Matthew Henry's Famous Quote on Adam and Eve

By -
Many people think that the Bible is oppressive. You have crazy feminist groups that say that the Bible condones to spousal abuse. Others use the Bible as a license to beat up one's wives. Yet does the Bible condemn to wife beating? Not at all. In fact, the great Presbyterian preacher Matthew Henry's commentary on Genesis 2 reveals the very reason why the rib was taken out of the rib. This is the kind of submission that wives are meant for their husbands.

It would make sense to believe that Eve was taken out of the rib out of Adam for this reason. This is how it would be portrayed by a godly marriage:
Ephesians 5:24-26 
Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. [25] Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; [26] That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 
Colossians 3:18-19 
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. [19] Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

This is a submission born out of love. Besides, don't we also read these verses in Ephesians 5?
Ephesians 5:20-21 
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; [21] Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

The wife is required to submit to the husband. The husband is called to love the wife and to submit to her as well. Submission is a two-way street and not just a one-way street. No true Christian would ever think that women are meant to be treated like dirt. While there's boundaries between men and women (such as women aren't allowed to pastor a church while men shouldn't counsel women in many areas) - Christianity still believes that a woman is meant to be treated with love and respect as a human being.

See also: