Moreover, brethren, I
declare to you
the Gospel which I
preached to you,
which also you
received and in which
you stand, by which
also you are saved,
if you hold fast that
word which I
preach to you -- --
unless
you believed in vain.
1 Corinthians 15: 1 --
2
One of the
complaints that is so often presented is that the Bible is so male
oriented. They seem to want to coincide
Christianity with such religions that are male oriented; i.e. Islam, and other
similar religions. They use this
argument to say that Christianity is a poor religion due to its male
orientation making women to be insufficient, or in the least not very
relevant. Let us take a look at this
and examine this complaint. Yes, the
Bible refers to God the Father in the masculine, and this is true that Jesus
was a man, (Colossians 2: 9; 1 Timothy 2: 5), and the Holy Spirit is referred
to as "he" (John 14:17). The
Archangel Michael and Gabriel, and even Satan is referred to in the masculine. According to Scripture Adam was given
dominion and the charge to cultivate the garden, and Eve was not given that
charge. Noah, a man, was commissioned
to save a remnant of people. God did
call Abraham from the land of the Chaldeans, and God did commission Moses to
lead the people and then he called Joshua to lead them, and Isaac was a type of
Christ and an ancestor of Jesus. King
David was anointed by God and through his line produced the Messiah, we have
the prophets such as Daniel, and Isaiah, Hezekiah, and the Bible speaks of the
mighty men of God. In the New Testament
we have John the Baptist, Peter, John, and Paul, and other men of God who were
anointed and use by the Lord. It is a
fact that the 12 disciples of Jesus were all men. Does this then means that the Bible is male oriented and leaves
women in a lower position than man?
No! We cannot forget the women
of the Bible. Eve was the first woman
and the source of all humanity from her womb.
Ruth, the Moabite is became an ancestor of King David. Esther who went before the King who could
have killed her because she had not been called by him and by this saved her people. Was it not Rahab who was saved by God when
Jericho was destroyed because she helped the spies? Rebecca, the wife of Isaac, who bore Jacob and Esau, Elizabeth
who bore John the Baptist. Mary who
gave birth to Jesus Christ our Messiah.
Women are important! Yet, in the
dispensation and economy of God we find that God's major actions are done by men, and major
leaders, all are men. Here's an
important question: "Why did not Jesus call any women to be among the 12
disciples? Why only men? Why did God come to earth in the form of
flesh as a man and not a woman? Why did
God use people like Noah, Moses, and gave it to accomplish His will? If we only used the Bible and its references
to maleness as a mere reflection of some patriarchal society structure, then we
can throw away the inspiration of Scripture and we would be saying that
patriarchal patterns in the Bible are due to society and not God who works all
things after the council of His will (Ephesians 1: 11). God has the ability to work with women and
through women and spite of men being dominant.
Yet, He chose men. Why?
Paul speaks
of that which he preached to the Corinthians, the doctrines that they received
from him by means of him receiving them from Jesus Christ and being led by the
Holy Spirit. It is that which he was
preaching by which they were to stand and by which they were saved. They, and us, are to stand fast by what Paul
preached and taught. So when we examine
this question that is in some way thrown in our face by unbelievers we are to put
Jesus in the middle of our investigation and then from that determine what is
correct. I read this and I think this
is very true, the maleness of the Bible has to do with the cross. It is by the cross that God's children are
justified and sanctified by Him, therefore, the cross stands in the forefront
of our investigation and decision.
First, later in this chapter and verse 22, Paul writes, "For as in Adam all die, even so in
Christ all shall be made alive" (1 Corinthians 15: 22). This relationship between Adam and Jesus
Christ is important for us to consider for Adam represented mankind in the
fall, and Jesus represented us on the cross.
Each was a representative as Adam was to his people and Jesus of His people and when we look at the cross we can see the necessity of this representation
for without it we could not be saved.
Jesus had to die upon the cross and by His representation of us and who
took our punishment, this He had to do by being human. Now, there are only two sexes to choose from,
and God chose a male sex to be His representative. We cannot reject the maleness of Jesus for us without rejecting
the representation of Adam's role for us.
By all of this, the pattern of male representation was established and
by this God seems to work predominantly with males.
Once again, before I close this blog, I must remind them that this is
not to speak of the equality between the sexes.
No! Both are equal in God's
sight and both are saved by a male person Jesus Christ upon the cross. Both have work to do in the Christian
congregation. Both have
responsibilities to spread the gospel.
What is never to be forgotten is that God has His dispensation and
economy. To question that is to
question whether or not God has that right to have His own dispensation and
economy that may be different from what you or I have come to accept. In other words, you really don't believe in
a just and loving God. You feel
slighted! Get over it! We are the product of God's
workmanship. We are only here due to
the fact that God created us and this for His own purpose. Therefore, we put aside our personal
feelings, and we follow that which the Scripture teaches us for as Paul has
already stated it was given to him by Jesus Christ's. To ignore Paul's teaching, is to ignore the Jesus Christ. It is to say that we are more superior. We have forgotten in we are simply sinners
saved by grace.
Happy is he who has the God of Jacob
for his help, whose hope is in the
LORD
his God. Who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps truth
forever, who executes justice
for the oppressed, who gives food to
the hungry,
the LORD gives
freedom to the prisoners.
Psalm 146: 5 -- 7
Follow the Word of
God and be blessed
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