Creation Order

1 Corinthians 11:8 For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9 Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.

8 οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἀνὴρ ἐκ γυναικὸς ἀλλὰ γυνὴ ἐξ ἀνδρός· 9  καὶ γὰρ οὐκ ἐκτίσθη ἀνὴρ διὰ τὴν γυναῖκα ἀλλὰ γυνὴ διὰ τὸν ἄνδρα.


This is part of a very difficult passage of Scripture.  There is a ton of debate as to what this is all about.  I won't get into the deep weeds with this, but I can tell you that I did a whole paper looking at the different opinions.  You can read it at your leisure if you are so inclined.  It was the third big paper I did at seminary, so take it with a grain of salt.


At any rate, what I find fascinating is that much ink is spilled over the matter of men and women.  Nobody gave this much thought before the feminist movement and now there is even a whole branch of theology known as feminist theology.  The reason I find it fascinating is because we spend so much time worrying about a problem that is only 40 years old.  That's a drop in the bucket of church history.


It is clear that Paul makes an appeal to the order of creation.  Apparently there is some reason why man was created first.  Paul sees that as significant.  We may not on our own, but he does.  Therefore, we should take this seriously.  This is the cornerstone of the complementarian viewpoint regarding men and women.  Women are not in any way inferior to men, but they are different.  There is something about the order of creation. We will revisit this later, but it's also why Paul does not allow women to be elders or pastors in churches.


This is one of those issues that is fairly simple if we just look at God's Word and not try to eisegete our own ideas into it.  My goal is to do that with all of God's Word, amen?