The Biblical Data for Bioligical sex differences
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To conclude this exposition let us take some time to evaluate and understand the biblical data on men and woman.
What we have seen so far is clear:
In the church, redemption in Christ gives men and women an equal share in the blessings of salvation; nevertheless, some governing and teaching roles within the church are restricted to men.
But if this is so clealry understod, why do we find such a stong push for egalitarianism?
The answer, again goers back to the fall account of Genesis 3.
So far, we hace seen one universal implication of the fall:
12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
This consequence is universal for both men and woman. However, God also pronounces a consequence to each sex.
His God’s pronounciation of consequence God says:
1: That as a result of the fall, the man (husband) will attempt to dominate the woman.
16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
And as a result of the Fall, the woman (wife) will have “desire” for the man (huband).
16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
Genesis 3 16 is a vitally imposrant passage, however it is not, at a surface reading, a clear passage.
To understand, we are going to have to conduct a cearful exegisis of the origional text.
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Of great importance here are 3 Hebrew words:
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To fully understand each of thes words, a detailed look at each word’s “sense” is required.
In linguistics, a word sense is one of the meanings of a word. For example, a dictionary may have over 50 different senses of the word "play", each of these having a different meaning based on the context of the word's usage in a sentence.
So our question is: What is the sense of each of these words in the context of Genesis 3:16?
Let us start with Adam (men).
God said that as a result of the fall men will seek to “rule over” the wife.
The Word here is “mâshal”.
On its own it not a bad, or negative word. In fact it reflects mans charge to lead.
However, in Genesis 3:16, the word takes on a sinniser meaning:
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This fallen desire of the man explains the New Testament veres to men:
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
And:
7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.
The NT commands for men are there to counter the fallen sinful desire of men to Dominate or rule over their wives.
Now lets turn our attention to Eve:
16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
God said that as a result of the fall a woman’s desire shal be for her husband.
This is again a very odd passage. How is it a “curse” for a woman to desire her husband?
Again, we have to look at the sense of each word in the contect of gen 3 16.
First lets look at the word translated “desire”: teshûwqâh:
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and at the same time let us see what the object of this “desire” is:
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So the word desire can, depending on the sence, be a positive or negative word.
In the posative, it speaks of a romanic desire, such as that seen in:
10 I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.
However, in Genesis 3:16 its in the negative sense which means that its calssed as “greed”.
So as a result of the fall, woman are greedy for something, what is it they are greedy for?
Let us examine the word “husband”.
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As you can see, the word husband in Genesis 3:16 is not refering to the person of the husband, but the POSITION of the husband, thats is, its not the husband himself she has greed towards, but the position of bridegroom itself.
This explains why the NT explicity tells woman:
11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
and:
22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
These NT command, like those to men, are there to counter the fallen womans sinful desire to be greedy for the husbands position of spiritual headship.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
The point is clear for BOTH sexes:
Men are called to resist their natural inclination to dominate their wives, and instead must honour them and love them with true sacrificial love.
Woman are called to resist their natural inclination to desire the position of authority of their husband, and in stead must submit to them in obedience to the Lord.
If either of the above conclusions are rejected, they are rejected on the basis of a fallen and unregenerated mind still operating in the curse of the Fall.