First, I would want my daughter to understand that she is created in the image of God. Genesis 1:27 says "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." The concept of being created in the image of God is so important to any human being, male or female, because it sets us apart from the animals both in our dignity and our value. There have been those throughout history that have argued that women are less valuable than men in the same way that they have argued for the inferiority of different races of human beings. This cannot be argued from scripture. Both man and woman were created in the image of God. Because of this fact, I would want my daughter to understand that she is valued in God’s eyes every bit as much as her brothers are. This is foundational for accepting the rest of scripture's teaching on how women are to interact within a Christian society.
The second thing I would want my daughter to know also comes from Genesis. Genesis 2:18 says "Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” The text goes on to show that no helper could be found for Adam amongst the entirety of the animal kingdom, so God caused Adam to fall asleep before taking one of his ribs and forming it into a woman. The interesting thing about the text is that God gives Adam a job to do well before he creates Eve. Adam is to work the garden and to keep it. He also names all the animals. Eve is then created as a helper for Adam. The job belongs to Adam, but Eve is tasked with helping him to accomplish it. I would want my daughter to find a husband who she would be willing to help. The greater responsibility in a biblical home falls to the husband and father just as the greater responsibility for tending the Garden of Eden fell on Adam. I would hope that my daughter would be willing and able to come alongside her husband as an encouragement and a helper for him.
The third thing I would want my daughter to understand is that she is to be submissive to her husband. This is demonstrated in a number of biblical texts, the first of which is in Genesis 2:23 where we read "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." How exactly does this demonstrate wifely submission? Adam is told to name all the animals. This is an act of dominion. He names every creature he is to be in charge of under the terms of the cultural mandate found at the end of Genesis one. His act of naming Eve is a demonstration of his authority over her. Furthermore, we read in Ephesians 5:22-23, "Wives, a submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior." That being said, I would want my daughter to know that this does not mean that every woman is to submit to every man. Every woman is to submit to her husband as the king of his household. However, I would want my daughter to know that it is her responsibility to choose her king. There are those who would take issue with the word "king" being used to describe a man within the context of the household. I think the terminology is acceptable because Adam was the first king and his relationship with Eve is paradigmatic for marriage. Also, 1 Peter 3:6 says that Sarah called Abraham lord. I seems to me that there are parallels between the word "king" and the word "lord" when applied to men in Scripture. I think the terminology is useful because it demonstrates the importance of a man's job within the household and reiterates the fact that responsibility for success and failure rest on his shoulders. However, I'm content with the terminology of "head of household" which we see in Ephesians 5. Of course, I would also want my daughter to understand what kind of a man would make a good king. That is a subject for another article.
Fourthly, I would want my daughter to know that it is a wonderfully Godly thing for her to be a mother. In Genesis chapter two, Adam calls is wife woman because she was taken out of man. In Genesis chapter three verse twenty, he calls her Eve because she is the mother of all living. The Bible describes children as a blessing from God (Psalm 127:3-5). I would want my daughter to understand that the role of a wife and mother far exceeds any job she might be told that she should seek out in the workforce. This would not exclude a money-making cottage industry if the Lord would bless her with the time and the talent to start a home business. The Proverbs thirty-one woman was described as both watching the affairs of her household as well as participating in money-making enterprises. In the world we live in, women are often looked down on for not partaking of the “bounty” that feminism has laid before them. I would want my daughter to understand that her first responsibility is to her husband and his household and that in fulfilling this responsibility, she can find true joy and fulfillment.
Finally, I would want my daughter to understand that church leadership has been given to the men just as household headship has. First Timothy 2:12-14 says, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor." Now, we can argue about what exactly is meant by the phrase she is to remain silent. However, that is not the focus of this paragraph. I think the main thrust of the text is that women are not to be the teachers and authoritative figures in a church body. Arguments for cultural hangups fall flat here because Paul grounds his commands in creation. He says that Adam was formed first and bolters his point by bringing up the fall. He points out that Eve was deceived, but Adam wasn’t. I wouldn’t want my daughter to give up the joy of serving God in the position he has given her because she is pining for authority within the church body. I think applications from this text can be further made within the home. The family is the fundamental political establishment. If men are to be the spiritual leaders within the church, they are also to be the spiritual leader within the home.
There are a couple final points I want to make. First, we live in a fallen world. In an unfallen world, there would be no tension between husband and wife, or parent and child. Every man would be the perfect benevolent king over his little kingdom and would live a self-sacrificial life which would garner the respect and admiration of his wife and children. Every woman would be perfectly submissive to her husband and would never desire to usurp his authority within the home. Unfortunately, we don’t live in an unfallen world. No man will be perfect in his leadership and no women will be perfect in her submission as his helpmate. Genesis 3:16 tells us that a woman’s desire will be contrary to her husband but that he shall rule over her. I think this verse predicts issues on both sides of the relationship. Not only will a wife desire to control her husband, but her husband will lord his authority over her in an unbiblical way. I would want my daughter to be prepared for the issues she would face living in a fallen world. However, even in a fallen world, the original design still stands. When asked about divorce in Matthew 19, we read Jesus’ response. “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,' and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Even in a fallen world, God’s standard still stands.
Second, I recognize that this article assumes that my hypothetical daughter would get married. I think that is the norm especially within Christianity. I recognize however that some women are called to be single. This does not devalue her in society. It will be harder in some ways to exercise biblical femininity but, she can still or if I got outside of the context of marriage and motherhood. I would recommended to my daughter that she seek out a career that will benefit from the maternal instincts that God has ingrained in her. This would make the medical field or childhood education very easy choices as these jobs mesh very well with the maternal instincts to care for the sick and wounded and to teach the young. I'm not saying that these are the only two careers that I would want my daughter do pursue outside of marriage and motherhood. It's hard to be comprehensive when discussing a purely hypothetical situation. There are careers that I would strongly recommend my daughter avoid but I think that is a discussion for another time.
Ultimately, it's important for us to remember that God created US male and female and he made us different from each other. There are specific roles that men were designed to fill and specific roles that women were designed to fill. You can theoretically use a garbage truck to pick up kids and drop them off at school and a school bus to haul trash but it's better if you use each vehicle for the purpose it was designed to fulfill. The complimentary nature of the male/female dynamic is a demonstration of God's wisdom and his love for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment