Genesis 2 gives us valuable insights into how God relates with humankind. So far, we have discovered that human beings have a unique value (v. 7), a specific responsibility (v. 15), and the freedom to choose (vv. 16–17). In today’s passage, we read about how God made people for relationship.

In Genesis 1, God had described everything that He made as “good” or “very good”. So it is jarring for us now to hear the Lord God say, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (2:18; italics added). This saying makes it clear that loneliness goes against God’s design. Humans were created to be social beings and to find fulfilment in relationships.

As part of the process of identifying a “helper suitable for him”, God brings all the animals and birds to Adam to “see what he would name them” (vv. 18–19). To the original audience of Genesis, naming something meant describing its essential character. Adam was thus fulfilling God’s instruction to subdue and rule over creation. At the end of this exercise, Adam would discover that “man’s best friend” was never going to come from any of the animals; “for Adam no suitable helper was found” (v. 20). As animals were not made in God’s image, they cannot relate to humans in an equal way.

This leads into the account of God’s creation of a woman. Although the ancient world had many myths about the creation of the world, including the creation of men, few spoke about how women were made. This is because women were valued less than men at that time. From the outset, however, the Bible has always valued men and women equally (see 1:26–27). God gives equal attention to the creation of the first woman and the first man. Because God made the woman “from the rib he had taken out of the man” (2:22), the man and the woman are thoroughly interrelated and interdependent, even though they are different (v. 23). The apostle Paul, wanting to make this point, echoed the teaching of this passage (1 Corinthians 11:7–12).

It is at Genesis 2:24 that the author of Genesis interrupts the creation account with the most foundational statement about marriage to be found in the Bible. This verse is quoted or referred to several times in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 5:31;
Mark 10:7–8).

In fact, Jesus bases His teaching on marriage on Genesis 1:27 and 2:24. In Matthew 19:4–6, we can identify six crucial aspects of our Lord’s perspective on marriage:

1. Heterosexual: God created them male and female
2. Exclusive: a man will leave his father and mother
3. Committed: to be united
4. Monogamous: to his wife (singular)
5. Permanent: the two become one flesh
6. Sacred: God has joined them together

Today’s passage has shown us the importance of human relationships, and it culminates in the institution of marriage, the most intimate of them all.