“In the beginning God made male and female. He made Adam first, and then he made Eve from Adam’s rib. This order of creation subordinates wives to their husbands and women to men in the church. As an act of submission to their Creator women are commanded to submit to their husbands and to male leadership in the church”.

Having looked at the various comments made on this passage by a number of eminent men of the church we will now look at scripture to see what God had said to the man and his helper regarding their roles.

Their roles were not so much determined in the Genesis Two creation account but in the Genesis One creation account for we can read

“ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God created He him; Male and female created He them. And God blessed them, And God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, And replenish the earth, and subdue it: And have dominion over the fish of the sea, And over the fowl of the air, And over every living thing that moveth upon the earth”.

Genesis 1:26-28

So the man and the woman together had dominion over creation, working in perfect harmony with each other as a team, just as God had said. No one had been given rulership over the other, they ruled creation together. And it was perfect bliss...

But then the Fall took place...

The Fall

We find the account of the Fall in Genesis Three. It is a very sad story indeed. As far as the woman is concerned she was told by God

“ I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; And thy desire shall be to thy husband, And he shall rule over thee ”.

Genesis 3:16

Jewish traditional thinking on this passage can be found in the Babylonian Talmud, which was written between the third century B.C. and the sixth century B.C. The Talmud lists “Ten Curses God uttered against Eve”.

“ Greatly multiply deals with woman’s menstrual curse”.

“ Thy sorrow is having and rearing children”.

“ Thy conception shall be by the husband’s choice and at his discretion”.

“ In sorrow thou shall bring forth children is more punishment of women”.

“ Thy desire shall be unto thy husband, deals with the rabbis’ private interpretation of sexuality ”.

“ He shall rule over thee, the wife being in total submission and subjugation, since the wife is the personal property of the husband”.

“ She is wrapped up like a mourner, that is...”

“ She shall not appear in public with her head uncovered”.

“ She is restricted to one husband, while the husband may have many wives”.

“ She is confined to the house”.

Reading it would make any woman feel depressed and hopeless. It would not have helped her either if she had heard the prayer of a Jewish man, which goes as follows:

“ Praise be to God that He has not created me a Gentile;

Praise be to God that He has not created me a woman;

Praise be to God that He has not created me an ignorant man”.

We will once again turn to some of the early Church Fathers and other well known men to find out how they viewed this particular passage.

Origen who lived from 185 – 254 A.D.

To Origen all women were earthly, fleshly and evil.

Tertullian, who lived from 155 - 245 A.D. wrote:

“Every woman should be walking about as Eve, mourning and repentant in order that by every garb of penitence she might be the more fully expiate (meaning make reparation for, make complete atonement for) that which she derives from Eve - the ignominy (the public disgrace, humiliation, dishour, infamy) - I mean of the first sin, and the odium (attaching to as the cause of) human perdition.

In pains and in anxieties dost thou bear children, woman; and toward thine husband is thy inclination, and he lords it over thee. And you know that you are each an Eve. The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives in this age. The guilt must of necessity live too.

You are of the devil’s gateway; you are the un-sealer of the forbidden tree. You are the first deserter of the divine law. You are she who persuaded him, whom the devil was not valiant enough to attack. You destroyed so easily God’s image man. On account of your desert the Son of God had to die”.

Augustine of Hippo, who lived from 345 - 430 A.D. wrote:

“What is the difference whether it is in a wife or a mother; it is still Eve the temptress, that we must be aware of in any woman.I fail to see what use a woman can be to a man, if one excludes the function of bearing children”.

Martin Luther who lived from 1483 - 1546 A.D. wrote:

“If women become tired, or even die, that does not matter. Let them die in childbirth, that’s why they’re here”.

Matthew Henry, whom we have already quoted, wrote:

“The woman, for her sin, is condemned to a state of sorrow, and of subjection; proper punishments of that sin, in which she had sought to gratify the desire of her eye, and of the flesh, and her pride...

He shall rule over thee, is but God’s command. If man had not sinned, he would always have ruled with wisdom and love; if the woman had not sinned, she would always have obeyed with meekness and humility...”

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