~The Mission Foundation~

Monday Morning for Men

The Design and Distortion of Manhood, Part 2

Genesis, Chapters 1-3

(Based on Robert Lewis’ Quest for Authentic Manhood)

Today we are going to turn to Genesis again and give more thought to God’s design of manhood.  Man was wired to lead.  Then came that devastating distortion of manhood in the Garden of Eden. 

But before we talk about male leadership, we must be very clear about one thing:   Male domination is a personal moral failure; it is not a teaching of the Bible.  So what does the Bible teach? 

God makes it clear that his original design for the man was for leadership.  Turn to Genesis 2.

• Man was created first, and God had a purpose in doing this.  Genesis 2:7 “The Lord formed the man . . . .”  Genesis 2:22 “Then the Lord made a woman from the rib He had taken from the man.”  By this order of creation, God was indicating to the man and the woman that the man would be the leader.  For implications of this, see 1 Timothy 2:12 where the Apostle Paul says, “But I do not allow a woman to teach a man or exercise authority over a man but to remain silent.”  Why?  In the very next verse, vs. 13, Paul says, “For it was the man who was created first and then the women.”  Divine Order is the reason that women should not be in positions where they teach or exercise authority over men. 
• Before Eve was created, God gave His spoken Word to the man.   Genesis 2:15-17
• When God created the woman, he called her “helper.”  Genesis 2:18, 20
• The man (ish) named his helper, saying, “She shall be called woman (ishah).”  Genesis 2:23 Naming indicates having authority over.  Examples:  The man named the animals (Gen. 2:19-20);

God renamed men and women in the Bible, thereby indicating that they would continue their lives under His authority:  Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, Jacob to Israel, and Simon to Peter. 

·          The man is to be the initiator in the establishment of the marriage relationship.  “. . . a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife.”  This role of initiator is the one for which he has been wired by God.  The woman is wired for the man to take initiative in his relationship with her.  When it is the woman who is the initiator, we have a reversal, an attempt to re-wire the marriage. 

The man’s passivity allowed for the tragic reversal that led to a distortion of his role and disaster for all human beings.  Turn to Genesis 3. 

• Satan says that God is a liar:  “You surely shall not die.”  (Genesis 3:4)
• Satan says that God is not good:  “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  (Genesis 3:5)
• The man is passive.  He does NOTHING!  He apparently is standing right there listening to the dialogue between his wife and the DEVIL! 
• God holds the man accountable. Gen. 3:8-9
• The man paints himself as a VICTIM!  “The woman you put here with me” Genesis 3:11-12

                  “Sometimes it’s 

lonely out front.”

(These are the words that my wife 

Becky Wood once said to me as she reflected on

all the years that I had sought to carry out my calling as the leader of our family. 

 She has passed these words on to her sons, and with her glad permission,

I continue to pass them onto husbands everywhere. – RW)

• Adam’s curse is based on the reversal of God’s created order:  “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree . . .”   Genesis 3:17-19
• It was the failure of the man that brought about the fall of man.  Romans 5:19 says, “. . . through the disobedience of one man many were made sinners.”
• But Romans 5:19 also says, “. . . through the obedience of the one man (Jesus) the many will be made righteous.”

One final note from Genesis:  After the fall, in Genesis 3:20, we see that Adam renamed his wife, Eve, mother of the living.  What is the significance of this?  Our sin against God has not brought about the rescinding of our call to leadership.  It is true that we do it imperfectly.  But we can look to Him for His abundant grace, and we can lovingly lead our wives and children.