Eight Reasons We Hold to a Biblical View of Gender Distinction
1. God
created men and women equal in value (neither gender is superior, per the
hierarchical and hyper-feminist views). This is made explicit in the Creation
account where Scripture says in Genesis 1:27,
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
This
declaration is repeated in 5:2. It is important to note that 1:27 occurs before the Fall, whereas 5:2 is repeated
after the Fall. In other words, the
Fall did not change the equality of value between male and female.
2. Nevertheless,
males and females are consistently given different roles to play in the home
and the Church;[1] specifically,
the male is given headship (or primacy of initiative) in both Church and home. The
account of Creation in Genesis 2 makes this explicit, where Adam is given the
primary charge (Genesis 2:15). We note
Eve’s God-designated role as helpmate to Adam. This assumes Adam is on a
mission of obedience already! Eve would not have anything for which to “help”
Adam if he were not a man-on-fire for obedience to God!
3. It
is NOT undesirable or oppressive to submit to one who is being obedient to God
already! This is true of course, assuming that the “helpmate” has already
determined to follow Christ in her own life as well. Assuming both marriage
partners are Christ-followers, they ought to be walking in the same direction and
with the same conviction. If the husband is being obedient to God, a wife’s
submission is therefore an extension of her obedience to God.
4. The
husband/wife covenant is to be modeled after the Christ/Church covenant as
Ephesians 5:22-33 shows. If male headship and female support are compromised,
the covenant of marriage fails to do what it was originally designed by God to
do, viz. illustrate the authority of Christ over His grateful and joyfully
obedient bride, the elect.
5. Biblically,
“submission” not at all a bad word as our culture suggests, but is rather a
beautiful picture of honor. The Greek word hypotasso (submit, cf. Ephesians
5:22) is used several times to describe the wife’s obligation to her husband,
but we must not forget that hypotasso is a verb that is used to describe the
disposition of Christ as well. For instance Jesus was said to hypotasso to
Joseph and Mary in Luke 2:51. Christ is also said to hypotasso the Father in 1
Corinthians 15:28. Obviously, this verb does not imply any sort of inferiority
(as Christ is fully divine and worthy of all praise) but rather a loving
inclination towards honor.
6. Submission
for the wife ought not to be a burden, but rather a joy. After all, the man is
told to love his wife “as Christ loves the Church,” which means he ought to be
ready to bleed, suffer, and die for her! We note that in Ephesians 5, after
Paul counsels women to submit to their husbands, he does not tell the men
“therefore subjugate your wives.” On the contrary, the parallel command is not
to oppress them but to love them. He even says to do this “as Christ loved the
Church,” that is, unto His own death by crucifixion. For this reason, a man
ought to love his own wife, even if doing so should result in his own torture
or death.
7. Egalitarianism is in error because it robs BOTH genders of their God-given
uniqueness. By minimizing the differences between genders, our culture is
headed towards becoming an increasingly androgynous (asexual) society. Consider
this example. The Navy has just changed its longstanding policy regarding women
serving aboard submarines. While gender roles are obviously complicated within
the Church, how much more complicated is social policy outside the Church! Christian
sociologists are beginning to notice how the very idea of gender is being
stripped down to nothing. Current trends such as homosexual marriages, same-sex
couples adopting children, and the epidemic of the fatherlessness of American
children further underscore an almost incessant urge to strip both genders of
all intelligible giftedness and meaning, rendering one (or both) utterly
inconsequential.
8. On
the other hand, complementarianism is written into our very DNA. For instance,
if a criminal or wild animal breaks into the home of a married couple in the
middle of the night, the course of nature suggests that a man should
automatically rise to defend his wife and children, not push his wife into the
way. This comes instinctively as he is created to lead and defend. On the other
hand, women are uniquely gifted in other categories of life experience. For
instance, a wife may be much better at tending to a child with an inconsolable
earache, and may possess special gifts of tenderness, compassion, and mercy.
This comes instinctively, as she is created to care and nurture. Obviously,
while women can fight off intruders and men can tend to hurting children,
nature itself dictates that each gender has unique and special properties given
by God that cannot be extinguished without harming the human race in general.
Matthew Everhard is the Senior Pastor of Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brooksville, Florida.
[1] See also
1 Corinthians 14:33-35; Colossians 3:18-21; 1 Timothy 2:9-15; Titus 2:1-5; 1
Peter 3:1-7.
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