Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

I am a woman trapped in a man’s body.

Carl Trueman opens his recent book with this sentence, and explains that his book is basically an attempt to understand how such a sentence has come to be meaningful in our day. He starts by saying his grandfather who died in 1994 wouldn’t have understood it at all like we do today. 

His sentence brings together two ideas in tight fashion: "I am a woman trapped" refers to the concept of gender, but "a man's body" refers to the concept of biological sex. And then in the sentence is the assumption that a person's perceived gender can be different from his or her biological sex, in this case the gender being female and the biological sex being male. A growing number of people in our culture would affirm such ideas. As Benjamin said in his sermon on transgenderism, many in our day would assume the following:

• Society determines what gender is, and it’s not connected to biological sex.
• The social construct of gender is used to oppress individuals.
• The individual has the right to decide which gender they are based on their desires.

This post is a response to such ideas but in an indirect fashion. I’ll do so by working toward a definition of a man and a woman.

Here are my notes from the men's meeting this morning. Thank you to all who attended, and to those who watched the LiveStream.

If you're interested in the sermon audio or video, you can find them on this messages page.

Every so many years I find myself once again wrestling with complementarianism. My agreement with the foundational theology behind complementarianism doesn’t change, but how it works itself out in the season I am in does change.

“I am single. I am complementarian. A lot of times people don’t see how those things go hand in hand.”

That’s how Katie Van Dyke begins her article, “Complementarianism and the Single Woman.”  She goes on to make several points useful to explore as we continue this series on complementarianism.

Our series on complementarianism has unpacked Genesis 1–3 and much of what it teaches on men, women, marriage, and sin. The alternative view is called egalitarianism, a view that sees men and women as not just "equal" in significance and essence but also in their roles in a marriage or the church. In this post we turn from the family to the church. How does gender impact what God calls us to in the church? That's the question before us. 

Adam and Eve teach us volumes about God's intentions for men and women and marriage. The paradise of Eden was a place where the first man and the first woman enjoyed a marriage entirely free of sin. We can't say how long this sinless harmony lasted, but for at least a moment the man was the head of his home and the woman his happy helpmate, and both were in peaceful fellowship with the living God. But in this third installment in our series we'll see the darkness of the fall descend.

In Part One of this series we looked at all Genesis 1 teaches us about the equality of men and women. Now we'll step into how God has made us...different. A slew of books like the bestseller Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus reminds us that pointing out differences is common enough. But while psychology and biology have something to teach us on these differences, our goal is to unpack how God speaks to it.

This is the first of a series of posts where we'll look at how our gender impacts God's call on our lives within our families and our church. The basic view we're exploring is "complementarianism." That's probably a new one for you, but hopefully by the end of this series, you'll see that while it's hard to spell, it's a gift to live. 

Last Sunday I looked at the topic of homosexuality and tried to speak clearly and lovingly to the issue. One thing I didn't do is provide specific help for those who struggle with same-sex attraction. This post is a small attempt to do that. Most of it comes from Michael R. Emlet, who wrote a 2014 article on the topic ("Five Ministry Priorities for Those Struggling with Same-Sex Attraction," Journal of Biblical Counseling 28:3).