We live in a world where talking about gender is becoming a very dicey issue. I read and hear about issues that makes me both cringe and wonder. While some people believe gender is strictly biological, some others believe gender is based on social and cultural differences. I am not here to argue for or against both school of thoughts, I’m simply going to show us what God’s word says about gender. Why did God create mankind to be male and female?
Genesis 1:26-28(AMP)
26 Then God said, “Let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image, according to Our likeness [not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness]; and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, and over the entire earth, and over everything that creeps and crawls on the earth.”
27 So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them.
28 And God blessed them [granting them certain authority] and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subjugate it [putting it under your power]; and rule over (dominate) the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
God intentionally created mankind to be male and female because He had a purpose in mind. The blessing He pronounced over man cannot be done if all of mankind were to be just male, or just female. For example, how would they have become fruitful and multiply? Till date, with all the advancement in science, no two men or two female have been able to naturally or scientifically conceive and bear children. It shows that each gender has his/her role to play in the grand scheme of things here on earth and according to God’s plan. Both the male and female have equal and complimentary roles to play in each of those blessings. Once you understand and accept this, you would have built the basic foundation regarding relationships.
When God made man, He made the male man and female man 100% in His image. It means that if you are a female, you were created to be 100% in God’s image; and as a male, you were created to be 100% in God’s image. Therefore, one gender is not more God than the other. This is why when God blessed man, there was nowhere He said (either explicitly or implicitly) that man was to dominate each other. It was never His original intention to have one gender dominate over the other. God gave BOTH the male man and the female man dominion over everything around them on earth, NOT over each other. Sadly, the world has taught us over time to view one gender as inferior/less to the other, and view the other gender as superior/above the other. This is very wrong! It is not scriptural, neither is it of God.
Therefore, why do we have the opposite of these things happening around us today? Why does it seem that one gender is superior or inferior to the other? How has this affected relationships, especially marriage? My answer is this: the fall of man.
Join me next time as I write on “Where did man go wrong?” I trust that as you continue with me in this series, your eyes would be opened and you would be able to discern between the world’s dictates on relationships and what God Himself intends for you.
Have a blessed day!