men and women

Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.

1 Corinthians 11:11-12

There is a wonderful principle (unfortunately often overlooked) in this passage that can yield great joy in marriages. But first… a brief excursion into a quite unnecessary theological debate. When it comes to understanding gender roles in marriage and in ministry, there have been over the last half century or so two theological camps that have taken sides and made an issue of it.

Complementarians (full disclosure: I am one… with some humble qualifiers) would see scripture clearly teaching that though completely equal image-bearers of God, men and women have certain created roles in home, family, and public church settings. They are complementary roles, not limiting or competing, and neither men or women have a more important role than the other. Complementarians can however go off-track scripturally if they forget to emphasize equality in Christ and the beauty of how each role reflects God’s image uniquely.

Egalitarians also rightfully emphasize oneness in Christ and the image of God, but then explain away every place in scripture that shows gender distinctiveness… calling them “cultural” or now eradicated because Christ has made all things one in His work. Interestingly enough, the theological view can be traced to the timeline of emerging feminist thought. This view goes awry when it obliterates ALL gender distinctives whatsoever. In fairness there are degrees of Egalitarian theology as well.

There is however an area of common ground for both views, found amazingly enough in this very gender distinctive passage of scripture in 1 Corinthians chapter eleven. Here Paul makes it obviously clear… men and women are different but not independent of one another. Marriage and family show this to be true, as does Creation as scripture describes it. Eve was made from Adam’s rib… women are not independent of men. All men are born from mothers. Men are never independent of women. There is a wonderful and necessary inter-dependence in marriage and in church that should always be celebrated. It is worship to need one another as God has designed!