One of the things we might want to consider is the issue of the rulership of men over women, which God had warned the woman about in Genesis 3:16. We have already concluded that this was not a command of God to be obeyed by the woman, rather it was a forewarning that this would happen.

And so it has. Sadly we have seen the rulership of men over women happen throughout history and we see it still happen today.

However in the midst of this sad picture there has come a glimmer of hope, in the form of a cross, with the broken body of a man hanging on it. Who was this man? It was the God/ Man Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world.

He died so that sinful men and women might have life. As the apostle John expresses it

“ I have come that they may have life and have it to the full ”.

John 10:10

Through Christ’s death on the cross the effects of the Fall have been reversed. What had been lost at the Fall: relationship with God, and relationship with one another on equal terms, has now been restored.

Furthermore men and women alike have been given authority. Please understand that this authority is a delegated authority, for it flows out of the authority, which has been given to Christ by His Father. We can read about this

“ All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the end of the age ”.

Matthew 28:18-20

This passage reminds us of Genesis 1:28 when God said to the male and the female:

“ Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over any living creature that moves on the ground ”.

That authority too was a delegated authority, which flowed from God.

There is one more important point I want to make though concerning the authority men and women, who are in Christ, have been given. This authority does never give anyone a right under any circumstance to lord it over another, to rule another for Christ did not come to be served but to serve, as Jesus said in Matthew 20:25-28

“ You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave –just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many ”.

Therefore Christ’s followers, be they men or women, have only been given the authority to serve. Jesus must have found this a particularly important message since He stresses this point at His Last Supper which can be found in John 13:1-17. He was about to die and so there was not much time left for any last teaching. It is quite remarkable that in these final moments He chose to teach in word and action on the vital necessity of having a servant heart, to those who would be the leaders of the church, those who would be the examples of the kind of authority the church was to demonstrate.

The message of restoration, because of Christ’s death, is the overriding theme throughout the New Testament. It is the message the apostle Paul preached. He taught what the Lord before him had taught in word and deed, that both men and women are equally sinful and equally in need of a Saviour and that Christ’s death on the cross provides total redemption for both men and women.

He taught that this redemption had made been possible because at the cross Christ had reversed the effects of the Fall, by becoming a curse for both men and women as we can read in Galatians 3:13.

“ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree” ”.

As a result of Christ’s death on the cross both men and women can now become the righteousness of God in Christ according to

II Corinthians 5:21.

“ God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God ”.

This means that every believer, male or female has become a new creation, for whom the old has gone and the new has come according to II Corinthians 5:17

“ Therefore if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come ”.

Such a person is to forget the past according to Philippians 3:13

“ One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead ”.

Furthermore there is now no condemnation for the man or the woman who in Christ Jesus according to Romans 8:1-2

“ Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of Life has set me free from the law of sin and death ”.

That person is to live unto God as Paul says in Romans 6:11

“ Count yourself alive to God ”.

Paul furthermore taught in I Corinthians 12 – 14 and in Romans 12:4-8 that every believer, male or female, is now part of the body of Christ and is to function as part of this body with the gift, or gifts the Holy Spirit has given to that believer for the benefit of others. These gifts are given as the Holy Spirit determines, without race, class or gender distinction.

In light of all this it becomes very clear that because of Christ’s death on the cross, men and women have been called to work together beside one another in the kingdom of God.

One example of the gifts of the Spirit working through both men and women can be seen in I Corinthians 11:4-5

“ Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonours his head. And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonours her head”.

Press here for the next page.

Please email me for more information, questions or comments.