38 Paula,

I think Don has a valid point about the fact that “male and female from the beginning” cannot apply to the time before Eve was created.

Since Eve is part of the original creation of mankind, the “male” from the beginning was the original creation of Adam and the “female” was the original creation of Eve. “From the beginning” cannot be a term that does not include the creation of Adam. This is why I am confident that God created just as he said he did with two genders not one and a half.

Thanks Paula for correcting the quotation error. Sometimes when the blockquote gets misplaced, it can be easy to miss. I appreciate you pointing out the correction.

Cheryl, I could say you’re doing this too. You’re saying that Adam was male, and at the same time, that he was male and female from the beginning. Both can’t be true.

Thanks for summarizing your view of what I said so that I have the opportunity to clear up any confusion. I am NOT saying that Adam was both male AND male and female, as if the male was both male and female. When God said “them”, he was referring to both of them – humanity as male and female, not one person as male and female.

And I’m not insisting on anything except this: that we are not told in scripture the physical makeup of Adam before Eve was created, unless you believe that Adam was “male and female from the beginning” even before Eve was made.

We are told that God’s original creation was male and female. That we can take to the bank as full truth. Genesis chapter 1 takes man from the the original creation of humanity in one person to the plural with the creation of Eve. I did post a quote from the NET translator notes that show that God is talking to BOTH the male and female in Genesis 1:28 and verse 27 refers to both the original man and both humans. Because Genesis attaches “him” and “them” together so closely shows that woman is not a separate creation, nor does she have a separate rule or spiritual function. Together they are that humanity that God originally planned as two people.