For Adam was formed first, then Eve.
Parallel Translations
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For Adam was formed first, then Eve.
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For Adam was fyrst formed and then Eve.
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For Adam was first formed, then Eue.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Science (1)
Historical claims about the natural world, weighed against the scientific record.
Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to 1 Timothy 2:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 2:18 Yahweh God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
- 1 Corinthians 11:8-9 For man is not from woman, but woman from man; for man wasn’t created for the woman, but woman for the man.
- Genesis 1:27 God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.
- Genesis 2:22 Yahweh God made a woman from the rib which he had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.
- Genesis 2:7 Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (19 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 13 For Adam was first created He assigns two…
13 For Adam was first created He assigns two reasons why women ought to be subject to men; because not only did God enact this law at the beginning, but he also inflicted it as a punishment on the woman. (Genesis 3:16.) He accordingly shews that, although mankind had stood in their first and original uprightness, the true order of nature, which proceeded from the command of God, bears that women shall be subject. Nor is this inconsistent with the fact, that Adam, by falling from his first dignity, deprived himself of his authority; for in the ruins, which followed sin, there still linger some remains of the divine blessing, and it was not proper that woman, by her own fault, should make her condition better than before.
Yet the reason that Paul assigns, that woman was second in the order of creation, appears not to be a very strong argument in favor of her subjection; for John the Baptist was before Christ in the order of time, and yet was greatly inferior in rank. But although Paul does not state all the circumstances which are related by Moses, yet he intended that his readers should take them into consideration. Now Moses shews that the woman was created afterwards, in order that she might be a kind of appendage to the man; and that she was joined to the man on the express condition, that she should be at hand to render obedience to him. (Genesis 2:21.) Since, therefore, God did not create two chiefs of equal power, but added to the man an inferior aid, the Apostle justly reminds us of that order of creation in which the eternal and inviolable appointment of God is strikingly displayed.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He proveth this ordinance of God, whereby the woman…
He proveth this ordinance of God, whereby the woman is subject to man, first by that, that God made the woman after man, for man’s sake.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
Ver. 13. For Adam was first formed] επλασθη. As the vessel is formed by the potter out of the clay. See Gen 2:7. The common opinion is, that the very same day επλασθη και εξηλασθη, he was formed and driven out; that he lodged not one night in Paradise; so sudden was the serpent’s seducing, his wife’s consenting, his yielding, God’s execution.
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Then Eve] For Adam’s use and help, therefore she must not take upon her. Howbeit the Jews are out, that hold women to be of a lower creation, made only for the propagation and pleasure of man; also that they have not so divine a soul as men, and therefore they suffer them not to enter into the synagogue, but appoint them a gallery without. Their Rabbis (who have as many foolish dreams about the Old Testament as the Friars have about the New) conceive both Adam and Eve to be created without the use of reason; and that the tree of knowledge was to accelerate it. Socinians also say (but falsely) that they were as simple and weak as little children; otherwise they would not have so sinned. Cuius contrarium verum est.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The man had the priority of the woman in…
The man had the priority of the woman in his creation, he was not made for her, but she was made for a help-mate mate for him; therefore she, being made for him, ought to usurp no authority over him.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain Here St. Paul offers a double argument to enforce…
Here St. Paul offers a double argument to enforce the duty of subjection upon the woman, and to prevent her usurping of authority over the man; namely, because the man was first in the creation: Adam was first formed, then Eve, and the woman was first in the transgression. Adam was not deceived, that is, first and immediately deceived, but the woman being deceived, was first in the transgression; she was therefore guilty of her own and her husband’s transgression; and accordingly, not only by the law of her creation, but as a punishment for her transgression, God has placed her in a state of subjection, and given the man authority over her; which authority she usurps over him, whenever she undertakes to be a public teacher of him.
These two considerations doth the apostle make use of, to humble the woman, and to keep her within the sphere of her proper duty.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And Adam was not deceived,.... There is no need…
And Adam was not deceived,.... There is no need to say with interpreters, that he was not deceived first; and that he was not deceived immediately by the serpent, but by Eve; and that he is never said in Scripture to be deceived, as Melchizedek is never said to have a father or mother. The apostle's positive assertion is to be taken without any such limitations or qualifications; Adam never was deceived at all; neither by the serpent, with whom he never conversed; nor by his wife, he knew what he did, when he took the fruit of her, and ate; he ate it not under any deception, or vain imagination, that they should not die, but should be as gods, knowing good and evil. He took and ate out of love to his wife, from a fond affection to her, to bear her company, and that she might not die alone; he knew what he did, and he knew what would be the consequence of it, the death of them both; and inasmuch as he sinned wilfully, and against light and knowledge, without any deception, his sin was the greater: and hereby death came in, and passed on all men, who sinned in him:
but the woman being deceived was in the transgression: and the serpent really beguiled her; she owned it herself, Gen 3:13. And this is elsewhere said of her, Co2 11:3 which never is of Adam. She really thought the serpent spoke truth, that she and her husband should not die, if they ate of the fruit; but that it was good to make them wise; and that, upon eating it, they should be as gods, knowing good and evil; and under this deception she fell into the transgression, and was the cause and means, by her persuasions and example, of bringing her husband into the same sin; which involved him and all his posterity in ruin and destruction. And therefore she is called by the Jews (p) , "the mother of iniquity and sin"; to which they refer, Psa 51:5. And they say, (q) she was the cause of death to Adam, and to all the world: See Gill on Rom 5:12. And they observe (r) the order of the punishment of the serpent, Eve, and Adam, as of their sin; the serpent was first accursed, then Eve, and last of all Adam. They say
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"(s) Samael (the devil) could not subvert Adam, till the serpent came and turned the heart of Eve, and Eve turned his heart, and they both sinned; wherefore it is said, "the woman which thou gavest me"; Samael had no power to turn him, till Eve came, and she was the cause of his eating.''
Now inasmuch as the serpent did not attack Adam, he being the stronger and more knowing person, and less capable of being managed and seduced; but made his attempt on Eve, in which he succeeded; and since not Adam, but Eve, was deceived, it appears that the man is the more proper person to bear rule and authority, as in civil and domestic, so in ecclesiastic affairs; and it is right for the woman to learn, and the man to teach: and seeing that Eve was the cause of transgression to Adam, and of punishment to him and his posterity, the subjection of the woman to the man was confirmed afresh: and she was brought into a more depressed state of dependence on him, and subjection to him; see Gen 3:16. The Ethiopic version renders the text, "Adam hath not deceived, the woman hath deceived and prevaricated".
(p) Tzeror Hammor, fol. 141. 3. (q) T. Hieros. Sabbat, fol. 5. 2. Zohar in Gcn. fol. 27. 3. Caphtor, fol. 37. 2. (r) T. Bab. Erubin, fol. 18. 1. & Taanith, fol. 15. 2. Bereshit Rabba, sect. 20. fol. 17. 1. (s) Midrash Ruth in Zohar in Gen. fol. 27. 3.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain First - So that woman was originally the inferior.
First - So that woman was originally the inferior.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 13. For Adam was first formed, then Eve.]…
Verse 13. For Adam was first formed, then Eve.] And by this very act God designed that he should have the pre-eminence. God fitted man, by the robust construction of his body, to live a public life, to contend with difficulties, and to be capable of great exertions. The structure of woman's body plainly proves that she was never designed for those exertions required in public life. In this the chief part of the natural inferiority of woman is to be sought.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For Adam was first formed, then Eve - The…
For Adam was first formed, then Eve - The apostle, in this verse, and the following, gives reasons why a woman should occupy a subordinate situation, and not usurp authority. The first is, that she was second in the act of creation, or was made subsequent to man. The reason here assigned cannot be understood to be merely that of priority of existence - for then it would give every old person authority over a younger one; but it must refer to the circumstances of the case as detailed in the history of the creation; Gen. 1–2. Man was made as the lord of this lower creation and placed in the garden, and then the woman was made of a rib taken from his side, and given to him, not as a lord, but as a companion. All the circumstances combine to show the subordinate nature of her rank, and to prove that she was not designed to exert authority over the man; compare notes on 1Co 11:8-9.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Adam was first formed....and was not seduced. That is,…
Adam was first formed....and was not seduced. That is, was not at least seduced first, as the woman. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain For--reason of the precept; the original order of creation.
For--reason of the precept; the original order of creation.
Adam . . . first--before Eve, who was created for him (Co1 11:8-9).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 13. This law of nature our apostle authenticates by…
13. This law of nature our apostle authenticates by the sacred history of the creation.
Adam was first formed—And Eve added as the “help meet” for the original man.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 13. ‘The Apostle appeals to the original order and…
13. ‘The Apostle appeals to the original order and course of things. By inverting this relative position and calling—the helpmate assuming the place of the head or guide, and the head facilely yielding to her governance—was the happy constitution of Paradise overthrown.’ Fairbairn.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (13) For Adam was first formed, then Eve.—The Holy…
(13) For Adam was first formed, then Eve.—The Holy Spirit seems often (comp. especially Gal_3:16 and following verses, and 4:22 and following verses, and 1Co_10:1-10) to have moved St. Paul to weave into the tapestry of his arguments and exhortations to the different churches, facts and principles drawn from Old Testament history. His early training in the great Rabbinical schools of Jerusalem had well supplied him with a vast store of this Old Testament learning.
The argument here based on priority of creation is much assisted by the additional statement of 1Co_11:9, “neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man.” This teaching of St. Paul’s respecting the public position of woman as regards man, in which he shows that she is to hold a subordinate place—is based upon no arbitrary human speculation, but upon God’s original order in creation—that divine order which first created man, and after man’s creation, formed woman as his helpmeet.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Was formed (ejplasqh). The word used in the LXX…
Was formed (ejplasqh). The word used in the LXX in Gen_2:7. Eplasen oJ Qeov ton anqrwpon k.t.l., "The Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground;" and inplastov, Gen_2:19 of the beasts of the field; whence the word prwto (RAPC Wis 7:1 10:1) "first made;" "first formed," A.V So insav, Rom_9:20 man is called tosma, "the thing made;" and God is oJ Pla "he that made it." "Plaster," "plastic," "protoplasm," are, of course, from the same root. For the argument, see the very similar one in 1Co_11:8, 1Co_11:9.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain For Adam was first formed.
1Ti_2:13
For Adam was first formed.
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Man and woman: their relative work
As to the question, Which is the most important, man or woman? if I may be allowed to speak in editorial style, I should say, the discussion must now stop. Let those who like it sit apart upon a hill retired and discuss the kindred questions, which is the most important, convex or concave, night or morning, east or west, green land or glancing water? For ourselves we are, I hope, content to take Florence Nightingales advice--Keep clear of all jargons about mans work and womans work, and go your way straight to Gods work in simplicity and singleness of heart, each one to do what each one can do best. Now, we know that, as a rule, some things that women can do right nobly at a crisis, are not best for them to do when men are to be had. As a rule, I think it is not best for women to man a lifeboat; but one black night at Teignmouth last year, when the men were all out of the way, or else were not sharp enough, the women got the lifeboat out. With shrill, quivering cheers they carried it through the battling breakers, dragged a vessel off the sand-bar, and saved precious life. When we hear that they did all this without any help from the unfair sex, who can help saying, Well done! I go farther and say that, as a rule, in my private opinion, it is not best for women to preach in public, but where, in exceptional cases and with extra ordinary gifts, women like Mary Fletcher and Priscilla Gurney go out of their way, and all by themselves publicly launch the lifeboat of the gospel to snatch souls from the sea of sin and from the rocks of death, again I say to the praise of grace, Well done! They remind me of the Roman who said, I have broken the law, but I have saved the State! They are under a higher law than the law they violate, and I am no more able to doubt the validity of their orders than I can doubt the sanity of the New Testament. (C. Stanford, D. D.)
Punishment no hindrance to salvation
1. The punishment of the woman--in child-bearing.
2. The comfort of the woman--she shall be saved.
3. The condition of the salvation--if they continue. Wherein is implied an exhortation to continue in faith, etc.
Many observations might be raised.
1. The pain in childbearing is a punishment inflicted upon the woman for the first sin.
2. The continuance of this punishment after redemption by Christ, doth not hinder the salvation of the woman, if there be the gospel-conditions requisite.
3. The exercise of faith, with other Christian graces, is a peculiar means for the preservation of believers under Gods afflicting hand. I shall sum them up into this one. The continuance of the punishment inflicted upon the woman for the first sin doth not prejudice her eternal salvation, nor her preservation in child-bearing, where there are the conditions of faith and other graces.
I. Concerning the punishment. Child-bearing itself is not the punishment, but the pain in it. For the blessing, Increase and multiply, was given in innocency. And because this punishment is the greater, it is disputed in the schools whether Adams or Eves sin were the greater. We may, I think, safely make these conclusions.
1. In regard of the kind of sin, it was equal in both. They both had an equal pride, an equal aspiring to be like God.
2. In regard of the first motion to this sin, Eves sin was the greater. She was the seducer of Adam, which the apostle expresseth in the verse before the text.
3. In regard of the womans condition, the sin was greater on Adams part.
(1) Because he, being the man, had more power to resist, more strength to argue the case.
(2) Eve had a stronger and craftier adversary to deal with, the subtlest of all the beasts of the field (Gen_3:1), animated and inspired by a craftier devil. The stronger the tempter, the more excusable the sin.
(3) Eve had the command of not eating immediately from her husband, which laid not altogether so strong a tie upon her as it did upon him, who had it immediately from the mouth of God, and therefore was more certain of the verity of the precept.
II. Of what nature is this punishment?
1. It is not a punishment in a rigid sense, nor continued as such.
(1) Because it is not commensurate to the nature of the sin, neither is it that penalty which the law required. Death was due, and death immediately upon the offence; but death was kept off by the interposition of the mediator, and this which is less than death inflicted at present. Where death is deserved, and a lighter punishment inflicted, it is rather an act of clemency than strict justice, and may be called by the name of a partial pardon or reprieve, as well as a punishment.
(2) It is not a reparation of the injury done to God. One reason of the institution of punishment is to repair the damage the person offended sustains by the malefactor, as far as he is capable.
(3) It is not continued as a part of satisfaction to the justice of God; as though Christ needed the sufferings of the creature to make up the sum which He was to pay for us, and which He hath already paid. These punishments are to awaken men to a sight of their first sin.
(4) The proper impulsive cause of punishment is wrath. In inflicting it He preserves the authority of a Judge; in preserving under it, and pardoning the sin for which it was inflicted, He evidenceth the affection of a Father.
2. Yet it is in some sort a punishment, and something more than an affliction.
(1) In respect of the meritorious cause, sin. This is not inflicted as an act of absolute sovereignty, but a judicial legal act upon the demerit of sin.
(2) Because if man had stood in innocency, neither this grief, nor indeed any other, had been.
III. This punishment doth not hinder salvation though it be continued.
1. God intended not in the acceptance of Christs mediation to remove in this life all the punishments denounced after the Fall. God takes away the eternal, but not the temporal. Some parts of Christs purchase are only payable in another life, and some fruits of redemption God intends for growth only in another soil; such are freedom from pain, diseases, death, and sin. But the full value of Christs satisfaction will appear when there shall be a new heaven and a new earth, when the day of redemption shall dawn, and all tears be wiped from believers eyes. But God never promised the total removal of them in this life to any saint; no, though he should have all the faith and holiness of all the catalogue of saints in the Book of Life centred in him.
2. Christ never intended, in the payment of the price of our redemption, the present removal of them. He sent, after His ascension, the Spirit to be our Comforter, which supposeth a state wherein we should need comfort; and when are we under a greater necessity of comfort than when the punishment of sin is actually inflicted on us?
3. Christ intended, and did actually take away the curse of those punishments from every believer.
4. Hence it will follow that to a believer the very nature of these punishments is altered. In the one the sting remains; in the other it is pulled out. The cord that binds a malefactor and a patient may be made of the same hemp, and a knife only go between; but it binds the malefactor to execution, the other to a cure.
5. Therefore all temporal punishments of original sin, though they remain, do not prejudice a believers present interest.
(1) They cut not off his relation to God.
(2) They debar not from the presence of God. God may be and is as near to us in supporting as He is in punishing.
(3) They break not the covenant. His rod and His stripes, though they seem to break ore, backs, make no breaches in His covenant (Psa_89:32-34).
6. Add to all this, that the first promise secures a believer under the sufferings of those punishments. Gods affection in the promise of bruising the serpents head was more illustrious in His wrath than the threatening. There are the bowels of a father in the promise before there was the voice of a judge in the sentence. But it may be asked, What is the reason these punishments are continued since the redemption wrought by Christ? There are reasons--
(1) On Gods part.
(a) It is congruous to the wisdom of God to leave them upon us while we are in the world.
(b) It is congruous to the holiness of God. God keeps up those punishments as the Rector and Governor of the world, to show His detestation of that sin which brought a disorder and deformity upon the creation, and was the first act of dishonour to God, and the first pollution of the creature.
(c) It is a declaration of His justice.
(d) It is useful to magnify His love. We should not be sensible of what our Saviour suffered, nor how transcendently He loved us if the punishment of sin had been presently removed upon the first promise.
(2) On our parts. It is useful to us
(a) To make us abhor our first defection and sin.
(b) To make us fear to sin and to purge it out. Sin hath riveted itself so deep that easy medicines will not displace it. It hath so much of our affections that gentle means will not divorce us from it. We shall hate it most when we reap the punishment of it.
(c) To exercise grace.
1. Faith and trust--She that is desolate trusts in God (1Ti_5:5). The lower the state, the greater necessity and greater obligation to trust; such exercises manifest that the condition we are in is sanctified to us.
2. Obedience in a believer hath a greater lustre by them. It was the glory of Job that he preserved his integrity under the smartest troubles.
3. Humility. These punishments are left upon us to allay our pride, and be our remembrancers of our deplorable miscarriage.
4. Patience. Were there no punishments there would be but little occasion for patience. (S. Charnock.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 13. Some reasons drawn from the story of man…
13. Some reasons drawn from the story of man in Eden are given for these rules. It will be seen that Paul regards these events as shadowing forth spiritual lessons. Adam was first formed. Man came in order before woman.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Adam was formed first
Adam was formed first
This can be stated in active form. AT: "Adam is the one God formed first" or "God created Adam first" (See: Active or Passive)
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then Eve
The understood information can be stated clearly. AT: "and then God formed Eve" or "then God created Eve" (See: Ellipsis)
Adam was not deceived
This can be stated in active form. AT: "And Adam was not the one whom the serpent deceived" (See: Active or Passive)
but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor
This can be stated in active form. AT: "but it was the woman who disobeyed God when the serpent deceived her" (See: Active or Passive)
she will be saved through bearing children
Here "she" refers to women in general. Possible meanings are 1) God will keep women physically safe as they give birth to children, or 2) God will save women from their sins through their role as child bearers.
she will be saved
This can be stated in active form. AT: "God will save her" or "God will save women" (See: Active or Passive)
if they continue
"if they remain" or "if they continue living." Here "they" refers to women.
in faith and love and sanctification
The abstract nouns here can be translated with verbal phrases. AT: "in trusting Jesus and loving others and living a holy life" (See: Abstract Nouns)
with soundness of mind
Possible meanings for this idiom are 1) "with good judgment," 2) "with modesty," or 3) "with self-control." (See: Idiom)
soundness of mind
If the idiom is retained in translation, the abstract noun "soundness" can be translated with an adjective. AT: "a sound mind" (See: Abstract Nouns)
translationWords
Adam
Eve
deceive
transgress
faith
love
sanctify
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 2:13 The most common understanding of this verse is…
2:13 The most common understanding of this verse is that Paul believes social roles are attached to the man being created first (Gen 2:7, 22; 1 Cor 11:8-12). Paul’s logic has usually been tied to the leading role of the firstborn son in the Old Testament. However, there are exceptions to the rule of firstborn even in Scripture (see Gen 27–28). And while gender retains its distinctions in the New Testament, there is also an element of equality in Christ (Gal 3:28; see also 1 Cor 11:11-12; 12:13; Eph 5:21; Col 3:11). • It is also possible that the heretics asserted a reversal of gender status in Christ relative to the surrounding culture, giving what would have been viewed as objectionable dominance to women. Paul’s allusion would then function to discredit this assertion and reestablish balance.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.