What does it mean to be a man? What does it mean to be a woman? What is male and what is female? Biology gives us some obvious definitions. But just as God has designed the human body, he also created both male and female to reflect Him. He created a male mirror to reflect His character and a female mirror to reflect His character. And it is not stretching things to say that male and female together reflect a more complete and more full image of our creator.
Our society and culture seems very confused by male and female, and I believe that much of this comes straight from the deep darkness of human depravity. Without question, men have taken advantage of women down through the ages, and that is not God’s design. He has not made man to dominate women and to rule with a strong arm.
But the proclivity for us to swing the pendulum to extremes doesn’t help the situation. So over the centuries we have gone from one extreme to the other in the battle between the sexes. But somewhere in the middle, it seems like rational observation would lead us to the conclusion that there is a difference between male and female physically, psychologically, and emotionally.
Both male and female are able to reflect the image of God. Both male and female are dearly loved by God. Both male and female are able to be saved by faith in the good news of the cross of Jesus Christ. But it is equally true that male and female have different roles to play.
We can disagree with those roles, we can try to change those roles, we can scoff at those roles, but if we do these things I am convinced that we will not land on healthy human relationships. We will continue the battle of the sexes until we come to believe that God has has created male and female with unique functions that we might glorify him and image him together in relationship.
I would recommend the following websites for resources on a Biblical understanding of the roles of what it means to be a man who reflects the image of God and what it means tobe a woman that reflects the image of God.
Five Aspects of Woman and Five Aspects of Man
