The Biblical Design of Gender, Part 35

The Biblical Design of Gender, Part 35

Deuteronomy 22:5
5 “A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God.

We attend Church to obtain the mind of Christ, meaning, to have the Bible illuminated in our minds so that we can clearly understand the principles that Jesus taught and base our daily personal decisions on those principles.

We come to Church because we want to be obedient to the Bible, which is the doctrine of Jesus Christ, in an informed, insightful and intelligent manner.

God has designed man as the cooperative coalition of husband and wife so that man can successfully achieve the objective that God has given us to exercise dominion over the earth, developing wisdom and knowledge in preparation for further responsibility in our eternal life.

Genesis 2:18
18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

The woman was created, by God, for the very definite reason of being the man’s helper and companion.

Women were, and are, not designed to be competition for men.

God makes no mention of better or worse.

God makes no mention of superior or inferior.

God makes no mention of ruler or subject.

Genesis 2:24:
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Genesis 1:27
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

The image of God cannot be captured fully in a single human entity.

The image of God is equally expressed in the woman as it is in the man.

God has designed man as the cooperative coalition of husband and wife so that man can successfully achieve the objective that God has given us to exercise dominion over the earth, developing wisdom and knowledge in preparation for further responsibility in our eternal life.

God recognized that He had created a situation in which man would never be able to develop his own will.

The exercise of will is essential for a creature created in the image of God.

Genesis 1:28
28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

But the exercise of the will of man is meaningless in an environment that is perfectly controlled by the will of God.

In order for the man and woman to have dominion, it was necessary for them to have some decisions to make.

Genesis 2:16-17
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

This is God’s first commandment to the man requiring a decision.

This is the man’s first opportunity to have dominion.

There is a condition that could create a negative situation for the man in the garden.

But after Genesis 2:16-17, there is a meal in the garden that is poison.

The man said to himself, “I have plenty of food to eat and plenty of choices to vary my diet. To not eat this particular fruit is no big thing. I can just eat anything else.”

Men and women are different, and have different reactions to similar stimuli.

God has so designed the endocrine system of females with hormones that “bond” them subjectively to those with whom they have close relationships.

the characteristic of bonding is that people bonded to one another take things personally.

The woman took the admonition and said to herself, “Why is God denying me this particular fruit? Did something change in our relationship? Is He denying me this particular fruit because He doesn’t love me as much as he did previously?”

Proverbs 2:6-7
6 For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;
7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;

Wisdom is nothing more than the knowledge of the objective truth of God.

1Kings 3:24-25
24 Then [King Solomon] said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king.
25 And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other.”

Solomon’s plan was not to kill the baby, but to record the reactions of the women.

Solomon knew that the woman bonded to the child would plead for his life, while the woman that was not bonded would not be concerned about the child.

1 Kings 3:9
9 Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”

Wisdom is not the only attribute of God.

Deuteronomy 7:7-8
7 The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples;
8 but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

God chose, subjectively, to love Israel.

Revelation 7:1-4
1 After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree.
2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea,
3 saying, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”
4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:

There is no reason that God chooses to love Israel, except for the fact that He is bonded to them, as Deuteronomy 7:7-8 tells us, just as a woman is bonded to those whom she loves.

Genesis 1:27
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Genesis 2:18
18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

Intellectual objectivity is not sufficient to reflect the image of God.

Emotional bonding is also not sufficient to reflect the image of God.

Neither man nor woman can reflect the totality of the image of God.

1Timothy 3:1-2a
1 This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.
2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife,

Any man in a church leadership position needs the help of a wife.

Genesis 2:18
18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

God has divided His nature between the two genders, and His plan is that we of the two genders communicate intellectually, emotionally, and physically to make ourselves into one flesh that reflects the true nature of God.

God has designed man as the cooperative coalition of husband and wife so that man can successfully achieve the objective that God has given us to exercise dominion over the earth, developing wisdom and knowledge in preparation for further responsibility in our eternal life.

We need both parts, the masculine and the feminine, to be complete.

We need both of the parts to operate in the manner that God designed them.

Deuteronomy 22:5
5 “A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God.

God is so serious about the genders maintaining their distinctions and playing their roles that He does not even want women to dress like men.

God did not design women to look like men, to think like men, to have the secondary sex characteristics, like physical strength, of men, or to take on the roles of men, and vice versa.

Why do we seem to have such a problem with unisex in our society?

Revelation 12:9
9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Genesis 3:1-5
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;
3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
The woman took the admonition and said to herself, “Why is God denying me this particular fruit? Did something change in our relationship? Is He denying me this particular fruit because He doesn’t love me as much as he did previously?”

The serpent said, “Yes. God feels differently about you. He doesn’t want you to become like him, and he’s lying to you to keep you down.

Unfortunately, the woman bought the serpent’s lie.

The moral of the story is that it is not the devil that loves us; it is God that loves us.

God’s Word makes our environment more secure rather than less secure.

God gives us His Word because He loves us.

Maintaining our gender differences and our gender roles is the most fulfilling way that we can live our lives.

John 8:4-7
4 [The scribes and Pharisees] said to [Jesus], “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.
5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”
6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
7 So when they continued asking [Jesus], He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”

Jesus’ impeccable logic quieted the crowd.

Once the scribes and Pharisees left, Jesus switched from His impeccable masculine logic and wisdom and exercised the emotional bond that He felt for one that was in need of forgiveness as was the woman.

John 8:10-11
10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

The impeccable masculine logic of God turns into the feminine emotional love of God.

Jesus does not justify the woman’s sin; He loves her in spite of her sin.

John 3:16-17
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

The woman’s sin did not go unpunished.
God so loved the woman, as well as all of the other sinners in the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to take the penalty of the woman’s sin, as well as the sin of all of the other sinners in the world, in his body on the Cross of Calvary.

John 13:34-35
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Genesis 2:18
18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

1Timothy 3:1-2a
1 This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.
2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife,

God has designed man as the cooperative coalition of husband and wife so that man can successfully achieve the objective that God has given us to exercise dominion over the earth, developing wisdom and knowledge in preparation for further responsibility in our eternal life.