photo credit: from a friend on Facebook – Adam and Eve are a Type of Christ and the Church
Adam and Eve in Genesis 2 are a type of Christ and the church (see Eph. 5:23-26). The real “man” in the universe is not Adam but Christ – Christ is the real universal Husband who is seeking a wife for Himself. Throughout the Bible we can see how God in Christ is courting man and wooing man to gain man as His counterpart, His complement, His wife.
The word God spoke in Gen 2:18 “It is not good for man to be alone” applies both to Adam and to Christ – it is not good for Christ to be alone, He needs the church as His counterpart and wife! Christ is eternally and absolutely perfect, yet He is not complete without the church as His wife, His complement.
What God desires is not only Christ alone but Christ and the church, Christ with His counterpart. It is Christ and the church as a couple in oneness that can fully express God and have dominion over all the earth for God (see Gen. 1:26; Rom. 5:17; 16:20; Eph. 1:22-23).
God’s purpose is accomplished not only by Christ but also by the church. What God desires is a victorious Christ and a victorious Christ, a Christ who has overcome the work of the devil plus a church that has overthrown the work of the devil! We need to see how Adam and eve are a picture of Christ and the church.
Adam and Eve are a Type of Christ and the Church
After God created man, Adam, He didn’t stop there – He realized that even though man was His expression, he still needed a counterpart, a wife. Adam is a type of Christ, who is the last Adam and the Firstborn of all creation.
In Genesis 2 we see how God admits that Christ needs to have a counterpart. Christ is perfect, great, awesome, wonderful, and all-inclusive, but according to Gen. 2:18-24 and Eph. 5:22-32 Christ needs the church to be His counterpart so that together they might fulfill God’s purpose.
Adam typifies Christ, and Eve typifies the church. Adam was created – Christ is the Firstborn of the old creation; Eve was built – the church was not created but she was built with the resurrection life of Christ.
Adam in Genesis 2:18 typified God in Christ as the real, universal Husband, who is seeking a wife for Himself. He came to court the people of Israel and betroth them to Himself (Isa. 54:5) and in the New Testament He came to woo man, court man, and betroth the believers to Himself to make them His church, His bride, His wife (see John 3:29; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:31-32; Rev. 19:7; 21:9).
The fact that Adam needed a wife shows us that God needs, in His economy, to have a wife as His complement, His parallel, His counterpart. Adam and Eve are a type of Christ and the church, and God’s purpose is accomplished through Christ and the church being one!
“It is Not Good for Man to be Alone” = “It is Not Good for God to be Alone”
Gen. 2:18, 22. It is Not Good for God to be Alone.
When people think about God many times they have a wrong concept and view of what God is and what His heart’s desire is about.
Yes, God is all-sufficient, all-inclusive, all-knowing, all-powerful, omniscient, omnipresent, above all, and eternally perfect. However, according to the word of God in the Bible, when God said about Adam that, “it is not good for man to be alone” (Gen. 2:18), He was speaking about Himself – it is not good for God to be alone! God in Christ needs a wife, a counterpart.
Eve as the counterpart of Adam was planned by God before the foundation of the world and appeared before the fall of man, and the church as the wife of Christ was also planned before the foundation of the world and was manifested after the fall of man. The church is the help meet of Christ, the counterpart of Christ, the “other half” of Christ.
When some hear that “in God’s sight Christ alone is not good enough” (as Watchman Nee expounded on this portion in Gen. 2:18) they may say it is a heresy. However, the entire Bible shows us how Christ needs a wife – He needs the church, His counterpart!
God desires a victorious Christ plus a victorious church. He wants a match for Christ, a counterpart, a help meet. God wants that Christ and the church would subdue His enemy and bring in God’s eternal kingdom. God desires that the church would completely match Christ and be like Him in life, nature, and expression (but not in the Godhead), so that “they” (Christ and the church) would have dominion over all the earth!
Our need as human beings to get married shows God’s need to get married. Christ needs the church to be His bride, His counterpart, His help meet in warfare executing God’s judgement over Satan, His co-king over the earth, and even His co-partaker of God’s glory in Christ.
What a glorious destiny we as human beings regenerated with God’s life have – we are destined to be Christ’s counterpart, one with Him, matching Him in every possible way, and being with Him in warfare, in the wedding feast, in defeating the enemy, in bringing in God’s kingdom, in ruling over the earth, and in reigning in glory!
Lord, we praise You for creating us in Your image and with Your likeness so that we can match You and be Your counterpart for eternity. Thank You for coming into us and regenerating us with Your divine life so that we can be Your glorious church. Lord, we give ourselves to You to be renewed, transformed, conformed to Your image, and glorified with Your glory so that we may match You in every possible way. Gain the glorious and victorious church You are after. Gain Your counterpart, Your help meet, Your complement! Lord, the church!
References and Further Reading
- Inspiration: chapter 2 from the Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 34, “The Glorious Church”, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization Study of Genesis (1), week / msg 8, The Type of Eve as the Counterpart of Adam.
- Hymns on this topic:
# God wants someone to love Him, / Not just someone to serve Him; / He wants someone to love Him / As His bride. / God wants someone to match Him, / Not just to imitate Him; / He wants a counterpart, / One from His side.
# Through shadows, types and figures, / God’s deepest thought is known; / As typified by Adam, / The Husband, Christ, is shown. / A rib brought forth from Adam / Reveals the source of life / By which God built a woman: / Eve, as the church, His wife.
# Since we’re Thy Body, Thou may come / And settle down in us; / In us Thou may obtain Thy home / And we become Thy trust. / Thy heart to satisfy and please, / We are Thy counterpart, / Now in one Body with Thyself, / Enjoying all Thou art. [by Witness Lee]
