Adam and Eve - Are We Reading Too Much Into The Genesis Account?

We’ve all heard someone say that as if it should be engraved in stone. That statement sums up the belief system of many Christians. They view Genesis 2:24 as God’s final answer on who can get married.

If such reasoning is valid, we could also conclude that God is against grandparents because grandparents are not mentioned in Genesis 2.

But of course, God is not against grandparents! It goes against our common sense to conclude that if God did not mention grandparents in Genesis 2, God must be against grandparents.

It also goes against our common sense to assume that because God did not mention homosexual couples in Genesis 2, God must be against homosexual couples.

In reality, the traditional view of Genesis 2, believed by many Christians, distorts scripture by assuming facts not in evidence. Genesis is an explanation of origins. It is not a dissertation on marriage relationships. God asserts the importance of human relationships by observing:

“It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” Genesis 2:18.

Adam was a one of a kind original. The animals had compatible companions but Adam was all alone. Here was Adam, a perfect man, alone and lonely because no other human beings existed and Eve had not yet been created.

Adam, the original, perfect man in a perfect world, had God as his intimate companion yet God knew His companionship was not enough for Adam. In the midst of fellowship with God, Adam still needed someone like himself for emotional, physical and spiritual companionship. Emotional, physical and spiritual companionship form the basis of all loving heterosexual and homosexual relationships.

When God created Eve and presented her to Adam, Adam rejoiced because Eve was:

“bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.” Genesis 2:23.

Blue Letter Bible on Genesis 2:23, Adam, ishshah and ‘iysh. This Link will open in a new page.

Eve’s similarity to Adam allowed them to bond as a couple. Adam and Eve’s deep spiritual and emotional kinship modeled God’s first stated reason for marriage, which is companionship, not procreation. God said:

“It is not good that the man should be alone.” Genesis 2:18.

God includes the story of Adam and Eve in the Genesis historical record because God intended to populate the earth, not because God intended to forbid every marriage model different from the Adam and Eve model. Just as the dyadic (two person) nature of Adam and Eve’s relationship was not used in Genesis to forbid polygamy, so the heterosexual nature of Adam and Eve’s relationship does not forbid homosexual unions for the small percentage of the human population who are homosexual.

Some Christians read far too much into God’s presumed silence concerning Adam and Eve and gay marriage. Here is another important question thoughtful Christians ask.

Since loving, committed, same sex partnerships between equals, as we know them today, were relatively rare in the ancient cultures of Biblical times, we rightly expect not to find much emphasis on gay couples in scripture.

If the logic of Christians who condemn gay couples is valid, that since God did not mention other marriage models in Genesis, God must be against gay couples, we can use the same logic to prove any number of things which are not true. It sounds kind of silly but here is where such illogic takes us.

1. The Genesis 2 marriage model says nothing about wedding gifts therefore God must be against wedding gifts.

   Of course, no one believes that and no thinking person would draw that conclusion from Genesis 2.

2. The Genesis 2 marriage model says nothing about wedding rings therefore God must be against wedding rings.

   Would anyone with more than two functioning brain cells draw that conclusion from Genesis 2?

3. The Genesis 2 marriage model says nothing about getting married in church therefore, God must be against getting married in church.

   Really now, doesn't such a crazy conclusion assault our common sense?

4. The Genesis 2 marriage model says nothing about adopting children, therefore God must be against adopting children.

   No one believes God is against adopting children simply because adoption is not mentioned in Genesis 2.

5. The Genesis 2 marriage model says nothing about gay couples therefore God must be against gay couples.

That kind of reasoning does not make sense. It goes against the inborn common sense we have as human beings. Such arguments are called reductio ad falsum, reduction to the false or reductio ad ridiculum, reduction to the ridiculous. Such reasoning leads to false and ridiculous conclusions.

Reading into scripture, something scripture does not say and then teaching as doctrine, what scripture does not say, is false interpretation. It leads to wrong conclusions about God’s will for the human race and His purpose for creating Adam and Eve.