Yesterday, I expounded on the Godhood and manhood of Christ, and revealed that it is God's plan that we be like Him. So, how should a Biblically masculine man behave? What kind of convictions and precepts should he hold to? I don't want to get too legalistic, but a lot of what the secular world considers "legalism" was actually common courtesy or expected behavior even in the early 1900's. Now, these behaviors are all but forgotten and are practiced only by a few. If I seem to be legalistic, remember: my study is grounded in Scripture.
In the beginning, God created the Heavens, the Earth, light, darkness, water, air, plants, fish, birds, and then animals. On the sixth literal day of Creation (I will also be doing a study on the Gap Theory, Progressive Creation, and lies in the textbooks soon) God created man. Man was created in God's image. No companion was found for man; therefore, God created woman
God has divided the species into two different sexes and designed them to have differing roles. Men are to be the head of their families, the leaders and decision-makers of their homes. Genesis 3:16 says: "To the woman [God] said: 'I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."
You may have noticed that the rule of man (as a gender) is a result of Eve's sin. The fact that women are to obey and respect their husbands (as long as these men are Godly) has come about due to the Fall of Man. I do not know for sure, but I do not believe that is was God's original intention for man to rule over his wife, and I don't believe that a man HAS to to be masculine. One of the greatest fallacies evident in Christian relationships (between man and wife) today is the belief that a man is to dominate the wife. The man attempts to control her. God's original intention was for each marriage (I speak of man/woman marriages, not man/man or woman/woman; please remember Sodom and Gomorrah) to be a partnership, with men and women living in equality. The belief that women are inferior to men is an illusion; the Bible neither confirms nor propagates such a belief.
Secondly, masculine men are to be the spiritual heads of the family in addition to being the physical head. (1 Timothy 3:1-7) Men are to be leaders in the churches and keep a tight rein on their families; a man's wife is to respect him in the presence of church elders. This doesn't mean that men are to DEMAND this respect. A man is to use the Word of God for reproof and correction. (2 Timothy 3:16) Manly men, if you have a rebellious or domineering wife who professes to be Christian, show her Proverbs 31. This is God's design for woman as a wife.
The Bible says that men and women are spiritually equal before God. Galatians 3:28 says: "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." (Emphasis added) Men, this means your wife is not spiritually inferior to you; you are to accept reproof and correction from her in the same way as she is to receive it from you. God originally intended marriages to be a partnership, or a union of equals. While a man is the head of his household, the wife is a help meet. She is the same in Christ's eyes as you are. God sees no difference between you and her, spiritually speaking. Your spirits are worth the same.
Did you know that functional humanity, both male and female, requires spiritual exchange? Acts 26:18 says: "To open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me." Men, this quite obviously means that you are to evangelize! Masculine men are to preach the Gospel to others!
As I mentioned in the last article, the manhood of Jesus Christ is our example of masculinity. Jesus was the ultimate man; the very first man who was truly a masculine, Christian man.
Please return tomorrow for a special section of Biblical Masculinity: Must a Biblical Man be Spiritually Mature?
A Comment from Julie Ruf: (I posted it because she was having trouble doing so.)
ReplyDelete1. WHY did God give Adam (man) a helper, how is it a perfect man actually needed a helper? What does a "helper" do?: What is God trying to say by giving the helper during perfection?
2. WHY, globally, do women carry ALL the curses and are not required to carry those specific to her?
To the woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you."
Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return."
3. As a Biblically masculine Christian male, and realizing the rule of man over woman is a CURSE, never intended, not a blessing, how do Christian men respond to this?
4. What does Biblically masculine leadership/decision making look like? Using Jesus as the example for leadership.
My Reply to the Above Post:
ReplyDeleteGood questions, Aunt Julie; all will be covered in the next few posts and my series on After The Fall mankind.