Met With Perfect Pleasure

A few years ago I read everything I could get my hands on regarding biblical womanhood. I was passionate about the topic. (I still am but have calmed down a little bit). I seized every opportunity to discuss the idea with anyone who was willing to engage.
Then I was asked why it mattered to me so much. It seems like a peripheral issue. It was important to the Christian life, but not central. The Gospel was central. Jesus is central. But marriage, and gender roles?
Well, I argued - they are important because marriage was intended to reflect the relationship between Christ and the Church. It is a central issue because it was about glorifying Christ! Nicole, while sharing what she drew from a John Piper talk, does a wonderful job in her recent post Creation, Christ and Gender explaining why. Here's a little sample of what she wrote:

But the John Piper talk helped me see how important it is that there is something even more fundamental than Creation - deeper magic from before the dawn of time!!! Before there was creation there was God's eternal plans and purposes to sum up everything in Christ, and to glorify Christ as the redeemer and husband of his people. It wasn't that God made us male and female, then decided some time later that marriage would be a good way to order our sexuality, then some time later thought that marriage might be a good metaphor for Christ and the church. No - according to Eph 5:32, "Christ and the church" is (ultimately, eternally) what marriage is for and about.

Coming to a clear, biblical understanding of our femininity and how that works out in relationships matters - it is central. The very way Christ relates to us and how the Gospel is conveyed to others is wrapped up in whether we were made male or female. Amazing!

Posted by Melanie at 8:00 AM |