From the perspective of the Bible, men and women are made
equal in the sight of God. Even though the men are celled to lead the house and
take charge and the women are supposed to submit to his authority, both are
supposed to work together as partners, no one is more superior than the other.
God is fair.
Let’s look:
From the account of creation in Genesis 2:18 – 22. “The
Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone, I will make a suitable
helper for him. Now the Lord God has formed out of the ground all the beast of the
field and all the birds of the air. He bought them to the man to see what he
would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature that was is
name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, and the birds of the air and
the beast of the field. But for Adman, no suitable was found. So the Lord cause
the man to fall into a deep sleep and while he was sleeping, he took one of the
man’s rib and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman
form the man, and he brought her to the man.”
Notice this:
From the man, God made woman, but from the woman (when both
man and woman come together to procreate) another human is produced. God called
the woman a suitable helper for the man; I believe God made the man the head of
the house, not because he is more superior, but because he is stronger of both
gender and he is to protect the woman, since he came first into the picture. We
came in second after him, not because we are an afterthought of the Lord, or
because we are inferior, but because God saw that the man cannot be alone and
therefore, He made us to help and compliment whatever is missing from him.
Many women (including myself) do not understand or even very
often forget, their value, nor do some of the men (unfortunately). However, I do
believe that a person who is truly rooted in Christ will see and understand
that men and women are equal. They are
not to compete with each other but to help one another. Although, God has set in
place the order that men should be the head and the women should submit, it does
not give the men the right to abuse this authority and do anything he pleases,
disregarding the women. Neither, is the woman supposed to be so passive in submission
that she doesn’t contribute to the leader of the man. The men should respect his woman and consider
having her come along his side in partnership for anything they might want to embark
on, together, even as individuals. Both are to respect each other and hold one
another accountable in whatever they are doing.
God is equally fair in distributing spiritual gifts to
His children. In Acts 2:17, ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my
Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men
will see vision, your old men will dream dreams….” What does “All” means”? The bible
is clear all means everyone - the men and women the young and the old. God doesn’t
exclude women when he gives the gift of teaching, prophecy, healing, shepherding
etc… if that is the case the ministry of the church would be male dominated
with no room for the women to play. But you
know that’s not true. All of us make up the body of the Christ, and the body consist
of men, women, young people and older people. The body have hands, legs, mouth,
eyes etc. Each member of the body has a part to play in the healthy functioning
of the church.
The Bible showed us women that have played very important
roles in history. Queen Esther, Deborah, Huldah are some great examples. The virgin
Mary, Hannah, Elizabeth; without these women, Jesus would never come about, we wouldn’t
have the prophet Samuel and John the Baptist. Some of the other women that were
mentioned in the Bible was the woman in the well, the woman with the alabaster jar
and Rahab the prostitute who hid the 2 spies in Jericho. The woman in the well evangelised
to the whole village and brought many to Christ, (John 4:1-29) the woman with
the alabaster jar was commented by Jesus that her small act would always be remembered
and mentioned, in the preaching of the gospel (Matthew 26: 6-13) and we also
have Rahab who was credited as righteous for what she did when she gave lodging
to the spies and sent them off in different directions (James 2:25).
We have already seen in all these examples that women are
indeed equally important and of great value. So, we as women, shouldn’t look
down on ourselves nor should we ever allow ourselves to be put down by men. No!
The order of the family as shown in Eph 5:21-33, “Submit to one another out of
reverence for Christ. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husband as you do to
the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ as is the head of
the church, his body of which he is the saviour. Now was the church submits to Christ, so also
wives should submit to their husband in everything.” “Husbands, love your
wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her
holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present
her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish,
but holy and blameless. In this same
way, husband ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his
wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed
and care for their body, just as Christ does the church – for we are members of
his body, For this reason a man will leaves his father and mother and be united
to his wife, and the who will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery –
but I’m talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must
love his wife as he loves himself and wife must respect the husband.”
I have said before in the beginning of the blog that the man
was made the head, because he was the first to come in to the picture and the woman
was subsequently brought to him to help him. I did say too that the Lord is
fair to both men and women. The above passage
shows us in marriage God gave specific instructions to both the man and the
woman. And it is fair, both have a role to play in order to make things work
out. The famous saying goes “It takes two to tango”. That’s so true!!!
So women, chin up! You are just as important as the men,
don’t let others tell you other wise and men, don’t put down your women! You were
there to protect and lead us, not to trample upon us and abuse us!
Be blessed!
Serving with you in His kingdom with love;
Princess Michelle –
Beloved Daughter of the Most High King
