36 FEMINIST VIEWS THAT UNDERMINE SCRIPTURE
Hebrew equivalent of our word man, rather than by a Hebrew word that
means woman or a word that would mean person.^2 Groothuis uses this
argument about the Hebrew language reflecting patriarchal culture in
order to deny the meaning of some of the words of Scripture. She talks
about “the languages in which the Bible was written” as if the debate were
about words that occur outside of Scripture. But she glosses over the fact
that the story of God’s naming the human race man (Hebrew ’adam; Gen.
1:26-27; 5:2)^3 is found in the Hebrew language in the text of the Bible. To
say that these words of the Bible have a “patriarchal meaning” that God
did not intend, and in fact to say that these words of the Bible tell us “noth-
ing about God’s view of gender,” is simply to deny the authority of this
part of Scripture. This is one step on the path toward liberalism.
Another example of denying the authority of Genesis 1–3 is William
Webb’s claim that some events in Genesis 1–3 are not historically accu-
rate. Webb is professor of New Testament at Heritage Theological
Seminary in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. In his recent book Slaves,
Women, and Homosexuals,^4 Webb argues that the elements of male lead-
ership in Genesis 2 (Adam being created before Eve and receiving com-
mands from God while alone) do not reflect the actual historical situation
in the garden of Eden but were inserted there as a literary device for pos-
sibly three reasons: (1) to anticipate the fall; (2) to allow for better under-
standing by readers in the society and culture of Moses’ time; or (3) to
anticipate the agrarian society that would come into effect after the fall.
Webb agrees that “the practice of primogeniture in which the first
born is granted prominence within the ‘creative order’ of a family unit”^5
is found in the narrative in Genesis 2, where Adam is created first, then
Eve. He sees this as support for male headship within the text of Genesis
- He also thinks this is how it is understood by Paul when he says, “For
Adam was formed first, then Eve” (1 Tim. 2:13). But Webb still sees this
primogeniture theme in Genesis 2 as a “cultural component” in that text.
(^2) See Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr., “Male-Female Equality and Male Headship in Genesis 1–3,”
in Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, ed. John Piper and Wayne Grudem
(Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 1991), 98.
(^3) This same Hebrew word ’adam is found twenty-five times to refer to a male human being in
Genesis 1–4, as in Genesis 2:22, 23, 25; 3:8. For a full discussion see Wayne Grudem,
Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth (Sisters, Ore.: Multnomah, 2004), 34-36.
(^4) William Webb, Slaves, Women, and Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural
Analysis (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2001).
(^5) Ibid., 135.