Mark

sm,

i dont try to gain my hierarchy from Gen 1:26-27 explicitly. What i see throughout the rest of scripture is mens leadrship resposibilities and so i believe that same was there at creation. Adams responsibilty for what happened, his banishment, his conversions with God is consistent with this in my view. Could you please explain how you get equality in roles from being made in ‘the image of God’

you said “The point that IS clear from this portion of text is that Adam was sent from the Garden, and we read in subsequent verses that Eve did not stay in the Garden. Regardless, I do not see a connection between a hierarchy between a husband and wife and “the man” being addressed and banished from the Garden. That is another leap based on inference I am not able to make.”
read my above comment on cheryls interpretaion of this text. It is quite easy to see that ‘the man’ is discussed by God because he is the leading party. I agree that Eve did not stay in the garden, but i disagree with cheryl that she ‘followed’. No where in the text is this discussed. “The man’ is resposible for what has happened in the garden as the leader of his wife.

Richard Hess is an egalitarian that has written a paper on Gen 1-3 in ‘Discovering Biblical Equality’, so therefore is a leader or spokesperson for egalitarians on this issue. My point in ref him was to show that the egalitarian position is just as gulity of reading into scripture although they dont want to admit it.

Perhaps we could delve a little deeper with more in the text. What does it mean to be created in the image of God? Is it equality? What did Adam mean when he said Eve was ‘bone of my bones’ etc? What is the meaning of becoming one flesh? Is this all equality statements in your opinion?

Thanks sm