Sexual distinction has become irrelevant in a world gone mad.
But if men and women don’t realize the extent of God’s intentions for creating that difference, then it’s impossible for them to live in obedience to Him. That’s why it’s so important for them to appropriate their sexuality and demonstrate it in the manner He intended for them to.
So how are they supposed to do that?
To begin with, a man is entrusted with an obligation to fulfill his office of reflecting the glory of God:
“For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God.” [1Cor. 7a] [my emphasis]
An office is different from a role, being an assignment given with no option to renounce. While men and women are equal in His eyes, their roles aren’t necessarily set in stone. Roles are sometimes disregarded or exchanged for any number of practical reasons.
What about a woman’s office?
She’s also an imager of her Creator, “… but the woman is the glory of man. For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man. For indeed, man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake.”” [1Cor. 11:7b-9] [my emphasis]
[δόξα: (dôć-sâh) glory, splendor, grandeur, power, kingdom, praise, honor; pride brightness, brilliance; revealed presence of God, God himself]
These are the words of the apostle Paul written to the assembly in Corinth, including“…all in every place who [were] calling upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…”
It seems to me that men and women reflect their respective glories most effectively by seeking to accomplish the Lord’s intended methods for doing just that. However, it’s likely they’ll never hear how it’s supposed to happen by listening to sermons.
But, if I choose to actually read for myself, maybe I can recognize the common thread throughout the Bible which reveals how femininity has always been expressed as a typical responsive attribute in the presence of God since day one. Perhaps then I’ll be able to recognize just how that dynamic is being perverted today. [see: Gen. 1-3, Prov. 8]
God: the Creator=Masculine
Creation: responds to the Creator=Feminine
All of creation acknowledges the Creator in aggregate as a feminine response to Him, which would also include the man when he acts in that corporate capacity. But a man’s gender-specific office was never intended to be negotiable.
So, when we place women—instead of men, in leadership situations that are necessary to reflect the glory of God, we’re placing the glory of man above the glory of God, i.e., the creation above the Creator.
What are we thinking?
