However, from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’
Parallel translations
- WEB But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female.
- KJV But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
- NKJV But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’
- NASB But from the beginning of creation, God created them male and female.
- NLT But ‘God made them male and female’ from the beginning of creation.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
From the beginning God made them male and female. Jesus grounds marriage in the created order, not in later concessions.
Overview
Citing Genesis 1:27, Jesus appeals to God's original creation of humanity as male and female as the foundation for marriage. This places the institution of marriage in God's good design from the start. By going back to creation, Jesus establishes a norm that predates and outranks the Mosaic concession.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Gen 1:27So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
- Gen 5:2Male and female He created them, and He blessed them. And in the day they were created, He called them “man.”
- Gen 1:1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- Gen 2:20–23The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.
- Mal 2:14–16Yet you ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
- 2 Pet 3:4“Where is the promise of His coming?” they will ask. “Ever since our fathers fell asleep, everything continues as it has from the beginning of creation.”
- Mark 13:19For those will be days of tribulation unmatched from the beginning of God’s creation until now, and never to be seen again.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 10:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.