Womanhood vs. Manhood

Eric Metaxas, a wonderful Christian author, wrote an amazing book called 7 Women and the Secret of Their Greatness. In the introduction, Metaxas gives a refreshing and thought-provoking message about femininity and its contrast to masculinity. He says, “The stories of these great women show us that men and women are not interchangeable. There are things men can and should do that women cannot, and there are things that women can and should do that men cannot…Men and women were deliberately designed to be different. Indeed we are specifically created as complements to each other, as different halves of a whole, and that whole reflects the glory of God.”

I believe this view is Biblical and refreshing in today’s culture where men and women are pressured to compete with each other. Both genders are distinctly different and each is wonderful in the way God made it. Although women are, in general, more vulnerable and are commanded by God to submit to men, they are by no means inferior to men. We can see in Scripture how Jesus, living in a society in which women had little value, highly respected them. He was born of a woman, ministered to by women, performed His first miracle at the request of a woman, and first directly proclaimed His Messiahship to a woman. Numerous other women also hold important roles in the gospels. All recorded accounts of Jesus’ raising the dead directly involved women. They were among the few who remained at the foot of the cross, and the first to see the resurrected Lord.

Whether you are a man or a woman, let us all attempt to serve God in the role in which He has placed us today.

I close with one of my favorite verses about womanhood:

1 Peter 3:3-5a

Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves.