Nutty?

I recently saw a three part blog about "The Absurd Legalism of Gender Roles."
This blogger began by attacking a 2007 John Piper article entitled "Co-ed Combat and Cultural Cowardice."  The blogger quoted this part of the article:

Suppose, I said, a couple of you students, Jason and Sarah, were walking to McDonald’s after dark.  And suppose a man with a knife jumped out of the bushes and threatened you.  And suppose Jason knows that Sarah has a black belt in karate and could probably disarm the assailant better than he could.  Should he step back and tell her to do it?  No. He should step in front of her and be ready to lay down his life to protect her, irrespective of competency.  It is written on his soul.  That is what manhood does.

The blogger asked if this hypothetical story sounded "nutty."

I am aware that females are easily offended by saying that they are "weaker" than males - or that they should be protected by males - or that they should submit to males.

Why?  Why is this so offensive?

In the beginning, God gave man and woman different roles - neither of these roles is greater or less than the others' role - they are both important - but the are different.

Both  man and woman were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27).
They are equal in God's sight.  This means that man is not better than woman - but he is different.

God designed man to work and watch over the garden - the ground - the world - his wife (Genesis 2:15; 3:17-19).

God recognized that man needed a helper - a compliment.  Thus, He created woman out of the man (Genesis 2:20-24).

Woman was uniquely designed to be the bearer and nurturer of life.  She was created to support and uplift her husband (Genesis 2:20; 3:16).

The blogger vehemently fought for her point of view.  However, she failed to see the most significant part of John Piper's article, the basis of Biblical manhood/womanhood, and God's design of man and woman.

Ephesians 5:22-32 is probably the most beautiful passage in the entire Bible.
I admit, I did not understand this passage very well before I met my Heroic Husband.  And I have come to understand it even more since I became his wife.

Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church.  He is the Savior of the body.  Now as the church submits to Christ, so wives are to submit to their husbands in everything.  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word.  He did this to present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless.  In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies.  He who loves his wife loves himself.  For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, since we are members of His body. 

For this reason a man will leave
his father and mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two will become one flesh.

This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church.  To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband.

Oh, I get goosebumps just reading those words.

Revelation 19:7
Let us be glad, rejoice, and give Him glory, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has prepared herself. 

As a Christian, I am to submit myself to the Lord - my Master - my Savior.
As a member of the church, I am the bride of Christ.
As a wife, I am to submit to my husband as I submit to Christ.
As Christ is the head of the church, the husband is the head of the wife - of the family.
As Christ loves the church, the husband is to love his wife.
As Christ gave His life for the church, the husband is to lay down his life for his wife - for his family.

Wow.  What imagery!

Marriage and Biblical gender roles are not simply something that God did to cause trouble or make one person feel superior and another inferior.  It is a picture of the Gospel.  My marriage - your marriage - your life - is a picture of the Gospel.

This is why things like adultery, fornication, homosexuality, and divorce hurt God so much.  It is a mutilation of the Gospel image.  Christ will never cheat on His church.  He will never defile her.  He will never leave her.  He will never forsake her.  He loves her.  He gave His life for her.  He died on the cross so that she could spend eternity with Him in heaven.

Deuteronomy 31:8
"The Lord is the One who will go before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you.  Do not be afraid or discouraged."

I find the end of Genesis 3:16 very interesting in light of the blogger's - and most of our culture's - opinion.
"Your desire will be for your husband..."
God knew in the beginning that women would fight their role.  They would desire to overtake their husband.  In the same way, He knew that the church would also fight God.  We would not submit to Him.

However, the verse is not finished.
"...yet he will rule over you ."
Is this talking about husbands or God.  The answer is yes to both, since they are a reflection of each other.

Is this nutty?  Is this legalistic?
I think not.
I think it is beautiful.