Many of our politicians and psychologists are unwilling to answer this simple question. We hear them dance around the issue with frustrating ambiguity, even using circular reasoning. “I’m not a biologist,” some say, or “A woman is a person who identifies as a woman.” Thankfully, God’s Word is refreshingly clear in its teaching. In Genesis 2, we learn that a woman is man’s equal, yet also his opposite. She is part of the whole image of God that reflects both God’s unity and His diversity. Even earlier, in Genesis 1:27, God declared that His image included creating humans as “male and female,” giving both sexes equality and dignity. As Genesis 2 unfolds, we learn that a woman is the most suitable teammate for a man to weather life alongside, corresponding to him in the exact points where he is lacking. A woman is designed to be a “helper” to man, a title used most often of God throughout the Bible, showing powerful and meaningful provision unattainable by man on his own. Adam’s song in Genesis 2:23 expresses best the beauty of both the similarity and differences between men and women:
“This one, at last, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh;
This one will be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken from man.”
In the first pages of Scripture, Adam celebrates what our society suppresses—that men and women are different by God’s good design, and that this reality is for everyone’s benefit! May we continue to reflect God’s glorious image by accepting the way He chose to make us—even when it comes to our sexual identity.
Pastor Mike