2:21 deep sleep. The “deep sleep” was not simply an anesthetized state to prevent pain, since there was as yet no pain in the world. It was most likely ordained as a primeval picture of the future death of the second Adam, whose sacrificial death would result in the formation of His bride (II Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:30-32).

2:21 ribs. The “rib” was actually the “side” of Adam (the Hebrew tsela occurs thirty-five times in the Old Testament, and is nowhere else translated “rib”). The side contained both “bone” and “flesh” (Genesis 2:23), but it may be that both are implied in the blood that would necessarily flow from the opened side. The “life of the flesh is in the blood” (Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 17:11) and a primeval blood “transfusion” would more perfectly fit the event as a type of the opened side of Christ on the cross (John 19:34-36). Even if the operation did actually extract a rib from Adam, this would not suggest that men should have one less rib than women, since “acquired characteristics” are not hereditable.

2:22 made he a woman. This remarkable record of the formation of the first woman could hardly have been invented by human imagination. Neither can it be interpreted in the context of theistic evolution, even if one could interpret the formation of Adam’s body from the dust in evolutionary terms. Its historicity is confirmed in the New Testament (I Timothy 2:13; I Corinthians 11:8). All other men have been born of woman, but the first woman was made from man.

2:24 one flesh. The literal historicity of this event and its primary importance in human life are confirmed by both the Apostle Paul (Ephesians 5:30-31) and the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 19:3-9; Mark 10:2-12). Although men and women through the ages have corrupted this divine institution in many ways (adultery, divorce, polygamy, homosexuality, etc.), “from the beginning it was not so” (Matthew 19:8). The institution of the home is the first and most basic human institution, and was intended to be monogamous and permanent until death. It is significant that cultures of all times and sorts have acknowledged the superiority of monogamy, even though they have not always practiced it. Such an awareness could not be a product of evolution, since it does not characterize most animals, and thus can only be explained in terms of this primeval creation and revelation. Furthermore, the fact that it took place at the very “beginning of creation,” rather than billions of years after the beginning, was confirmed by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (Mark 10:6).

2:25 not ashamed. The lack of shame at nakedness was not because of a hardened conscience, as is true today, but because the physiological differences of Adam and Eve had been divinely created in accord with God’s purpose and they had been brought together by God with the express commandment to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28). At this time they were still without sin and thus without consciousness of moral guilt. Later, however, their sin brought an awareness that the springs of human life had been poisoned, both in themselves and in their progeny. This discovery made them painfully aware of their reproductive organs and they were then “ashamed.”