At the time of this writing, the Lindsay Clancy trial remains in its final stage, with the jury still deliberating. Like many Americans following the case, I am waiting impatiently for a verdict. In modern culture, however, we seem unable to refrain from speculating about an outcome, offering opinions without having heard all the evidence and imagining what may follow once the trial is complete. I do not intend to speculate about the trial itself. Yet much of the discussion surrounding it, along with the broader recent conversation about transgenderism, brings into focus a collision of interests over whether meaningful differences exist between the genders. Not long ago, this was hardly considered an argument. An old maxim says that men are from Mars and women are from Venus, meeting only in the middle on Earth — meaning they could hardly be more different.
From the beginning, this was so. In Genesis 1:27, God creates humanity, and our modern translations continue to state plainly that He created them “male and female.” The words “male” and “female,” both in ancient Hebrew and in modern English, are not etymologically related. In English, we may assume they are because one word seems to be contained within the other, but this appearance developed over time as a pairing of opposites rather than from a shared root. “Female” represents the feminine and carries associations with childbearing and suckling, while “male” represents the masculine, with connotations of hunting, strength, and virility.
Moving on to Genesis 2, both God and Adam recognized that the man was alone: “The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:20).
The term “helper” is often better understood as “help meet,” or a suitable companion. Eve was created from Adam’s rib, taken from his side (Genesis 2:21-22). She was intended to stand beside him as his equal, yet also as his complement and helper in life. Today, there is a movement in society toward the androgynization of the sexes. Calls to make the genders interchangeable, clothing that no longer distinguishes between them, hairstyles that blur those differences, and the condemnation of behaviors once recognized as distinctly masculine or feminine are quickly becoming normalized. The phrase “toxic masculinity” has led television shows, commercials, and other forms of popular culture to portray men as foolish or unintelligent when they do not behave in a more feminine manner. At the same time, women are celebrated when they choose careers over family or adopt masculine roles and titles that require the rejection of femininity.
While men and women are equal in many ways, and while individual men and women may be more or less suited to certain roles than others, the Bible still gives distinct spiritual roles to the sexes. Titus 2:2-8 says, “Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.”
In writing to Titus, Paul acknowledges distinctions between the sexes and sets before them godly patterns to follow. He recognizes the gentle and nurturing qualities often found in women, as well as the tendency for emotions to influence their thoughts. He also recognizes the brutish and barbarous nature often present in young men, along with their responsibility to protect the weak and overcome the recklessness of youth. To ignore the animal nature of youthful temptations toward sin is to invite vulnerability to them.
Yet Paul does not merely acknowledge these differences; he calls men and women alike to look to God for the strength to control themselves and to find the balance necessary to work together. The Bible does not portray the relationship between the sexes as that of an overlord and a slave. Rather, it presents them as equals — two people who can lean on one another, helping each other understand parts of themselves that they may not fully understand alone. Between their two different realities of life, they can meet God together, rather than using the shock value of rejecting gender roles to get ahead in life or to excuse sin.
Lance Byers