SPF 097: The Feminine Design - Part 1 God Made

Who is woman? What is her purpose? To answer these questions we must start at the very beginning when God designed woman and said His work was not just good, but very good. Belief in God as Creator lays the framework of WHO we are, WHAT we do, HOW we do it, and WHY we do it. Today we are looking at Three biblical truths about the feminine design. This is part 1 in a 2 part series.

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Who is woman? What is her purpose? To answer these questions we must start at the very beginning when God designed woman and said His work was not just good, but very good. Belief in God as Creator lays the framework of WHO we are, WHAT we do, HOW we do it, and WHY we do it.

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Life Hack

Write out the Bible verses and catechisms you are memorizing and put them by your Bible to review each day with your family. It makes it simple and quick to review memory work.

Here’s a catechism from New City Catechism we memorized:

Q: How do we glorify God?

A: We glorify God by loving Him, trusting Him, and obey His commands and laws.

Three Aspects of the Feminine Design

No. 1 God Designed

The reason feminine design and the purpose of a woman starts at the very beginning - with acknowledging that God is Creator is because that means He made it, and He is the authority. 

God being Creator means He has right to govern and to use all His creation the way he sees fit. That means that all of creation, including man and woman are dependent on him and will be held accountable to Him. 

We belong to God because He created us. We belong to His purpose of providence.

I love this quote from Dr. Joel Beeke -  “The theological implications of creation are far reaching.”

Because God is Creator, there is design and purpose to woman. There is such thing as feminine design because it was designed and purposed by someone - God, who we are dependent on and accountable to.

NO. 2 God designed women to rule, fill, subdue

This is another foundational truth about the feminine design - men and women are both created in God’s image, both given the cultural mandate, both equal and loved in God’s eyes, yet God gives them different roles to fulfill their callings.

How do women rule? 

God has made women to be homeward focused. We make decisions, we govern the ins and outs of the home. We manage with authority.

How do women fill?

When God gave the cultural mandate, Scripture starts with saying, “God blessed them and said be fruitful and multiple.” God said this same thing to Noah and his children after the ark - God blessed them and said be fruitful and multiply.

Part of women filling the earth is to embrace their physical design to bear children.

Our anatomy preaches this to us and to the world. This doesn’t mean our participation in the “fill” part of the cultural mandate is limited to being a baby maker. This goes hand in hand with mothering and nurturing and teaching and correcting.

We are to produce. To be productive with the the time, talents, and the Gospel all given to us by God. 

We are designed to multiply! The great commission calls us to go make more disciples of Christ. 

How do women subdue?

I love the definition of subdue in the Five Aspects study - to subdue is to bring under control by conquest and to keep under control by diligent maintenance.

As women we have areas of management - our home, our children, our budgets, our closets, our cars, our time, our minds - if left alone, these things move toward chaos.

No. 3 God designed women to help

Women are designed to be helpers. Adam could not do the job God gave Him on his own. He needed a helper. 

God created woman who was the perfect suitable helper. The word “fit” actually means according to the opposite of him”

Our work is interdependent. 

Biblical Description of the Feminine Design in Action

One of my favorite passages that illustrates the feminine design is found in 1 Timothy 5:9-10 and is actually instructing us about qualifications of a widow to be enrolled for support from the local church.

But these qualifications are telling of a woman who has been faithfully living out her design:

“Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband, and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.” 1 Timothy 5:9-10

My main point is to encourage us to look at what God made and said was good

and believe Him!

Resources

Sheologians has several great episodes on the feminine design!

FYI: I talked about the “Five Aspects of Woman” by Barbara Mouser. I love her descriptions of the feminine design, but it has been a long time since I have read the study in-depth (over ten years!!).

Eve in Exile is a great book about the feminine design and the impacts feminism has had on it over the centuries. Great read!

Amazon Links are affiliate links - meaning I get a very small referral credit from Amazon for recommend products, at no cost to you.

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