Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” (Genesis 2:18)
Adam: A Single Man
The first word I would like everyone to notice is the word "then" (18). Adam is about to get married.
Now, not every human being is called to a married life. But the pattern of Adam's life is instructive for everyone who is called to marriage. He found his purpose and mission in God before God brought his spouse to him. He was loving and serving his God, cultivating the garden the Lord put him in. And I think he was satisfied and had the joy of God upon his life.
Paul said:
“I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am.” (1 Corinthians 7:7–8, ESV)
I am a firm believer singleness can be a gift. It is often the unmarried contingent in the church who best exemplifies the love and community Jesus made possible in the new humanity He created -- the church.
God Saw Adam's Aloneness
But it should be noted that God saw Adam was alone. He said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him" (18). This is meant to stand out to the reader. God had said everything He made was good (1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25). Now, for the first time, God saw something that wasn't good.
God has made us like Himself. He is in perfect relationship within Himself because He is a trinity. But Adam was not a trinity, and though he was in fellowship with God, enjoying God and serving Him, there was no other human for him to know and love and serve and care for.
So God set out to cure Adam's aloneness. He would now complete His creation of humanity by forming woman.
The Perfect Fit
But the way God shaped Eve is noteworthy. He did not shape her from the dust of the ground, as He had with the first man. Instead, God took from the man's side and formed her from that material. We will read of this in a moment, but I mention it here because our text says, "I will make him a helper fit for him" (18).
The wording is significant. It means she would correspond to him. She would be his perfect complement, his opposite, his over and against counterpart. In other words, she would share his nature. Whatever Adam received at creation, she also would receive.
This is important for our understanding of the sexes. First, though God chooses to be known by masculine pronouns, His image is only accurately seen and known through both male and female genders. Part of Adam was taken from him and placed in Eve. God's image was found in her too. She would complement what he lacked.
Second, though Eve was created after Adam, the fact she came from him indicates the genders were meant to live in perfect harmony with each other. God made our sexual and reproductive anatomy to perfectly complement the other, and this complementarian view extends way beyond biology. Emotionally, spiritually, and mentally, the man and woman were meant to be perfect fits for one another.
Third, this helps us dispense with a wrong understanding of the word "helper" (18). God did not make a servant for Adam. She did not come from his feet, nor his head, but his side, representing the together relationship they would share. God was not making someone to do Adam's laundry, but someone to cure his aloneness. And the rest is history.
