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?”
- Men and Women Together in God’s Image
- Men and Women Together as Gospel Partners
- 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.