Mark

First of all i want to address sm and talk about the word hierarchy. My view is this- men and women are equal in essence, in the image fo God, but not in function. e.g- Adam is commissioned to look after the Garden and Eve isnt- she is his helper. Does this make Eve any less a person or less important,not at all. They simply have different roles to play in God’s created world, both equally precious in the eyes of God. I do not think Eve or women are less important, loved etc

If Adam is the ‘leader’ of Eve, it makes perfect sense that he is the one spoken to by God in those circumstances. In fact throughout scripture it is the ‘leaders’ who are held more accountable for their actions over people, look through the historical books and prophets to see this outlined very clearly. However if we want to stick to the literal translations of Gen 3 (CHeryl’s view) it is a contradiction of previous verses.

The reason i ask about the ‘image of God’ stuff is because this is a constant fall back for egalitarian position. Maybe you dont hold to that particular teaching, im not sure?

also you said “I disagree. You have yet to indicate what specifically points to ‘the man’ being the leading party”
That is precisely what i have already said, i don’t see a speific verse in Gen saying ‘Adam is the leader’. Likewise i don’t see a specific text that saids ‘They are equal in essence and function’. Both arguments/ poistions draw threr conclusions not from n explicit text. I believe in weight of the arguments, the comp position is stronger.

I also disagree with TL who claims ‘ezer kenegdo’ means equal. This word is used in other parts of the OT in reference to God being our help. Surely we are not equal with God. In fact TL explicitly confirmed that, so his/her position is a contradiction. I would also like to point out that some comps use this same word to denote atuhority, but again i disagree with them, because we do not have authority over God. It is a complicated word which i believe can’t be used to prove either sides argument.

TL, i also disagree that Adam’s exclamation of Eve shows equality, if you mean equality in every way. I think you were right when you said “I do think he was exclaiming that finally there was one like him”. It is simply a statement saying ‘she is fellow human, made from me’. It has everything to do with equality of essence, nothing to do with equality of role/function unless you want to read into it.

Now what about the ‘one flesh’. I have many times also heard this used as an egalitarian argument. But how is it used/quoted throughout the rest of scripture. No where in the Bible is it used to reference equality. It seems to be used for two functions from what i have read.
1. To represent simply the marriage and sexual union, that it is God ordained and as such divorce is not God’s intended design.
2. To represent the relationship between Christ and the Church.

Therefore i see it as non-sensicle to use this verse to support the egalitarian view, as scripture never does such a thing.