Men & Women in the Beginning

Lead Vocalist (Joel)

Welcome & Announcements (Sam)

Good morning family!

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2 announcements:

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What to do and how to respond

Now please take a moment of silence to prepare your heart for worship.

Call to Worship (Romans 11:33-36)

Prayer of Praise (Teresa Dieffenwierth)

Hymn of the Ages

Anchor of Hope

Prayer of Confession (Pride), Ronnie Evans

Assurance of Pardon (Psalm 28:6)

O God Our Help in Ages Past

All Creatures of Our God and King

Scripture Reading (Genesis 1:26-31)

You can find it on page 1 in the black Bibles

Pastoral Prayer (Sam)

Prayer for PBC—PBC men

Prayer for sister church—Carlos & Lily Llambes (IMB, Panama)

Prayer for US—Against racism

Prayer for the world—Peru

Pray for the sermon

SERMON

START TIMER!!!

You’d be hard pressed to find a more buzzworthy cultural moment last summer than the film event known as Barbenheimer.

Other than the fact that the films Barbie and Oppenheimer were released on the same day, they appear to have very little in common.

The world of Barbie is a bubble-gum-pink utopia where everyone is smiling and nice and every night is girl’s night.

The world of Oppenheimer is a grim reality where men invent weapons of mass destruction, and destroy each other in the process.

But despite their differences, the films have a lot in common in how they depict the battle of the sexes.

The women in Oppenheimer—and there’s really only two women of consequence in the film—exist as either sex objects or a domesticated housewife and mother.

While the men in Barbie don’t have real jobs and only exist as accessories to the Barbies, like a purse or a pair of roller skates. [1]

In a sense Barbenheimer is a snapshot of two extreme approaches to gender.

Oppenheimer is a good example of Patriarchy, an approach to gender that believes men are in some sense superior to women and should lead them in every area of life.

Men and women are different, but they’re not truly equal.

On the other extreme, Barbie is a good example of Feminism, which believes that women are just as good as men and should be able to do anything a man can do.

Men and women are equal, but they’re not truly different.

Unlike Barbenheimer, the Bible cuts between both extremes. The Bible consistently teaches men and women are both equal and different.

Our normal practice at PBC is to take books of the Bible and study them verse-by-verse. But occasionally it’s helpful to see what the Scriptures as a whole say about a particular topic.

Beginning this morning, we’re going to spend the next six sermons examining biblical manhood and womanhood.

With God’s help, we’ll study what His Word says about men and women in Christ, in marriage, in the family, in the church, and in a confused age.

But this morning we’re going to start in the very beginning...

Turn to Genesis 1

At the outset, some of you might be concerned by the decision to begin a sermon series on manhood and womanhood in the Old Testament. Aren’t we New Covenant people? Hasn’t the Gospel transformed the way we think about these things? It’s important to remember that Jesus Himself turned to Genesis 1-2 on multiple occasions to discuss the issue of marriage. Jesus viewed the creation account as both authoritative and normative.

Therefore, we are following in Jesus’ footsteps by turning to this passage to understand the truth about men and women.

The Big idea I hope to unpack this morning, which will help us every week in this study, is that men and women are equal and different.

This morning we’re going to consider Three Truths from the first three chapters of Genesis that support this big idea:

Men and women were created with equal value,

Men and women are called to different roles, and

Men and women are clinging to equal hope.

Let’s begin by considering how...

1) We Were Created With Equal VALUE

For much of human history, people have believed the lie that men are superior to women.

For example, the word hysterical comes from the Greek work for the uterus. Greek physicians like Hippocrates believed that hysteria was a women’s affliction demonstrating her inferiority to men. [2]

The Greek philosopher Phintys wrote, “Courage and intelligence are more appropriately male qualities because of the strength of men’s bodies and the power of their minds. Chastity is more appropriately female.” [3]

Comments like this had the dual purpose of demeaning a woman’s intellect, while also instilling a separate standard of morality for men and women.

In the Greco-Roman world, men were expected to be sexually promiscuous, while a woman could be divorced or executed if she was unfaithful.

Due to the supposed inferiority of women, it was common for baby girls to be exposed to the elements and abandoned to die.

And these are not merely the crazy ideas of the ancients. Charles Darwin wrote that “man is more courageous, pugnacious, and energetic than woman, and has a more inventive genius” and has achieved “a higher eminence, in whatever he takes up, than woman can attain.” [4]

In the Western world women had to fight for education, for the right to work outside the home, for the right to own property, and to vote.

But in recent years the pendulum has swung to the opposite extreme.

Whether it’s the trendy hashtag #KillAllMen, T-shirts with slogans like, “So many men. So little ammunition,” or the recent onslaught of books with titles like I Hate Men, The End of Men, and Are Men Necessary?, hatred of men is on the rise. [5]

One author said “Talking about ‘healthy masculinity’ is like talking about ‘healthy cancer.’” [6]

A recent article in USA Today said that on college campuses “masculinity is almost never discussed except in negative terms, usually with the word ‘toxic’ attached.” [7]

A researcher analyzed more than 2000 mass media portrayals of men and found that more than 75% of all media representations of men depicted them as “villains, aggressors, perverts, and philanderers.” [8]

The Bible cuts between both extremes . I want you to notice THREE PROOFS that men and women are equal from Genesis 1-2.

A) Both men and women are made in God's image

Genesis 1:26–27—Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them

Now I’ve actually had conversations with people who have looked at this text and tried to argue that it’s only man who is created in God’s image, not woman. After all the text says “let us make man in our image” and “God created man in His own image.”

But this argument does not understand the way the word “man” is functioning here. It’s not referring to man as a male human being, but man as representative of all human beings.

Kind of like the word “mankind.”

This argument also fails to understand the way Hebrew poetry works.

Instead of using rhyme like English poetry, Hebrew poetry uses parallelism between lines to highlight truth.

Verse 27 is actually a wonderful and beautiful example of Hebrew poetry. In a lot of Bibles the text will look like this...

So God created man in His own image,

in the image of God He created him;

male and female He created them.

Notice that each line is parallel to the line before. In line one, God is the subject, created is the verb, man is the direct object and in his own image is the prepositional phrase. You could depict it like this...

S V DO P

So God created man in His own image,

The second line is parallel to the first. It's telling us the same thing in a different way. The only thing that has changed is the sentence order and that pronouns are used for God and man...

P S V DO

in the image of God He created him;

The final line is also parallel, but here the author of Genesis makes a subtle shift. Notice here he replaces the prepositional phrase "in his own image" with "male and female." Everything else is the same.

P S V DO

male and female He created them.

That final line makes it clear that it is not only the man who was created in the image of God! The direct object (man, him) from lines one and two is now them in line three. Both Adam and Eve are created in God's image!

And the prepositional phrase “in his image” has now been replaced with “male and female,” meaning that our maleness and our femaleness is part of what it means to image God.

Eve was not a lesser creature, and is in no way inferior to Adam. Both Adam and Eve, and every man and woman, boy and girl, are created in the image of God.

In the words of Ray Ortlund—“Man was created as royalty in God’s world, male and female alike bearing the divine glory equally.” [9]

A second proof that men and women were created with equal value is seen in the truth that...

B) Both men and women are given dominion over the earth

Genesis 1:28—And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

God does not give dominion over the earth exclusively to Adam. The text is clear that God said to them—both Adam and Eve—to exercise dominion over the earth and every living thing in it.

Now, Adam and Eve will exercise their dominion in different ways as we’ll soon see, but the point here is that they both have dominion because they were created with equal value.

A third proof that men and women were created with equal value is seen in the truth that...

C) Together men and women are very good

If you read Genesis 1, you’ll notice that at the end of every day of creation God looks at what He made and calls it “good.” But there was something that wasn’t good.

Turn to Genesis 2:18

While you’re turning there, it’s important to remember this is not a second creation account, but a zoomed-in account of the sixth day of creation.

The ESV Study Bible calls it a “literary flashback.” [10]

In this flashback we see God looking at His creation and seeing something is “not good.”

Genesis 2:18—Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Even in a perfect world, a world without sin and suffering and death, it is not good for Adam to be alone.

Now, Adam doesn’t realize this. There’s no hint that he’s even aware of the problem. Like a lot of men, he’s blissfully ignorant.

But God sees. And God creates Eve. And only after man and woman have been created does God look at His creation and declare it “very good” in Genesis 1:31.

For these reasons and more, we know that men and women are equal.

But that’s not the end of the story, because men and women are equal and different.

And we see our differences by examining how...

2) We Were Called to Different ROLES

Now, before we consider these differences, let’s consider for a moment the many ways men and women are called to the same things.

Imagine men and women as a Venn diagram with a large overlapping middle part. [11]

SHOW VENN DIAGRAM

Much of what God requires of His people He requires of both men and women.

Both men and women are called to repent and believe the gospel.

Both men and women are called to be baptized as believers.

Both men and women are called to commit themselves to the local church.

Within the local church, both men and women are called to bear one another’s burdens, confront one another in love, do good to one another, encourage one another, fellowship with one another, greet one another, honor one another, instruct one another, love one another, pray for one another, and much, much, more.

As Dorothy Sayers says, “The first thing that strikes the careless observer is that women are unlike men. They are the ‘opposite sex’ . . . But the fundamental thing is that women are more like men than anything else in the world. They are human beings.” [12]

And yet, the Bible does present men and women as having different roles, particularly in the home and in the church.

We’ll examine some of those role differences in the coming weeks, but for now I want you to notice that these role differences are not the result of sin, but they are rooted in God’s good creation design.

Consider with me FOUR CLUES that we were called to different roles...

A) Eve was created as Adam’s HELPER

Let’s consider again the “literary flashback” in...

Genesis 2:18–20—Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.

God says, “Adam needs a helper,” then parades all the animals before him to make it plain none of these noble creatures will do. It is only after a woman has been created that Adam has the helper he needs.

Ladies, I wonder if you hear that and think that the Bible is demeaning to women. “Adam gets to be the important man, and Eve just gets to be a helper!”

Let’s test those feelings by the Scriptures.

Does the term “helper” imply inferiority?

Kevin DeYoung—“Being a helper carries no connotations of diminished worth or status; for God is sometimes called the helper of Israel (Ex. 18:4; Pss 33:20; 146:5). Ezer (helper) is a functional term, not a demeaning one. Just as God at times comes alongside to help his people, so the role of the woman in relationship to her husband is that of a helper.” [13]

Don’t forget that Jesus Himself refers to the Holy Spirit, the eternal third person of the Trinity as a helper.

John 15:26—“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me.”

So what does this mean practically?

Ladies, you are not called or commanded to be a helper to every man. Eve is a helper to Adam because she is his wife.

Which means, married ladies, you are called to function as a helper to your husband.

And lest you think this was only an Old Testament concept, consider the words of the Apostle Paul...

1 Corinthians 11:8–9—For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.

Husbands, this does not mean that your wife’s purpose is to do your every bidding. The husband who treats his wife like a glorified servant is a fool. Ladies, if he treats you this way confront him in love. And if he doesn’t listen, talk to one of your pastors.

Single ladies, you ought to be very careful in choosing a husband. You ought to ask yourself, “Do I really want to devote my life and energies to being a helper to him?” If he is not the kind of man who would be a delight to help, you ought to look elsewhere.

And single ladies, you are not living without a purpose if you do not have a husband. The fact that Eve was created to be Adam’s helper does not mean that a woman’s only or ultimate purpose is helping her husband. Far from it!

And single men, you ought to be ordering your life in such a way that a godly young women would be honored to come alongside you as a helper.

We know men and women were called to different roles because Eve was created as Adam’s helper.

But also...

B) Adam was created FIRST

Genesis 2:21–23—So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

The order in which Adam and Eve were created might seem a relatively arbitrary thing. Is this really a clue that men and women are called to different roles?

The Apostle Paul seemed to think so. He presents creation order as a reason for different gender roles in the church.

1 Timothy 2:12–13—I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve.

Now we’re going to dive into the weeds of this passage in a few weeks, but for now it’s important to understand what Paul is not saying.

He’s not saying a woman can’t teach a man anything.

And he’s not saying a woman can’t exercise authority anywhere.

And he’s not saying she is to remain quiet everywhere.

He’s referring to a specific kind of teaching and authority, that which is the responsibility of pastors in the life of the church.

So in short, Paul is limiting the office of elder/pastor to qualified men.

If that feels odd or offensive to you, please be patient and come back over the next few weeks where we’ll explain it in more detail.

But for now, the important thing to notice is that the order of creation does matter. It is a clue that men and women are different.

And yet, this difference is not a difference in value, but in roles and responsibilities.

Few express this more beautifully than...

Matthew Henry—“The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.” [14]

We know men and women were called to different roles because Adam was created first.

But also...

C) Adam was RESPONSIBLE for Eve’s sin

Moving on to Genesis 3, we learn that Eve is tempted by the serpent to disobey God.

And yet, even though both Adam and Eve sinned against God and ate the fruit, the evidence suggests Adam is held responsible in a way that Eve is not.

It was Adam who was given the command about the forbidden fruit in Genesis 2:16-17.

And it was Adam who was called upon by God to give an account.

Genesis 3:9—… the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

The word "you" is singular. God will talk to Eve in a moment, but He’s starting with Adam!

Perhaps most convincingly is the way the New Testament interprets Genesis 3.

Romans 5:12–14—Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

The Bible is not saying Eve was innocent. Eve was guilty.

But even though Eve was guilty, Adam was responsible.

Andreas Köstenberger—“In the end, it is the man, not the woman, who is primarily held responsible for the rebellious act.” [15]

One pastor helpfully illustrates this principle this way:

Suppose a young sailor disobeys his orders and runs a ship aground in the middle of the night while the captain is asleep. The young sailor may face some consequences, but he was getting out of the Navy in six months anyway. But the captain is a career officer and his career is ruined. The sailor is guilty; the captain is responsible. [16]

Husbands, this means you are responsible for what happens in your home.

When your wife is bitter, or angry, or given to gossip, or any other sin, she is guilty but you are responsible.

When the children in your home are disobedient, lazy, or disrespectful, they are guilty but you are responsible.

This might seem unfair, but it is part of what it means to be the head of the home. And whether you believe it or not, whether you act like it’s true or not, the day is coming when you will give an account.

We know men and women were called to different roles because Adam was responsible for Eve’s sin.

But finally...

D) Adam and Eve were cursed DIFFERENTLY

After confronting both Adam and Eve, God explains how the curse of sin will forever disrupt their lives...

Genesis 3:16–19—To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Eve is cursed in her primary domain, the family. As a result of sin, childbearing will be painful.

Adam is cursed in his primary domain, the field. As a result of sin, work will be painful.

Perhaps you hear that and your inner attorney is freaking out.

Are you saying only men can work outside the home?

Are you saying that a woman’s only purpose is to be a breeder?

I’m not saying any of those things. I am saying the Scriptures teach that men and women have a primary domain. And we see our first glimpse of that here in the beginning.

I strongly encourage you to be faithful to gather with us over the next few weeks as we dive into the nitty-gritty details about what this all means.

EXPLAIN Q&A TIME

Immediately after the benediction

Get your kids

Come to the front right

Ask your questions, or just listen

Every week during this series

If you’re not interested, stay and fellowship or feel free to go!

But if our story ends here, whether we’re equal or different doesn’t really matter all that much.

But the story doesn’t end with a curse.

Notice our final truth about men and women in the beginning...

3) We Are Clinging to Equal HOPE

Despite the differences in how they were cursed, in two important ways Adam and Eve’s curse was the same.

First, the curse of sin is going to devastate their horizontal relationships with each other.

They’re already ashamed to be seen by one another.

The blame-game has already crept into their relationship.

And God’s design for beneficial headship and helping will now be marked by sinful rebellion and abusive leadership.

Genesis 3:16— “. . . Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”

Every henpecked husband and every battered wife can trace their roots to right here in the garden.

But what’s even worse is how the curse of sin is going to devastate Adam and Eve’s vertical relationship with God.

Because God is holy, a single sin is enough to be banished from His presence.

And so, God casts Adam and Eve out of the Garden into a world of devastation and death.

And yet, God does not leave Adam and Eve (or us!) without hope...

God temporarily covers over Adam and Eve’s sin.

They tried to cover their nakedness with fig leaves, but after confronting them and cursing them, God gently covers over their sin.

Genesis 3:21—the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

It’s highly significant that the covering God made for Adam and Eve required the death of an innocent animal.

Hebrews 9:22—. . . without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

The reason for this is that only an innocent substitute can cover over the sins of the guilty. But the blood of innocent animals could only provide a temporary covering, which is why the Old Testament is filled with bloody sacrifices, one after another, to cover the sins of God’s people.

But God promised He would send Someone to forever cover the sins of His people…

Genesis 3:14–15—The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her Offspring; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”

The seed of the woman is a reference to Christ, who in the fullness of time would be born of a virgin woman.

The bruising of His heel refers to His suffering and death on the cross in our place. But Jesus’ death would not be final.

He would rise from death three days later and crush the head of the snake.

Brothers, sisters, and friends, that is our hope. And the hope of Christ is freely and equally available to all who will repent and believe in Christ. Would you turn to Him today?

Whether you’re a man or a woman, a boy or a girl, anyone can come to Christ and be saved. Because even though we are different, we have equal value and we’re clinging to the same hope.

If we were to put Christianity on the Barbenheimer spectrum, unfortunately there’s far too many people that would view Christianity as being anti-women or even misogynistic.

Perhaps that’s because we’ve bought into the lies of feminism more than we care to admit.

Perhaps we are so accustomed to the idea that men and women are equal but not truly different, anything highlighting the differences between us feels a bit backwards and outdated.

But in the first few centuries of the church, in a time when men and women were viewed as different, but not truly equal, women flocked to Christianity in staggering numbers.

Some suggest as much as two-thirds of early church members were women.

Some historians have expressed shock that all women in the ancient world didn’t become Christians, since life in the church was so much better for them than life outside. [17]

The early church dignified women by giving them real opportunities for involvement in the local church.

And the early church attracted women by being against sexual immorality among men, easy divorce, abortion, female infanticide, prostitution, and child brides.

For these reasons and more, author Sarah Sumner says…

“Feminism is not something that must be added to Christianity in order for the church to honor women. The gospel itself is pro women . . . Anyone who thinks treating women fairly is a feminist thing to do, not a Christian thing to do, doesn’t understand Christianity.” [18]

My prayer is that we will understand one another better, Christianity better, and our great God better as we study what His Word says about men and women.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery

Benediction (Romans 16:20)