Manhood and Womanhood

Marc Minter

FBC Diana

How Should We Live? • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

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Main Point: Maleness and femaleness are distinct features of God’s good design for humans, and both males and females should aim to live according to their distinct design.

Notes

Transcript

Introduction

Imagine an Anglo-Saxon warrior in Britain in about the year 800 AD. This man has two very strong inner impulses and feelings. One is aggression. He loves to smash and kill people when they disrespect him. Living in a culture where aggression and strength are valued, he will identify with that feeling. He will say to himself, “That’s me! That’s who I am!” The other feeling this warrior has is that he is attracted to other men. But, living in the culture he does, he will say, “That’s not me! I will suppress that impulse.”

Now imagine a young man walking around a city in modern America. He has the same two internal urges, both equally strong, both difficult to control. What will he say? He will look at the aggression and think, “This is not who I want to be.” And he will go to a therapist or seek out anger management programs to deal with this unwanted impulse. But with his desire for other men, he may conclude, “This is who I am! To deny this desire is to destroy my existence.”[i]

Now, the Anglo-Saxon warrior and the modern American man might both claim that they are “choosing to be themselves,” but that’s not quite right… is it? They are both choosing to be versions of themselves that are shaped by their cultures, by their communities, and by stories of their heroes.

Neither the ancient warrior nor the modern man is simply “choosing to be his authentic self” – they are each filtering their feelings through a social grid, suppressing some feelings, and embracing others. One might say that they are each choosing to be the selves that are best suited for the cultures they live in.

I’m going to argue today that we all must choose what sort of self we’re going to be according to some kind of grid or filter… be that experiential, biological, cultural, or something else. And I’m going to argue that the best way to decide on what sort of self we’re going to be is to begin by asking the question: “What or who has God designed or created or intended me to be?”[ii] I guess I’m saying that we really don’t decide who or what we’re going to be in the first place. Ultimately, the only choice we have in the matter is whether we will learn and submit to God’s design for us… or try to invent our own self-construction.

Here's the main point I’m claiming today: Maleness and femaleness are distinct features or categories of God’s good design for humans, and both males and females should aim to live according to their distinct design.

Now this topic certainly hits on a hot-button issue of our day, and even more so after the event last week at the Christian school in Nashville… but I assure you that I am not intending to be a culture warrior or a political pundit. That’s just not my personality, and we scheduled this sermon more than 6 months ago… not as a cultural response, but as a pastoral effort to teach/shepherd our church members.

However, I am well-aware that the kingdom of Christ is at odds with the kingdoms of this world, so it is inevitable that the two will clash… and I understand my responsibility as a Christian preacher to (as well as I am able) faithfully explain the text of Scripture and to help us all think through how it applies to us… especially in those areas that are most controversial in our day.

The whole world around us might tell us that we have to invent ourselves… right down to the core of our manhood or womanhood. But, friends, this is a mind-numbing and soul-crushing weight that none of us are intended to bear. We are created things, and we need our Creator to tell us what we were created for, so that we can know who we are and how we are to live.

I’m standing here today, not to call you to decide who you want to be, but to call you to hear the word of the creator-God, and to ask Him for His help to understand and to obey His design for you in the world.

Let’s read the Genesis account of creation, and let’s listen for a few things. First, listen for God’s power and intentionality. God is obviously in charge of everything, and there is an obvious order to His creative power. Second, listen for the rhythmic layout of this chapter of the Bible. The author clearly intended to communicate that this story has a rhythm and a progression. Third, listen for the climax or the culmination of this progression. Where does the rhythm lead us, and what does that teach us about what we find there?

Let’s stand as I read Genesis 1:1-28. Our primary text today is verses 26-27, but reading this as a larger passage will help us focus better on these two verses.

Scripture Reading

Genesis 1:1–28 (ESV)

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.

16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Main Idea:

Maleness and femaleness are distinct features of God’s good design for humans, and both males and females should aim to live according to their distinct design.

Sermon

1. Where are We?

If men are from Mars and women are from Venus, then what planet are we on? Back in September of 2016, I preached a sermon on gender as part of a short series on Gender, Sexuality, and the Gospel. I thought then, and I still believe now, that Christians ought to be able to think biblically and practically on these subjects.

My aim for that sermon series seven years ago was to offer a biblical explanation for why we see gender dysphoria and same-sex attraction and all sorts of sexual deviations from God’s good design… and also to show how the gospel of Christ addresses these matters head on. It seems to me that Christians in 21st-century-America have a real opportunity to bear witness to the truth of God and to the grace of Christ among a culture that is very confused. But we have to know what we believe and why we believe it… and we must practice what we preach.

It is increasingly apparent that our culture is very confused about gender, about sex and sexuality, and (quite frankly) about every aspect of anthropology (i.e., what it means to be human). We don’t know the origin of humanity, we don’t know our purpose, and we don’t even know what a man or a woman is.

It was right at a year ago that Ketanji Brown Jackson was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, and during her senate confirmation hearing, she was asked to define the word “woman.” She responded by saying, “I can’t… Not in this context… I’m not a biologist.”[iii]

Now, whatever we might think about the US Supreme Court or about the kind of “gotcha” questions that are now commonplace in these confirmation hearings, this exchange is quite a picture of our cultural moment. For a question like “what is a woman?” to be so controversial that a Supreme Court nominee doesn’t want to answer it publicly… well that is just bizarre.

Why is the definition of a woman so controversial? Why is gender a subject to fight over? Why is it hate-speech to say that males and females are biologically, socially, physically, and ontological different?

Where are we?

Well, there’s a sense in which our culture is on an evident trajectory, and we are experiencing a shift away from the Judeo-Christian beliefs that once tethered our culture to its theological and philosophical past. I’m not a sociologist or a prophet, but it does seem like western culture is headed for more chaotic and violent days… May God be merciful, and may He help us to be faithful.

But there’s another sense in which our culture is just part of a long line of confused and chaotic and bizarre societies that have risen and fallen for thousands of years. Since Genesis 3, nations have come and gone, and all of them have suffered the consequences of living in rebellion against God’s good design and against God’s moral law. Not every culture has rebelled in exactly the same way or to the same extent, but every culture has rebelled… It’s what sinful humans do.

We’re not wrong for feeling like the ground is moving under our feet, but we are not right to think and speak and act like our particular societal decline is the end of the world. Today we are closer to judgment day than we were yesterday, but every generation for the last 2,000 years has thought that it was the last one.

As Christians, we should eagerly await that coming day when Christ shall return and make all things new… we should pray for and hope in the completion of all of God’s promises in Christ… but we should also actively live as Christians in the world right now… bearing witness to those around us of the way God intended us to live… under His good rule and according to His good design.

The Bible says to Christians, “Look carefully…how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:15-17).

In the context of that passage I’ve just cited, the will of the Lord is our holiness or righteousness or Christian obedience… which is empowered by God’s Spirit and informed by God’s word. Let’s turn our attention to God’s word this morning, and let’s consider what Scripture teaches us about manhood and womanhood… and let’s pray for God’s help to live as God has made us.

2. Is Gender Designed?

Maleness and femaleness are distinct features of God’s good design for humans, and Genesis 1 sets the stage for our understanding of this fact. Just before we read our main passage for today, I invited you to listen for God’s power and intentionality. The opening verses of the Bible call the reader to behold God as the all-powerful and all-wise Creator. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). God decided and God acted, and He did all of this from His own good pleasure and according to His own perfect intention.

God’s power is staggering… He created by the sheer force of His powerful words. God spoke, “Let there be…” and those things that were not leapt into being.

But God’s power is not all we see in this unfolding creation account. We also see order and progress. First, there was “light” (v3), then there was “Day” and “Night” (v5), then there was a “separation” of the “waters from the waters” (v6), and then a separation of “the waters” from the “dry land” (v9).

All of this shows God’s intentional ordering of His creation. Nothing springs from its own initiative, and nothing is out of place.

And we can also follow a rhythm in this creative progression. Each successive day begins with God speaking (v3, v6, v9, v11, and so on), and each time God speaks “it was so” (v7, v9, v11, v15, and so on). But this pattern is leading up to a climax in the text.

Each day begins with God saying, “Let there be” (v3, v6, v14), or “Let the waters” (v9), or “Let the earth” (v11). But this pattern is broken in v26.

In v26, God says, “Let us make” (v26). This is a personal and intimate act of God in creating something new, something different than all that God has created up to this point. God Himself “makes” or “manufactures” “man” or humanity in His own “image” (v26). Indeed, both “male and female” He “created them” (v27).

Genesis 1 is a big picture account of creation, and chapter 2 teaches us even more about this personal and intimate act of God’s creation. God “formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Gen. 2:7). And “from the man” God “made” a “woman” (Gen. 2:22). Thus, both man and woman, “male and female,” are special and personal acts of God’s design (v27).

Friends, whatever else we might learn from this biblical account of creation, we cannot help but see that the Bible intends the reader to understand that God has designed maleness and femaleness as distinct from one another and yet both as unique created things, above and over all other created things.

Both males and females are made in the image of God, meant to reflect God’s own character of righteousness, goodness, authority, and care in the world. Thus, males and females are of equal value and share equal dignity. But males and females are not the same, they are not interchangeable… and they are intended by God to live according to distinct designs of nature and function.

3. What is Manhood?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary says that manhood is the “state of male adulthood” or the degree to which one possesses “the qualities associated with men.”[iv]The Encyclopedia Britannica isn’t much help either. It says that manhood is “the qualities that are expected in a man.”[v]

Alright, but that’s what we want to know. What qualities are distinctly male or masculine? Is the only difference between a boy and a man the number of his age? Are there any qualities we ought to teach our boys to embrace whether they seem to come natural to them or not? And should we teach our sons to be men any differently than we teach our daughters to be women?

I wonder if some of us might think that asking these questions is a waste of time. Some of us in the room think of manhood as a sort of innate or natural instinct that simply shows up in a boy as he gets older. Boys will be boys, until they are men, and this is a process that simply occurs naturally as time goes by and as opportunities arise for them to express their manhood.

But I think others of us might hear questions like this as simultaneously offensive and urgent. The state of affairs in our culture compels us to raise our guard when someone even implies that there are differences between males and females, so some of us (especially those under 30) may well feel a sense of fear and hostility even as I’m merely asking the question “What is manhood?”

And yet, it seems to me that while fear or anxiety may be a reality for some, so too are these same young people urgently interested to learn just exactly who and what they are supposed to be. It is the pernicious nature of sin and rebellion to simultaneously undermine truth and offer nothing in return. One of the most harmful lies of our day is that you can remove the foundation without destroying the house. So many younger people in our culture are at once demanding the ability to define themselves and also desperately yearning to know who they are.

In simple and straightforward terms, I’m going to try to describe what the Bible says about manhood… and I’m going to urge every male hear to aim to embody the sort of qualities that the Bible distinctly attributes to men.

According to the Scriptures, manhood is distinctly selfless leadership: that is leadership, not passivity or laziness, and selfless leadership, not tyrannical or selfishly ambitious. Allow me to briefly defend and argue for this definition.

First, we learn that manhood is leadership from the order of creation. Adam was created first (Gen. 2:7), and Eve was created “from” Adam (Gen. 2:22). The New Testament says that this ordering (male-then-female) conveys something about the way in which males and females image the glory of God (1 Cor. 11:7-8).

Second, in the Genesis account, man “named” woman, and this was an act of divinely delegated authority (Gen. 2:23). In Genesis 1, think about how God named the “Day” (Gen. 1:4), “Night” (1:4), “Earth” (1:10), “Seas” (1:10), and “Heavens” (1:8); but God delegated this authority to man when Adam named the “livestock,” “birds,” “beasts” (Gen. 2:19-20), and “woman” (Gen. 2:23).

Third, the New Testament explicitly teaches us about male leadership in the marital relationship. The husband is to lead his wife and his children (Eph. 5:22-23, 6:4). The Scripture says that “wives” are to “submit to [their] own husbands,” and “fathers” are to “bring up [their children] in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4).

Of course, “husbands” are to lead from a heart of “love” toward their wives, and they are to express that love in practical ways (Eph. 5:25-27). And “fathers” are to lead their “children” in such a way so as to refrain from “provoking” them “to anger” (Eph. 6:4). In other words, manly leadership is selfless, for the good of those under their leadership, but there is a clear responsibility on men to lead.

This is God’s good design for manhood, but since Genesis 3, men have been prone to veer away from God’s design in all sorts of ways. Most often this shows up as sinful truancy or tyranny. If we’re honest, we men are inclined towards either living as absentee men who run away from the responsibilities of leadership, or as oppressive dictators who force our leadership onto others. Neither is an expression of biblical manhood, and it is our responsibility to war against these tendencies in ourselves and to help boys and young men to do the same.

Men, I confess my own sense of ineptitude and personal failure to live out biblical manhood, and I’m sure many of you feel the same way I do. When I look at my own life, and I measure my thoughts and words and actions against this biblical standard, I can easily see that I do not measure up.

On many occasions, I have shirked my responsibility to lead. I have let life happen to me, I have watched my wife or my children struggle under the weight of some difficulty or another, and (at times) I have given little or no effort to take the responsibility God has placed upon me. I think sometimes I’m afraid to lead and fail, sometimes I’m not sure what to do, and sometimes I’m just plain selfish… I don’t want that responsibility, so I let others bear it.

Brothers, this ought not be.

We will certainly fail from time to time, and there will be many regrets on the last day, but (with God’s help) we must strive to be the men God has called and designed us to be. At the conclusion of Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church, he especially commands men to “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. [And] let all that you do be done in love” (1 Cor. 16:13-14).

May God forgive us for our failures, and may He help us in our efforts to selflessly lead those He has placed under our care… and may He grant us strength and courage to stand as men, that we may even be a blessing to others around us.

4. What is Womanhood?

The unhelpful definitions I cited earlier for manhood are the same sort we find for womanhood in modern dictionaries. We’re told that womanhood is the “sate or condition of being a woman,” and that a woman is “an adult female.” But here again, we want to know what qualities distinguish females from males. What is unique about a woman? Who or what is a woman as distinct from a male?

Now, some of you will have already noticed that I have said nothing of the biological differences, the differences in chromosomal makeup, or the reproductive differences between males and females. I’m not avoiding the connection, but I am aiming to make a biblical case for manhood and womanhood, not a biological one.

I wholeheartedly affirm biological science as part of God’s natural revelation. There is much to be learned from simply observing what is in creation, and God has obviously intended for us to explore the world around us (including human biology) in an effort to learn and to glorify the God of creation.

But I also know that creation itself is not as it should be, and we are prone to wrongly interpret what we observe, because of the Fall in Genesis 3. In fact, the very reason we have confusion about manhood and womanhood, both in our society and even within ourselves, is that sin has entered into the created order, and sin affects everything. Because of sin and the curse of God upon creation, sometimes people are born with too many or too few body parts, sometimes people have a malfunctioning brain, and sometimes people are genuinely confused about who they are or what they are supposed to be.

Therefore, my purpose today is to go God’s special revelation (Scripture), rather than God’s natural revelation (creation), so that we might focus our attention on what God has said about manhood and womanhood, in order that we can base our perspective on authoritative descriptions and commands, rather than base our perspective on subjective observations of what we see around and within ourselves. More could be said on this, but I’ll be happy to talk more with you after the service if you have questions about it.

According to Scripture, womanhood is distinctly submissive companionship: that is companionship, or friendship and fellowship, and submissive, not competitive or subversive.

Now, let me remind you of what I’ve already said about the shared value and equality of males and females. I’m not saying that all women are to submit to all men, nor am I saying that women are not to share in the authority and commission that God gave all humans – both men and women – to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over” all creation (Gen. 1:28). We see that commission given to both males and females in Genesis 1:28.

Again, as I said earlier, both males and females are made in the image of God, and both males and females are designed by God to reflect His own character of righteousness, goodness, authority, and care in the world. Boys and girls, men and women, are of equal value and share equal dignity.

But males and females are not the same, they are not interchangeable, and we are trying to set our minds this morning on the distinct ways in which males and females live out their particular roles as God has designed them. So, let me argue case from Scripture as to why I’m saying that womanhood is submissive companionship, and not fundamentally selfless leadership.

First, as we’ve already discussed, the order of creation is not just a purposeless arrangement in the storyline of Genesis 1 and 2. One must admit the incredibly careful word-choices, structure, imagery, and rhythm of the biblical account of creation. Genesis 1 teaches us the shared dignity of males and females, both created in God’s image, and Genesis 2 teaches us the order and design of the fundamental male-female relationship – marriage.

In Genesis 2:18, God said, “It is not good for man to be alone; I will make a helper fit for him.” This expresses God’s intention to make woman as a companion – “a helper” – that is both “fit” for man as well as distinct from man. God also affirms the supportive role for which He created this new companion by calling her a “helper” or “help” (KJV).

Second, and once again, it is not woman who names man, but man who names woman. Genesis 2:23 says that “the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” This connotes both the companionship of womanhood (she is of the same “bone” and “flesh” as “man”) and the submissive aspect of the relationship between the woman and the man, since she is “taken out of man” and “brought” to the man by God Himself (Gen. 2:22-23).

Third, the New Testament refers back to the creation account in Genesis as the basis for female submission in marriage. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul says that “a wife” ought to publicly submit to the “authority” of her husband (1 Cor. 11:9-10), and the Scripture teaches the same in Ephesians 5. There we read, “wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is head of the church” (Eph. 5:22-23).

Now, in the context of Ephesians 5, both husbands and wives are to receive “honor” and “obedience” from their children (Eph. 6:1-2). Thus, boys and young men who live at home must learn to respect and obey both father and mother, and fathers ought to ensure that their sons show their mothers the respect they are due.

But, like we’ve already observed with men, women are also affected by sinful desires, and (since Genesis 3) women are prone to think and speak and act with superiority or with subversion. Rather than submissive companionship, women often compete with their husbands or even suppress their natural desire for male companionship.

An American feminist in the 1970s, named Gloria Steinem, popularized the phrase “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.”[vi] She was promoting an idea that was becoming popular in the late twentieth century, and one that has become unquestioned orthodoxy in our culture today. Anything men can do, women can do better. Not only are women equal to men, women are superior to men in all the ways that really count.

Most younger women in American culture today embrace this idea, and many of them feel a heavy weight upon their shoulders to prove it. Even good Christian women (younger and older) who appreciate their husbands and value marriage can often speak and act in ways that display worldly ideas rather than biblical ones. Wives can say that they want their husbands to lead, but they can undermine their own husbands’ leadership by rebelling against it, competing with him, and subverting his authority at home and in public.

Sisters, this ought not be.

All of us, males and females, must work against the natural and sinful inclinations of our hearts. Ladies, with God’s help, you must strive to be the women God has called and designed you to be. Whether or not God has or will grant you a good and godly husband, God has designed you for submissive companionship, and your own joy will increase in the same measure as you turn your efforts toward embracing God’s good design rather than working against it.

Conclusion

I’ve been arguing today that maleness and femaleness are distinct features of God’s good design for humans, and both males and females should aim to live according to their distinct design. I’ve tried to build out my argument from the text of Scripture, which is our ultimate authority for what is true and good and right.

No doubt, I’ve left a lot of questions unanswered: What about those who a gender confused? How is this male-female design to practically function in the home, in the church, or in society? Should a man be responsible for cooking dinner? Should a woman be the CEO of a company? How should we talk about such things with our non-Christian friends or family or neighbors?

Well, the short answer is, it’s complicated. What I’ve tried to do today is expose the biblical foundation for manhood and womanhood and explain the basic design and intentionality God has for each of us in our distinct maleness and femaleness. I look forward to continuing along this line in a sermon on complementarity next month, but for now, I want to conclude with three things.

One, the gospel of Jesus Christ meets us all right in the midst of our failures and confusion and even in our rebellion. If you have not been living as you ought, as a godly man or a godly woman, then you should know that God has shown His love for us by sending His own Son to live and to die for us while we were still sinners. We can come to God with all our failures and rebellion, and we can confess our sin and trust in Jesus as the all-sufficient Savior of sinners like us.

Two, the gospel of Jesus Christ calls us out of sinful rebellion and into life-long discipleship (i.e., learning to follow Jesus and obey His commands). Those of us who find ourselves out of line with God’s design (after we’ve come to Christ in repentance and faith) ought to commit ourselves to live in keeping with what the Scriptures teach. This is true of every aspect of our lives, including manhood and womanhood. We must not take the path of least resistance… instead, we must be diligent to know the will of the Lord and we must aim to walk according to it.

Third and finally, the gospel of Christ and the designed intent of God’s commands are good… good for us and good for everyone else. If we are Christians, turning from sin and trusting in the Savior, and if we are living (as well as we may) according to God’s design for us (as Christian men and women), then we ought to be public advocates for the gospel and for the Christian way of life.

Brothers and sisters, it’s vitally important that we do not call non-Christians merely to live as Christians. We are not just interested in behavior modification, and we don’t just want hell-bound sinners to have a better life in this world. We must begin with the gospel, and we must call sinners to repent and believe. And then we must teach new Christians how to live as Christians by showing them good examples with our own lives.

Endnotes

[i] This illustration is originally from Tim Keller in Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism. Cited here from Burk, Denny; Closson, David; Smothers, Colin. Male and Female He Created Them: A Study on Gender, Sexuality & Marriage (p. 146). Christian Focus Publications. Kindle Edition. [ii] I strongly recommend Caleb Morrell’s article Stop Finding Your Identity in Christ. Morrell argues well for the older and more biblical language of “union with Christ.” https://americanreformer.org/2022/02/stop-finding-your-identity-in-christ/ [iii] See the live exchange as reported by USA Today here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWtGzJxiONU [iv] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/manhood [v] https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/manhood [vi] This phrase was first coined by Irina Dunn, but Gloria Steinem popularized it during the 1970s feminist movement. https://professorbuzzkill.com/gloria-steinem-a-woman-needs-a-man-like-a-fish-needs-a-bicycle/

Recommended Resources

“Egalitarianism and Complementarianism” by Bruce Ware http://experiencetherock.com/mp3/message/2009/broken/gender_roles.pdf

“Groaning Under the Curse” by John MacArthur http://www.gty.org/resources/Blog/B100721

“Modern Stumbling Blocks to Gender Roles” by J. Ligon Duncan http://www.downloadpreken.com/artikelen/A353.pdf

“Manhood and Womanhood Before Sin” by John Piper http://www.soundofgrace.com/piper89/5-28-89.htm

“The End of Men?” by Al Mohler http://www.albertmohler.com/2010/06/22/the-end-of-men-a-hard-look-at-the-future/

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aland, Kurt, Barbara Aland, Johannes Karavidopoulos, Carlo M. Martini, and Bruce M. Metzger, eds. Novum Testamentum Graece. 28th ed. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. Logos Research Edition. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

Schaeffer, Francis A. How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture. Logos Research Edition. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005.

Sproul, R. C., ed. The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition). Logos Research Edition. Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2015.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Logos Research Edition. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016.

The Holy Bible: King James Version. Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009.

The Holy Bible: New International Version. Logos Research Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984.

The NET Bible First Edition. Logos Research Edition. Biblical Studies Press, 2005.

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