Genesis 2:18-24 The Helper Part 2: Domain & Devotion

Intro

Well here we are in our now third week looking at what the Bible has to say about the role and purpose for women in creation. We started this two messages ago by walking through the creation account of Eve here in Genesis chapter 2 and saw the wonderful way in which God purposefully creates her. We saw the way the text is oriented around building the tension as there is not found in any of the creatures of the earth a helper suitable for Adam and the excitment as God finally awkes Adam from his sleep and presents to him this creatre who Adam proclaims with joy is atlast bone of his ones and flesh of his flesh, at last a helper suitable for him, a helper in the mandate that God had given to him.

Now as we have acknowledged time and time again over these past two messages I am well aware that from first to last our world hates these things that we have been seeing from scripture. However, that doesnt change the reality that comes to us in this text that the woman was made with and for a purpose, as was the man I might add, and as people we will find ourselves the most fulfilled when we are in submission to God and fully setting ourselves to the pursuit of the purpose or purposes for whuch we were made. This is why, though the world may hate these things, would shove their fingers in their ears and scream at the to their lungs so they woulht have to hear them, yet even so we are going to say them and study them because it is our desire to see all of those here, men and women, living their lives in submission to God and while it is fashinable in the world to simply say follow your heart we know tha the heart is diecetful and desperatlly wicked and that even as those who have been given new life through faith in Christ still we need to know what God’s word says so that we might give ourelves to folloing it as fully as the Lord will give us power to do.

So lets pray and then jump back into what the bible has to say about biblical womanhood.

PRAY

Now in our message last time we covered the first 2 of 4 main points that are guiding our consideration of what the Bible has to say about the creation and purpose of women, we saw the dignity of women and we saw the design of the woman.

As to the dignity of the woman we saw that there is no room is scripture for making women of less value than men or of being some how sub par or less than in really any way, in fact we saw that not only was Adam exceedingly joyful at his first sight of the woman but we also considered the fact that there are real genuine ways in which the female design bears the image of God in unique ways, that while mankind bears the image of God in a general sense that there is also a way in which each of the sexes, male and female, also bear in their design unique elements of the image of God.

Now none of this means that there is no difference between men and women and we saw this when we turned to the design of women. There were two distinct considerations that we took up that are imperative to understanding the design of the woman. First we saw that she was designed as a helper. Now we saw that this doesn't mean that a woman was created to serve every last desire of the man as if she was a servant or something like that. Helper is a very specif term and it is tied directly to the cultural mandate. In other words the man was incapable of fulfilling this mandate appart from the creation of the woman to help him in this task. While the man is to take the lead we understand that it will be impossible for the mandate to be fulfilled appart from the womans full participation in it. We also considered and will consider more today the central role of the family in the cultural mandate and likewise the role of the woman in the family which lead us to our second major factor in the design of the woman which was the undeniable reality that the design of the woman is oreinted around children, from the amazing cabability to grow a new human in her womb to the maany phisological and emotional elements of her design that are ordered toward reproduction and the gowing and raising of new humans the woman is clearly designed by God with this end in mind, the reporduction of the human race.

Domain

This then leads us to our third point and the first that we will take up this morning and this is the domain of the woman. Here again we will find that what scripture presents us with is opposit of nearly everything that we find espoused and taught in our world today. What we find brought to us in scripture is a unamious message that the domain of the woman in a normative sense is the home, the family and the nurture and care of children within that family unit.

As we said toward the close of our last message I will readily acknoleged that there are woman who feel more or less a draw toward this calling and also that as a result of living in a fallen world there are those who for one valid reason or another may desire these things but not have the opportunity for marroage and a family or they are unable to have children. Normative here is the operative word and as will all of the normatie expectations that we find in scripture it is important to realize that normative means that this is the typical course that things will take and that though there can be variances to this that when we may desire to take a path that is not normative we need to seek wise cuncil and ensure that this is what God has truly called us to. Normative doesnt mean that every single women in every single case is going to look and o exactly the same thins, normative is normative, it means that these things set a general expectation of what the general course of things will look like. These passages and normative expectations can be allplied to single women, women who have not yet or may not be able to have children, widdows and others who are no longer married. Wisdom and spiritual guidance are always required in applying normative expectations to individual lives and circumstances. However, the first step is always in simply seeking to understand the normative and then asking ourselves are we open to the normative or have we internalized somethign from our culture that makes us react against a normative expectation.

Now, as we consider the domain of the woman I want us to jump forward into the New Testament first. There are two primary passages that we need to consider there, these are Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3 and they are quite similar. Lets read them both and then consider what we find there:

Ephesians 5:22–33 ESV

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Colossians 3:18–21 ESV

Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

Now I read the passages in their entierty because its important that we understand that these passages concern men and women and even children. Its not as though God only has commands here for the women for the wives. We may actually go next and do exactly what we are doing here for women and consider the design and domain of man as well so that we can get a well rounded picture of God’s desires for both of the sexes. However, for today we are considering the woman and again you will note that this in in the context of the family. We will talk about the domain of women in the context of the church in a moment but here we see them in the context of the marriage relationship and the family unit.

We find in both of these passages that the wife is to submit to the husband and in Ephesians we see that this submission is actually exemplified by the way the church submits to Christ. Again, this is grounded in the creation order and the fact that the man is to lead in the efforts of fulfiling the cultural mandate and as a result it is his job to lead his family well. As the helper the wife is to submit to the leadership of the husband just as the church is to submit to the leadership of Christ.

Men, when we get here for us we will have to ask the question and rightly so, “Are we seeking to lead our families in the same manner that Christ leads the church,.” You see women, the men arent off the hook here at all! However here we are talking about the role and responsibility for the woman and in this context is is to be lead by her husband.

We can see this reality even in Genesis 2. We mentioned this briefly a few weeks ago but one of the important factors to note in Genesis 2 is that Adam names Eve, God designed her, God formed and fashined her, yet God had given Adam the authority to name the creatures and this authority extends to Eve and this is added to then in Genesis 3:20 where Adam gives this woman the name Eve and we read he does this because she is the mother of all living. Eve literally means life and speaks to the life that comes from the womb of the woman. What Adam does when he names the creatures is to given them names that are fitting for them. Adam just doesnt pull names out of thin air, Adam uses the knowledge that God has given him to properly name the creatures and in no place is this more evident than with the woman, with Eve, the names that Adam gives to her are approrpiate and precectly capture her God given design and purpose!

Adam is given the ahutority to exercise and this sets the pattern for the biblical household where the husband leads and the wife submits to that leadership. Now it is important to realize what this leadership and submission is not. Firstly a woman is not obligated to follow her husband into sin or to commit sin at the dirrective of her husband, in that case she must say that she needs to be obedient to God and rather than man. This also does not mean that a woman has no say in this arrangement. God gives the woman to the man as the helper and as such he must rely on her for council as he seekes to lead the family. There are all sorts of things in which a man ought to turn to his wife to hear what her thoughts are and even what course of action she thinks would be best. Infact a man who fails to cousut his wife in this way would actually be sinning against her and against God by failing to make use of the helper that God has provided for him. Again, helper does not mean thaty the woman is a slave who only exists to do the beck and call of the man, this is not a picture of biblical headship and submission.

However, submission is important because at the end of the day decisions must be made and there are times when a family must choose between courses of action that may be both valid and are not sinful in any respect and in these instances a decision must be made and ultimatly it is the husbands responsibiliy to make the decision and the wife’s responsbility to give her support and full effort in pursuing the course of action that the husband has determined ought to be taken.

It is these caces that truly show the need for biblical headship and submission as all kinds of problems enter in when the family unit consists of two individuals seeking to be the head. Voddie Baucham remarks that the only thing with two heads is a monster. We certainly dont want out families to turn into monsters and so headship and submission is a needed and indeed a created component of the design and fuction of the family.

This all then reflects the domain of the woman, she, in a normative sense, is to pursue the domain of the home in which she is the helper of the man in with the aim of together fulfiling the cultural mandate.

Voddie again said it well at this point, he said, “There is no priority in Biblical womanhood that superscedes the priority of a woman’s role in her home.”

Does this mean that the only thing a woman can do is work in the home? No, it certainly does not and there may be other places that God calls women to, however, I do not think it a stretch to say that the vast majority of women will be called into that natural position for which they were created and when a woman has been called into that repaltionship in a home this ought to be her primary role and the one to which all of the others give way.

Now this is ofcourse an anathama in our world today, we live in a world that is doing nearly everything it can do to keep women out of the home. You may remember the vast and iimmediate outcry when Herrison Butker the catholic kicker for the Kansas City chiefs said in a comencemnt address that women had ben told diabolical lies and that many would be far more fulfilled in the pursiit of a home and children than in a career. When we cover the fall in chpter 3 we will see more about how decpetince the femanist movement has been in its efforts to keep as many women as possible out of the home. The end result of years of femanist propaganda and its effect on the world has been that most homes seem like they cant even make ends meat unless both parents are wokring and in many cases they arent even parents because they have given up entierly on the idea of havign children and are workign only to support what ever lifestly they feel while bring them fulfilment.

We live in a world where the goverment has been set up by the femanits movement to swoop in an be almost everything a woman shoud be in the home so that the woman can break free from this God ordained purpose and calling. We see in New Your right now the efforts to provide free child care so moms can not feel burdnent by even having to pay for the care of the children, we see decades of the public school system stepping in and taking care of a vast portion of the day when a child ought to be spending time in the home learning from his or her parents and being cared for by them and instead this responsibiliy to train up a child has been alomst entierly farmed off to daddy, or maybe better termmed mommy goverment.

As we wrap up this element of the domain of woman we need still to turn to one of the primary passages that ought to come to mind when the consideration of the role of the woman is taken up, that is Proverbs 31. Now much has been spoken and written on the woman of proverbs 31 and we arent going to do a deep dive here but there are some things we can see that will help us in understanding this role and purpose for the woman, understanding what biblical womanhood looks like.

Lets turn to and read this passage:

Proverbs 31:10–31 ESV

An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet. She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple. Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant. Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.

A very well knowm passage and one that I am sure many of you have read before. Now, like I said we dont have time this morning to work our way through every apsect of this text but there are some points that we can note.

The first is that we ought to know that this passage is not, in the context here, written to women. In other words this isnt, strictly speaking, a passage whoes primary concern is teaching women how to be women. Rather, this is a passage for men describing what they ought to be looking for in a wife, what they ought to be looking for in a helpmate. The book of proverbs is a book written by a wise king to his son and so it is interesting that the closing salvo of the book is instruction for a son on the type of woman to choose for a bride. Men, especially young men, note with the writer of Proverbs that second to placing faith in Christ there is not a single decision that will affect the trajectory of your life and the outcome of your life more than who you are maried too.

“An excellent wife, who can find? She is far more precious than jewls.”

This starting statement does not mean it is impossible to find an excellent wife but rather it streses the importance of findng one and of the great value that you will have found when you have done so. This all connects so well with Genesis 2 and the cultural mandate, that man is blessed who finds a helper fit for him, that man who does so will have found one who together with him can strive to fulfill that mandate given by God to him, together they can form a strong family unit and be a blessing to their culture and even a building block for that culture!

The other reason why we can see that this is a proverb written to a young man encouraging him to take seriously who he will have for a wife is the structure of the passage itself, it is written so that each verse starts with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet and it is chiastic in structure so that the ver center of the proverb is verse 23 that tells of the great respect that the husband will have when he has such a wife as the one described. Again, the man who consideres carefuly who he is to marry and chooses well is set up well to form a strong family unit and make great strieds in the fullifilling of God’s cultural mandate and this is to be a well respected man.

This is all well and good you say but isnt this message about the domain of the woman? Well, yes it is and though this passage is not written specifically women, as it describes what a man ouught to seek out in a helpmate, in a wife, it obvousuly sets before us a great example of what biblical womanhood looks like.

Now, the main thing that stands out in this proverb is actually something that is one of the central themes of the entire book of proverbs and that is diligence. If you were to summ up what makes the woman of Proverbs 31 such a treasured find it is that she is dilligent and dillegence drives all that she does. There are two primary villans in the book of proverbs and one of those is the slothful an lazy man. This woman is the exact opposit of slothful and lazy, she is dilligent in all that she does.

She is dilligent in her work:

Proverbs 31:13 ESV

She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands.

Proverbs 31:18–19 ESV

She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.

Proverbs 31:24 ESV

She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant.

She is diligent in her care for and provision for her family:

The members of her household we read in verse 21 are well clothed and have no need to fear cold. She provides food for her household and guides and instructs those who aid her in the household

She is diligent in helping the poor and needy:

Proverbs 31:20 ESV

She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy.

She is diligent in teachig and instructing those in her care:

Proverbs 31:26 ESV

She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

We read in verse 27 what culd be a summary statement of this woman:

Proverbs 31:27 ESV

She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

She does not eat the bread of idleness. Indeed when a woman has truly embraced the calling of being a helpmate in a goldy household with a, as the Psalms puts it, a quiver full of children, there is no room for idleness. This type of woman as we read in verse 28 is a woman whoes children will call her blessed and whoes husban will praise her. A dilligent woman, dilligent in the care of her home.

One of the things we may see that played a role in the spread of the deception of femanisu was the way that the modern education system came in and took the children out of the home for large swaths of the day. In the late 50 and 60 this lead to what may called the boared housewife, with no children at home she had little to do, or less to do and this many believe fulled the desires to moe out of the home alltogether or atleast opened the doors for the femanist moveent to sew the seeds of discontent in these women who had had a major part of their calling now pawned off to mommy gov.

I have see all the time the ammout of labor and work that it takes for my wife to manage our household and feed and cloth and clean and teach and care for our kids and it is amazing to me that she is able to do all of these things. There is no room for idlenss in the life of a woman who has embraced this calling on her life, rather this blessed woman is a woman of dilligenct, the sloth and sluggrd of other passages in Proverbs has found no room in this home.

The Church

Before we move on to wrap this up by noting briefly the devotion of the woman I would like to note that the domain of women does extend to the church as well. While the scriptures are clear that a woman is not to hold positions of authority over men in the church and should not be in the role of a pastor and elder and s not to teach and preach in the weekly gathered worship of the church. Yet there is very clearly a domain given to women here.

We read in Titus 2:3-5

Titus 2:3–5 ESV

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

Where does a younger woman learn to become a woman like that described in Proverbs 31, well ideally she has a mother that can teach her these things but also we see that other women, older women in the church ought to be teaching the younger women these things. I can get up here and exposit what God’s word has to say about these things and seek to encourage the women here to heed these things and be this kind of woman but it I can’t get into a home and walk along side a younger woman and show her how to manage a household and how to care for children, this is a job for the women who have been there and who can draw beside others and teach and encourage them in this.

This also aids in helping women to battle agains those sins which seem to be particularly pernicious within their ranks. Gossip and slander, always seeking to hear and tell a juocy bit of information, these unforitunatlly can be a dangerous stumbling block and yet when younger women gather with older women with the aim in mind of seeking to help and encourage an tech one another there is little room for these sinful intrusitons though you shoudl always be on the watch for them.

Devotion

Now as we close I want to point out the devotion of the woman. I am not totally happy with the word devotion but it starts with a D and so it fit. When I say devition I am driving at the why, they why of whay it is that a woman ought to seek to do thes rhings that we have been talking about.

In 1 Peter 3 we read in verses 3-6:

1 Peter 3:3–6 ESV

Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.

Very precious in God’s site. There is much good that comes from women who have devoted themselves to biblical womahood, there is much good that will be poured out into our families churches, and communities, the cultural mandate will be furthered, men will be able to be men of courage and strength haveing good helpmates and not being dragged down with a quarelsom and waering wife. These are all good things and yet one thing surpasses them all for the biblical woman and that is the sight of God, she knows that when she is pursuing God’s plans and purposes for her that in God’s eyes she is precious!

We have not dealt with it in these messages but this is also the source of the need for modesty in women. Our soceity seeks to push as much immodesy as possible, women wearing clothing that reveals as much of their bodies as poissbile and here again, a good biblical woman will understand that this sets stubling bloks before men and leads to all kins of sinful consiquences in this world but even here the ultimate reason for modesty is that when the woman dresses in modesty she again knows that she is seen and delighted in by her creator!

1 Corinthians 10:31 tells us to do all things for the glory of God and at it heart this is what biblical womanhood is all about. It is about seeking as a woman to do all that you do with the aim of glorifying God. We live in a world that glorifies self above all, that encourages the pursuit of your own self and your own happiness above all else and yet the gospel calls us into the service of a King who has saved us at great cost to Himself, saved us through the blood of His Son shed there at the corss and this King, while He is abundant in mercy and grace He is also a King who will not share His glory with any otheres and He calles those who are His to give their lives in the service of His glory, to do all for the glory of God.

Men, women, children, all of us are called to live our lives to the glory of God!

And so as we wrap up now I will simply return to that quote from Elizabeth Elliot: “The fact that I am a woman doesn’t make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian makes me a different kind of woman.” 

This is my hope, that as we have taken these weeks now to see some of what the Bible has to say simply about the normative design and expectation and purpose for women that the aim of those of you here would be to embrace these things and prayerfully and with wisdom seek to apply these to your lives and to help others in the application of them to their lives that being daughters of the King of King would indeed, and joyfully so, make you very different kinds of women indeed!