What is a man? What is a woman? What is marriage? And how would we know? In this blog post we will look at not one word, but two.

(Note you can listen to this blog post as a podcast, here.)

The Greek words for “man” (ΑΝΗΡ - pronounced “anair”) and “woman” (ΓΥΝΗ - pronounced “guneh,” with a French “u” or a German “ü”) first appear in the Scriptures in Genesis. In fact, they initially appear together, in chapter two, which provides an elaborate narration of how God creates the first man and woman.

God creates the man first, who begins humanity’s great task of caring for the earth. But, despite all of the pairs he sees in the animal kingdom – male and female in every species – there is no one suitable to him. He is lonely. And God says that it is not good for him to be alone. This is a deafening “not good” statement, after all the times God said “good,” “good” and “very good,” earlier, while creating the heavens and the earth and all that is in them.

God causes Adam to fall into a deep sleep. He then takes one of Adam’s ribs and builds it into the first woman. When Adam awakens and sees Eve for the first time, he erupts into poetic utterance, speaking wonderfully about the amazing creature standing in front of him. It is an utterance of profundity, honour and delight. This is Gen 2:23 (I’m citing the Jewish Publication Society version):

“Then the man said,

‘This one at last

Is bone of my bones

And flesh of my flesh.

This one shall be called Woman,

For from man was she taken.’”

And here it is in the Greek (citing the Rahlfs and Hanhart edition of the Septuagint):

καὶ εἶπεν Αδαμ Τοῦτο νῦν ὀστοῦν ἐκ τῶν ὀστέων μου καὶ σὰρξ ἐκ τῆς σαρκός μου· αὕτη κληθήσεται γυνή, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς αὐτῆς ἐλήμφθη αὕτη.

The Greek word here for “man” (ΑΝΗΡ) translates the Hebrew word ish. And the Greek word for “woman” (ΓΥΝΗ) translates the Hebrew word ishah. (In Hebrew, then, the words for man and woman even sound the same.) This is also the first time that these two Hebrew words appear in Genesis. (Note that ΑΝΗΡ appears in a slightly different grammatical form here. But ΓΥΝΗ appears in its basic form.)

So, the first time the words “man” and “woman” occur in the Scriptures, they appear in the description of the first recorded human speech. And they come in response to God’s greatest gift in the creation – the gift of companionship, the antidote to loneliness.

Of course, it is not just any companionship, it is marital companionship. This is another peculiar feature of Greek. The same words for “man” (ΑΝΗΡ) and “woman” (ΓΥΝΗ) are also the words for “married man” (so, husband) and for “married woman” (that is, wife). In fact, the same thing is largely true for the two Hebrew words which these Greek words translate. (There is an additional Hebrew word, though, that can also be translated as “married man” or “husband.”) This double meaning of ΑΝΗΡ and ΓΥΝΗ will be important for us to appreciate later. But for now, let’s keep going.

So, in the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, we frequently see the words ΑΝΗΡ (“man”) and ΓΥΝΗ (“woman”) referring, together, to all humanity. We see this, for example, in Numbers 6, where the Lord gives instructions for either a man or a woman to make a Nazarite vow. This covers everybody. There is no third gender or, somehow, people who are on an alleged gender “spectrum.” There is only this one, profound, binary distinction.

The same idea is seen in the New Testament. For example, in Acts 8, Saul acts violently against Christians, entering into people’ houses and dragging away “men” (ΑΝΔΡΕΣ – that is the plural form of ΑΝΗΡ) and “women” (ΓΥΝΑΙΚΕΣ – the plural of ΓΥΝΗ) and committing them to prison.

A more uplifting example, found in the same chapter, concerns the people who respond warmly to Philipp’s preaching in Samaria. Both “men” and “women” believe the good news about Jesus and are baptized. Again the words ΑΝΔΡΕΣ and ΓΥΝΑΙΚΕΣ are used. This means adults of both genders – covering all adults.

But the same two words can also refer to married men and women. For example, in Ephesians 5, Paul instructs “men” (ΑΝΔΡΕΣ) or “married men” to love their “women” (ΓΥΝΑΙΚΕΣ) or “wives.” Both “women” and “wives” fit as English translations of ΓΥΝΑΙΚΕΣ, just as “men” and “married men” or “husbands” would work for Greek ΑΝΔΡΕΣ.

In that example, we saw, of course, the plural forms of each word. Here’s an example with each word appearing in the singular. In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul instructs believers who are married to nonbelievers to stay in the marriage, provided that their spouses will keep them. He asks this question (1 Corinthians 7:16 – in the ESV):

“For how do you know, wife (ΓΥΝΗ), whether you will save your husband (ΑΝΗΡ)? Or how do you know, husband (ΑΝΗΡ), whether you will save your wife (ΓΥΝΗ)?”

In the original Greek we have it like this (Tyndale House Greek New Testament version):

τί γὰρ οἶδας, γύναι, εἰ τὸν ἄνδρα σώσεις; ἢ τί οἶδας, ἄνερ, εἰ τὴν γυναῖκα σώσεις;

(Bear in mind that the words we are concerned with are, in fact, appearing here in slightly different grammatical forms. So, we don’t hear ΓΥΝΗ and ΑΝΗΡ, exactly. But don’t let that bother you. It is an aspect of Greek that one can get familiar with over time.)

So, technically, we might render this phrase in English like this:

“For how do you know, woman (ΓΥΝΗ), if you will save your husband (ΑΝΗΡ)? Or how do you know, man (ΑΝΗΡ), if you will save your wife (ΓΥΝΗ)?”

At any rate, the meaning does not substantially change. What is important to note is that the concept of marriage is embedded in the awareness that God has made a “man” and a “woman.” So, embodied in the language itself is the idea that marriage requires one person from each sex. Marriage is not meant for two people of the same sex.

But, now let’s turn to the wise words of the Saviour. Jesus finds himself embroiled in a debate that was intense in his day – can one get divorced for any reason at all? The question is posed to him like this (Mark 10:2 – NRSV):

“Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man (ΑΝΗΡ) to divorce his wife (ΓΥΝΗ)?’”

In the original Greek we have it as follows:

καὶ προσελθόντες Φαρισαῖοι ἐπηρώτων αὐτὸν εἰ ἔξεστιν ἀνδρὶ γυναῖκα ἀπολῦσαι πειράζοντες αὐτόν.

(Again, the words ΓΥΝΗ and ΑΝΗΡ are there, but their forms are slightly altered, on account of grammatical reasons.)

How does Jesus answer this question? He goes back to the “beginning.” He says (Mark 10:6–9 – NRSV):

6 “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Now this is a relatively long English citation. And I will not provide the Greek this time. However, we should note that Jesus cites Genesis twice, once from chapter one and once from chapter two. First, he notes that humans were made in God’s image, as “male” and “female” (and, God willing, I will get back to these two words on another occasion). Second, he brings up the phrase that follows just on the heels of the speech from Adam that we began this short study with. That is: a man joins his wife and the two become one flesh.

Now the word for “man” in Greek this time is different than ΑΝΗΡ, the one we have been looking at. But I will not let that detain us here. (The underlying word, in Hebrew, is still the same: ish.)

The key point I want to bring out is this. Jesus is not embarrassed by Genesis, at all. Quite the contrary, he intentionally goes there to find wisdom on what marriage is designed to be. And he sticks with the design. He does not deviate; nor does he innovate.

Marriage is between a “man” (ΑΝΗΡ) and “woman” (ΓΥΝΗ). This is the way it was at the beginning. And this is the way it should stay, Jesus’ line of reasoning insists.

In an earlier blog post, we recently examined the word for “thorn plant” and, I believe, the study will have touched many of us deeply in our hearts. Was that true for you? It was a study that began in the Garden of Eden and culminated at Calvary. We believe, don’t we, that thorny plants first appeared on the earth, near the beginning, because of a curse? They originated as a direct result of the Fall, of human rebellion to God.

But, can we go back to the Garden of Eden and also study the words for “man” (ΑΝΗΡ) and “woman” (ΓΥΝΗ)? Can we follow the Master back to the beginning? He believes that God created “man” (ΑΝΗΡ) and “woman” (ΓΥΝΗ) to be “husband” (ΑΝΗΡ) and “wife” (ΓΥΝΗ). (The same is true for the Hebrew words ish and ishah.) Can we take Jesus at his word? Let’s follow his line of thought and humbly accept that God knows what is best. Marriage is designed for a man and a woman, just as only these two sexes, in reality, exist.

But wait, there’s one more point to draw out here. Remember Adam’s poetic proclamation of love and relational union in Eve, his woman? He states that the amazing human standing in front of him will henceforth be called “woman” (ΓΥΝΗ) because she has been taken out of “man” (ΑΝΗΡ). Did this really happen? Well, what does Paul say? In chapter eleven of his first letter to the Corinthians, the apostle to the Gentiles says (1 Corinthians 11:8 – this is the ESV):

“For man was not made from woman, but woman from man.”

The Greek says this:

οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἀνὴρ ἐκ γυναικὸς ἀλλὰ γυνὴ ἐξ ἀνδρός·

So, yes, Paul truly accepts the biblical account that, in the beginning, the first woman was created from organic material that God lovingly took out of the first man to fashion into his companion. And the original two then became one flesh, through marriage. Jesus’ teaching points in this very same direction.

Friends, we need to jettison the false idea of human evolution. It really has no place in Christian belief – in reality. We – men and women, boys and girls – have all been made in God’s image. (We’re not the product of some monkeys’ offspring allegedly developing beyond their natural means.) We should cherish the truth that we have been fashioned by God, directly, as image-bearers. Let’s not hide or reject this precious truth.

As always, I will leave off with a song. It is the ancient Greek translation of Adam’s speech in Genesis 2:23 in the Hebrew Scriptures. (And men – if you are married, you may consider singing this song as a sign of your sheer delight in your wife that God has graciously given to you and your gratitude to God for her.)

Τοῦτο νῦν ὀστοῦν ἐκ τῶν ὀστέων μου καὶ σὰρξ ἐκ τῆς σαρκός μου· αὕτη κληθήσεται γυνή, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς αὐτῆς ἐλήμφθη αὕτη.