This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called “woman,” for she was taken out of man. (Gen. 2:23)
Prince Harry reportedly experienced love at first sight. When he saw Meghan Markle, he knew she was the one for him. It happens to less famous people as well. Maybe it has happened to you. Or you know couples who say, “We just knew when we saw each other that we were meant to be together.”
It’s a beautifully romantic idea that a man and woman see each other across a crowded room, sense an electric spark of attraction, and suddenly believe they have found their match. They may say, “We were made for each other.”
That was literally true for Adam and Eve. God made them both and he made them for each other. Adam was so excited that he exclaimed, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh!” Commentators have indicated the Hebrew term translated “this is now” is an exclamation of delight and means, “At last!” Some have suggested it could mean, “Wow! Look at that!”
The man decided she should be called woman. You can see how closely those words are related. The same is true in Hebrew. The word for man sounds like “ish” and the word for woman like “ishah.”
However you pronounce it, man is made for woman and woman for man. No wonder evangelical Christians affirm that marriage between one man and one woman is God’s design.
Look to God’s Word, not culture, to define male-female relationships.
Ron McClung lives in Fishers, Indiana, with his wife, Carol. He has served The Wesleyan Church for over fifty years and written his weekly column, Positive Perspective, for more than thirty.
© 2020 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
