Battle of the genders

What does God have in mind for the relationship between his sons and his daughters? What was the original design, and how was it corrupted after the Fall? Now that Christ has come, and put an end to the curse of the law, what should our relationships look like? 

Man (Hebrew Adam 0120) is created on the sixth day per Genesis 1:26 in the image (Hebrew Tselem 06754) and likeness (Heb. Dmuth 01823) of God. Specifically, like all other living creatures, man is both male and female (v 27). Thus, both man and woman were created on the sixth day. In chapter two, we find that originally man was alone, on a mission to dress and keep the Garden of Eden (2:15). God warns man to not eat from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and evil lest he die. Even though Adam is male and female, he is alone. I don't know how this could be, yet that is what the text says. In some way, Adam needed a helpmate (Ezer, 05828). The animals can't help, for they are not created in the image and likeness of God. Thus, God performs surgery on Adam, takes one of his ribs, and forms the woman. 

What did their relationship look like before sin? Well, we don't really know. But here are some observations:

1. The male is larger and stronger, perhaps for protection and provision. The female is smaller and weaker, and the chosen vessel from God to bear and nurture the children, though none are recorded before sin entered the world. 

2. Physically, the male gives and the female receives, then produces the child, and gives back. The two have become one flesh (Eph 5:31)

3. The woman is the Ezer for the man. Every other time this word is used in the Bible, it refers to God. She is sent by God to be his helper, for man can't make it on his own. She helps him the way God does. 

This paints a picture of interdependence. Woman receives her life from man, then gives it back again. The man provides and protects and the woman cares and nurtures. There is no power struggle, but a well oiled machine that is in perfect relationship to God. 

But unknown to Adam and Eve there has been a war in Heaven. Lucifer has rebelled against God and has taken a third of the angels with him. He has lost his place in heaven, and now finds himself cast down to Earth. He asks the woman about the commandment. In her response, she adds to what God had told Adam. Perhaps Adam has not done a great job of dividing the Word for Eve. Nevertheless, she got the point: Don't eat from the Tree of Knowledge. If you do, you die. Satan challenges her, claims it's not true, tells her a bunch of lies appealing to her sensual nature. He's not saying anything to the man. He knows the manual. He would not be deceived. So Satan lays the trap. Adam leaves his place of leadership and allows Eve to be deceived. 

Messiah has come as promised in chapter 3 of Genesis. As in Adam we are dead in our sins, in Christ we have been made alive. But has the original design of male and female changed, so that she is just as able to lead as he is? No. Paul tells Timothy that because Eve was deceived she is not to rule over man. Adam was made first. Eve is designed as his helper. If men continue to bail out, and let her lead, disaster awaits. Not because Eve is in any way inferior, but because God designed her for the nurture of her family just as He gave Adam the task of provision and leadership. Both man and woman have natural roles, and the family, and the church, work best when we lay egos aside and function interdependently.