Jaywill, I hope this is not an interuption . I was hoping yourself and maybe IANO could take a look at the last posts on the Eden thread of myself and Autumnman, specifically our discourse on Gen 2:21-22. He is away now, but I was hoping you fellas could see anything in the verses that I was missing and what he is specifically getting at. An examination of them by yourselves, could help me see maybe what I am missing and what he might be getting at and your view points. Thanks in advance if you can do this. I know what he is getting at, but you insights would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Volumes could be written on Genesis 2:21-22. I will comment briefly and suggest where others can read more if they choose.
The building of Eve from Adam, the wife from the husband, is a little window into the entire divine revelation of the Bible. It is a little prototype of the eternal purpose of God.
In order for God to produce a compliment for Himself as a "romantic" partner, God first became a man -
"And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us" (John 1:14) Romans says that Adam
"was a type of Him who was to come" (Rom. 5:14). Therefore the first created man typifies the incarnation of God to be a man.
In Genesis 2:21-22 the deep sleep used for the production of Eve, Adam's counterpart and wife typifies Christ's death on the cross for the producing of the chrch as His counterpart:
Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her that He might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word, That He might present the church to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or anysuch things, but that she wouold be holy and without blemish ... For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ also teh church,
Because we are members of His Body.
For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh. This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church.
See Eph. 5:25-32
Through Christ's death the divine life within Him was released, and through His resurrection His released divine life was imparted into His believers to transform and build them up into the Bride and Wife of Christ, His church, and ultimately the New Jerusalem.
The drawing out of the rib from Adam typifies the drawing out of the divine life from the Son of God. In both instances a wife for the one from whom a part was taken, was built. So we see that in Christ is the second man. He is the last Adam. He is the new Adam and the Head of a new humanity of God-men. The divine life came from Him to produce His counterpart the eternal New Jerusalem which is the enlarged and consummated church.
John 19 shows that the disciple witnessed blood and water coming from the side of Jesus when the soldier pierced His side. If the readers are able to receive it:
1.) The blood signifies redemption.
2.) The water signifies life impartation.
As the rib was extracted from Adam to build for Adam a wife, so blood and water came from the God-man Jesus Christ to both provide redemption and divine life impartation to produce His Wife, the church and ultimately the New Jerusalem in eternity future.
Adam slept. Jesus died. The deep sleep of Adam symbolizes the redemptive life releasing death of Christ.
Through the process of His death and resurrection Christ is wrought into man with His life and nature so that man can be the same as God in life and nature in order to match God as His counterpart.
Furthermore, the rib taken from Adam's opened side typifies the unbreakable,
"indestructible" eternal life of Christ.
[Christ] ... appointed according to the power of an indestructible life. (Heb. 7:16)
This indestructible life flowed from the pierced side of Jesus in the blood and water. Out of the wounded side of the Son of God came that which produces and builds up the church as His complement.
God in Christ dies and resurrects to produce and build up a romantic match for Himself. In this way the producing of Eve from Adam is a little window into the producing of the eternal human / divine city of God for eternity future as God's counterpart.
Another point is that the Bible does not say that Eve was created but that she was built. The church is built through transformation from the old nature into the new. Redemption and new birth is only the first step. The mighty prayer of Jesus shows that there is the PROCESS through which the church is perfected into oneness within and with the Triune God:
" That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You have sent Me.
And the glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one;
I in them, and You in Me, that they may be PERFECTED into one, that the world may believe that You have sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me." (See John 17:21-23 my emphasis)
The full deified collective and corporate entity which God desires to obtain is PERFECTED into one. She is not created automatically mature in this regard. She must pass through the process of being perfected. The perfecting is akin to the building of the woman from the rib of Adam.
On one hand this Mrs. Christ collective is one in Spirir by birth. On the other hand she needs to be perfected that she may
"ARRIVE" at a practical oneness. So says the Apostle Paul:
"Be diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace" (Eph. 4:4)
" ... the perfecting of the saints unto the work of ministry, unto the BUILDING UP of the Body of Christ, until we all ARRIVE at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ ..." (Eph. 4:12-13)
So we can see that the producing of the wife of Eve included God building a woman from the rib. This was a process rather than instantaneous creation.
And the BUILDING UP of the church to be PERFECTED and to ARRIVE is also a process. This process takes place as the imparted Christ encreases and grows within the born again believers, building them up together and transforming them into the image of Christ from one degree of glory to another degree of glory:
But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit. (2 Cor. 3:18)
Christ gets into man as the life giving Spirit in order to transform them with His resurrection and divine eternal life to be like Him. This is to produce a great corporate and aggregate counterpart to match God in life and in nature. Only in the Godhead does God remain the Source and Head of the divine marriage relationship.
The producing of Eve from Adam typifies the producing of the New Jerusalem from the God incarnate Jesus Christ.
With Adam and his wife the one became two. And then the two became one. With Christ and the church it is the same. She comes out of Christ and is brought back to Christ.
She will be presented to Christ without spot, blemish, sin, defect of any kind. The process of building and perfecting cannot be stopped and will produce the outcome that God wills.
Revelation 19:7 and
Ephesians 5:27 speak of God';s redeemed people in Christ being brought to Christ for marriage. Surely, the marriage of Adam and his wife typifies this great truth.
The spousal relationship between God and Israel is a part of this development that God works out over the ages.
In Genesis (Heb)
Ishsah (2:22,23) is the increase of Adam. The church is the encrease of Christ [b](John 3:29-30). John the Baptist regarded himself as a friend of the bridegroom Christ. He who has the Bride is the bridegroom. Jesus Christ is the Bridegroom. And the coming of the bride to Him is the encrease of Christ.
"I must decrease, but He must encrease."
™ Version 4.2