Does Adam’s role involve some form of leadership? The apostle Paul helps us with the inspired answer. Paul discusses male and female roles in several New Testament passages. He goes back to the Genesis account of creation as the enduring foundation to show the roles given by God. The creation of the first human family is God’s idea and initiative. It is not a human choice. This family is created before sin corrupts roles and their meanings. That is why people seeking God’s way are pointed back to the earliest events in Genesis. Here are three passages in which Paul discusses roles based on the created order:
- Ephesians 5:22-33 quotes from Genesis 2:24.
- 1 Corinthians 11:8 makes a clear reference to Genesis 2:18, 22.
- 1 Timothy 2:13 draws attention to Genesis 2:7, 22.
All three cases show the man’s role:
- Ephesians 5 calls the husband “the head of the wife” (Ephesians 5:23).
- 1 Corinthians 11 affirms “the head of a wife is her husband” (1 Corinthians 11:3).
- 1 Timothy 2 says, “For Adam was formed first, then Eve,” and applies that to matters of authority and submissiveness.