Honestly, I just don't subscribe to the notion of "gender roles". Yes, there are biological differences. I don't have a uterus, I don't have eggs, I can't become pregnant. So certain matters of physiology do involve differences.
But "roles" isn't biology. How men and women live out their vocations in their communities has depended, over the millennia, on where and when they lived. There has never been a universal here, human culture has never been homogeneous.
I simply do not subscribe to the idea that one's chromosomes or private parts determines what they can or cannot do in society.
As a Christian I believe that the sinful, broken, worldly orders which keeps human beings divided into different social strata have been dissolved and eradicated in the new humanity of Jesus Christ into which we have been made sharers and partakers. It is in this brilliant truth that St. Paul can say, "For there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" Elsewhere Paul overturns the old orders of things in Ephesians chapters 5 and 6, saying, "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ", within that command toward service and love toward one another, in imitation of Jesus Chris, Paul says both wives and husbands should submit to one another, that not only should children obey their parents, but parents should be gentle and respectful of their children, and that masters should serve their slaves. This call and command to love others, to serve others, to give ourselves away freely to others means that we don't get to hold anything back for ourselves; the whole system of power dynamics is turned upside down. Life together ceases to be about a struggle for power, but instead a
koinonia rooted in sacrifice, compassion, and genuine love.
Remember how Jesus said, "Whoever seeks to gain his life shall lose it, but whoever forsakes his life shall gain it."? And how He also said, "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but forfeit his soul?" How about when He said, "The greatest among you will be your slave"? or "The one who is least among you is greatest."?
There's no room for glory in the Christian life. Ours is a life defined by the cross, shaped and molded by the example we have in our Lord Jesus who willingly and lovingly gave Himself away, throwing Himself away in love for us, for all of us. So there's no room for trying to be on top, there's no room to try and seek power, or try and lord over others, or to erect barriers between us as though "these over here are lesser" or "we over here are greater"--this does not exist here. If there is any room for competition, it is this, "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Outdo yourselves in honoring one another." (Romans 12:10). Love, hold nothing back. Give, expect nothing in return. Be kind for the sake of kindness, seek humility, honor others and esteem them more than yourself. Knowing that whether in living or in dying, our lives are not our own, they belong to Jesus Christ.
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For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." - 2 Corinthians 5:14-21
-CryptoLutheran
