John Calvin Commentary Genesis 2:18

"And Jehovah God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him." — Genesis 2:18 (ASV)

It is not good that the man should be alone. Moses now explains the design of God in creating the woman; namely, that there should be human beings on the earth who might cultivate mutual society among themselves. Yet a doubt may arise whether this design ought to be extended to progeny, for the words simply mean that since it was not expedient for man to be alone, a wife must be created, who might be his helper.

I, however, take the meaning to be this: that God begins, indeed, at the first step of human society, yet designs to include others, each in its proper place. The commencement, therefore, involves a general principle, that man was formed to be a social animal. Now, the human race could not exist without the woman; and, therefore, in the union of human beings, that sacred bond is especially conspicuous, by which the husband and the wife are combined in one body and one soul, as nature itself taught Plato and others of the sounder philosophers to speak.

But although God pronounced, concerning Adam, that it would not be profitable for him to be alone, yet I do not restrict the declaration to his person alone, but rather regard it as a common law of man’s vocation, so that everyone ought to receive it as said to himself, that solitude is not good, excepting only the one whom God exempts as by a special privilege. Many think that celibacy conduces to their advantage and therefore abstain from marriage, for fear that they might be miserable. Not only have heathen writers defined that to be a happy life which is passed without a wife, but the first book of Jerome against Jovinian is stuffed with petulant reproaches, by which he attempts to render sacred marriage both hateful and infamous. Let the faithful learn to oppose these wicked suggestions of Satan with this declaration of God, by which He ordains the conjugal life for man, not to his destruction, but to his salvation.

I will make him an help. One might ask why this is not said in the plural number, Let us make, as before in the creation of man. Some suppose that a distinction between the two sexes is marked in this manner, and that it is thus shown how much the man excels the woman.

But I am better satisfied with an interpretation which, though not altogether contrary, is yet different; namely, since in the person of the man the human race had been created, the common dignity of our whole nature was, without distinction, honored with one praise when it was said, Let us make man. Nor was it necessary to be repeated in creating the woman, who was nothing else than an addition to the man.

Certainly, it cannot be denied that the woman also, though in the second degree, was created in the image of God; from which it follows that what was said in the creation of the man belongs to the female sex. Now, since God assigns the woman as a help to the man, He not only prescribes to wives the rule of their vocation to instruct them in their duty, but He also pronounces that marriage will really prove to men the best support of life.

We may therefore conclude that the order of nature implies that the woman should be the helper of the man. The common proverb, indeed, is that she is a necessary evil; but the voice of God is rather to be heard, which declares that woman is given as a companion and an associate to the man, to assist him to live well.

I confess, indeed, that in this corrupt state of humankind, the blessing of God, which is here described, is neither perceived nor flourishes; but the cause of the evil must be considered, namely, that the order of nature, which God had appointed, has been inverted by us. For if the integrity of man had remained to this day as it was from the beginning, that divine institution would be clearly discerned, and the sweetest harmony would reign in marriage; because the husband would look up with reverence to God; the woman in this would be a faithful assistant to him; and both, with one consent, would cultivate a holy, as well as friendly and peaceful fellowship.

Now, it has happened by our fault, and by the corruption of nature, that this happiness of marriage has largely perished, or, at least, is mixed and infected with many inconveniences. From this arise conflicts, troubles, sorrows, disagreements, and a boundless sea of evils; and as a result, men are often disturbed by their wives and suffer through them many discouragements.

Still, marriage was not capable of being so far corrupted by human depravity that the blessing which God has once sanctioned by His word should be utterly abolished and extinguished. Therefore, among many inconveniences of marriage, which are the fruits of degenerate nature, some residue of divine good remains; as in the fire apparently smothered, some sparks still glitter.

On this main point hangs another: that women, being instructed in their duty of helping their husbands, should strive to keep this divinely appointed order. Men, too, should consider what they owe in return to women, for the obligation of both sexes is mutual. On this condition is the woman assigned as a help to the man, so that he may fill the place of her head and leader.

One more thing is to be noted: when the woman is here called the man's help, this does not refer to the necessity to which we were reduced after the fall of Adam. For the woman was ordained to be the man’s helper, even if he had remained in his integrity.

But now, since depraved appetite also requires a remedy, we have from God a double benefit, though the latter is an incidental one.

Meet for him. In the Hebrew it is כנגדו (kenegedo), “as if opposite to,” or “over against him.” כ (Caph) in that language is a note of similitude. But although some of the Rabbis think it is here put as an affirmative, I take it in its general sense, as if it were said that she is a kind of counterpart (ἀντίστοικον, or ἀντίστροφον); for the woman is said to be opposite to or over against the man, because she responds to him.

But the particle of similitude seems to me to be added because it is a form of speech taken from common usage. The Greek translators have faithfully rendered the sense, Κατ’ αὐτόν; and Jerome, “Which may be like him,” for Moses intended to note some equality.

And from this is refuted the error of some, who think that the woman was formed only for the sake of propagation, and who restrict the word “good,” which had been recently mentioned, to the production of offspring.

They do not think that a wife was personally necessary for Adam, because he was until then free from lust; as if she had been given to him only for the companion of his bedroom, and not rather that she might be the inseparable associate of his life.

Therefore, the particle כ (caph) is of importance, as intimating that marriage extends to all parts and aspects of life. The explanation given by others, as if it were said, “Let her be ready to obedience,” is weak, for Moses intended to express more, as is clear from what follows.