Introduction
This is the word of the Lord,
Genesis 1:26–28 ESV
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Let us pray.
There is a certain trajectory that I have in mind as we progress through this series on ‘The Intentional Church’.
Every week, Pastor Ashok and I, are trying to centre in on the foundations of the local church through the lens of roles and relationships.
• I began this series by grounding it on the word ‘intentional’. The Christian life is not an automatic life, it is an intentional life. You don’t grow spiritually, or from glory to glory, automatically. You grow intentionally.
• Then Ashok hashed out what that intentionality looks like in our personal lives. How Christian lives thrive from head to heart intentionally, through knowing the Scriptures to rising affections for God.
• After that, I preached on why such an individual, an intentional Christian, should be a covenant member of a local church. Why individual conversions are evidences of the Great Commission at work, and how all of it is Christ’s will to build His Church.
• And then, last week, we looked at the subject of Authority and how it is designed from top to bottom, in the role of the Elders and Deacons, to Husbands and Wives in the household.
Now, there are many more things I would have loved to say in each of those sermons (and even in this one), but then again, the idea is to lay a reasonable foundation.
But before we dive further into the dynamics of church life, we need to lay the foundations of something core and basic to human existence, a reality we cannot ignore, and one that we cannot afford to get wrong.
And it is this, that God made us either male or female. What is a man? And, what is a woman?
In a world that hates God
There is this documentary by a conservative political commentator in America, Matt Walsh, and the documentary is called ‘What is a Woman?’
It’s a film that should never have needed to be made.
And yet, here we are! Trying to answer a question that a three-year-old can point to in his picture book with no trouble whatsoever.
Walsh set out with a microphone, a camera crew, and a single question: What is a woman?
What should have been simple was not anymore.
Why should we be bothered with what happens in the west? Because it is typically argued that the West is about 30 to 50 years ahead of us.
Which means we have the unique privilege of watching a slow-motion train wreck before deciding whether we want a ticket.
We’re not just inheriting their shiny gadgets and economic booms—we’re also getting their collapsing families, gender confusion, and cultural rot, bubble-wrapped and ready for import.
We can see exactly where their road leads. And, if we don’t wise up, we’ll take the same ramp off the cliff.
Walsh talked to university professors, doctors, activists, professionals and random people on the street. Nobody could answer the question.
When an American Supreme Court Judicial candidate, a woman herself, was asked the definition of what a woman is, responded by saying, “I cannot… I’m not a biologist”.
It was as if the world had forgotten what a woman is. And then, Walsh took this question to an African tribe.
He asked, What is a woman? And without skipping a beat, the tribal men laughed and said, A woman is someone who can give birth.
He found it amusing that Walsh would even ask such a question.
No confusion. No hesitation. No advanced degrees needed. Just a good old-fashioned answer from people who still have both their feet well planted in reality.
Iron abounds.
The so-called “advanced” societies, the ones with all the gender studies departments, are completely tongue-tied.
Meanwhile, a bunch of goat herders with no Wi-Fi or Social Media accounts can answer with zero effort.
This is what happens when a civilization rejects God. It is not that people can’t answer basic questions—it’s that they won’t.
And when you refuse to say what a woman is, it’s only a matter of time before you can’t say what a man is.
And when you can’t say what a man is, it won’t be long before you can’t say what a marriage is, what a family is, or even what a human being is.
So, what is a woman? She is a biological female.
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
If you can’t say that, you won’t be able to say anything else that matters.
———
But how did they get here?
• Well it began in the Garden of Eden. When the serpent tempted Eve, he presented her with the idea that God, by restricting them from eating of the forbidden fruit, was keeping them better blessings.
Genesis 3:4–5 ESV
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
This was the first deception of mankind—the idea that God’s boundaries were not for our good, but for our limitation.
That God was not a loving Creator, but a jealous ruler keeping His creatures from attaining something greater.
• As humanity expanded, so did its rebellion. By the time of Noah’s generation, the world had become so corrupt that “every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).
By the time of Sodom and Gomorrah, we see what happens when a society fully gives itself over to sexual chaos. Homosexuality, rape, and unchecked lust had consumed the city, and judgment fell in the form of fire from heaven (Genesis 19).
Through the millennia, the story of God’s covenant people has been the story of a people held fast by his word, while the nations around them burned.
Egypt, Babylon, Greece, Rome—great empires flexing their might, building towers to the heavens, parading their philosophers, their gods, their armies.
And yet, beneath the marble and gold, beneath the banners and the piety, the rot spread.
Sexual perversion was the soundtrack of their collapse.
God’s people stood in the midst of it all, surrounded by temples of lust, kings who took what they pleased, civilizations that mistook appetite for progress.
The covenant held them. His Word kept them. And while the empires crumbled into dust and out of memory, the people of God remained.
As sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, we too were deceived by the enemy that God’s covenantal restrictions over sexual order were not for our good, but a limitation.
That God was withholding true freedom and joy from us.
• With enough momentum built up, the next step was when feminism told women that their role as wives and mothers was a form of oppression.
Another limitation that kept them from realising their full potential!
So, first-wave feminism fought for the right to vote. But second-wave feminism—the feminism that took over the culture in the 1960s and 70s—said that to be truly free, women had to be just like men.
• They needed careers, not children.
• They needed independence, not a husband.
• They needed the freedom to sleep around without consequences (hence birth control and abortion).
And so, they traded the beauty of womanhood for a counterfeit version of manhood—and it left them miserable.
I don’t know how many Christian women have to watch the suffering of womanhood before they realise that feminism hates God.
• At the same time, there was the movement of postmodernism that was infecting universities, saying that there is no absolute truth—only your truth and my truth. And if truth is subjective, then reality is what you make it.
Postmodernism hates God.
• All of this provided the perfect environment for a sexual revolution, and that was what we got.
For most of human history, sex was understood as something deeply tied to marriage, family, and future generations.
It wasn’t just about pleasure—it was about covenant, responsibility, and the continuation of civilization.
But the sexual revolution came along and severed that connection, turning sex into nothing more than a recreational activity.
This revolution didn’t happen overnight. It was fueled by birth control, abortion, no-fault divorce, and the rise of several movements in the 1960s.
The message was simple – sex should be separated from commitment, consequence, and morality.
Instead of being a sacred bond within marriage, sex became just another way to have fun—a lifestyle choice, an expression of self, a personal indulgence.
Once that shift happened, gender lost its meaning, too.
If sex was no longer about producing children, then what was it for?
And if sex had no greater purpose, then why should biological distinctions between men and women matter at all?
The devilish agenda of the whole movement was to destroy the distinctions of human identity in male and female.
This is how one revolution naturally led to another.
First, they disconnected sex from meaning.
Then, they disconnected gender from reality.
The logic was simple – if sex is just about personal gratification, and if gender is just a social construct, then the only rule left is desire.
Whoever you want, however you want, whenever you want.
And that’s exactly where we are today. A culture that sees sex as entertainment, that sees commitment as optional, that sees gender as fluid—and then wonders why everything is falling apart.
What began as a movement for “freedom” has led to bondage. What started as a rebellion against authority has left people enslaved to their desires.
Because when you disconnect sex from meaning, you don’t just redefine morality—you redefine humanity itself.
The Rise of Egalitarianism
Once feminism changed the way the world viewed men and women, it was only a matter of time before that ideology entered the church.
The feminist movement gave birth to what became known as ‘Christian egalitarianism’, which argued that male and female roles are not grounded in creation, but in cultural context.
It immediately started shaping the church in three ways
1. The argument shifted to a “Gift-Based” Model of Ministry. The idea that roles should be assigned based on gifting, not gender.
If a woman was gifted in preaching, why should she be restricted from preaching? If she had leadership abilities, why couldn’t she become a pastor?
It argued for a kind of equality based on one’s competence.
2. Key passages such as 1 Timothy 2:12-14 (I do not permit a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man) and Ephesians 5:22-33 (Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord…) as either a cultural issue during Paul’s time or a case of mutual submission.
We live in different times than what Paul was used to.
3. Then, many Protestant denominations—first mainline liberals, then evangelicals—began ordaining women as pastors, arguing that male-only eldership was a human tradition, not a biblical mandate.
As Christians, I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that feminism hates God.
No, feminism wasn’t something that began well and ended up in this state. Historically, the roots of this movement have always been corrupt.
A resource I highly recommend to all of you is a book by Rebekkah Merkle called ‘Eve in Exile’.
But Pastor Mike, what about women that are oppressed and abused? If not feminism, how can the old patriarchy help them?
Beloved, the Bible has always provided the answer to injustice—long before feminism ever existed. God’s design was not for the limitation of your joy.
Do you really think that reinventing God’s design is the solution?
The presumption of feminism is that God did not care for the women in his purpose of creation.
There will always be abuses of authority, and it is never corrected by rebellion—it is corrected by righteous authority.
Listen to the biblical language.
Ephesians 5:25 ESV
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
1 Peter 3:7 ESV
7 Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
Genesis 2:18 ESV
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
Deuteronomy 22:25–27 ESV
25 “But if in the open country a man meets a young woman who is betrothed, and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die.
26 But you shall do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no offense punishable by death. For this case is like that of a man attacking and murdering his neighbor,
27 because he met her in the open country, and though the betrothed young woman cried for help there was no one to rescue her.
Proverbs 14:1 ESV
1 The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down.
Proverbs 31:10–12 ESV
10 An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.
11 The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.
12 She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.
The solution to worldly abuses of the biblical design is the Bible – not social and cultural movements.
When God’s order is twisted, the solution is not to reject His design, but to return to it—to correct abuses with biblical truth, not worldly rebellion.
The fall of Adam and Eve was an abdication, an abandon of masculine duty. Adam fails to protect his wife. And Eve takes lead in biting into the fruit first.
Adam was not deceived but the woman was.
Guarding against these abuses
Seeing the rise of egalitarianism and feminism in the church, Evangelicals in the West framed ‘The Danvers Statement’ in 1987 that defended biblical manhood and womanhood.
Both John Piper and Wayne Grudem were part of that council that wrote that statement. And what these brothers did, was look at the problem of feminism and how they were saying that all forms of traditionalism was oppressive, and try to clarify and distinctly establish what biblical manhood and womanhood was.
They were trying to do the right thing by offering the biblical solution to an unbiblical problem.
And out of this statement, came the new word ‘complementarianism’. Not compliment with an ‘i’, but complement with an ‘e’ which signified that the two genders completed each other. So, it was not one higher and one lower, but two equals that complemented each other.
• Men and women are equal in dignity but have distinct God-ordained roles.
• The husband is to lead, and the wife is to submit.
• Men are to be elders in the church, and women are to teach other women and children.
And it is all true. I have little problem complementarians who are well grounded like Piper and others.
But, I believe, that the Danvers statement misses a fundamentally important reality.
Men and women are equal in dignity and have distinct God-ordained roles. But that definition says that the difference between us is ‘functional’ or based on ‘roles’. We are equal but we do different things.
But the Bible suggests far more, that the difference is not just in their assigned tasks, but in their very being. That men and women are different in their ‘functional’ role because they are different in their ‘nature’.
That equality in worth does not mean equality in ‘nature’.
Now, many complementarians would respond that they agree with me on that, especially from a physical or biological standpoint. But I would argue, that the natural difference in man and woman is more than just physical biology.
It is different in nature of thought, in emotional inclination, in relational dynamics, and in how each is designed to engage with the world.
Men are wired for initiative, strength, and responsibility—they are naturally inclined toward risk-taking, leadership, and problem-solving. They think linearly, strategically, and are oriented toward mission and conquest.
This is why Adam was given the task of naming, working, and guarding (Genesis 2:15-20), while Eve was fashioned as a helper, a nurturer, and a life-giver (Genesis 2:18, 3:20).
Women, on the other hand, are designed for nurturing, beautifying, and relational depth. Their thought processes are more holistic, relationally attuned, and emotionally intelligent. Where men build, defend, and establish, women cultivate, nurture, and glorify.
This is why a woman is called the “glory of man” (1 Corinthians 11:7)—not because she is lesser, but because her nature reflects and enhances his leadership, bringing forth life, order, and wisdom in a way that man alone cannot.
I want to argue that complementarity is not just in function but in being. Adam and Eve entirely complement each other.
And I also want to argue that I don’t want a new word for what is and has been a biblical reality since the beginning of creation. And so, I much prefer to stick with what has always been referred to as ‘biblical patriarchy’.
Biblical manhood and womanhood are not just different job descriptions—they are two distinct, complementary reflections of the image of God, and they only flourish when lived out in harmony with God’s design.
———
So then, what are we to do as Christians? Trust and follow God’s intended design with joy and earnestness.
We live in a world that believes freedom means the removal of limits, that happiness is found in tearing down fences and running wild into the unknown.
The world insists that fences are cages, that walls are prisons, that guardrails are oppression. Tear them down, they say. Run free. Live wild. Be your own god.
Complementarianism, by and large, have left room for twisting and turning it into functional egalitarianism. It was appealing for it’s 50-50 approach to finding a middle ground, but left the fence unlocked and the wolves have strolled in with ease.
But freedom isn’t found in the middle of the freeway.
It isn’t found in leaping from a rooftop just because you don’t like gravity.
A fish is free in water, not on land. A tree is free when its roots go deep, not when it’s hacked off at the stump.
We were made for something, designed for something.
Marriage is not a cage—it is soil where love grows. Gender is not a handcuff—it is the bones of the world.
Holiness is not a burden—it is light in the dark, fire in the cold, wind in the sails.
The world preaches freedom and delivers chains.
It promises happiness but swaps it out for cheap thrills and broken hearts.
It offers self-expression, but in the end, all you get is loneliness. Meanwhile, God’s boundaries lead to fullness, richness, and real laughter that doesn’t rot overnight.
His rules aren’t in the way of joy. They are the way of joy. In keeping them a man is satisfied.
1 Timothy 5:6 ESV
6 but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives.
Proverbs 14:12 ESV
12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
Turn then from these movements, to God, and love Him with all your heart, and love his design for the world.
Psalm 16:11 ESV
11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 84:11 ESV
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.
Look at how David responds to God’s restriction in Psalm 139:5-6
Psalm 139:5–6 ESV
5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
That’s enough. I think you get the picture.
So, what is God’s intended design?
Exegesis
Genesis 1:26 ESV
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
• The word for ‘man’ here refers to humanity as a whole.
• Both men and women are image-bearers of God. The woman is not an image-bearer of man, and therefore man is not their god.
That means they both have the moral, rational, relational and spiritual attributes of God.
• They both exercise dominion over fish, birds, livestock and earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
Both male and female are given the task of dominion, meaning they are to govern, steward, and subdue creation under God’s authority.
However, the way they carry out dominion differs according to their nature:
Man’s dominion is marked by initiation, responsibility, and leadership. Genesis 2:15
Genesis 2:15 ESV
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
Woman’s dominion is marked by cultivation, glorification, and nurture. Genesis 3:20
Genesis 3:20 ESV
20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
Here is another insight from Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:7
1 Corinthians 11:7 ESV
7 For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man.
Though woman is not the image of man, she is the glory of man. There are a hierarchy of glories in this verse and women are the highest crown.
Imagine glory as a crown one wears. Man is the crown of God, and woman is the crown of man. God is glorified through faithful men, and men are glorified through faithful wives.
Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 11:7 establishes that the difference between men and women is not merely functional but ontological—rooted in their very being.
He states that man is the image and glory of God, while woman is the glory of man, indicating a hierarchy of glory that is intrinsic, not assigned.
Glory is not simply a role one plays but an expression of one’s nature.
So, within this equality of image-bearing, there is a glorious hierarchy of submission and honour.
• Let ‘us’ make man in our image suggests the Trinitarian nature of God that is involved in creation.
And Jesus came and showed us how the Son’s submission to the Father in his earthly ministry did not make him unequal with the Godhead. He wasn’t lesser for his submission. That submission could exists among two equals.
In retelling this same account in chapter 2, we read in Genesis 2:18
Genesis 2:18 ESV
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
• Just as God is a relational being, male and female were designed to function in relationship. The whole purpose of the woman’s creation was the man.
If Adam’s primary mandate was to keep God’s garden and all who dwell in it including Eve, then Eve’s primary mandate was not the garden, but Adam.
Her purpose was to help him.
Genesis 1:27 ESV
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
• No, gender is not a social construct. It is creation. They are fixed, objective realities.
Matthew 19:4 ESV
4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,
Deuteronomy 22:5 ESV
5 “A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.
Men and women are different not just in role, but in being, and God commands that distinction to be upheld.
[The fall of reason from feminism to rejecting gender altogether]
Genesis 1:28 ESV
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
• The first commission to mankind is of sexual complementarity. That their union would birth life.
A command that is only possible because of the sexual distinctiveness of male and female.
Procreation is not just a biological function—it is a theological reality. The ability of men and women to produce life together reflects the creative nature of God Himself.
Do you see how the roots of feminism that saw child-bearing and mothering as a roadblock to women’s freedom is a rejection of God’s mandate to creation.
• Here, we are given a certain blueprint for the exercise of our dominion over the rest of creation. Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.
The earth is subdued by the filling of earth. Mothering and child-bearing are at the heart of earthly dominion.
Children are not a complementary gift in marriage. They are the fruit of a Godly union.
1 Timothy 2:15 NASB95
But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.
The command to be fruitful and multiply is not just about reproduction, it is about filling the world with those who will rule in God’s name. This is why Satan’s greatest attacks are always against marriage, family, and children because when godly men and women build strong families, they exercise dominion as God intended.
Conclusion
The world tells us that freedom comes from breaking God’s design, but Scripture tells us that true joy and purpose come from living within it.
From Genesis to Revelation, God has made it clear that male and female are not arbitrary distinctions but divinely crafted realities, designed to reflect His glory in distinct and complementary ways.
We have seen how rebellion against this order—from the Garden of Eden to the modern feminist and egalitarian movements—has always led to destruction, confusion, and suffering.
Every attempt to redefine gender, marriage, or the roles of men and women is not progress, but a return to the oldest deception: “Did God really say?”
But here is the good news: God’s design has not changed, nor has His purpose for man and woman been lost.
The solution is not to reinvent biblical manhood and womanhood but to recover it. To joyfully embrace our God-given roles, not as burdens, but as blessings.
What Do We Do Now?
Men, step into your calling as leaders, protectors, and cultivators.
• Lead your homes in faith, wisdom, and strength.
• Love your wives as Christ loved the church(Ephesians 5:25).
• Take responsibility for the spiritual and physical well-being of your family and community.
Women, embrace your high calling as nurturers, life-givers, and glorifiers.
• Build your homes with wisdom and strength(Proverbs 14:1).
• Reject the lie that motherhood and submission are limitations—they are gifts from God.
• Be a crown to your husband(Proverbs 12:4) and raise the next generation of godly warriors(Psalm 127:3-5).
The Church, stand firm against cultural compromise.
• Do not allow feminism, egalitarianism, or the world’s rebellion to reshape God’s ordering the church.
• Hold fast to biblical eldership, godly marriage, and Christ-centered discipleship.
• Teach young men and women what it means to be faithful in their God-given design.
God’s Way Leads to Joy
This is not about oppression—this is about freedom. The world offers counterfeit joy, but God’s ways lead to lasting fulfillment. His boundaries are not in the way of joy—they are the way to joy.
Psalm 16:11 NASB95
You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
Let us not be ashamed of biblical patriarchy.
Let us not shrink back from God’s good design.
Instead, let us walk in confidence, knowing that when we submit to His order, we are walking in the fullness of what it means to be men and women, made in the image of God, for His glory and our joy.
Amen.
