God’s Design Of Marriage – Part 2 (Genesis 2:18-25) 

Valley View Baptist Church                                                            Pastor Curt Audet

6N656 Route 25                                                                                    March 22, 2026

St. Charles, Il 60174                                                                   vvbcil.com

“God’s Design Of Marriage” Part 2 (Genesis 2:18-25)

7th in the message series ‘Harbors For Our Soul‘

BI: God designed marriage to bless Man and Woman with fulfilling companionship and fruitful family life and faithful testimony to their Creator.

If it were not for the Book of Genesis, everything in the rest of the Bible would not make sense.  Genesis introduces to us who God is and what is His history, connection, expectation and relationship to His people.  As the first book of the Bible, the Book of Genesis lays the foundation for the creation of the world, the early history of humanity, and the origins and mission of the Israelite people through key figures like Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

Last week we read through part of Genesis 1 and all of Genesis 2 receiving the overview of the Creation of Man.  God self-reveals to us this way in 2:4,

“These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.”

For the first time in the Bible, God described Himself this way:  “YHWH Elohim”  When you see the Word, ‘LORD’ with all caps, this is the relational name for God, Yahweh.   We pronounce this word almost the way we breath.  Let’s take a breather: YHWH.  Or, YH (inhale), WH (exhale).  Yahweh.  We recognize our Creator, who according to 2:7, began the race of Man by forming the lifeless body and then breathing HIS breath into him.

 “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” (2:7)

God is our Creator who created us to have a relationship with us.  God as our Heavenly Father is part of the Gospel message.  As we have been working our way through our series, Harbors For Our Soul, we have been recognizing from the book of Genesis foundational truths that not only inform us, but also change us as we put them to practice.  We are being exposed to God’s wisdom, design and intentional way for us to see and to live in the world. This is what we call a Biblical worldview.  For the disciples of Christ, these are conscious decisions we make to listen and follow God’s Word on the truth-for-living.

So God, who designed and created the World, and all that is in it, and designed and created us to inhabit the world. The Bible gives us three reasons why God created Marriage:  To provide fulfilling companionship, fruitful family-life and a faithful testimony to our Creator.  This first one we will look at today.

1. God designed marriage to bless Man and Woman with fulfilling companionship. (Genesis 2:18-25)

The story of marriage begins right here at v.18. 

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 

God determined that there was a shocking “not good” moment in the Garden of Eden.  In Genesis 1:31—which includes this exchange in the overview God calls all things in Creation ‘very good’!  But here, before that summary, there was a glaring problem in the way Creation was shaping up.  How will this situation then become the essential ‘very good’? 

Verse 18 is spoken by God.  But, to whom? Who was God talking to in v.18?   Is this perhaps another example of the Trinity Council seen in Genesis 1:26 and later in 3:23 and other places in the human redemption storyline? God was aware of the fact that the Man had no suitable companion.  It’s important that God does not say, ‘I will find for him among the creatures of the earth one suitable for him.’  He said He would make one for him uniquely. All the other creatures had their corresponding companions.  Notice that this ‘not good’ prognosis was not over all Creation, just upon the process of human creation.   God cultivated the Man’s awareness of his need by giving him a first assignment.   

¹⁹ Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.

The element that was ‘not good’ in the Man’s life was the absence of a suitable companion for him.  He saw many animals and birds, but he could not find a companion that was right for him.  This need was not just utilitarian—meaning to procreate, or to have a servant in the house to help him complete tasks.  But this extends the relational element  begun with God’s self-revelation of His relational name. YHWH Elohim.

This is emphasized by the usage of the proper name Adam assigning in some way the Man’s name.   The word for ‘the man’ used throughout chapter 2 in Hebrew is literally “adam” meaning “the Man”.  First used as a general word up to the beginning of v.20, and switching to the same word but in a proper-name form in its second use in v.20.  Here it refers specifically the man right here now experiencing a relationship deficit.   All the animals have their names—deer, beaver, cat, moose—and God formalizes the name Man, or Adam, for this man in relational preparation to meet his suitable companion.

The animals—and Adam—were formed with the raw materials of the earth itself, yet the Woman—Adam’s companion—is made out of the raw material of Adam’s physical body’s side.

“So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²² And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³ Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’”

Do a quick count of your ribs.   Often people repeat the ‘rib fable’ saying that women have one less rib than men do because of what God did in Creation.  Studies in anatomy will show you that this is not true.  In general all people—men and women—have twelve sets of ribs; less commonly some have 11 sets and some have 13 sets.  

The fact is the Bible doesn’t say that anyone except Adam would have less than the full rack-of-ribs, Adam would also bear a visible scar through which God removed one rib and closed the flesh of his side.  The scar would be a lifelong reminder to him of God’s design and beauty of the Creation of marriage.

Why did God use Adam’s rib? Interestingly, ribs have amazing regenerative powers. Portions of rib bone and cartilage removed in bone graft surgery will regrow in a few months’ time, as long as the rib perichondrium is left intact. This means that Adam’s loss of a rib was only temporary; he did not have to go through the rest of his life with an incomplete skeletal system.

The narrative in Genesis 2 focuses on the ‘side’ of Adam.   Why people believe it was a rib He used is because ‘one of’ Adam’s side is not specific enough; and again in Adam’s joyful exclamation he says that this suitable companion—unlike ALL of the creatures he had named–was ‘bone of his bone’ and ‘flesh of his flesh’ (v.23)  The ‘bone’ would be the rib from his side.  And ‘flesh’ would reference the physical likeness and compatibility with himself in the Creation of the Woman.

God used Adam’s rib to form Eve—He used existing tissue and did not ‘start from scratch’—to show that Adam and Eve were of the same substance; she was made from the same stuff and was a bearer of God’s image and likeness, just like Adam was. The Woman made of Adam’s rib was designed to be a companion for Adam. The Woman, formed from a physical part of Adam, was truly his complement, an integral part of who he was. As such, she was the perfect companion.

When God brought Eve to Adam, they were united in marriage: the “woman” in Genesis 2:22 is called Adam’s “wife” in verse 24. The pattern for marriage, the first social institution, was thus established by God in Eden. The manner of Eve’s creation is “why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” The unity of a married couple and the “one flesh” principle are based on the fact that God used one of Adam’s ribs to make the woman.

God’s use of one of Adam’s rib is a reminder that Woman was created to be “beside” Man. Not in front of; not behind. Beside. Together, the man and woman complement one another in marriage, and in Christ they are “heirs together of the grace of life”. (1 Peter 3:7)

The woman is created by God in the context of relationship.   First, the relationship Man has with YHWH-Elohim (as critical and close as breathing); second the relationship Man has with Creation as a steward of right responsibility; third, the relationship of incompatibility Man has with the animal kingdom—sorry, neither the dog or the cat are man’s best friend; and, here, fourth the relationship of companionship and marriage Man has with the Woman.  The pinnacle of Creation’s relationships. Marriage is explicitly clear in v.24-25,

 ²⁴ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ²⁵ And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.  

In the Genesis account so far, there are no fathers or mothers yet.  Neither are there children. So, God is determining a pattern for humanity. And, an extraordinary one at that.

Extraordinary Features Of Biblical Marriage

• The relationship between husband and wife takes precedence over our relationship with our parents—which itself is significant. Over time, the input of your spouse is MORE important than the input on a matter of our parents. Many marriages collapse because the Man or Woman refuses to to prioritize their spouse.  Of course, this is in no way meaning we disregard or disrespect our parents.
• Every measure should be taken to ‘hold fast’ to our spouses.  Cleave to.  Cultivate closeness.  When you sense a drift or tension or struggle.   Strive to work together.   People say, “we fell out of love, much like we fell into love”. This is confusing infatuation with commitment.   Work on your marriage. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. Husbands, this means sacrificially love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. (Eph 5:22-25; 1 Peter 3)
• The relationship between husband and wife is described as ‘one flesh’.  The Woman literally was formed from the same flesh as the Man.  His rib from his side. This is how God approached marriage. 
•  Nothing between husbands and wives.  No affairs.  No greater priorities.  Not even the children can be of great priority.  Of course, abuse or neglect of children is a marriage failure.
• Husbands and wives are of equal essence.   Your spouse is not your servant.  Not your subordinate.   In areas of leadership, the role does not give the man superiority; rather it gives the Man specific and critical responsibility.  If your marriage is not honoring Christ, both husband and wife have differing responsibilities to address this.

Last week, we began to lay the foundation of this phenomenal Harbor For Our Soul. When we choose to pursue marriage God’s way, the ideal intent is to bring blessing.

• Are you not married yet, and growing in early adulthood?  Elevate marriage to the level God does.   Pray, prepare yourself and pursue marriage to a godly spouse. 
• Reject the sexual revolution.  Repent of sexual immorality.  Abandon sexual immorality.  Pursue sexual monogamy and faithfulness to your spouse.
• Don’t take this Harbor for your Soul lightly.   You may be married for many years.  Always honor, sommit to and cultivate intimacy in your marriage relationship.  Not just sexually.  But also conversationally and how we prioritize our marriage partner..
• Not married?  Widowed?   Divorced? Not looking toward marriage?   You can be a faithful disciple of Christ in this position.  How?   Support, pray for and encourage the future and current marriages closest to you.   

For the next two weeks we will focus on the Week leading up to Christ’s death, burial and resurrection!   We will return to God’s Design Of Marriage on March 12^th.

PRAYER