C.S. Lewis writes in his paper, Is Theology Poetry, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” As I began this blog I knew I wanted to dedicate the first month to the foundation of Christianity to set the stage for the forthcoming themes I would write about. As I have been praying for wisdom in which subject to unpack next, I decided the logical next step was into the vital subject of identity and the much-debated interpretations of “gender roles”. How is that the logical next step you may ask? We have answered the question of “which God is real”, and the next fundamental question is “what is our purpose in life”, is it not? And how can we understand our Biblical purpose in this world in practice if we don’t know how God created us in the beginning? That is a window into my reasoning behind wading into this topic next, and I firmly believe that by the end of our study together of this incredible mystery that we will be able to say with the psalmist, “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.” (Psa. 139:14).

There is no other way to begin this endeavor of understanding the nature of our identity than opening to the Biblical account of how God created us. In Genesis 1 we see that after God finished the creation of the world, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God, He created him; male and female He created them.” (Gen. 1:26-27). This text lays out a telling characteristic of the masterpiece that is man. Before I dive into it in detail, I want to tell you upfront that my resolution to break open this doctrine is not due to an arrogant presumption that I know all there is to know about it or understand it in the fullest sense of its design, far from it. I am merely wanting to give to you what I have been fortunate enough to learn from the giants of the faith who have come before in the hope that it will liberate you from any confusion and possible fear, as it has for me.

The first and most important characteristic of mankind is that we are made in the image of God, which begs the question, what is God like? Scripture shows us that God is a Trinity (1 John 5:7), one God, three Persons, and if we dive into that doctrine further, we are confronted with the fact that the Persons of the Godhead are the “same in essence, equal in power and glory.” (West. Shorter Cat. Q. 6). In the Godhead there is ontological equality with role differentiation, and that truth defines how we are to understand men and women. We are equal in our essence, in our nature of image bearers of God, which God makes abundantly clear when He makes Eve out of Adam’s side, not out of his feet to be under his tyranny, or out of his head to rule over him. God didn’t create women lacking any of the traits we need to fulfill our God-given purpose, and He didn’t make men as inherently superior image bearers of God.

Throughout the years, I have heard both above claims from misguided Christians and was tempted to swing to the opposite side that is feminism because I was afraid of the tyranny I had seen those views lead to. When I looked at Scripture however, my fear was wiped away, and I saw the freedom I have to glorify God because of the way He made me. I hope and pray that this first post of the month of March encourages you and maybe even helps bring about that same feeling for you. Until next time, thank you so much for taking the time to read and have a great rest of your week!