Caveat: In many ways, I chafe at this topic of gender roles. I squirm in the way the hip young
youth pastor squirms when he runs across 1 Timothy 2:11-12 and has to tell his group of dweeby
15-year-old boys and ambitious 15-year-old girls that the latter must remain silent and the former
has authority.

I don’t think the issue ever gets resolved in most group discussions. The girls always leave
feeling a bit uneasy about it, and I’m sure the guys do, too. It bumps up against our cultural,
feminist-tinged sensibilities.

But rather than do what one writer dubbed “hermeneutical acrobatics” and try to squeeze what
the Bible says about gender roles into the ever-changing mold of what the broader culture deems
acceptable, let’s just take some of these passages about gender at face value.

Genesis shows us gender roles that are different from each other. They can also be complicated, mysterious, confusing. But they are beautiful nonetheless — even when we can’t always wrap our head around them.

This is the inerrant, inspired word of God. Chances are, what needs to change is our attitude
toward the scripture—not the scripture itself.

—

Let’s set the stage. Adam is enjoying life; he’s got a great career and a vibrant relationship with
God. It’s not Adam that decides he’s unsatisfied—it’s God, who declares “It is not good for
man to be alone.” He proclaims something is missing and he can do one better than a one-king
kingdom — he can share it between two people.

So God creates woman and presents her to man.

Sometimes, the “she was taken out of man” line in Genesis 2:22 can get dicey. Does it mean that
woman is less than man? She only has an identity in relation to man?

But the passage reads differently. Everything leading up to it shows how unsuitable a companion
all the animals in the garden were. Even a relationship with God can be improved when you
add an equal. It’s like a grandkid sitting at the table with his grandparents. While he loves his
grandparents and will hang out with them forever, a wise grandparent realizes he’d probably have
a great time playing with kids his own age.

Same thing here. God wants to give Adam someone who’s on his level.

Adam’s exclamation in Genesis 2:23—“This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh”—
points out how suitable, how equal, Adam and Eve are. The emphasis is their similarity and
compatibility—not a hierarchy.

But God still made man and woman differently. He gave the genders different names; he
describes the woman as a help meet.

Volumes have been written on that phrase “help meet,” a translation of the Hebrew “ezer
kenegdo.” Hebrew scholar Robert Alter, quoted in the book Captivating, makes a good point. The
word translates to “sustainer beside him” and is used about 20 other times in the Old Testament
to describe God. Most of the instances we see it are when people cry out to God to be their
help—to keep them alive when they are on the brink of death.

The woman was not provided to Adam as a useful but dispensable personal assistant, or an
intern to get his coffee in the morning. She has different skills and characteristics that are keeping
him alive, just as his skills and characteristics are keeping her alive.

A woman’s role is definitely unique and definitely vital. And the two fit each other so perfectly that
they can “become one flesh”—physically, but also as a team moving toward a single purpose.

Finally, here’s a powerful statement: “Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no
shame.” There weren’t the body image issues that plague our society today and torture us
with guilt trips about working out or losing weight. There weren’t the insecurities or impossible
standards that come from an out-of-whack understanding of sexuality. And another convenience:
Adam and Eve apparently didn’t need much protection against the elements—God protected
them even from the minor discomfort of getting too cold and needing to bring a sweater.

It was truly a paradise. If I could sum it up in one word, it would be contentment. People trusted.
God provided. And Adam and Eve were completely content in that—even when their roles were
different.

What a great movie! I just left the theater and I feel uplifted, encouraged, and ready to sprint as hard as I can for as long as my legs will carry me (roughly 25 yards)! I have heard the story of the horse, but this movie was about the people behind the horse. Primarily, the owner and the trainer. [...]

I chose the title “Betty Crocker vs. Hillary Clinton” because they symbolize the two stereotypes people have in the fight conversation on gender roles. Complementarians (those who believe in specific gender roles) fear that if we give women an inch, they’ll all be running for president in 2012. On the other hand, Egalitarians (those who believe in no gender roles but mutual submission) worry that if women submit they will turn into inferior, useless cooks whose ultimate worth are found in casseroles. Well, both stereotypes are wrong (a little funny) but wrong.

So what is a woman’s role in the church? I believe the Bible clearly teaches there are specific gender roles in both the family and the church. The man is to take the lead role, while the woman is to submit to his leading (cf. 1 Timothy 2:11-14; 3:1-2; Ephesians 5:22-33; and 1 Corinthians 11:3). Whoa! Now, before I lose my readers let’s clear up some common misconceptions about gender roles.

[...]