Since God is sovereign he has a monopoly on moral law. Satan and his children have no means of creating moral law apart from God, so they use God’s moral law as a template, simply reversing or distorting God’s law and claiming it as their own. The animal rights and radical environmentalism movements are an example. The two fit together because both contradict God’s law that man, being made in God’s image, is of greater value than animals or other aspects of nature. We’ll begin by considering how God views animals and the environment. God created the heavens and earth,…
Men and Women are the same. So far we’ve seen three false laws based on the template that men and women are of equal value: Men are worth more than women, women are worth more than men, and androgynes are worth more than men or women. Satan doesn’t end at that. He makes another false law by deceptively conflating “equal value” with sameness or equal in all ways. “Men and women are of equal value” becomes “Men and women are the same.” I’ve already mentioned this lie as a technique Satan uses to discredit the differentiation of authority and roles…
Men and Women are of equal value Satan doesn’t limit his deception regarding values and roles to marriage. He extends it into the society at large. He twists God’s clear and perfect principles regarding manhood and womanhood into a tangled self-contradictory web of deception, all for the purpose of furthering his kingdom and attempting to diminish the kingdom of God. Satan sows discord through false laws that either deny that men and women are of equal value or distort the meaning of “equal.” We’ll look at them in turn, beginning with false laws that deny that men and women are…
Marriage is important to God Knowing marriage’s importance in God’s eyes and its linkage with sexuality and the headship of the husband helps us see why Satan and the lost so passionately campaign against the sanctity of marriage, the husband’s authority, and sexual purity. By denying the truth about these things they’re able to mount a multifaceted attack on the core building block of society according to God’s design, the family. One of Satan’s goals is to grow his kingdom by deconstructing marriage and family. By denigrating marriage, including redefining it to include same sex couples, Satan sows disdain for…
God links marriage and sexual intercourse. We’ve looked at three of four interrelated factors regarding Biblical manhood and womanhood: marriage, single life, and male authority. The fourth is sexuality. God tightly links marriage and sexual intercourse. It’s an integral part of marriage and a great blessing, a physical expression of marital love and unity that helps maintain and strengthen that oneness. Wayne Grudem put it well: The beauty of God’s created order for marriage finds expression in our sexuality within marriage. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall…
Men have authority in the church What about submission? Is the single woman called to submit to male authority? The answer is no, with one exception. A woman’s submission to a man is part of marriage, not singleness. The single woman is under no husband’s authority and the single man has authority over no wife. The exception is Scripture’s call for single women to submit to male authority in the context of the local church. Like all regular members, they are to be under the authority of the elders (1 Tim. 3:5; Titus 1:9; 1 Pet. 5:2). But unlike men,…
What about single Christians? God’s establishment of marriage in the Garden of Eden laid the foundation for all righteous interactions between men and women. He established males and females as complementary but different, with different roles and authority, but of equal value, and gave sexual relations to bless couples in their oneness. Knowing that, we can look further into Biblical manhood and womanhood. What about Christians who remain single? Is their relationship with God diminished in any way? No. Bruce Ware rightly says: With that, we can look further into Biblical manhood and womanhood. We’ve explored the blessings and deep…
Husband & Wife value, authority & roles Reflecting the equality within the Trinity, God values men and women equally, without qualification. This is clear not only from the Genesis account of God appointing both Adam and Eve as vice-regents over creation (Gen. 1:28) but is the counsel of the entire Bible as well. Unlike the world, God isn’t a respecter of persons. He doesn’t value us according to the way the world values people. We gain or lose no value by being rich or poor, famous or unknown, comely or plain, one race or another, or male or female. Paul…
Marriage is to reflect the Trinty As a reflection of the unity of purpose within the Trinity, God gave Adam and Eve the same overriding purpose. Together they were his vice-regents over creation. In that role they were to serve and glorify him. That remains our goal today. We’re here to serve and glorify God. One purpose of marriage is marriage is as a reflection of the relationship of Christ and the church, something Paul calls a great mystery. There’s foreshadowing of the mystery in the Old Testament. In several instances God compares his relationship with the Israelites to a…
The Purpose of marriage God established marriage for several reasons. One was to provide Adam and Eve with everything they needed to receive their blessing and complete their task as his vice-regents over creation. They could receive their blessing as two complementary but different individuals coming together emotionally and sexually as one. Working together they could begin the task of subduing the earth and ruling over its creatures. Implicit in God’s appointment of Adam and Eve as his vice-regents was the understanding that it couldn’t be accomplished apart from him. Adam and Eve couldn’t fulfill their charge unless they obeyed…