Who was Eve anyway?

 Eve was the first woman created in the Bible. God formed her from the rib of Adam, the first man, to be Adam's wife. Eve was described as a "helper suitable for" Adam. In that way, it can be easy to downplay Eve's role in the creation story. Simply put, before Eve's creation, the world was incomplete. 

Before the end of the sixth day, God had seen what He had made and called it "good" six different times. However, in Genesis 2, when He looked at his creation of Adam, he said something that stood in stark contrast to the rest of creation. He looked at Adam and he said "it is not good for the man to be alone." The woman was not just made as the helper, she was made as the completion of God's perfect creation. Whereas before, God saw that it was not good when man was alone, after He made the woman on the sixth day, God looked on all that He had made and saw that it was very good.

In the initial creation, the woman was made to completely complement the man that God created. 

References to Eve

Eve is an interesting character in the Bible. She is actually only mentioned by name 4 times. Her name is mentioned twice in Genesis. Once at the end of chapter 3, when Adam names her, and once at the beginning of chapter 4, when Eve conceives her first child. 

She is mentioned twice as well in the New Testament. Both times, she is mentioned by the apostle Paul. Paul mentions her in 2 Corinthians 11:3 to compare the church in Corinth to Eve in that Paul fears that just as Eve was easily deceived by the serpent, Corinth would be deceived by false teachers preaching a different gospel than the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The second reference by Paul comes in 1 Timothy 2:13-14, where Paul lays out the roles for women and men within the Church. 

Eve's Story

So who was Eve? Although she is mentioned surprisingly little in the Bible by name, her story still holds great significance and consequence for each of us. God formed Eve from Adam's rib (Gen 2:22). The woman was created as the perfect complement to the man. When Adam saw the wife that God had made for him, he called her "bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh." A creature made from man to perfectly suit him and unite with him as his counterpart. God created man and woman to share deep, intimate connection with one another in lifelong, monogamous, inseparable relationship. That is why, as Genesis 2:24 so well states, "a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh."

Men and women are designed to be one flesh. I don't know how much y'all know about flesh, but it doesn't exactly come apart from itself too well. At the very least, it is not intended to come apart. It is not just a lifelong bond that holds husband and wife together, it is an intimate connection that completely drives out division. It is a connection on every level that is not meant to be shared or complicated.

Due to the sin of Adam and Eve, we cannot experience the fullness of a perfect marriage relationship, but we are called as Christians, if we are to marry, to pursue this level of relationship with one another. Just as, though we are imperfect, we are called as Christians to pursue Christ's perfection so as to grow closer and closer over time to the image of Christ that we were intended to become. This cannot be done through our own power, but empowered by the Spirit of God Himself. Some great biblical references on a godly marriage and its purpose can be found in Ephesians 5 as well as Matthew 19.

From the beginning, we see that God made man as the head of the marriage relationship. Not that man and woman are not equal, but that man was created to lead the woman. We can see this in the responsibility placed on the man for the fall. While Eve was deceived by the serpent, Adam was with her. He was right there. Through the passivity of the man, who was created to care and protect his wife as well as the garden, and who was the one commanded by God not to eat the fruit in the first place, Eve ate the fruit. Then, Adam ate it. But the blame for the fall of humanity was not placed on Eve.

That does not mean that Eve was without punishment. Verse 16 of Genesis 3 lays out the curse given to Eve:

"I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."

For woman's part in the failure of humanity, the relationship between man and woman was skewed. This perfect complementary relationship created by God as the final act of creation, after which he called it all very good, was tainted. No longer can a man and woman perfectly live out a relationship as was originally intended by God. Ephesians 5 lays out eloquently how a marriage relationship is meant to look.

Where does Jesus come into this?

Y'all remember Ephesians 5? Let's go there. Starting in verse 21 and going to the end of the chapter, Paul lays out how a Christian marriage is intended to look. But more importantly, Paul is not speaking primarily about the relationship between a husband and wife. Verse 32 tells us what he is ultimately speaking of: the relationship between Christ and the church.

God's original design in marriage is a perfect reflection of Jesus' relationship to His church. So what does the perfect marriage look like? Well let's look at what Christ did for the church. In an ultimate act of sacrificial love, Jesus laid down His life so that His people could be saved. And what does Ephesians 5:25 say? "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her." The next few verses point to Christ raising up the church, presenting her to Himself as holy and blameless. And remember earlier, in Ephesians 1:22, Paul calls the church the body of Christ. In the same way, while the man is meant to be at the head of a marriage relationship, the woman is the body.

Just as Christ empowers us, His body, to go out, do good works in His name, and proclaim His gospel, men are called to empower their wives as they do their own bodies.

Ultimately, the story of Eve's deception, the fall of humanity, and God's love for her and her husband through all of it, points to the end of the story. From the very beginning, God has redemption in mind. As Adam and Eve were originally joined together, fully one flesh with one another, so will Christ reconcile His church to Himself, bringing together once and for all the Lord and His bride.

Just look at what God says to the serpent:

"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." Genesis 3:15, NIV.

Jesus is the ultimate crusher of the head of the serpent. He is the fulfillment of God's promise to Satan. In Revelation, we see the fulfillment of the defeat of the serpent, who is not named in Genesis, but who is called out unmistakably by the name of Satan in Revelation (Rev. 12:9, 20:1-3). Christ will have His bride, and once again and forever it will be very good.