W. Austin Gardner
Adam and Eve: The Ideal Marriage

Genesis 2:15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. 18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. 21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22 And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Adam wasn’t complete without her! Genesis 2:18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
Adam was alone
God saw His creation and made a statement for us, not for Adam
It is not good that we are alone
He gave Adam a wife
Confusion about what I Corinthians says about not getting married cleared up
We are to live and act like we aren’t married
That means serving God like a crazy
It never meant a bad attitude
It never meant sex outside of marriage
Or that there was the possibility that God had made people who would desire their own gender
Adam needed help
God made us, to work together
We are social beings
The most damaging thing you can do to anyone in prison is to put them in solitary confinement
Adam needed exactly the right help-one just for him
The relationship with his wife was so important that it even affected his prayer life I Peter 3:7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.
Notice that there was an opportunity to have any other help or partner but only another person of the opposite sex was right
Never look at your spouse as a bother, an extra weight, etc. You need each other!
They had the right priorities
They were made the one for the other
They spent time with God Genesis 3:8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
They did the work that God had for them to do
It is easy to get off track since we are not in a garden with no distractions
God made you for Him, not the other way around
We are to realize that our life, our everything is for Him and His pleasure
We are to find the work that He has for us and give ourselves to it fully
They had the right relationship
She was taken from a rib, which indirectly shows the close, intimate oneness, the equality
He was happy with her Genesis 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Adam saw her and was excited about this beautiful creation
He realized she had been specialy made for him
She was part of him
They had a transparent, vulnerable intimacy Genesis 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
She was a help-meet for him
They were one flesh
They shared everything-even sin Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
They allowed this great relationship to be ruined
Adam wasn’t the spiritual leader that he should have been Genesis 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
He had not taught Eve the importance of the Word of God
It is so easy to go through life and not make the Word of God a central part of our lives
It is easy to make decisions like the world
We are to find God’s perfect will and it is found in the Word of God Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
They weren’t working on exactly what God said but a paraphrase
They weren’t watching to avoid temptation and sin
They had a self-sacrificing love
Romeo and Juliet is the third greatest love story, maybe
The first is how Jesus loved us
The second would be Adam and Eve
And then maybe Romeo and Juliet
I Timothy 2:13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. 15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
Adam was the creation
God would have given him another woman but that wasn’t what he wanted
He was ready to sacrifice himself for her
When God wanted to show us how to have a marriage He gave us Ephesians 5:22-33
That is a picture of Christ and the church
It is a picture of sacrificing for someone else that doesn’t even deserve it
No higher picture could be given
Maybe one of the reasons that the Bible calls Christ the second Adam
Their sin has brought horrible consequences on everyone