Jesus’s singular and most predominant message was the proclamation of the Kingdom of God. Every story, every sermon, every conversation announced the arrival of the much awaited return of God to his people. This uniquely Jewish expectation was the hope of both liberation and renewal—liberation from political oppression and renewal of God’s design for his people.
Jesus fulfilled this hope in his very person, through his incarnation, yes, but also through his death, resurrection, and ascension. The resurrected life of Jesus embodied the kingdom of God and displayed what a human being fully alive looked like. When we enter the kingdom of God we receive life, the life of the age to come, the good life God desires for us. To live under the reign of Christ is to become fully alive as God designed. To understand God’s design for humanity requires we look back to creation.
A Christ-informed reading of Genesis 1 and 2 typically follows one of two (if not more!) interpretive approaches. First, there are those who read the creation narrative as descriptive, simply reading about the events of creation recorded in story and myth. Second, there are those who read the creation narrative as prescriptive, reading about the events of creation and drawing ethical conclusions from the story and myth.
The descriptive reading says, “God did this and that in creation in the past and these prehistoric events have no weight in contemporary ethical and social questions.” The prescriptive reading says, “God did this and that in creation as a signpost for things to come, which shapes our answers to contemporary ethical and social questions.” I tend to read Genesis 1 and 2 prescriptively, in part, because I see Jesus and Paul doing the same thing (e.g. See Matthew 19:3-9 and 1 Timothy 2:11-14).
In reading the second creation account in Genesis 2 we see the uniqueness in God’s creation of man and woman. In the first creation account, we are told God desired to create mankind in his image, so he created them male and female. He did not create them as identical creatures, but he created them as two complementary beings both bearing his image and likeness. In the second creation account, we are told God created man first and then woman, but this order does not imply masculinity is closer to the image of God than femininity. One gender is not more God-like than the other because both genders bear the image of God. However we do see distinctiveness. The church will continue to discuss exactly how men and women are distinct from each other but to ignore the differences between the genders would be to overlook an important component of the creation narrative.
For me, as a man, to live under the rule and reign of Christ is to discover masculinity in his love for us. For a woman to live under the rule and reign of Christ is to discover femininity also in his love for us. His invitation to receive his kingdom is an invitation to respond to his love. When we receive his love and celebrate his love, we become enlivened by his love.
Therefore we strive not to be ubiquitous unisex creatures but fully alive men and fully alive women celebrating and honoring our uniqueness as we live together as citizens of the kingdom of God.
Missio Alliance Comment Policy
The Missio Alliance Writing Collectives exist as a ministry of writing to resource theological practitioners for mission. From our Leading Voices to our regular Writing Team and those invited to publish with us as Community Voices, we are creating a space for thoughtful engagement of critical issues and questions facing the North American Church in God’s mission. This sort of thoughtful engagement is something that we seek to engender not only in our publishing, but in conversations that unfold as a result in the comment section of our articles.
Unfortunately, because of the relational distance introduced by online communication, “thoughtful engagement” and “comment sections” seldom go hand in hand. At the same time, censorship of comments by those who disagree with points made by authors, whose anger or limited perspective taints their words, or who simply feel the need to express their own opinion on a topic without any meaningful engagement with the article or comment in question can mask an important window into the true state of Christian discourse. As such, Missio Alliance sets forth the following suggestions for those who wish to engage in conversation around our writing:
1. Seek to understand the author’s intent.
If you disagree with something the an author said, consider framing your response as, “I hear you as saying _________. Am I understanding you correctly? If so, here’s why I disagree. _____________.
2. Seek to make your own voice heard.
We deeply desire and value the voice and perspective of our readers. However you may react to an article we publish or a fellow commenter, we encourage you to set forth that reaction is the most constructive way possible. Use your voice and perspective to move conversation forward rather than shut it down.
3. Share your story.
One of our favorite tenants is that “an enemy is someone whose story we haven’t heard.” Very often disagreements and rants are the result of people talking past rather than to one another. Everyone’s perspective is intimately bound up with their own stories – their contexts and experiences. We encourage you to couch your comments in whatever aspect of your own story might help others understand where you are coming from.
In view of those suggestions for shaping conversation on our site and in an effort to curate a hospitable space of open conversation, Missio Alliance may delete comments and/or ban users who show no regard for constructive engagement, especially those whose comments are easily construed as trolling, threatening, or abusive.