Woman! You will want to be his master, but he will be yours!

Woman! You will want to be his master, but he will be yours!

The family dynamics have changed over the last thirty years. Women have left the home life and entered the workforce. Child care programs have skyrocketed since the 1970's. The equality movement between the sexes in America has peaked. Men have seen dramatic changes in the role of women in the home and the workforce. Is this God's best for the family structure?

I am no critic of the women's liberation movement, but I am totally for restoring the family structure for the purpose of raising healthy children. So, I will expound on the traditional family roles that is God's best as in Genesis 3.

In the creation account, God created male and female. One of the major purposes of the male and female was to reproduce after its kind. God allowed Adam to see Him create male and female animals and understand their purpose before He gave Adam, Eve. All the animals had opposites, the male carried the seed and the female the egg. Each of the sexes were purposed to mate and create new life.

Evil had a conspiracy to reduce God's best for mankind to non existence. The overall plan took effect when Eve was approached in the garden of Eden by the Serpent. He challenged her to do what God said not to do; she ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and feed Adam too. Together, Adam and Eve disobeyed God and were no longer connected to Him. Immediately, they became servants of Sin.

God deals with the first couple and evil with punishment. As with the natural order of physical brokenness, there is pain. Pain brings a feeling of discomfort. The pain reminds us that something is wrong that needs fixing. The pain, the unwanted feeling, teaches us that we must correct our actions to avoid repeating the feeling. As a child, I continued to put my hand toward the hot stove until I was burned. That hurt! I learned that fire is hot. I have not put my hand too close to the fire ever again.

In Genesis 3, pain is the punishment for all three parties involved in the garden of Eden. Man, Woman, and the Serpent were punished for disobedience to God. We still see the effects of the fall of mankind in the garden of Eden.

The key themes in Genesis 3 sets the tone for humanity's role throughout life in the earth. God does not change His mind, neither does He change the order of creation. Man still carries the seed, woman still has the womb, sin still exists, and humanity continues to experience pain. So what does all this mean?

As a Christian, we must accept the natural order of things as God's best and see the spiritual order as God's law for eternity. The focus here is on the natural order. The family is most important to consider because it is the breeding ground of humanity as we know it today.

Woman experience pain when she brings forth life. A man experiences pain when he works to sustain life. Both experience pain as a result of the curse in Genesis 3.

Sin desires to control humanity. Woman desires to control her husband. God tells Cain that sin wants to rule but he must take control. God tells the woman that she wants to control her husband, but he will rule over her. I discuss this in detail in "Before I Say I Do".  Adam takes his authority over the woman when he names her "Eve".  Through Christ, we have authority over Sin! Even though the physical effects remain, we have already beat Sin through the effects of the cross. This is done first in the spirit and will transfer in the physical in the resurrection of humanity later.

Today, the family's focus is to raise children in recognition of God's best. We have a lot of dysfunctional families and broken homes in society.  What would a functional family look like? Let us examine a family through the lens of Gods best.

The man is the head of the family. The woman is his helpmeet. The children are to be raised up with a clear view of these roles. A woman must respect her husband's authority as headship. Sarah called Abraham her lord. This is in unison of the doctrine of male headship.

The Apostle Paul teaches that the man must love his wife as himself. Therefore, he treats her with a peculiar love. A love that shows! Love is explained in 1 Cor 14:4 as being patient, kind, not envious or boastful, not arrogant. Using the terms of the apostle towards mans love with his wife, he rules with love and not with iron. Another explanation of this relationship compares his role as Christ's role in the church.

The church is considered the bride of Christ. Man is to rule over his bride in the same manner as Christ with the church. Both Christ and the husband share similar love for the wife. He treats his wife in a manner that is reflective in daily living. He does not abuse his power. His role is to provide, protect, educate, and maintain his home. Her role is to respect his authority. In the garden, she is noted as wanting to take charge.  While this role has become dominant in today's family, it undermines God's best. Overruling headship brings on a weakness in the family structure and kills that foundation of the family. Members of the body of Christ that undermine Christ are considered thieves and robbers who will not inherit the kingdom of Heaven. If God makes it clear about those professing to be followers of Christ but not accepting his Lordship as reprobates, then certainly a wife not in subjection to her husband is hurting the foundation of her family.

To be frank, men have become weak because their fathers have been denied headship in their households. A woman says she wants a husband, but she must be willing to accept her role as a wife. Roles are meant to define order in any environment. In the family, husband and wife must work together as one; just as the father, son, and spirit relationship as well as Christ and the church.