Before the Fall: God’s Original Design for Us ~ Genesis 1:26-28, 2:18-23, 3:15-16

 

Best-selling author Bruce Feiler tells a story about taking his family to Rome so his twin daughters could experience all the great art and culture. It wasn't going very well. Everyone's feet hurt. The girls were bored. Everybody was tired. And then, finally, they arrived at the Sistine Chapel. Feiler gathered up whatever enthusiasm he had left and said, “Look up! I'm going to blow your mind.” One of his daughters looked up at Michelangelo's famous painting of the creation of Adam and immediately said, “There's no woman. Where's the woman?”

 

And honestly, that's our question today. Where's the woman? It's a question people have been asking for a very long time. Where is she in our churches? Where is she in leadership? Where is she in the Bible? And even when we do find her, another question follows: What is she allowed to do? Is she really an equal partner? Or is she somehow considered less-than? Subordinate? Restricted? Dependent?

For thousands of years, people have turned to Scripture to answer those questions. And so, as we begin this series on biblical equality and Kingdom partnership, I want to suggest that we need to do something very simple: Let's start at the very beginning.

Let's go back to the Biblical story of Genesis which literally means “Beginning.” But before we begin at the beginning we need to begin our series by committing to reading Scripture carefully and prayerfully because when we do so, I believe we will discover the Bible’s overarching witness: men and women are equal in every way.

That’s a bold statement. I’m not asking you to believe it because I said it. I’m required to show you by offering evidence. So we're going to read carefully. Because Scripture is foundational to who we are. And that's why I want you to bring your Bibles during this series. Underline things. Circle things. Write questions in the margins. Define words. Make connections. Meet with me for coffee, if you need to. Actually, meet me for coffee, please. I love having conversations about Scripture that are invested, curious, and kind. We should never forget that Jesus’ most often asked question was, “Have you not read?” And Jesus articulated his mission and corrected religious teachers by hearkening to Scripture. We should do no less. And when we read Scripture carefully and prayerfully, with Jesus in mind, it leads us redemptively toward freedom from sin and all oppression. Here’s the point. Our denomination, which is currently celebrating its 50^th Anniversary for ordaining women, is not teaching egalitarianism between men and women because of a certain politic. We teach it because we believe it’s the redemptive story of Scripture, the mission of Jesus, the work of the Holy Spirit.  

But there’s another reason to read carefully. We need to study carefully because sometimes the Bible in our heads is not the Bible in our hands. The Bible we think we remember is not the Bible that was written. For example, many people often forget that there are two creation accounts in Genesis 1 and 2 with different chronologies and emphasis. The second is often the one we know best.

Genesis 2 gives us a solitary adam—the human—who is alone. God says, “It is not good that the human should be alone.” Then God creates the woman from adam’s side. And this way of remembering the story has often been used to establish a hierarchy: Adam was created first. Eve was created second. Therefore, some argue, Adam must have been created to lead, while Eve was created to follow. But is that actually what Genesis says? No. And here's the problem. That argument doesn't start at the very beginning. It ignores Genesis 1. So let's start at the very beginning.

Genesis 1 and 2 read together describe the male-female relationship as partnership, not hierarchy. Key point! Adam is not first and foremost a name. It’s a partnership! Take a look!

Genesis 1 says: “Then God said, ‘Let us make adam [humankind] in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky...’” (1:26)

And then: “So God created adam in God’s own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.” (1:27)

And then God blessed them and says to both of them: “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over it.” (1:28)

Notice. Both men and women are adam—humankind. Both together are God's image. Both receive the same blessing, the same vocation, and are entrusted with the same care for creation. There is no gendered job description or hierarchy where God says: “Men: lead.” “Women: follow.” “Men: make decisions.” “Women: support.” Nothing like that appears. The first creation account gives us something much simpler: Men and women are equal partners in God's image and equal partners in God's mission. 

 

Then we come to Genesis 2. And suddenly we have this irony – a solitary adam [human]. But the irony is short lived because God says: “It is not good that the human should be alone.” (2:18) So quick recap: we end chapter one’s adam-partnership with “very good” and then quickly move to a “not good.” Then God parades a whole host of animals before the adam. Why all the animals? Because the story is showing us that none of these prove to be a “suitable helper.” (2:20) And this is where another misunderstanding often enters the story. The Hebrew phrase is ezer kenegdo. And I’ll tell you that the NIV’s translation of “suitable helper” is easily misunderstood. Ezer [helper] does not mean “assistant,” “servant,” or “subordinate.” It is used most often in the Old Testament to describe God as Israel's helper. God is not the inferior partner. God is the powerful partner who comes to the rescue. And kenegdo means something like “corresponding to,” “matching,” or “facing.” So Genesis 2 is not: man + female subordinate assistant. Genesis 2 is reaffirming the truth of Genesis 1: human + corresponding partner = the image of God (1:26-28).  The woman is like the man in every way: face to face, bone of bone, flesh of flesh. Equal image-bearers. Equal partners. Being the ezer kenegdo does not demonstrate Eve’s inferiority. It demonstrates her necessity. She’s created second so that we can feel the problem of the lone adam before we see God’s solution. And God never gives Adam authority over Eve. God does not say in creating her, “Adam, you are now her leader.” God does not establish a chain of command. The first time Genesis explicitly says that the man will rule over the woman comes after something has gone terribly wrong. It comes in Genesis 3.

Genesis 3 tells us what went wrong. It’s not a blueprint for human relationships. It is a diagnosis of what happened when sin entered the world. Suddenly everything fractures. Humans hide from God. Humans hide in shame from themselves. Humans blame each other. Trust becomes suspicion. Partnership becomes competition. The whole earth reels from sin’s destructive force. And then God warns the woman: “your husband . . . will rule over you.” (3:16)

Stop there. This is the first appearance of male rule over a female in the biblical story. And it appears in a passage describing the consequences of sin not prescribing God’s intent for proper male/female relationships. That should make us pause.

Because some Christians make a very strange interpretive move. They locate the gendered subordination introduced in Genesis 3 and then say: “That's God's design.” But they don't do that with other elements of Genesis 3. God says childbirth will become painful. They don't say: “Pain in childbirth is God's intent. No epidural for you.” God says the ground will produce thorns. They don't say: “Thank God for weeds. They're biblical. No tractors allowed.” God says human beings will struggle and die. We don't say: “Death is God's original intention for us.” So why would we take the domination of one sex over another—introduced in the aftermath of the fall—and make that the Christian ideal? Why would we make a consequence of sin into a command from God?

Christian traditions that explicitly teach complementarianism  - that husbands possess primary authority and that governing or teaching roles in the church are reserved for men  - describe this arrangement as a beautiful expression of God's created order.  But here’s the problem:  

 

Genesis 3 is not where we locate God's will. It’s where we locate God’s problem. The very thing Genesis 3 describes as “he will rule over you” is precisely part of the problem that Jesus came to redeem. Because that's what salvation does. Jesus doesn't come merely to forgive individual sins. He comes to overthrow all that diminishes God’s design. He comes to restore all of creation.

He comes announcing a kingdom in which the last become first, the powerful become servants, the excluded are welcomed, and those whom society has pushed down are lifted up. And look at what happens to women around Jesus. Women become disciples. Women become theological students. Women are freed. Women first proclaim the resurrection. Women pray and prophesy. Women lead churches in the earliest Christian communities. Paul can write: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28) The New Testament trajectory is not toward restoring hierarchy. It’s toward restoring the partnership of Genesis 1 & 2. And if Genesis 3 describes the distortion, then redemption means refusing to baptize the distortion. It means asking:

Where has sin taught men to dominate women when God created us to partner?

Where have we baptized inequality as God’s design?

And perhaps most importantly: Where are we still living out Genesis 3 when we should be living out Genesis 1 & 2?

That is the challenge of biblical equality. And that's why I don't think “feminism” should scare Christians. If Christian feminism means the Biblical conviction that women are fully human, fully God's image, fully gifted by the Spirit, and fully created to participate in God's mission alongside men— then Christians should have no reason to fear that. In fact, we should celebrate that impulse wherever it appears.

Because this is what I believe Genesis is ultimately telling us: God did not create men and women to compete. God created us to collaborate. God did not create men to rule women. God created women and men together to bear God's image. God did not create one sex to have power over the other. God created us to share the work of cultivating creation and participating in God's kingdom. We were made better together.

And that's why I want to return to the image and question that started this sermon. “Where is the woman?” Remember that Sistine Chapel painting? The Feiler sisters finally found her. Eve was in the arms of God.  

 

 

May all women find themselves in a similar place – for healing, for empowerment, and for love. May all men see in women a proper companion, an equal counterpart, offered by God.

But let’s also go back to Genesis story and remember where we don't find Eve. We don’t find her standing behind Adam or beneath Adam. We don't find her waiting for permission. We find her beside him. Bone of his bone. Flesh of his flesh. Equal image-bearer. Equal partner.

 

And that leads me to one more picture that hangs in my office, the Harrowing of Hell. 

 

One more image of God, one more image of embrace, one more image of partnership and redemption, one more image of what God and God’s church does. God doesn't abandon humanity when sin breaks the partnership. God begins the long work of restoration. And that work began with Christ who pulls Adam and Eve out of the grave together for partnership. So let's remember the very beginning. Let's read carefully. Let's recognize what sin has distorted. And let's join God in the work of restoring what was broken. Because the Christian vision isn't men over women. It isn't women over men. It isn't even men and women simply tolerating one another. It’s something much more beautiful: men and women, created together, bearing the image of God. Men and women, called together, following Jesus. Men and women, sent together, sharing the work of God's kingdom. Men and women—pulled together, out of brokenness, back into a proper relationship with God, one another, and themselves  - better together.

Let’s pray . . .

 

Words We No Longer Avoid: What We Discovered When We Stopped Hiding ~ Romans 8:31, 35, 38–39 (Series Summary)

 

For the last several weeks, we've been talking about words Christians sometimes avoid. These words are important but not the ones we generally put on coffee cups or sing about with gusto. They’re words like Sin. Wrath and judgment. Depression. Politics. Sex. Grief. Doubt. Prayer. Mystery. We avoid them because sometimes they're complicated. Sometimes they're wrapped in shame. Sometimes they've been used as weapons. Sometimes we've simply been taught the wrong thing.

So this summer, we've tried something different. We haven't tried to make complicated things simple. We've tried to make them speakable. And I think that's why Romans 8 is such a fitting place to close this series. Paul has spent chapters talking about things we often want to avoid like sin, suffering, and death—all the complicated realities of being human. And then he asks: “What then are we to say about these things?” That’s our question we’ve been asking. What are these things we'd rather avoid? How do we make them speakable? How do we lean in?

And Paul's answer isn't to make things easy or resolve every question. His answer is far more trustworthy and lovely: “Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.” Which means we can afford to tell the truth about difficult things. Because the truth does not threaten God's love. The truth is God loves us and the difficult spaces are the places where God is waiting for us. Not waiting to condemn us. Not waiting to embarrass us. Not waiting to prove that we’re bad Christians. Waiting to meet us. So let’s remember what we’ve learned?

1. SIN & CONFESSION: Name what wounds so healing can begin. (Psalm 32:1-5)

We began with sin. And perhaps there’s no word in Christianity that has been more weaponized. For some people, “sin” immediately conjures shame, condemnation,  fear.  But Psalm 32 gave us another picture. David says, “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away.” The problem wasn't simply that David had done something wrong. The problem was that he was hiding. The Greek word for sin, hamartia, means “to miss the mark.” It’s an arrow aimed at a target that fails to hit. And what is the target? Jesus makes that remarkably clear. Love God. Love your neighbor. Love yourself (Matt. 22:37-39).

So sin is not primarily about breaking arbitrary rules so that God can keep score. Sin is about what happens when we hide from love, when we participate in indifference instead of compassion, when we choose contempt instead of mercy. when we fail to love ourselves or someone else. And confession, then, is not groveling before an angry God. Confession is telling the truth so healing can begin. God does not ask us to hide our wounds. God asks us to bring them into the light.

2. WRATH & JUDGMENT: Love never becomes hatred but God honors our choices. (1 John 4:16b-19; Luke 15:11-32)

Then we talked about wrath and judgment. And this may have been the most important theological question underneath the whole series: What is God actually like? Because if God is love, as 1 John says, then everything else we say about God has to pass through that reality - including wrath and judgment. We looked at Jesus’ theology of wrath in the story of the prodigal sons. There the father never stops loving the son when the son leaves. The father doesn't become his enemy. The father allows him to go and experience the pig pen. That experience of the painful consequences is wrath. Paul describes God's wrath in Romans as God honoring people by “giving people over” to the consequences of their choices.

And judgment, Jesus says, is that light has come into the world. Light doesn't create the dust in a room. Light reveals it. That's judgment. God isn’t actively trying to destroy us. God is bringing what is hidden into the light so that what is destroying us can finally be healed. Jesus does not reveal an angry Father finally getting to punish somebody. On the cross, Jesus reveals what human wrath does to forgiving love. Humanity pours violence, betrayal, hatred and death. And what does God do? God forgives. God absorbs. God rises. Love refuses to die. So perhaps the most memorable thing we can say about wrath and judgment is this: God's wrath is not God becoming less loving. It’s God allowing us to choose our own path but refusing to leave us trapped in what destroys us.

3. DEPRESSION: Sometimes faith means attending to our body and eating breakfast. (1 Kings 19:1-15)

Then came depression. And Elijah helped us here. Because Elijah has one of the greatest spiritual victories in the Bible. Fire falls from heaven. The prophets of Baal are defeated. And then, almost immediately, life falls apart. He runs into the wilderness. He sits beneath a broom tree. And he says, “I've had enough. Take my life.” And God doesn't lecture him. God doesn't say, "Elijah, where is your faith?" God doesn't say, “You need to pray harder.” An angel comes and brings food, water, an encouragement to rest. Before God addresses Elijah's theology, God cares for Elijah's body. Before God asks questions, God offers breakfast.

Sometimes faith looks like moving mountains. But sometimes faith looks like eating breakfast. Sometimes courage looks like getting out of bed. Sometimes hope is simply taking one more step. And sometimes the most Christlike thing you can do for someone who is depressed is not to fix them. It’s to sit with them. Bring a meal. Listen. Stay. Sometimes the journey is too much. You don't have to pretend otherwise. Faith and despair can occupy the very same heart.

4. POLITICS: Jesus is Lord. No nation, party, or ideology gets our ultimate allegiance. No oppressed group should encounter our silence. (Acts 19:1-9)

Then I said the word that probably frightened some of you more than all the others: Politics. But we discovered that politics isn't merely elections or political parties. It’s about how we order our common life. Who has power? Who has resources? Who gets heard? Who gets forgotten? Who gets welcomed? Who gets pushed aside? And once you understand politics that way, you discover that the Bible is deeply political. The early Christians proclaimed the euangelion—the gospel. That word was used politically in the Roman world for announcements about emperors and military victories. And Christians (as even their enemies understood, Acts 17:1-9) took that word and said: “No. The good news is not that Caesar is Lord. Jesus is Lord.” It means no nation gets our ultimate allegiance. No political party gets our ultimate loyalty. No ideology gets our ultimate devotion. And it means our faith can never simply private.

Because if Jesus is Lord, then the way we treat our neighbors and the most vulnerable matters. The way we distribute power matters. The way we welcome the stranger matters. The way we care for the poor matters. Mary’s Magnificat asks: Who is being pushed down? Who needs to be lifted up? Who is hungry? Who has been forgotten? So perhaps our memorable sentence for politics is simply: Jesus is Lord—and the same compassion that saves us is the same compassion that seeks to ensure kids have enough to heat, immigrants are welcomed, the poor are protected.

5. SEX: Our bodies are very good. Sexuality is a longing for connection and faithful belonging. The opposite of lust isn’t purity but reverence. (Genesis 1:26-28, 31; 2:18-25)

Then, because apparently I had decided to make everyone really uncomfortable, we talked about sex. But Genesis surprised us. The Bible doesn't begin with sexual shame. It begins with sexual blessing. Our bodies are “very good.” Desire is not inherently dirty. Our capacity to touch, embrace, connect and delight is not God's embarrassment. And God says something fascinating: “It is not good that the human should be alone.” Notice what God calls “not good.” Not desire. Not bodies. Loneliness is not good because we were created for communion.

Sexuality, we said, is larger than simply having sex. It’s the human longing to move beyond isolation toward connection. To know and be known. To love and be loved. To belong. Sex can be one beautiful expression of that. But the deeper Christian question isn't, “What are the rules?” It’s: Does this help us become more capable of faithful love? And that's why shame is such a poor teacher. Shame says, “You are the problem.” Jesus says, “Treat others as you wish to be treated.” Because shame produces hiding. Love produces honesty. And so the message of Genesis is worth remembering: Your body is not God's embarrassment. Your body is God's good creation. The opposite of lust isn’t purity. It’s reverence.

6. GRIEF: Grief is love after loss. Our deepest grief is never a godless place (Matthew 10:29-31)

Then we talked about grief. And I think this may be one of the most tender words of the series. We live in a culture that is very good at moving on, getting back to normal. But the Bible isn't embarrassed by grief. Job grieves. Jeremiah grieves. The Psalmist grieves. Even Jesus grieves.

And Jesus says something extraordinary about grief and sparrows. “Not one falls to the ground apart from the Father.” The sparrow was almost worthless in the marketplace. But not to God. The world says “disposable.” God says “beloved.” So you don't have to apologize for your grief. You don't have to say, “Other people have it worse.” You don't have to hurry yourself toward closure. Because grief is not failure. Grief is what love looks like when something precious has been lost.

And Jesus doesn't promise us that nothing will fall. He promises that our deepest grief is never a godless place. There is no place where we can fall outside the love and presence of God. Christian hope is not pretending nothing hurts. It’s believing that love is always present and that even in the hurting, God breaks our fall.

7. DOUBT: You can question and still belong. Sometimes faith is simply staying in the room (John 20:24-29)

Then came doubt. We noticed how John doesn't call Thomas “Doubting Thomas.” He calls him: “Thomas, one of the twelve.” After his doubt, he still belongs. After his doubt, he is still a disciple. After his doubt, he is still in the room. No one tries to throw him out. No one shames him. No one tells him he isn't a real Christian. They keep him close. And a week later, he’s still there. His questions haven't all been resolved. But he continues to belong.

And perhaps that’s one of the most important things the church can say to people who doubt: You can question and still belong. Sometimes faith is simply staying in relationship when clarity disappears. Sometimes faith is just showing up. And when Jesus comes into the locked room he says, “Peace.” Not an argument. Not a lecture. He shows Thomas his wounds. Because sometimes our deepest doubts aren't answered by better arguments. Sometimes they are met by wounded love.

8. PRAYER: Prayer is not performance or persuasion; it is paying attention to the God already paying attention to us. (Matthew 6:5-15; Ephesians 3:14-21)

Then we talked about prayer. And we discovered that prayer can become another place where Christians feel like failures. “Other people pray for hours.” “They know exactly what to say.” But Jesus says something wonderfully freeing: “Your Father knows what you need before you ask.” Before you ask. God is already paying attention. So prayer isn't getting God's attention. Prayer is paying attention to the God who is already paying attention to us.

Mary Oliver said: “I don't know exactly what prayer is. But I do know how to pay attention.” That’s it! Prayer is noticing God, yourself, another person, creation. Prayer isn't performance. It isn't manipulation. It isn't trying to persuade God to love us. It’s presence, attention, awareness that God is already, lovingly paying attention to us. So perhaps the simplest prayer of all is: “God, I am here. And I notice that you are here, too.”

9. MYSTERY: Mystery is not a way to silence hard questions. It’s to awaken to the boundless goodness of God still being revealed in Jesus. (Ephesians 3:1-12)

And finally, we came to mystery. A word that ties everything together. Mystery is often used as an excuse. Something terrible happens and we say, “It's a mystery.” A child suffers. “God has a plan.” Someone dies. A marriage falls apart. “God's ways are higher than our ways.”

But  Paul uses the word mysterion very differently. Mystery isn't something God is hiding from us. It is something God is revealing. And what is the mystery? That outsiders become insiders. That strangers become family. That Gentiles become fellow heirs. That people who thought they were outside God's purposes discover that God had been making room for them all along. Mystery is not: “Why did God allow this terrible thing?” Mystery is: “How much bigger is God's love than we imagined?” Every time we think we've reached the edge of God's mercy, there is more. More grace. More love. More beauty. More welcome. More God.

So what have we learned? Nine uncomfortable words. Nine lovely invitations:

Sin taught us: Aim for love and tell the truth so healing can begin.

Wrath and judgment taught us: God's love never becomes hatred but honors our choices.

Depression taught us: You don't have to pretend you're okay, and sometimes faith looks like eating breakfast.

Politics taught us: Jesus is Lord. Follow Him first and remember that justice is what love looks like in public.

Sex taught us: Our bodies are very good, and we were created for faithful connection.

Grief taught us: Love is worth the risk, and we never suffer outside God's presence.

Doubt taught us: You can question and still belong.

Prayer taught us: Pay attention to the God who is already paying attention to you.

And mystery taught us: God’s love is not less than we understand. God is more merciful than we imagined.

 

We’ve discovered that we don't have to be afraid of “these things,” Paul tells us. Because the Christian story is not the story of people who have figured everything out. It is the story of people who have discovered that nothing needs to be avoided because nothing can separate us from God’s love. So tell the truth. Ask the question. Admit the wound. Name the grief. Acknowledge the doubt. Talk about sex. Engage the world. Pay attention. Because God's mysterious mercy is greater than our fear, and God's boundless love is stronger than our shame. The places we fear are often where healing begins, and the doors we hesitate to open are where grace is already waiting. Amen.