Equal, yet subordinate?

Matt and I were able to bring back many borrowed books from friends and family from the states. (Yes, I said borrowed which means we'll be returning them next year :) - we have GREAT! friends and family!) One that I borrowed from my Aunt Sandy is called Women of the Bible One year devotional. I absolutely LOVE it! The devotional covers the lives of 52 women in the Bible, one for each week. It has really opened my eyes and revealed the nitty gritty of the lives of these women whom I've "known" about for so long, but not really known. Then our friends, Ron and Meredith, let us borrow several books as well and Meredith lent me one called Twelve Extraordinary Women. This book goes in depth into the lives of 12 women in the Bible and gives a deep, personal account of their lives. The subtitle says, "How God shaped women of the Bible and what He wants to do with you." So, for the moment, I have paused the devotional study to go through the study of Eve and then Sarah in the Twelve Extraordinary Women book, since I have already studied their lives in the devotional study.

I am fascinated with God's gentle care of Eve, her creation, and the intricate way God designed her to fulfill the role of woman. I am intrigued with God's design of marriage with Adam clearly the head of the relationship and Eve clearly designed to be Adam's helper.

Here are some key points that resonate with me today:
Adam's first words upon glimpsing Eve were, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'Woman,' for she was taken out of man." Genesis 2:24
Scripture demonstrates the deep personal attachment Adam felt for Eve. She wasn't made to just serve him, but to be equal to him as she was part of him, made from him. Yet also, made to complete him as his perfect physical companion, perfect mate, intellectual and spiritual counterpart. And their marriage (before the fall) mirrors the ideal God had planned. From Creation, God stated "two shall become one flesh." Genesis 2:24. God intends for us as women to have a deep personal and intimate connection with our husbands. A physical union as well as a union of our hearts and our souls. And Jesus, in speaking on divorce in Judea to the Pharisees, uses this exact scripture to prove the powerful union God created between man and woman that was present at Creation, from he beginning of the history of the world.

Here is a beautiful quote by Puritan author Matthew Henry: "The woman was made out of the side of Adam; not not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out out of his feet to be trampled on by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved."

I love the picture this brings to mind of husband and wife, side by side, his arm around her shoulders, her leaning into his chest, head by his heart. He holding her tight, she strong enough to support him. Together, in a way no one nor any thing can separate, in a union God specifically designed and created.

1 Corinthians 11:8-9 says, "Man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man." The point being that Adam was created first and Eve was made for him to fill a void he felt in his life. Adam was the head of their family and Eve was his helper. Adam was designed to be the father, provider, protector and leader. Eve was designed to be a mother, comforter, nurturer and helper.

I am so impacted by these scriptures specifically as this is distinctly what God has been impressing upon my heart in most recent days. It is for these things I was created. It is for this very purpose God that created and planned and prepared me.

God created men and women differently with purpose and his plan for them reflects their differences. Scripture is clear that the wife's role is to be subordinate and submissive to the authority of her husband (Eph. 5:22-24; Col. 3:18; 1 Peter 3:1-6). The same is true of the woman's role in the church. Just as the man is to be the leader of the family and the head of the household, men are also to be the authority and leaders in the church (1 Cor. 11:3-7, 14:34-35).

"Christ is the head of every man, and the head of every woman is man, and the head of Christ is God." (1 Corinthians 11:3)

Scripture outlines God's design for headship in the church and in the family in 1 Timothy 2:13, "For Adam was formed first, then Eve."

God created women to be equal to men and distinctly to be his helper, subordinate to his leadership (in the family and in the church).

How can equality exist in a relationship where one is subordinate to another?

We need only look at the Holy trinity to see God's perfect example of this relationship of equality and subordinate co-existing perfectly.

John 10:30, "I and the Father are one."

John 1:1-2, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning."

Three persons of the Holy Trinity: God the Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and His Holy Spirit, all fully God, all fully equal; yet two clearly submissive to God the Father, as authority.

Jesus says in John 5:30 (NKJV) "I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent me."

Jesus Christ willingly submits to the authority of his Father, from whom he has been given clear equality. We, too, as wives, though given equality to our husbands, also are subject to their authority given to them by God himself.

"Christ is the head of every man, and the head of every woman is man, and the head of Christ is God." (1 Corinthians 11:3)

My dear sisters in Christ, this morning I urge you to go before the throne of our God, seeking to make right in your heart the God given authority our husbands have. Embrace our equality with them and also the distinct purpose God created us for (Genesis 2). Ask God to build in you the deep desire to be the helper our husbands need us to be. Pray for your husbands to embrace their dependence on their King Jesus, their spiritual authority and head as you petition your Creator to help you embrace your dependence on Him and on your husband as authority and leader in your marriage and in your family.