God's Pattern of Male-Female Role and Relationship

Whenever Jesus or any of the apostles was asked about the question of the male-female role and relationship they always went back to Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 to find the answer. When Jesus was asked about divorce where did he go for the answer? He went back to Genesis 2. When Paul was asked about male-female role relationship in the Church he also went back to Genesis 2 (Please read my earlier message - Male-Female Role Relationships in the Church).

The fisrt two Chapters of the Old Testament hold the key to understanding God's original plan and pattern of creation. This is because redemption is the restoration of creation. God only redeems you so that He may put back to what you were originally meant to be. And He is going to put the whole heaven and earth back to its original plan. God's desire is you and I and the whole human race follow His pattern of male-female role and relationship in the world, in the family and in the Church. It is from those two chapters we have the total answer to the whole question of what is the relationship between male and female and what are their different roles in the world, in the home and in the Church. The fallen Adamic race, including you and me, is not considered fully redeemed until we are fully restored to what God began in Genesis 1 and 2. It is very unfortunate that the majority denominations and Churches failed to understand this and followed the way of the world. It is truly shameful that the Body of Christ failed to grasp this basic truth. In my opinion if you do not know Genesis 1 and 2 you will get very confused about men and women today. That is the reason why I am spending so much time to do some research work on this theme alone.

Basic Timeline of God's Creation

God spent six days creating the world and everything He wanted in it. On the seventh day He did not do a single thing. In fact He rested, not in a 24-hour day, but all through the Old Testament. He did not create anything new in the Old Testament. That was why Solomon said in Ecclesiates, "That which has been is what will be, that which is done, and there is nothing new under the sun" (Eccl. 1:9, NKJV).

But now God has gone back to work and He is back in the business of creation. He started His eight day of reation on the first Easter Sunday, when He raised Jesus from the dead. God's creation work of the old finished with a Sabbath rest. That is why it is proper for Christians to worship on Sundays and not on Saturdays. We do not celebrate God's rest but celebrate when He has gone back to work, when He created all things new. It was on a Sunday that God poured out His Spirit (Day of Pentecost) and we are His new creation when we are in Christ and "old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Cor. 5:17).

The two accounts of the Creation of man

Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 are in fact two accounts of the same event - the creation of man. The first account begins at Gen. 1:26 - 31 on the sixth day of creation, "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; ..." (Gen. 1:26). The second account is in Gen. 2:15 - 24 ending with, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Gen. 2:24).

By giving these two accounts God wants us to look at His creation of man from two different points of view - almost from opposite view points of the same event. If you read Genesis 1 and shut your eyes you will feel yourself way up in heaven looking down and see what is happening down on the earth. In fact Genesis 1 was written from God's angle - from the divine or heavenly viewpoint. But when you turn to Genesis 2 you will have a completely different viewpoint; you are standing on the earth and looking around in the Garden of Eden. In other words, one is a vertical viewpoint looking down from heaven to earth from God's point of view. But the second account is a horizontal veiw and you are looking around at the relationship between the different parts of creation - between man and the birds, man and the beast and man and woman. These two dimensions help us to get a full picture of the role and relationship of male and female.

God's way of helping us to understand Bible truth

One of the vital characteristics of the Bible is that when God wants to give us the whole truth He sometimes has to give us the truth from different angles just like the prison authority takes photographs of criminals from different angles of their face.

Not only God gave us two accounts of creation, but He gave us two accounts of other things as well. To help us to understand the history of Israel during the rules of kings He gave us two accounts in the two Books of Kings and the two Books of Chronicles. When He wanted to us to have the full picture of Jesus Christ He had to give us four pictures in four Books - One from Matthew to see Jesus as the King of the Jews, one from Mark to see Jesus as the Son of Man, one from Luke to see Jesus as the Savior of the World, and one from John to see Jesus as the Son of God.

Prominence of sex and sexuality

It is interesting to realize that in both accounts of creation sex is prominent. In other words, sex is as important from the Divine point of view as from the human point of view. Unfortunately many Christians have never seen this truth. Indeed in many denominations and Churches sex is a taboo subject. But God gets great pleasure out of sex and our sexuality.

Prose and Poetry

We need to understand the difference between prose and poetry when we see it in the Bible. Basically prose is ordinally written language used to impart information, mush like the Newsprint. But poetry refers to poem, often written in short lines which usually rhyme. Prose is the language of the mind but poetry is the language of the heart. Whenever you see prose, it is a message from God's mind to your mind so that your thoughts may be His thoughts and His thoughts your thoughts. But when He speaks in poetry, the message is from His Heart to your heart so that you may feel His feelings. Prose is to change people's thinking but poetry is to change people's feelings.

In both Genesis 1 and 2 there is only a little phrase within a verse that is written in poetry form. In both cases the poem is about sex. To me this is truly amazing. When Adam first saw Eve he said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; ..." (Gen. 2:23). Because this is the language of the heart, God wants you to know how He feels about the woman He created. At the same time God wants you to know how Adam feels about his helpmeet.

Let us take a closer look at the following passages of Scripture:

"Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; ... (V. 27) So God created man in His own image. In the image of God He created him, male and female He created them. (V. 28) Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ..." (Gen. 1:26, 27, 28, emphasis added).

Notice the emphasized phrase is in poetry form and the next verse the poetry disappeared. In other words, the male and femaile belongs to the previous verse - it belongs to the image of God.

Great significance of the first verse of the Bible

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1, emphasis added).

It is interesting to realize that the Hebrew word for "God" is "Eloheem" or Elohim" which is a plural word for three. Therefore right at the beginning God is three Persons in One. Unfortunately the Jews missed it and the consequence is that they can never say that God is love. The fact is that if God was only one you can never give Him the Name of Love. One person cannot express love by himself. We have the full revelation in the New Testament that God is the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and therefore we can say God is Love. Notice that there is no other religion in the world can say their god is love! Only Christians believe that God is love and because of this, those who believe in God love God and love one another.

Let us follow some logical conclusive steps. If God is love and is 3-in-1 and He wanted to make us in His image He would have to make us capable of loving and we are incomplete without someone else to love. And so He made us 2-in-1 not quite as great as He. So He made us male and female capable of experiencing something of what it is to love someone else and be one with Him. What a beautiful idea!

Male and female are both created in the Image of God

It is extremely important to acknowledge that both man and woman equally carried the Image of God (Gen. 1:27). Therefore the whole relationship toward each other must be based on the clear understanding that in God's sight man and woman are of equal value, equal status and of equal worth. Therefore salvation is equal in Christ for all of us. This is the fundamental truth to the entire Bible.

Paul said, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galations 3:28, emphasis added).

Peter said, "Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered" (1 Peter 3:7, emphasis added).

However there are differences between the male and the female. We have different functions in the world, in the home and in the Church with different ministries. When we turn to Genesis 2 we will certainly realize that there is a contrast and there is inequality. The fact is, in the vertical dimension of God creating us, we are equal. But in the horizontal dimension in our relationship with each other, we are not equal.

Male and female are created differently

The three things said in Genensis 2 about our relationships which are picked up in the New Testament are:

1. Woman was made from man.

2. Woman was made for man.

3. Woman was made after man.

Each of these little words (from, for, after) is picked up in the New Testament to teach us how we are to behave (in role relationships) in the family and in the Church as men and women. Unfortunately many denominations and Churches missed it altogether!

1. Woman was made from man (Gen 2:21, 22)

Genesis 2:21 says that woman was made from a "rib" taken out of Adam's side. In Hebrew the word "rib" means a small part. Adam, in recognizing the fact that the woman was made from him, he was given the authority to name her, and he named her Eve. That is why in mariage nowadays the wife takes the name of the husband and not the other way round. Furthermore since a woman was taken from a part of man and not made like man from the dust, she is not independent from man. Paul, in 1 Cor. 11:11 testified this fact. Therefore a man who lives to himself and has no relationship with the opposite sex is not a full man. Similarly a woman who lives to herself and has no relationship with a husband is not a full woman.

2. Woman was made for man (1 Cor. 11:9)

This is same as saying the primary purpose of a woman is to be found in man. She is created to be his helpmeet. Being a helpmeet, or being the partner in ministry (in the Christian/Church context) she must not compete with her husband. When her husband is out ministering the wife being the helpmeet should be praying for him. Recently I heard someone said, a certain woman is the Senior Pastor in a Church, but her husband is one of the associated Pastors in the same Church! These "christians" must have thought man was made for woman! This is totally contrary to God' original creation pattern.

There is a teaching right around the world, in the feminist movement (Christian or non-Christian), teaches that a woman must find her fulfillment within herself, she must find her own gift, her own career and she must find herself by herself. This is also totally contrary to God's original creation pattern.

3. Woman was made after man

The significance is that everywhere in the Bible people follow one another. The first to appear carries the responsibilities for the next. This is the doctrine of the first born son in the entire teaching of the Bible. The first born son had extra responsibility for all the other sons. In Scripture when a father died and left his estate to his family he left an equal portion to each of his sons. But he left a double portion to the first born. Adam was the first born and therefore he carried responsibility for Eve.

Though Eve was the first to sin and the first to take the forbidden fruit the New Testament never blames her for introducing sin and death. Who does the New Testament blame? Adam, because he was responsible for her.

God expects the family life and Church life in the New Testament follow the same pattern of Genesis 2 that men carry the responsibilities for women. This is the reason why leadership in the Church is the responsibility of the men and never women.

How many Local Churches do you know are truly following God's original pattern of Creation clearly laid out in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2?