human race. It was Adam alone who represented the human race,
because he had a particular leadership role that God had given him, a
role that Eve did not share.
- The naming of woman.When God made the first woman and
“brought her to the man,” the Bible says, “Then the man said, ‘This
at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called
Woman,because she was taken out of Man’” (Gen. 2:23). When Adam
says, “she shall be called Woman,” he is giving her a name. This is
important because in the original context-readers would have under-
stood that the person doing the “naming” of created things is the per-
son who has authority over those things. In order to avoid the idea that
Adam’s naming of woman implies male leadership or authority, some
egalitarians (such as Gilbert Bilezikian) deny that Adam gives a name
to his wife in Genesis 2:23.^14 But his objection is hardly convincing
when we see how Genesis 2:23 fits into the pattern of naming activi-
ties throughout these first two chapters of Genesis. We see this when
we examine the places where the same verb (the Hebrew verb qårå’,
“to call”) is used in contexts of naming in Genesis 1–2:
God calledthe light Day, and the darkness he called Night (1:5).And God calledthe firmament Heaven (1:8).God calledthe dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered
together he called Seas (1:10).So out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field
and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what
he would callthem; and whatever the man calledevery living crea-
ture, that was its name (2:19).The man gave namesto all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to
every beast of the field (2:20).Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of
my flesh; she shall be calledWoman, because she was taken out of
Man” (2:23).The Key Issues in the Manhood-Womanhood Controversy 35