In the beginning, on the sixth day of creation, before the Sabbath on the seventh day, God created man, and he made them male and female. And He called their name Adam, and they became one flesh. The Apostle Paul said this is a great mystery that speaks of Christ and the Church.

By understanding God’s purpose for creation, we can begin to understand the mysteries of God more clearly. In that He made them male and female and called their name Adam, because they were one. However, each was given a different role and placement in the patriarchy. Thus, the institution of marriage was created with specific roles and purposes—they were joined in marriage and made one flesh; two became one.

Genesis 2:21–25 tells us, “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, he made a woman and brought her unto the man.” And Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife, and they shall be one flesh”—a figure of Christ and his future bride becoming one flesh and one spirit.

In that God made man in his likeness and in his image, it is to be understood that it is together as one that man and woman express the likeness and image of God—“It is not good that man should be alone.” The two together create an expression of completeness of His image; the Lord is not lacking in any virtue that either the man or the woman possess.

God is one with distinct qualities. He divided and set them apart in the creation of male and female so that His attributes might be magnified and seen more clearly. In so doing, the distinct characteristics of His persona—goodness and virtue, strength and tenderness, mercy and judgment—vis-à-vis are made manifest while being complementary to each other.

What virtues are expressed by a godly man or by a gracious woman that God does not possess in fullness and perfection? For God is stronger than any man, yet more compassionate and loving than any woman. God created man as an expression of strength, command, boldness, and leadership. He is to be the defender, protector, teacher, judge, and provider. Man relies largely on logic and reason, setting them above emotions as the foundation of decisions and actions.

However, God is not one-dimensional; being the fullness of all virtue, He expresses this through His creation of the woman. The woman was gifted to express God’s love and His humble service to others—that part of God wherein lies compassion, mercy, selflessness, nurturing, and meekness. She exemplifies being meticulous in her works while serving in humility—virtues that in men are sometimes secondary to the narrower focus observed in the male character.

It is also in women that we find greater unpredictability; likewise, God often acts against what is deserved in granting mercy and grace to us through his love—for when we were certainly worthy of death, we found pity and compassion in his eyes. He offered us life instead of death through the shedding of his blood and taking our sins upon himself on the cross.

In what is sometimes referred to as “woman’s intuition,” compassion overrides what justice might demand by offering grace that never would have been realized by pure reason and logic.

Male and female were created to be one, expressing the image of God, but after the fall, that expression was corrupted. Mankind began expressing the image of Satan; the soul became torn; a battle for control ensued.

It is impossible for any man or woman to measure up to their role as an expression of God, nor can finite mortal beings ever perfectly express the fullness of an infinite God in whom is every good thing.

Nonetheless, in the creation of male and female, God gifted His creation with two finite beings to be united as one in marriage—wherein the fullness and completeness of God might be expressed at least in part, even if only in a state of imperfection.

Thus, marriage between male and female illustrates the goodness of God manifested in the relationship of Christ and his bride, which is the church. This is the true love of God revealed—that he laid down his life for his bride, that his bride should be redeemed and set free to love Him and to love others by laying down her life in bringing forth children for the Father—that in heaven and earth, all in Him, might be gathered together as one family at the time appointed.

The confusion of gender identification pervading the world today is a consequence of men and women failing to recognize, accept, and fulfill the roles given to them by God.

Driven by fleshly desires, many neglect their biological roles as male or female. In rebellion against their Creator, they defile the image of God by confusing roles or claiming fluidity.

The union of male and female joined together as one in the beginning—whereby God began revealing the spectrum of his being—has been perverted into the inordinate, beastly nature of man and driven by the schizophrenic nature of Satan. As God made man in his image and in his likeness, when the Devil captures a soul, he also fashions them in his image and likeness.

But, through the blood of Jesus Christ, His bride is to bring forth children to be fashioned like Him that we may all be one family in love.