Author	Thread: Gender from a biblical perspective and how it relates to marriage
Admin	Gender from a biblical perspective and how it relates to marriage Posted : 5 Feb, 2012 02:35 PM I do not believe that God's purpose for marriage can be fulfilled unless both the man and the woman first embrace their respective gender-based identities, gifts and weaknesses as God has represented in the bible. I thought as good of a place to start is in the beginning. Feedback and/or constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. My belief is that when God removed Adam's 'rib' and formed Eve from it, what God actually performed was a an extraction of a portion of Adam's character traits - the feminine - as classically divided b/t masculine and feminine. I say 'classically' because in a post-Christian culture, it has become taboo to claim that character distinctions exist from birth according to gender and, according to my experience, will bring distain at about the same level as claiming sexual orientation is not predetermined from birth. The Hebrew in Genesis 2 is fascinating. The word for rib is a feminine noun which more accurately translates as 'chamber' and whose root is 'lame' or 'to make lame.' Then when God closes up that 'place' (often translated flesh) which he opened, that place is more accurately translated as "frail or erring" with a direct association to the "pudenda of man[kind]." Pudenda being 'the external genital organs of a human being and especially of a woman.' So either Adam had both sets of physical plumbing or this refers to something within his character. From this, we see that 'rib' and 'flesh' are overly simplistic translations which most likely came from the latter exclamation of Adam, �... this is now [literally] bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.� Convenient for a child�s Sunday school lesson but the implications in the Hebrew run much deeper. So in summary, I find an inner chamber of Adam, related to gender (specifically the feminine) being extracted which then leaves Adam lame, frail, and/or erring by comparison to before or, as a result from said extraction. Lastly, from this extracted part, God made woman. This is why Adam exclaims, '... let her name be Woman because she was taken out of Man." Man, now lacking what was taken from him to be whole and woman being incomplete from her inception, is why the bible then proclaims, 'That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.' The sexual union then creating one of the strongest bonds known to man whereby wholeness (via distinct, yet combined giftedness/roles) is immediately imparted to the family unit as well as to the individuals so bonded in marriage as they glean from one another over a lifetime. Lastly, 'suitable helper' is a horrible translation for what the woman is to the man. The Hebrew word used for helper, elsewhere, is translated deliverer and usually reserved for God alone and in dire circumstances. 'Suitable' in context of the entire passage would be better translated 'counterpart.' Therefore, a man's wife is his/the counterpart which delivers him from the detrimental effects of the shortcomings which he possesses apart from her. Post Reply
View Profile History	Gender from a biblical perspective and how it relates to marriage Posted : 7 Feb, 2012 10:16 AM short version 1st God 2nd Man- spiritual leader then 3rd Woman- help meet This is the biblical order for marriage. Unfortunately many marriages are NOT christian and many people are not " born again believers) . People need to be Saved before marriage. To even have a Biblical Union. Post Reply
AsmileForever View Profile History	Gender from a biblical perspective and how it relates to marriage Posted : 7 Feb, 2012 12:53 PM Which explains we are incomplete without a spouse. Post Reply
View Profile History	Gender from a biblical perspective and how it relates to marriage Posted : 8 Feb, 2012 11:33 AM LOL, having a wife is definitely awesome, as it says in Proverbs 18:22, �Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord.� It does also seem like the obligations to each other are equal as it says in 1Corinthians 7:3, �Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband�, and 1Corinthians 11:11, �Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.� Guys should love their wives as themselves, not as some weaker being that they pity, as it says in Ephesians 5:28, 29, �So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church.� Yeah, love is pretty powerful, and if your marriage is built around love that's awesome. But the Bible shows that this strong kind of love can be found between the genders as a non-heterosexual, platonic form of love, such as in Isaiah 18:1, �The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.� And as with Ruth 1:16, 17 who told her mother in law, �Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.� Post Reply
View Profile History	Gender from a biblical perspective and how it relates to marriage Posted : 20 Feb, 2012 07:41 PM Thank you Sally :) If you want to serve as the 'things in common' person that would be awesome. I would like to highlight the distinct character/roles so together, we would make for a good balance. I'll have another post soon. Blessings, Glenn Post Reply