9/28/2023 0 Comments Men and women bible study imagesTogether we share responsibilities, challenges, risks, and joys. We are a plurality yet partnering in unity, acting as one. We are partners and are to relate to one another as God has related to Himself throughout all eternity. We are not to behave like animals toward one another and display the antics of cable TV shouting matches. God said, “Let Us make man …” So also, married partners can say, “Let us make man…” In marriage, for example, male and female share the divine desire to join together in creating humans. Just as God said, “let Us,” so also males and females were meant to say, “let us” rather than “I will.” Man is a partnership of two collaborating in unity. God’s relationship with Himself is our pattern and paradigm. We were meant to be a community of partners. So, males and females were not meant to be competitors or antagonists. God is unified and operates in community. We relate to one another as males and females in plurality in the same way God relates to Himself as a plurality: with mutual respect, unity, and love. God is a plurality (“Us” ) who relates to Himself when He says, “let Us.” As humans, we also are a plurality. The plurality of God-“Us” -is emphasized in the story of the creation of human beings so that we sit up and take special notice. That’s a flashing light to get our attention. “Let us make man in Our image, in Our likeness… So God created man in His own image… male and female He created them.” Genesis 1:26, 27įirst clue: rather than finding the expected “Let there be…” which characterizes the formation of the earlier aspects of creation, for humans, we discover the unexpected, “Let Us make…” (Gen 1:26). We are assured of our distinctive status by observing three clues in the narrative of Scripture. Īs human beings, we are notable creatures because we are like God in ways that the rest of the creation fails to share. We can be assured of this shared role by carefully examining Scripture, the Bible Jesus read, believed, and quoted. ![]() God gave both men and women, as His visible image, authority to exercise dominion in partnership. God the Creator crowned male and female as kings, queens, and conquerors over the entire creation. These descriptions are not meant to intimidate us but to help us understand our natures and the roles the Creator originally assigned to us in grace. The responsibilities assigned to men and women prior to the fall are to be normative for us. We all will benefit if we do not ignore our Magna Carta. Genesis 1 & 2, in other words, is to be our Magna Carta. It is important to understand that the material we find in Genesis 1 & 2-events prior to the entrance of sin-is designed to be our standard and sets the guidelines for the roles of men and women.
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