Does Genesis 1:27 Mean That God Originally Created Adam with Both Genders?

As a ministry, we are asked many questions about both Adam and Eve, their creation, and other aspects of what happened to them after the fall. With much going on in the culture regarding gender and “pride month,” we often see eisegesis of gender and sexual ideology creeping even into Scripture. We recently received the following question:

Question: Some have asserted that tsela in Genesis 2:21 does mean side, and even more so, actually means “half” or “nature.” Some LGBT activists state that God originally made Adam as both male and female, the female half (or nature) being removed to then create Eve. Some use this argument to justify the world’s excuses for so many different “sex and gender” issues.

Answer: The statement in Genesis 1, “he made them male and female,” is a precursor to the full description given in Genesis 2, not a separate creation event as some claim—where God made Adam with male and female parts and then separated those parts into Adam and Eve later. Our ministry asserts that Genesis 1 is an overview account of the entire creation week, and Genesis 2 (after verse 3) is a detailed account of day 6. This means (for example) that Adam was created on day 6, and Eve was created on day 6, as Genesis 1 says. Genesis 2 simply details Adam’s creation from the dust of the ground and Eve’s creation from Adam’s rib.

Keep in mind that in Matthew 19:4–6, Jesus quoted from Genesis 1:27 and 2:24 together as one continuous thought—showing that they are the same account, and that the man and woman in Genesis 1 are the Adam and Eve (whom God married) of Genesis 2 and 3. To us, that settles any argument on the topic. Genesis 1:26–27 is fleshed out in detail in Genesis 2:7–8 and 21–25. The Hebrew word tsela does not mean “half” or “nature” (which is what the gender argument is based on—plus a faulty view of Genesis 1 and 2).

God did not separate Eve from Adam; he joined them together as one in marriage.

Additionally, Jesus’ statement in Matthew 19 (and the parallel passage in Mark 10:6–9) does not state God made them male and female at first and then separated them. In fact, Jesus says that after marriage (and in the case of Adam and Eve, it appears this was immediately after Eve was made), they are “no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:6; Mark 10:8–9). God did not separate Eve from Adam, he joined them together as one in marriage.

Conclusion

Genesis 1 gives us an overview account of the creation of Adam and Eve on Day 6. Then Genesis 2:15–25 gives us more detail about Adam’s creation from the dust of the ground and Eve’s subsequent creation from Adam’s rib. We even get a glimpse into the early hours of Adam’s life before Eve was created. But the account of their creation in no way supports that Adam was initially created bigender and his “feminine side” was removed and fashioned into Eve. This relatively recent postulation is not based on Scripture but rather a prior assumption interwoven with an exegetical bias that is merely the attempt of liberal scholars and LGBTQ+ advocates to push their genderless (or multiple gender) ideology.

The words of Jesus in Mark 10:6, “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female [our emphasis: the pronoun is plural, both here and in Genesis 1:27],’” do not equate with what they want the text to say, which is, “God made him male and female.” Christ’s words here condemn that very thought, and his next words absolutely destroy the sexual humanistic mindset of free sex, easy divorce, polyamory, gender fluidity, and homosexual behavior: “‘ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Mark 10:7–9). Jesus here promotes the institution he created in Genesis: marriage, between one man and one woman for life.