Mark Mullery

Is gender fluid and non-binary or determined at birth? Is marriage still relevant? How does the Supreme Court decision to recognize same sex marriages influence our understanding of marriage? Are gender roles a thing of the past? We live in a time when long-held assumptions are now being rapidly redefined.

Now more than ever we need a God-inspired vision for marriage, parenting, and living together as gendered humans, men and women, in God’s world. Last Sunday, we turned to Eph. 5:22-6:4 for a biblical vision for marriage and parenting, seeing that God designs marriage to be a theater to display His covenant-keeping love and parenting for a display of His multi-generational love.

What about gender roles in marriage and church? Author Kathy Keller writes, “How does one talk pastorally and compassionately to twenty-first-century people so that the notion of gender roles is presented not as an embarrassing antiquity the church is stuck with but as a gift, meant for our good?”

[1] Last year we offered a three part series called, Men and Women Together in which we turned to God’s Word to understand how we are together in God’s image, together as gospel partners, and together in complementary roles. See the following links to those messages:

  1. Men and Women Together in God’s Image
  2. Men and Women Together as Gospel Partners
  3. Men and Women Together in Complementary Roles in Marriage and Ministry

Wouldn’t it be handy to have a summary of those messages? We’re glad you asked. Click here for a brief summary of some key biblical principles related to gender roles. We don’t all agree about all of these things and we thought this would be a useful tool for discussion. Parents could use it for training children, or we could turn to this to explain our understanding of these things to others. This document is a work in progress and we welcome your input to help us refine and improve it. Please give us feedback at church@rgcfairfax.org or contact any of the elders.

[1] Kathy Keller, Jesus, Justice, and Gender Roles, p. 7.