The New Eve - Lewis Robert [31]
The same is true when it comes to gender. Without a gender vision men and women have trouble separating life-giving pursuits from mistakes and mirages. There is nothing specific, male or female, to aspire to, strive for, or check ourselves against. “Am I a good woman?” “Did I behave like a man today?” We ask such questions all the way to our dying day. Unfortunately, where there is no vision, there are no clear answers to such questions. And today we are paying a heavy price for this gender darkness, as are our sons and daughters.
A Gender Vision of Manhood
Several years ago I asked a group of men to help me formulate a succinct definition of biblical manhood. It sounded like a simple enough task. You would think we could have easily reached down and produced a statement of compelling clarity and unassailable truth, but in reality our efforts only highlighted our confusion. It was like nailing Jell-O to a wall. We simply couldn't do it.
So for months afterward I searched the Scriptures for an answer. How does the Bible define a man, a real man? What I eventually uncovered was a vision of manhood inspired by history's two most influential men. Both are called Adam, the Hebrew word for man. Both have left indelible marks on the human race. At times Scripture plays them up as opposites—two men who made radically different choices and pursued equally different lifestyles. But when they are brought together as men, they provide us with a way to envision and define biblical manhood.
The first of these two Adams is, of course, the Adam of Genesis. He was the original prototype male. He rolled off the factory floor divinely fitted for masculine success. Strong, intelligent, favored by God—the whole earth was his to rule as viceroy to the King. He was set for a great adventure. All he had to do was get three things right.
Adam had a will to obey.
Adam had work to do.
Adam had a woman to love and care for.
These were Adam's responsibilities as a man. But as we have already observed in our previous chapter, Adam failed on each of these counts in one fell swoop. Standing under the boughs of a forbidden tree, he refused to obey God's will; refused to do the work of manly leadership; and, in utter selfishness, despised his wife. His mistakes come down to one simple theme: he lost his masculine focus. And without this noble vision he became passive. Sadly, this visionless masculinity and the passivity that goes with it have become the plague of all men since.
Generations later, a second prototype male was rolled out. The New Testament refers to him as the second Adam, literally “the second man,” but we know him by his more familiar name: Jesus. The Gospels make it clear that Jesus is God the Son, the Creator of the universe, and humanity's only hope for salvation. But they also make sure we know Jesus was a man: flesh and blood, mind and heart—exactly like every other man who ever lived. And as history's second Adam, Jesus unveiled a new vision of masculinity even as His life paralleled the life of the first Adam with the same three responsibilities.
Jesus had a will to obey.
Jesus had a work to do.
Jesus had a woman to love and care for.
Like Adam, Jesus the man was obligated to submit to the will and work of God. He also had a woman to love. Scripture calls her the bride of Christ. She is the church—you, I, and every Christian. The question to be answered now becomes, How will Jesus' new masculinity supersede Adam's failed one?
As with Adam, a garden was the scene of Jesus' greatest test. It was the moment for both His life and His masculinity.