There is Codependence in the Lord for Consolation
Man is the glory of God and the head of woman. This glory should be displayed and this head should be prominent. Woman is the glory of man, under man’s authority, and this glory should be covered to symbolize her subordination. Glory is this way distributed, and authority is this way delegated, because woman originates from man, and is a helpmeet made for man. Though woman is required to advertise her subordinate station, man has no right from God to look down on her. Verses 11 and 12 are included in order to restrain man from abusing his position in the hierarchy. And so we have no argument here, but a safeguard to protect women. We might imagine these two verses in parentheses: “Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.” Yet again the apostle Paul comes to the rescue of women. He did not shy away from injecting this clause into a passage that was written to reprimand the disobedient sex. He balances the sexes fairly even among cultures to whom a tendency toward ‘equal rights’ would have seemed mad. He reminds the Corinthians of what is obvious. Woman is from man; but since then man is born of woman. The codependence that is taught in these verses is in harmony with the give and take that is necessary in the roles that are assigned to man and woman. According to the nature of each, each depends on the other, and both depend on God, from whom all blessings come. Mutual respect should be shown according to the codependence that naturally exists. Submission to husbands is conjoined with love for wives in Colossians, love for wives with reverence for husbands in Ephesians. The man needs a double dose of respect, while the woman craves a double dose of love. The man needs to be looked up to; the woman needs to be cherished. And each spouse has the right to the other (1 Corinthians 7.4.) This is equal rights according to the Bible. The equilibrium is beautiful under the headships of Christ and God. Man and woman have different roles and functions. The one leads, while the other assists, yet they are equal. They are mutually dependent.
Spiritual life was first lost by woman when she was deceived by the devil. But it was to be regained through her: Mary gave birth to the Saviour. Natural life was first lost by the woman in the same way; but through childbirth it was continued through her. Woman committed the transgression that led to the fall of both her and man. But her consolation is that she bears the Seed that saves both. It may be that this is what the cryptic 1 Timothy 2.15 refers to: “Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.” Eve’s ‘sorrow and conception’ (Genesis 3.16) looked forward to the holy conception and Mary’s Magnificat: the conception by the Holy Spirit that caused the incarnation of the Son of God, and the estate of woman exalted to its highest pitch. “And Mary said, my soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden” (Luke 1.46-48.) By her low estate regarded, her soul is lifted to magnify the Lord. This is, by the way, an instance of the ‘joy unspeakable’ that Peter speaks of (1 Peter 1.8.) The first transgression is by woman, but all subsequent salvation, accomplished by the Seed prophesied of in Genesis 3.15, is obviously via woman, for Mary is the mother of Jesus. Salvation is by the Man Christ Jesus, but through a handmaiden. Man is not independent of woman, for through her salvation is come. The head of man is the Man she gave birth to. So even if man is a lord, he cannot, with justice, ‘lord it over,’ as we say. Man had no part in bringing the Saviour into the world. Jesus came through woman by conception of the Holy Ghost. Is this childbirth not the most dignifying deed in the history of the world? For certain that deed can never be outdone by any sinful mortal. Therefore we have the consolatory qualification regarding woman’s subordination to man: “Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.” The greatest Man, the sinless Man—the Man Christ Jesus, God in human flesh—is through the woman, not the man.
No comments:
Post a Comment