Re: More on the Image of God

John Neal (nealjw@one.net)
Wed, 18 Mar 1998 21:10:41 -0500

This verse doesn't say that women can't have a relationship with God outside
of men. It just speaks of authority, not fellowship. It speaks about the
heirarchy of order and authority that God himself has made. God is the
Father, Jesus is the Son, Adam was created and through sin looks to Christ,
and the woman was made for the man. -- Paul says that there is no
difference in gender *in Christ.* The difference in the flesh is obvious -
to an extent. Other than our flesh itself being different, there are
differences psychologically that stem from the very fact that we're
different in the flesh. But, these differences are overshadowed or at least
put into perspective when Paul says that there is no difference in Christ.
God is no respecter of persons (yet he specifically curses Eve with 'your
desire shall be unto your husband, and he shall rule over you' - this was
the result of Eve's sin and was not so before she committed it). You just
have to be aware of the two natures of man to grasp this. Otherwise, you'll
probably degenerate into something like a rabid dog protecting what little
life is in him.
As for this: "Indeed, women seemed to be considered morally superior to
men - something about our purer more gentle natures - and that we provided a
civilizing influence on men's baser instincts[,]"
remember that abortions are chosen by women, not men; Eve was deceived, not
Adam. Adam was rebuked by God for *listening to his wife,* not for sinning
(this points directly to the heirarchy of authority). Women have no more a
loving nature than men do, all are corrupt, and have sinned, and therefore
fallen short of the glory of God. The lovliness of a woman is a fruit of
the obedience to the Spirit of God. Don't arrogate it to the woman's
corrupt nature. It's just not true. If anyone had anything other than a
corrupt nature, God is a liar, because he sent his Son to save us all from
our corruption from sin. The absolute only deterence to the corrupt and
wicked nature of all men, women, and children, and of the entire universe,
is the Holy Spirit. There is none good, no not one. But, with God's
goodness, the fragrance of our gender-specific and further individual
characteristics just sweetens the air of our experience.
John Neal