Adam's Rib Or Women's Lib Series

This interpretation of women as being excluded from eldership is confirmed by one incontrovertible fact: There were, in the New Testament, no women apostles and no women elders! Jesus could have settled this controversy at the very beginning by appointing Mary Magdalene as an apostle, but he did not do so. Neither Paul, nor any of the apostles, ever chose a woman to be an elder of the churches they founded, though they could easily have done so if it were right. There were many godly and capable women available, but none was ever put in the office of elder.

Many of the comments you read on this passage will make it appear that Paul is prohibiting women from this kind of authoritative teaching only because of the cultural patterns of that day. That is not true. Paul says there are things that stem right from creation that are different about men and women, and which have application to this problem here.

5. Their design

For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.

1 Timothy 2:13, 14 (NIV)

These verses make it clear that Paul’s instruction in the previous verses is not merely a matter of culture. His instruction is based on the divine order that God established at creation.

The word "first" in verse 13 is a word that means "first or chief in order".

Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God¡ for man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.

1 Corinthians 11:3, 8, 9 (NIV)

Adam and Eve had an ideal marriage. He didn’t have to hear about all the men she could have married, and she didn’t have to hear about the way his mother cooked.

At that time God performed the first surgical operation, complete with anesthesia. He put Adam to sleep and took a rib from his side, made of it a woman, and brought her to Adam. The first word Adam said was, "At last!" (Men have been saying that about tardy women ever since!) But what Adam meant, of course, was, "Finally, I have found that which completes me, corresponds to me, is equal with me, is sent to help me fulfill the task which God has given me to do."

Top 10 Reasons God created Eve:

10. God worried that Adam would be lost in the Garden of Eden because he wouldn’t ask for directions.

9. God knew that someday Adam would need someone to hand him the TV remote. (It has been noted that men don’t want to see what’s ON TV; they want to see WHAT ELSE is on.)

8. God knew that Adam would never make a doctor’s appointment.

7. God knew that when Adam’s fig leaf wore out, he would never buy a new one for himself.

6. God knew that Adam would not remember to take out the garbage.

5. God wanted man to be fruitful and multiply, but he knew Adam would never be able to handle labor pains and childbirth.

4. As "keeper of the garden," Adam would need help in finding his tools.

3. Adam needed someone to blame for the Apple Incident, and for anything else that was really his fault.