A Graph of Christ's Body
regarding who we think is necessary
This is my graph illustrating the various viewpoints on who is necessary in Christ’s body. Are men necessary? Are women? Are neither? Here are explanations of each. I begin at the bottom with Box 4. By the way, all these beliefs are incorrect.
BOX 4: God doesn’t need men or women to do His work on earth. God will enlarge His family without people serving as His hands and feet.
This is a disbelief in the body of Christ present in us and others through the power of the Holy Spirit.
This belief leads to a lazy, hands-off approach to ministry. If God’s going to do everything with or without us, why do we need to do anything about God’s Kingdom?
While I think it’s true to say that God doesn’t need people, God chooses to use people anyway. It’s a fact. God is using people as His hands and feet on earth to continue the work of Christ.
BOX 3: Men are necessary members of Christ’s body, but women aren’t.
This is a disbelief that God wants to use women to do Christ’s work. This imbalanced way of seeing Christ’s body includes when men dictate women’s roles to be less than what Christ commanded His followers to do.
This false belief is like the old Testament worship of Baal, the male deity in Canaan. It is a parallel to putting one’s faith in man’s unique physical &/or mental strength instead of God.
This belief and practice is not unlike homosexuality, for it does not love the opposite gender enough to join together in intimate, committed love and unity for the purpose of growing God’s family.
BOX 2: Women are necessary for God’s work, but men are not.
This is a disbelief that God wants to use men to do Christ’s work. This false belief includes when women reduce men’s roles to be less than what Christ commanded His followers to be.
This false belief is like the Old Testament worship of Ashteroth, the female deity of Canaan. Worshipping Ashteroth is a parallel to believing women are our source of life and growth instead of God. (There’s a lot of this in parenting literature, btw.)
This belief and practice is not unlike homosexuality as well, for it does not love the opposite gender enough to join together in intimate, committed love and unity for the purpose of growing God’s family.
BOX 1: Lastly, we might believe that God needs to have both men and women working together in unity and love for God to accomplish His good work.
This is, I believe, to worship both Baal and Ashteroth.
This is like saying: we must first love the opposite gender as much as we love our own gender for God to work through us. This isn’t true. God doesn’t expect us to view the opposite gender correctly before He can work in us or through us. Rather, God perfects us through His Spirit at work in us.
Likewise, God used Israel to accomplish His good work even as Israel was worshiping Baal and Ashteroth. Their lives became the stories of God’s faithfulness for generations to come. Just check out God’s justice, righteousness, compassion, and love through Judges and I & II Kings as Israel worshipped false gods.
Likewise, I think that God still accomplishes His will through us even as we hold onto our household gender gods. However, God will not leave us alone in quiet contentment as we hold onto idols. Like He did with Israel, He will stir up others against us until we find strength and life in Him alone.
A Fifth Box:
I believe there ought to be a fifth box among all these false beliefs. That’s the box that says, “God has chosen to work through both men and women to be Christ’s body in the home, church, and nation.”
This is not to say that God needs people, but that He has chosen people. He delights in us and wants us to join with Him in making sons and daughters of God.
God decides who will be His hands and feet in following Christ in self-sacrifice, love, and ultimately, the cross. He calls, predestines, and equips both men and women for following Christ and serving as His body. History is a testament to that.
God designed the physical family as a parallel to the spiritual family, where intimacy between one man and one woman, joined in a covenant relationship of love and faithfulness, produces children through the mysterious implanting of Christ’s seed, that is, the Holy Spirit. It’s not really up to man’s strength or women’s life giving abilities but God, His son, and the Holy Spirit.
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