How many people still believe that the first human being was a man? If the Bible shows that the first earth creature God created was male and female, and the woman was formed from the side not the rib, then biblical gender equality has to be accepted as a fact and the subordination of women needs to be acknowledged as the result of sin.
The original Hebrew word which was translated as rib is sela. An accurate translation of this word should be side. Because the first woman was formed from the side, and all ingredients, -bone and flesh, - were taken from the first human being, the man and the woman have common origin. God called both the first man and the first women Adam (Genesis 5:2).
However after the Fall, the man kept the name Adam, which is the Hebrew word for human being, for himself and renamed the woman. By doing so, he stole humanity from the woman (and consequently from all women), and reduced her to the role of being -the mother of all living- which is the translation of the Hebrew word Eve. The ruling of the man over the woman was not God's intention, but the result of sin (Genesis 3:16).
What happened in Genesis 3:16 was corrected in John 3:16. John tells us that -God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.- This promise was made to the whole Adam not only the male part. God redeems both the man and the woman equally. Now we do not live under sin anymore, but under grace. Therefore Paul can write in Galatians 3:27-29, -For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise.- This promise belongs to both the man and the woman. Christ reunites the male and the female again as one and calls both of them Adam.
