The Redeemed Helper-Completer

Five Aspects of Woman Series ~ Post #7

The fallen helper-completer we saw in the last post was a pathetic, unhappy creature, grasping to obtain a role that was delegated to the man. She was rebellious in her thinking and actions. Being deceived and cursed, she was never at peace with herself or with men in particular, and could never properly see her role as God designed it. She believed that to be subordinate was the same thing as being inferior, and she wanted no part of that.

When our spiritual eyes are opened to Truth, we can realize that we can embrace our femininity without giving up "who we are". We can understand that just as the members of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, being One, are equal in essence, and they are Divine, they have different roles which complement. Likewise, man and woman are both equally human, but with different genders and different roles. The Great Designer created the genders to compliment each other, not compete with each other.

The Redeemed Helper-Completer, because of Christ, sees herself as a competent help-mate to her husband and knows by nature she is designed to come along beside him to help and complete him. God did not prounounce His creation to be "very good" until He made her to be a loving, helping companion for the man.

We say "because of Christ" to indicate that without embracing Christ's redemptive work on the cross, it would be impossible for the woman to fulfill her role with complete acceptance and joy. Just as Christ did not grasp at His Divinity but instead willingly layed down His life sacrificially and took on the role of a servant, a redeemed woman does not have to grasp at her equal humanity with the man, but can accept and embrace her femininity and be what Jesus asks her to be: like Him.

"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men." Philippians 2:5-7

Because of Christ's example, a woman is free to see herself as a necessary, complimentary, and competent aspect of human kind. Just as Christ's servanthood did not diminish His Divinity, the woman's helper-completer role does not diminish her humanity.

God asks of the woman no less than He asked of Christ -- to submit, respond, trust, obey, and to give life through our own bodies, whether physically or through our servant role.

Next ~~ Partnering with God: The Woman as Lifegiver

*All content of this series is based on what I learned from the study "Five Aspects of Woman" by Barbara Mouser, and taught by Helga Gross at the Hudson Community Chapel. While this summary is my own, the entire study was developed by Mrs. Mouser, and can be purchased through the International Council for Gender Studies website.

Helper-Completer...or...Deceived Competer?

Five Aspects of Woman Series ~ Post #6

As we saw in the previous post in this series, God saved the crown jewel of all His Creation for last when He made the woman from the man and for the man. Finally, He pronounced His work to be "very good" and satisfied, He rested from His labors.

One detail that can be easily overlooked in the Biblical account of Creation is that even before the first woman was made from man's side, God had placed Adam in the midst of the Garden of Eden and gave him freedom to eat anything there with the one exception -- the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The command not to eat of that one tree was given directly to Adam, and Adam ultimately would be accountable for the keeping of God's command. (Gen. 2:15-18)

We know what happened next. The woman that God made to be a blessing for Adam was deceived by the cunning serpent, and Adam chose to go along with disobedience to their Creator rather than to be the strong, ruling head of the woman and put a stop to what was about to happen. While both Adam and Eve sinned, Adam bore the responsibility. Judgment and death now entered the world, and they both were banished from the beautiful garden, left to be on their own to eke out their existence apart from the constant fellowship of God their Creator.

God's judgment was swift and devastating. A number of curses fell upon all of God's creation because of one man's sin. Nothing would ever be the same again. The beautiful ideal of the woman being created to complement and complete the man was now corrupted. Before the curse, woman felt protected and happy with the man being her head. She was pleased to be his beloved, and it was his love for her that gave her contentment in her role.

The woman is no longer content to be the crown of the head; now she battles to be the head. Men now struggle to maintain headship, and woman is constantly rebellious and manipulative. Everything is in disorder compared to what God intended in the beginning.

Ever since the curse, woman has fixed in her unredeemed heart the ambiguity of wanting the companionship of the man, yet at the same time wanting to control him. Though she was fashioned to be his perfect helper, instead she seeks to dominate him.

The fallen helper-completer is not only at odds with the man for whom she was made, but she is at odds with herself and with her Creator. Instead of embracing her complementary role in the male-female relationship, the woman is intent on competing with the man. In this cursed and fallen state, she is completely deceived and doesn't realize that she cuts herself off from the very thing her heart desires the most -- intimate fellowship with her help-mate and with her God.

Next ~ The Redeemed Helper-Completer

*All content of this series is based on what I learned from the study "Five Aspects of Woman" by Barbara Mouser, and taught by Helga Gross at the Hudson Community Chapel. While this summary is my own, the entire study was developed by Mrs. Mouser, and can be purchased through the International Council for Gender Studies website.