The Production of Woman

Woman is necessary to man for purposes of generation according to God’s plan for the propagation of the human race. When the first man had been created, God said (Gen. 2:18): “Itis not good for man to be alone; let us make him a helper like to himself.”

It is entirely fitting that woman should be made from man. This fact shows the likeness of man to God; for as one God isthe principle of the whole universe, so one man is the principle ofthe whole human race. Further, the fact that woman is derived from man should make a man love his wife and cherish her as “bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh.” Again, this fact indicates the order of domestic life, with man as the natural head of the household. Finally, the origin of woman from man has a holyallegorical meaning, and foreshadows the origin of the Church from Christ.

The first woman was formed from a rib of the first man:“God built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman”(Gen. 2:22). Woman was suitably taken from man’s side, to indicate social equality and companionship; she was not taken from man’s head to rule him, nor from his feet to be his slave.

Only God can produce a man from the slime of the earth and a woman from the rib of a man. Therefore the woman, as well asthe man, was formed immediately by almighty God.