Question
Are women to be the servants of man or were they created to be a partner to man, a help mate? Did Eve’s sin of taking the apple make women lesser than man?
Answer
As to the equality of men and women, both are equally created in the image of god and both are spiritually equal, as far as receiving the blessings of forgiveness of sins and hope of eternal life, if they respond to Jesus by obedient faith.
GEN 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
GEN 1:27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
GAL 3:26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
GAL 3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
GAL 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
GAL 3:29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
However, just as there is a difference between the roles of the Father and Jesus, so there is between men and women. These differences in roles involve submission of one to the other and a dividing of responsibilities among the two.
Some passages which show this follow. The point simply is, God intended for men and women to have distinct and equally important roles in society. However, it would be to the man to take a leading role in providing for the family, protecting his wife and family and having the final and ultimate responsibility in the home.
On the other hand, it would be to the woman to provide loving nurturing toward children and loving service toward her husband, thus stabilizing the home and making it a pleasant environment for all.
All of these things depend on submission to God, rather than following one’s own will. Also, as far as public teaching in the church, it would be men to act in that capacity rather than women? Why? Simply put, God chose that in His wisdom. It should not however warrant our concluding that women are in any way inferior to men.
Before noticing the following passages, we must recognize that men and women were created to complement or complete each other. Neither one is capable of reaching his or her great potential without the help of the other. In this way, we learn love, kindness, submission and many other needed lessons.
1CO 11:3 But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.
EPH 5:22 ¶ Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
EPH 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.
EPH 5:24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.
EPH 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her;
EPH 5:26 that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
EPH 5:27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless.
1CO 14:34 ¶ Let the women keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but let them subject themselves, just as the Law also says.
1CO 14:35 And if they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church.
Is a woman’s submissive role a part of the punishment that God enacted against Eve after she ate of the forbidden fruit (not told what kind of fruit it was)?
To this question, we must emphatically answer, NO! From the beginning, God had always intended that men and women, although created equal in His image, would have different function in this life. For men, they would provide loving leadership and protection and for the woman, she would provide loving submission and the nurturing of children. In this way, both could accomplish the purpose God had for them from the beginning. Man, alone, could not accomplish this purpose, unless he had the woman as his suitable helper.
GEN 1:28 And God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
GEN 1:29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;
GEN 1:30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food “;and it was so.
GEN 2:18 ¶ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
GEN 2:19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.
GEN 2:20 And the man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.
GEN 2:21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh at that place.
GEN 2:22 And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.
GEN 2:23 And the man said, “This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”
GEN 2:24 For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.
GEN 2:25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
Originally, man was created first and then the woman. Based on the order of creation, man would be in a position of leadership over the woman.
1TI 2:11 Let a woman quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness.
1TI 2:12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.
1TI 2:13 For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve.
Then, it was woman created from the man and for the man. This emphasizes man’s need for a helper and the woman’s ability to be that helper.
1CO 11:7 For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.
1CO 11:8 For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man;
1CO 11:9 for indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake.
1CO 11:10 Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.
Finally, when Eve ate of the fruit and gave to her husband to eat, she was guilty of taking a position of authority that God had not intended for her. Submission to man is not the result of sin, but it became a part of the very first sin.
1TI 2:14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being quite deceived, fell into transgression.
1TI 2:15 But women shall be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.
GEN 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
GEN 3:2 And the woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
GEN 3:3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said,’ You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.’ ”
GEN 3:4 And the serpent said to the woman, “You surely shall not die!
GEN 3:5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
GEN 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
GEN 3:13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
GEN 3:14 And the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly shall you go, And dust shall you eat All the days of your life;
GEN 3:15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel. ”
GEN 3:16 To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you shall bring forth children; Yet your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”
Many of our problems would disappear if we would all, both men and women, submit ourselves willingly to the Will of God. All of our problems, both men and women’s, come from our desire to rebel against the will of God.
By Gary Hunt
