Male and female are designed by God to co-labor together with Him. When Patti (my wife!) was five years old, she told her dad, “God just told me , I’m going to be a preacher.”
Wirt (my father-in-law) chuckled, “Is that right?”
“Well, I will either marry a preacher, or he will marry one, or both!” Patti insisted. Even at that young age in Boise, Idaho, she recognized God’s call upon her life. Guess what? She married a preacher and so did I!
I knew I wanted a partner in ministry, too. I met Patti during my sophomore year at Oral Roberts University, and I quickly determined she was the one I was to marry. A couple of weeks after asking her out, I had the opportunity to hear Patti lead a brother-sister wing devotional in the Fireside Room on campus. I think she had 12 or more pages of notes, barely got through three of them, but I was hooked! Without a doubt, she had the mantle of ministry. Actually, Patti is a better communicator than me. I get to preach publicly much more than she does, but she is definitely my partner in ministry. I need her; she needs me. We aren’t perfect, but together, we get to lead one of the best congregations in the world!
Male and female need one another. One is not inferior; the other is not superior – male and female are designed by God to be co-workers, co-laborers.
Within God’s original creation, both man and woman shared responsibility for the garden. Male and female were co-regents over the abundance of God’s creation. The command of Genesis 1:26 expresses shared dominion: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’” (NASB)
God’s command was given to them, not him. God’s original statement must govern our thinking on this subject! Ha’adam, with the definite article ha, used in Genesis 1:26, 27 for “man,” is not the proper name Adam with an article. Ha’adam is a generic term meaning “humanity” or “mankind.” That’s why the plural “them” is used. If God meant a single person, the pronoun, “I,” “he,” or “him” would have been used, but not “them.” This text tells us God did not give His command to rule just to one person, but to all humanity, including the soon-to-be-made woman. (Charles Trombley, Who Said Women Can’t Teach?, 1985, p. 67)
Both shared individual responsibility and dominion over the garden, animals, and soon-to-be-kids, but not necessarily the same responsibilities. They are equal, but still distinct from one another. This does not mean that men and women should perform all the same responsibilities. God has made clear distinctions between us.
For example, male and female are not interchangeable as marriage partners. To put it more clearly, a man isn’t to marry a man, and a woman isn’t to marry a woman. Men are not made to carry a baby through pregnancy and childbirth. Praise God! There was a distinction between male and female, but teamwork was an ingredient in Adam and Eve’s relationship and responsibility. Fulfilling God’s will requires teamwork.
I am not trying to beat up on men, but the concept of teamwork seems far removed from the out-of-balance domination that characterizes many husband-wife relationships. The New Testament does teach “headship” of the man within marriage, but loving leadership is not abusive or domineering. Submission does not equal stupidity. Wives, your opinion counts! You have been put together for a purpose. We need one another. We accomplish more as a team.
Some men ask, “What about Genesis 3:16? Didn’t the Lord tell me to rule?” Let’s take into account that verse. Rulership of the man over the woman was not a part of the original created order. “Rule” was the result of the Fall. The statement of Genesis 3:16 is a declaration, a prediction.
To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.” (Genesis 3:16 NASB)
As I researched his verse, several people adeptly clarify the “rule” referred to in Genesis 3:16, and richly reveal the tenor of this verse:
- “Results of the fall of man can never be construed as God’s divine order for him. God told Adam he was going to eat by the sweat of his brow (see Gen. 3:19), but that was a consequence of sin rather than God’s divine intention for him.” (Fuchsia Pickett, “Equal In Creation,” SpiritLed Woman, June/July 1999, p. 14)
- “If God ordered such a command, the verb “shall” or “will” would have been in the imperative mood – a command . . . this verb is in the simple imperfect, and not a command at all . . .The imperative is only found in the present tense, so this simple imperfect tense prevents translation of “shall” as a command. It doesn’t say man “shall” but “will” rule her; it’s not a command but a consequence. God did not tell Eve she must bear children, but that she would. He didn’t tell Adam “you must” work by the sweat of your brow, but “you will.” He didn’t say that men must rule and dominate women, but that they will!” (Trombley, p. 112-113)
- Genesis 3:16 “is not a prescription of what should be, but a description of what happens through sin where redemption is not overcoming the effects of the fall.” (John Piper and Wayne Grudem, “Charity, Clarity, and Hope: The Controversy and the Cause of Christ,” Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, 2001, http://www.cbmw.org/resources/articles/cberesponse.html)
- “God created the man and woman to be a team with a corporate destiny bigger than both of them separately . . . to be able to accomplish something higher than each of them could do alone.” (Cindy Jacobs, Women of Destiny, 1998, p. 209)
God expected the man and woman to work together in order to achieve His purposes. Teamwork is required. Enjoying vital relationships requires teamwork. God expects male and female to work together in order to achieve His purposes.
We can be laborers together.
