Tag: gender roles

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Approaching Gender Biblically – Conclusion

Approaching Gender Biblically - Conclusion

This is part 3 of 3 in my miniseries on the Christian view on gender roles, feminism, and things like that. Thanks for sticking with me!

See part 1 here.

See part 2 here.

On Tuesday, I promised to talk about what gender roles look like as a single, because my post was what gender roles should look like in marriage. And obviously I’m not married, as a lot of us here are not. As much as that’s sort of helpful for the future, I’d like to attempt at tackling the question: “What should I do now?”

That, my friend, is a tough question.

But I’ve been doing some research, talking to my parents and friends, and reading, reading, reading. And I think that I’ve come up with somewhat of a coherent post. Please forgive me if I step on any toes, that’s truly not my intention. As the tagline on my site says, “One Christian Teen Girl’s Contemplations,” that’s what these are.

In the first post of these three, I talked about feminism. More specifically, I should say, I’m talking about equality feminism. Feminism that says women and men should strive to have the exact same roles in every aspect of life.

However, as review, what I said in my post is this.

Men and women are absolutely equal. We have equal standing before God. We are all, every one of us, worth the same. We’re all sinners in need of a Savior, and we’re all created by God’s handiwork.

So when we Christians (as women especially) fight for sameness in the name of equality, we discredit God’s design.

There’s a verse in Galatians that many Christians use to support the whole feminism-sameness thing. They say, “It doesn’t matter what your gender is! Define yourself however you’d like!”

Galatians 3:28

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Okay, that would be a fair argument if that’s what the verse were saying. However, if you read the chapter, you’ll notice that this isn’t talking about discrediting gender. It’s talking about us all being equal before God. We are all children of God because of what He’s done for us.

With that out of the way, I’d like to approach what the whole point of this post is supposed to be.

Living biblically as a single. (Or, as anyone, really.)

What does it look like?

Anyone remember Mary and Martha? In Luke 10:38-42, Jesus came into a village. Two sisters, Mary and Martha were in that village. While Martha’s busy, working really hard, Mary is getting to know Jesus and listening to Him. Jesus says to Martha, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” (v. 42)

See, we needn’t try to prove our worth. We don’t need to try to find our satisfaction in work, or equality (however we try to define that), or whatever. Jesus Christ is the only thing that will satisfy us. A personal relationship with Him – not work, not feminism, not even marriage – is what will fill that hole in our hearts.

When we look to be equal all around (meaning the same in every aspect), we aren’t truly satisfied in who God is and who He has made us to be. We don’t view Him as the ultimate authority in our lives. We want to dictate who we are, what our roles are, and what our gender is.

As Christians, we can’t do that.

C.S. Lewis said, “God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”

We must remember the basis for our identity. Who we are is found in Him alone. Our relationship with Him is what will satisfy us.

God has created us with equal value (Genesis 1:27). At the same time, in Genesis 2, we see that God creates woman from man. Naturally, that makes us different. There is a defining line between the genders.

We shouldn’t try to fight that line. God is the one that knows best.

So what do we need to do?

Accept our standing before God – that is where our identity is found.

 

Don’t try to prove ourselves. Among men and women, neither is ‘better’ than the other. We were made in the image of God. Our roles are truly enough.

 

Take a stand against the feminist movement that tells God that we know better.

 

And above all else, get to know God and find our ultimate satisfaction in Him. We honestly won’t find it anywhere else.

This post is in no way comprehensive. I hope you’ll look into this topic for yourself (as I will) to understand it even more. Thank you all for reading!

*aj

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Gender Roles in Marriage

Gender Roles in Marriage 

I know, I promised two more posts on feminism and gender roles. Here’s part 2 of 3.

In my last post, I talked about the dangers of our culture embracing feminism. I explained that our views of gender roles are distorted by the culture. When we are urged to make equality about sameness, we muddy the line between men and women.

I talked about us having different roles, because that’s how God designed it. Not because Amanda at Scattered Journal Pages said so, but because God did. And if the Creator of the Universe says something, well, you can’t exactly argue with that.

Ephesians 5 talks a lot about husbands loving their wives, and wives showing respect to their husbands.

While it’s quite long to post on my blog, here’s a link to where you can read it.

I’ve pulled out a verse that specifically stands out to me here, because I think that it’s important when establishing biblical roles of manhood and womanhood (and more specifically, husbandhood and wifehood, hehe).

Ephesians 5:33

“However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”

Want a little more elaboration on the ‘husband love your wife,’ part?

Ephesians 5:25-27

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”

And on the ‘wife respect your husband’ part, too.

Ephesians 5:23-24

“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. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.”

Now, nobody freak out, okay? This isn’t me trying to say, “ALL YOU WOMEN! GET ON YOUR KNEES AND SERVE YOUR HUSBAND LIKE YOU’RE HIS SLAVE.” That’s absolutely ridiculous, okay?

The wife submits to and respects him. The husband loves her and sacrifices himself for her. It’s simple, really.

Galatians 3:18-19

“Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.”

This is a mutual commitment. It’s equal serving to one another. Neither spouse is taken advantage of this way, nor is it unfair.

Y’all, I know that a lot of us are young and/or single. I get it. I am too. But this doesn’t mean we can disregard what the Bible says on this matter.

I’m going to do the thing where I quote myself, okay? This is what I said in my last post.

“[W]hat I am saying is that when we forget the distinction between genders, and implant feminism into the way we think, we have a chance of crossing the lines of biblical femininity and masculinity. We discredit our self-worth and ascribe it to what we accomplish or prove.

I’m not saying men are better than women. We are absolutely 100% equal. However, we cannot make our roles identical, for to do so would be to discredit the uniqueness of each gender and therefore God’s design.”

As men and women of God, we can’t forget who we are.

I’ll talk about this more on Saturday wherein I attempt to discuss what it looks like to live biblically as a single. (I can’t promise anything there, so here, you are warned.)

*aj