2:21Genesis 2:21

God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place to form woman from the rib and bring her to the man to be a help meet for him.Ms 16, 1899, par. 2–4 Her being taken from his side means she was not to control him as head nor to be trampled under his feet as an inferior, but to stand by his side as an equal to be loved and protected by him.PP 46.2 Made from man as bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, she is his second self and corresponding companion, one with him in love and sympathy, establishing the close union and affectionate oneness of heart and flesh that belongs to marriage.ST Sep 6, 1899+3 God himself originated and celebrated that first marriage, making it an honorable and sacred gift ordained for perfect love and harmony and for the home, established alongside the Sabbath.ED 250.2+4 By giving Adam one wife He set the order of marriage for all as one man with one wife, so that a plurality of wives is contrary to that original order, and Christ affirmed and restored marriage to its Eden sanctity.ST Sep 6, 1899+4

Christ was present as Commander in the heavenly courts at the creation of the world when Adam had been appointed monarch of the world under God's supervision.Ms 16, 1899, par. 2–4 At that time God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place.Ms 16, 1899, par. 2–4 From that rib God made woman and brought her to the man to be a help meet for him.Ms 16, 1899, par. 2–4

Eve's creation from a rib taken from Adam's side means she was not to control him as the head nor to be trampled under his feet as an inferior.PP 46.2 She was to stand by his side as an equal, to be loved and protected by him.PP 46.2 God Himself gave her to Adam as a companion corresponding to him, fitted to be his companion and to be one with him in love and sympathy.PP 46.2

Being made from man as part of man, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, makes woman his second self.PP 46.2 Adam regarded Eve as part of himself and could not bear the thought of being separated from her.PP 46.2+1 This establishes the close union and affectionate attachment that should exist in marriage.PP 46.2

This belongs to the inspired history of humanity's first parents in Eden, where in holy innocence they lived enjoying communion with God and sinless angels.MYP 254.2–255.1 It shows Adam standing in Eden in unfallen, innocent human nature.ST Dec 9, 1913 For the Son of God to have taken even that innocent nature would have been an almost infinite humiliation, yet He did not take it but accepted humanity as weakened and defiled by four thousand years of sin, accepting like every child of Adam the results of the working of the great law of heredity as shown in the history of His earthly ancestors, to share human sorrows and temptations and to give the example of a sinless life.ST Dec 9, 1913

God himself originated marriage and himself celebrated the first marriage when he gave Eve to Adam, so that the Creator of the universe is its institutor.PP 46.3+1 It is honorable, one of the first gifts of God to man, given as the family and established alongside the Sabbath and intended to be closely connected with it.ED 250.2+1 Marrying is therefore lawful and not sinful in itself, for God's laws are marvelously adapted to meet the nature of man, and it remained lawful in the days of Noah.Ms 24, 1891, par. 42–43

It is a sacred and holy institution, a sacred ordinance and precious domestic arrangement ordained for perfect love and perfect harmony, for creating homes and carrying forward God's work.Ms 16, 1899, par. 31–33+2 It was first celebrated in Eden for the first holy pair in the paradise God created for them, with heavenly joy, and God has put his seal upon it.Ms 16, 1899, par. 31–33 By giving Adam one wife in the beginning God set his order and law of marriage for all who would live upon the earth, that marriage is one man with one wife.1SP 68.1+1 A plurality of wives is contrary to that wise arrangement and changes God's order, coming from following carnal desires after the transgression and fall brought sin and wretchedness upon the race, and the more men multiply wives to themselves the more they increase in wickedness and unhappiness.1SP 68.1+1

The taking of the rib means husband and wife are to be one, blending heart with heart and becoming one flesh, with Christ abiding in the heart blending them into one mind in the love and fear of God to glorify him in mind, heart, soul and strength.Ms 202, 1903, par. 1–2 It forbids living selfishly for self alone and requires oneness in spirit, words and speech, shown by consulting together, praying together and searching the Scriptures together.Ms 202, 1903, par. 1–2 The woman was made to be one with the man as his companion and helpmeet to cheer, encourage and bless him, while the man in turn is to be her strong helper, loving and cherishing her.ST Sep 6, 1899+2 Entered with holy purpose, the husband obtains the pure affections of a woman's heart and the wife softens and improves her husband's character and gives it completeness, and this fulfills God's purpose.Ms 16, 1899, par. 31–33+1

Marriage was designed by heaven to bless humanity, yet it carries responsibilities beyond mutual love, including responsibility for children and their physical, mental and moral well-being and concern for society, so that entered without due regard it can become a curse rather than a blessing.MYP 461.1–2+1 When its divine principles are recognized and obeyed it is a blessing that guards the purity and happiness of the race, provides for man's social needs, and elevates the physical, intellectual and moral nature.PP 46.3 As one of the two institutions Adam brought with him beyond the gates of Paradise after the fall, it remains lawful, becoming sin only when that which is lawful in itself is perverted and corrupted to minister to selfish desires.PP 46.3+1 Christ affirmed marriage and did not come to destroy this institution but to make known its sacredness, restoring it to its original Eden sanctity and elevation as part of restoring the moral image of God in man, beginning his work by sanctioning the marriage relation.ST Sep 6, 1899+2

Genesis 2:21 shows God creating Adam and Eve as the parents of all people in order to establish reciprocal action and mutual relation among humanity.5MR 369.1 Every human being stands related to the rest as part of the web of humanity, with all connected together and the whole connected to God, so that no one can be dropped out without affecting the whole and nothing is independent.5MR 369.1

The creation of the race male and female was on the principle of a division of labor, each sex the complement of the other so that it takes both to complete either.HTL5 25.1–26.1 The unlikeness between them is as remarkable as the likeness, embodied in bodies, inspired into spirits, and organized into whole organizations from head to foot and in aesthetical and spiritual endowments.HTL5 25.1–26.1 From crown to sole there is not a vital organ that by form, locality, or function would not reveal to which sex it belongs, with corresponding differences in all higher endowments.HTL5 25.1–26.1 Therefore the sexes do not have equal faculties, capacities, duties, and adaptations for thought and action, and all business, pursuits, and professions are not a common arena for both.HTL5 25.1–26.1 This distinction requires a universal and unmistakable distinction in costume as a perpetual restraining monitor guarding the wearer, more efficacious than laws, courts, and officers to keep society from becoming a Sodom, while discarding it betrays virtue.HTL5 25.1–26.1

Woman was originally designed to be her husband's equal and should fill that position.Ms 5, 1875, par. 11–12 Her distinctive duties are more sacred and holy than those of man, and the world needs mothers who are mothers not merely in name but in every sense the word implies.Ms 5, 1875, par. 11–12

The verse belongs to the giving of the Eden home to Adam and Eve, which was lost when they transgressed God's law and is to be regained by obedience.Ms 84, 1886, par. 5–6 It means people must not transgress as they did but obey all God's requirements and overcome as Christ overcame by perfect obedience, bending footsteps heavenward and pointing others to the Eden home to which obedience will bring them back.Ms 84, 1886, par. 5–6

At creation Adam was perfectly happy, made for happiness and not for continual worry.Ms 85, 1899, par. 22–23 He was placed in the Garden of Eden as an emblem of heaven and of God's love, with flowers exhibiting beauty and fragrance, fruit trees bearing precious treasures for man's good, and birds caroling praise in which Adam and Eve in untainted purity delighted.Ms 85, 1899, par. 22–23 Those sights and sounds are what God still wants men and women to rejoice in today, and it is not His order for people to be crowded into cities huddled in terraces and tenements.Ms 85, 1899, par. 22–23 Sin marred God's purpose and brought all the care and anguish that rends hearts, but the image of God is once more to be impressed upon souls.Ms 85, 1899, par. 22–23 The Lord's people are to be a joyful people reposing in Him and realizing His goodness, mercy, and love, for God has not abandoned the earth and sinners are to be converted to Him.Ms 85, 1899, par. 22–23