“But among the Lord’s people, women are not independent of men, and men are not independent of women. For although the first woman came from man, every other man was born from a woman, and everything comes from God.”
1 Corinthians 11:11-12 NLT
Good, factual words from Paul in our verses today. He referred back to the Creation story that we can read in Genesis 2:18, 21-22, “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” … So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man”. So the first woman appeared on this planet without a belly button, it would seem. We also find the account of the first operation performed with an anaesthetic. God did amazing and wonderful things during the creation of this world, and all that is within it, but, sadly, people today choose to overlook or even deny that it happened. When we look at the perfection within the human body and consider the views of the evolutionists, we wonder how they could have ever concluded that it all happened by chance. In the end, I have to admit that I, and many people I know, don’t have the faith necessary to be an atheistic evolutionist.
But today we are considering the interdependence of men and women. Two distinct roles that are accompanied by all the spiritual and mental resources needed for each. A man has the mental capacity to be a breadwinner and protector of his family. A woman has the emotions to care for her children and husband. And both have the intelligence to be able to make choices, to love and support each other, in a match truly made in Heaven. But as we know, the devil has deeply impacted this relationship by corrupting God’s order and creation, by introducing lies that have confused men and women, bringing them to situations that God never intended. And, worse, society has picked up these lies and used them, through legislation, to exacerbate the devil-introduced corruption, blighting the human race with falsehoods. Firstly, the devil introduced what Paul referred to as “foolish ideas”, as we read in Romans 1:21, 25, “Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. … They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshipped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen”. Secondly, the devil introduced thoughts and physical changes that went directly against what God intended for men and women. We read in Romans 1:26-27, “That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved”. Back in Genesis 2:24, we read what God really intended in the relationship between men and women: “This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one”.
In the interdependence between men and women, there is ultimately a “joining” that prevails. However, as Paul previously taught in 1 Corinthians 7, there is a role for singleness as well, should God ordain it. But there is no room in God’s creation for all the societal “wokeness” that has burst into God’s created order. We must pray for the poor people who have been corrupted by the devil’s attacks and who have found no Godly support for their confusion.
Paul wrote that “everything comes from God”. It has to, really, when we think about Genesis 1 and 2. But this is a belief that diverges from the sad secularism that has blighted our societies, with those who deny the existence of God forced to come up with some other explanation for the origins of our world. Men and women, however, have an interdependence that will outlast the attempts of mankind to corrupt God’s order. Such men and women are still getting married today. They are still spending their lives together, raising their children, living in harmony, and bringing glory to God. One day, God will have the last word, and it will be preceded by the devil being consigned to an eternity away from the ability to influence mankind ever again, an existence that will provide him with an opportunity for eternal regrets. The sad thing is that many men and women will ultimately join him there. There will be no defence before God, such as “the devil made me do it”, because men and women were created in God’s image, with the ability to make choices.
Dear Heavenly Father. You created men and women in accordance with Your divine design. We thank You for who we are, and the opportunities that You have provided for us. We repent of our sins today, and cast off the corruption that pushes against us and what we believe every day. We worship You with all that is within us because You are the only true God this world has ever had. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 