection/submission of
wife to husband as a result of sin. This involves,
however, not only
a negative judgment but also (and especially) a
positive blessing (as
suggested in views 2 & 5).
Two final points must be underscored with regard
to a the-
ology of sexuality in Gen 3.
First, it must be noted that the relation-
ship of subjection/submission prescribed in vs. 16
is not presented
as applicable to man-woman relationships in
general. Gen 3 pro-
vides no basis for suggesting that the basic equality
between male
and female established in creation was altered as a
result of the
Fall.
The context of Gen 3:16 is specifically that of marriage: a
wife's desire for her husband and the husband's
"rule" over his
wife. The text indicates a submission of wife to
husband, not a
general subordination of woman to man. Any
attempt to extend
this prescription beyond the husband-wife
relationship is not
warranted by the text.28
28 Some commentators argue that
in such passages as 1 Cor 14:34-35 and 1 Tim
2:13-14,
Paul has widened the original submission of wife to husband in Gen 3:16
to include the submission of all women to men in
general, and based on this, he is
thought to have excluded woman from teaching
authority in the church, etc. But
may I suggest this widening may be in the minds of
the commentators and not in
the mind of Paul! The possible ambiguity comes
because in the original text the
same Greek word (gyne) means both wife and woman,
and another single Greek
word (aner) means both husband and man. In these crucial Pauline
passages on the
role of woman which allude to Gen 3:16, the
translation can be either "woman-
man" or "wife-husband." These
passages that have usually been taken to refer to
the role of woman in relation to man in general,
may instead be referring to the
relationship of wives to their
husbands and may have nothing whatever to do with
limiting woman's sphere of service and leadership
in the church. As a case in point,
1
Tim 2:11-12 is translated in the RSV: "Let a woman learn in silence with
all
submissiveness. I permit no woman to
teach or to have authority over man; she is to
keep silent." But the Williams translation puts
it this way: "A married woman must
THEOLOGY OF SEXUALITY 131
Second, we must emphasize that although in Gen 3
the hus-
band is assigned the role of "first among
equals"29 so as to preserve
harmony and union in the marriage partnership,
yet this does not
contradict or nullify the summary statement of Gen
2:24 regarding
the nature of the relationship between husband and
wife. As we
have already observed,30 Gen 2:24 is
written in such a way as to
indicate its applicability to the post-Fall
conditions. God's ideal
for the nature of sexual relationship after the
Fall is still the same
as it was for Adam and Eve in the beginning--to
"become one
flesh." The divine judgment/blessing in Gen 3:16
was given, we
may conclude, in order to facilitate the
achievement of the original
divine design within the context of a sinful world.
learn in quiet and perfect submission. I do not
permit a married woman to practice
teaching or domineering over a husband; she must
keep quiet." A world of
difference in meaning! For evidence supporting this
latter translation, see N. J.
Hommes, "Let Women Be Silent in Church," Calvin Theological Journal 4(1969):5-
22.
Note in particular how an almost exactly parallel passage in 1 Peter 3:5, 6
clearly
demands the translation "wife/husband" and not
"woman/man." Likewise the
passage in 1 Cor
14:34-35 is in close parallel with Eph 5:22-24, and in the latter the
translation must be "wives and husbands" and not "women and men" in
general.
29 Gerhard Hasel,
"Equality From the Start," Spectrum 17(1975):26. Note the
parallel relationship of God and Christ (1 Cor 11:3).
30 See Davidson, pp. 12-24.
This material is cited with gracious
permission from:
SDA Theological
Berrien Springs
http://www.andrews.edu/SEM/
Please report any errors to Ted
Hildebrandt at: