Genesis 2:21-24

Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall on the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. He made the rib, which Yahweh God had taken from the man, into a woman, and brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.

On the outside, this simple record of the creation of woman is elementary, but when you take a careful look at what it means it provides important information about men, women and marriage from God’s perspective.

One thing we learn is that God took woman out of man. We see that this is symbolic of marriage. Notice that it is God’s intent that there be a single man joined with a single woman. Notice that it is not two men or two women. God also makes a point that when a couple comes together, the man is to “leave his father and mother.” It is also a distortion of what God expects for a man to maintain his child-like relationship with his parents.

Also notice that God intends for the two persons to be “one flesh” or one body. Listen to what Paul writes in the Bible to Christians:

Ephesians 5:28-33 :

Even so husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. For no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord also does the church; because we are members of his body, of his flesh and bones. “For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will be joined to his wife. The two will become one flesh.” This mystery is great, but I speak concerning Christ and of the church. Nevertheless each of you must also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

So, we see that there is an even deeper symbolism going on in this act of creation. God is also representing the relationship between Jesus and the Church. Paul tells us that “this mystery is great.” So the creation and joining of one woman and one man is not just a symbol marriage today, it also represents Jesus and His relationship with us. That’s why it is so important that we treat marriage with the appropriate respect. Notice how this also helps to explain the responsibility of a man and a woman to each other in a marriage. A man is to act like Jesus and love his wife like Jesus would and a woman is to respect her husband as unto Jesus. This is an impossible thing for us to do on our own, but it isn’t impossible for God to work out through us by the Holy Spirit.