Scripture sets the stage for our understanding in Act 1 by stating women are created as divine image-bearers: “So God created man in his image; in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). Male and female live in co-equal, one-flesh intimacy. Furthermore, female is not a slave to man nor is she the property of man; she is his sustainer. Genesis 2 describes woman as man’s “helpmeet,” a term used of God seventeen times in Old Testament Scripture. It is not descriptive of inferiority but of partnership. Psalms 40:17 refers to God as “my help (ezer) and my deliverer.” The word ezer is translated in Scripture as “deliverer,” “strength,” and “power.” Male and female together make humankind. Women are not misbegotten males, as Aristotle believed.
As a result of Act 2, the rebellion described in Genesis 3-11, men subjugated women and women sought to manipulate men. Instead of the mutuality and intimacy between two divine image-bearers, women are given an inferior status to men. Men and women are now in a power struggle of domination and manipulation. “Your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you” (Genesis 3:16). The Hebrew meaning suggests the woman desires to “rule” her husband. So the desire is not for sex but for power. The Hebrew word also suggests the woman turns to her husband and away from the Lord. This passage predicts and describes the fallen desire in men and women to manipulate and dominate one another. It is not a prescription for how anyone should behave. We must get the story right here! The domination and manipulation of the sexes is not the divine intention. It is a fruit of the rebellion-fall-descent described not in creation, but in the fall.