And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up its place with flesh;
All Commentaries on Genesis 2:21 Go To Genesis 2
Quodvultdeus
AD 450
The apostle Paul testifies that this passage has both a plain and an allegorical meaning. Discussing it in his letter to the Ephesians, he asserts, “This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” The great mystery is that Adam hopes after receiving the promise. He sees that the spouse in whom he believed is now united to him. Therefore he symbolically announces to us that through faith the church will be the mother of humankind. It is evident that since Eve had been created from the side of the sleeping Adam, he has foreseen that from the side of Christ hanging on the cross the church, which is in truth the mother of the whole new humankind, must be created. In fact the church is “the woman who is guarded for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.”
