So far, everything we have talked about is true of all humans, male and female. They are each made in the image of God and made to rule. Though there are many similarities, there are also significant physical differences between males and females. Why do these differences exist, and why do they matter? What did God have in mind when he made the first woman?
It is not good for the man to be alone.
The account of creation is told in two parts. The first part sounds like a summary. It speaks of God making them male and female in his image and how after he had made them, he was pleased with his work, blessed them, and commanded them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The story then goes into more detail, telling us how God accomplished this. The Bible tells us that God made the man first, placed him in a garden, and gave him the task of caring for the garden and naming the animals. While he was doing this, God made an observation; it was not good for the man to be alone. This was the first time something was described as not good. There was nothing wrong with Adam; he was as good as he could be. However, by design, the Creator intended that His image was to be expressed in two equal but separate forms, and that the two together would complete God's will for humanity. Thus a man alone was not the most good that God could do, and humankind was incomplete. What was lacking was a suitable or fitting helper for the man. For his final act of creation, God made the woman; after she was made, God was satisfied and he rested.
Eve was made last, was called a helper before she was made and seemed to be made for the man and from him. What do these details in the story tell us about God's intention for her and how we ought to think about the creature he called woman?
Last is not least
The woman was the last creature to be made. Does the order of creation somehow tell us anything about her value? Was the woman somehow less than the man because she was made last? Jesus said that the first shall be last, and the last shall be first. He was teaching his listeners that to God, human ways of measuring value and importance are often upside down. In that case it is possible that any special value we place on the order in which she was created may be the product of our twisted human thinking. The story clearly communicates, not a competition for supremacy between the sexes, but equal value and interdependence. To God, being made first or last is less important than the value he assigns each creature, and he has assigned equal value to both male and female. The order of creation does, however, accentuate their roles. God brought Eve into being when the limits of Adam's capabilities became apparent so that her complementary role would be more evident.
The Helper
Before he made her God called Eve a helper. That seems to suggest a minor role, like a sidekick or an accessory? The writer of the story tells us that prior to Eve, Adam had the opportunity to interact with and name the creatures that God brought to him, and yet he did not find any of them a suitable helper. They were all inferior to him and could not assist in what God had made him for. It was at this point that God said, "I will make a helper fit for him." The title "helper" has been used to describe other people in the Bible the most notable of them being God himself.
Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me! O LORD, be my helper! Psalm. 30:10,
Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life. Psalm 54:4,
The LORD is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me Psalm 118:7.
In all these instances when people referred to God as their helper they were not thinking of him as someone inferior like an accessory or sidekick but as someone capable whose help was crucial for their wellbeing. In preparation for his death Jesus promised to send his disciples "another helper" after he had left them, who would be with them forever. He was referring to the Holy Spirit, who later came and filled these scared men and made them as bold as lions. His presence in them made them do the impossible. When Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as the helper, he was speaking of someone without whom the work could not be done. It is safe to say that in calling Eve a helper, God did not think of her as less than Adam in any way. He intended that she would be someone equal to Adam in value, possessing something he did not have and without whom Adam could not rule effectively. Furthermore, the absence of the helper was the thing that was not good, the incompleteness in the creation.
Fit for him
Third, she was made fit for or suitable for him. It is not as if God took Adam's list of preferences and put together a creature that met those specifications. Adam had no input in what Eve would become at all. He was asleep when she was made. There is no doubt that at first sight Eve was to Adam's liking, but that is not what God meant by a helper fit or suitable for him. They fit together like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. She was made to exactly match him in some ways and perfectly complement him in others. Together, they were a clearer, fuller image of God. Like two people singing the same song in two parts, they would create a harmony to the praise of God that neither one of them could produce alone. In that case she was made fit for, or suitable for him in the sense that her voice matched his perfectly but they were both made for God's pleasure and glory. Eve was not Adam's property to dispose of as he pleased. Instead, she was his complement, someone who made him fully capable of fulfilling God's purpose.
One flesh
She was made from him. When Adam first met Eve, he exclaimed, "This, at last, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh." Up to this point, he had been interacting with all the creatures that God had brought him to name, and I am sure he had named many. When he saw Eve, what distinguished her from all these other creatures was not how different but how similar she was to him. Why did God do it this way? Why was she not made from the dirt like he was? Jesus, quoting Genesis, told his listeners that "for this reason, a man will leave his mother and father and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." What is this compelling reason that will make a man leave his parents and start a family with a woman who is a stranger? God took a piece of the man to make the woman so that they were of the same substance. When they came together it was to be two halves coming together to become something whole. Jesus calls them one flesh when they come together because their creator intended them to be one being existing in two parts, and their coming together is a return, a completion. Also, because she was from him, he was meant to love her as he loved himself. How could he look at her and not see something of himself in her and love her for that reason?
Life-Giver
Though they were alike in may ways there was one crucial difference between Adam and Eve. They had different reproductive organs. The woman was the child-bearing member of the team. It was not her only contribution, but it was a crucial one, considering that after he made them, God commanded that they multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. She was the key to the fulfillment of that plan. God tasked Adam with naming the creatures and caring for the garden, but He gave Eve the honor of bringing every other human being into existence. Even Jesus, the son of God, who had no biological father had a biological mother. Adam was the caretaker, and Eve, the life-giver. If this sound like an old fashioned way of reducing women to only their reproductive parts that was never God's intention. God is the ultimate life giver and humans are the crown of his creation on earth. The role he gave women is the highest honor he showed them, making them partners with him in his work of filling the earth with other image bearers. God made Eve first of all, to rule. She had God's blessing and authority to do so. Eve bore the image of God equally with Adam. She was as intelligent and capable as he was, and she had something he did not have. She could do something he could not do. God gives most women the privileged of giving life. However, he does not define a woman's value by her ability to give birth or not. Any woman who chooses not to or is unable to have children is not less of a woman or a human being in God's eyes. She is still God's image bearer and he still calls her to rule in the little corner of his creation she is assigned to. She is to love her creator by loving and caring for what he loves.
So why did he make her, and what did he make her for? She was the other half of a unit that was to fill the earth with other image bearers and subdue it. She would provide the harmony to the man's melody as an equal and necessary part. Without her, the creation was incomplete. Specifically, she was the mother of humankind, the life-giver.
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