Yet you misunderstand, because it is all about marriage, Everything changed after Christ, but men wouldnt change, the church is female, because she needs a husband, when you become joined to Christ you receive Gods seed, the Holy Spirit and teh Two become as one, when you join your self to mens religions, she has no seed, she is a woman so you get the counterfeit, and that you can see all over this forum, you know JezebelA couple of things about the issue of the Bible being masculine, and not Feminine as we have it today, is not that the Bible is devoid of the Feminine; that is not what I am saying. In what way is the Church, the Bride of Christ- Feminine?
The Bride is the image of the chaste virgin~ purity. Faithfully waiting on her future Bridegroom.
As the woman is to be in submission to the man, so is the Church, the Bride, to be in submission to the Bridegroom~ Jesus Christ.
From the Bridegroom or Husbands standpoint, God is faithful to His Bride, he cares for her, and provides every need. He protects her, takes spiritual Leadership over her, and gives His life for her~ Masculinity.
The Church, the Body of Christ is to be in submission to God, as a woman is to be in submission to her husband. The issue or image of the Church as feminine on the outside, is actually a statement of masculinity in many ways. Instead of stating equality of men and women, Scripture consistently establishes the superiority of men and the submission of women. When I say "superiority" of men, I am not saying "morally" but "positionally" as God has determined the obligations, roles and responsibilities that each have.
The point is, the Bible established the position of man to be over the woman, just as, the Church is positionally under God. Just as the man has that role, he also has great responsibility because of that position. While the woman is to be in submission to her husband, the husband has the responsibility to be the spiritual leader and provider, taking responsibility to care for, and love his wife as Christ loved the Church.
We cannot avoid the fact that the Bible says that God created man in His image. That man came first. That the woman is under the man. This is repeated throughout all of Scripture.
Abraham the Patriarch. After the Fall, God established the Patriarchy where man was responsible for the woman's welfare. Her safety, her provisions, and her spirituality. The Patriarch was the spiritual leader of the household and responsible to lead his family into truth.
Then came Moses and the Law. God then established the Priesthood. A Priest is a mediator between man and God. A Priest is a representative of God on earth. A masculine position above all Israel. There is no such thing as a female priest by God's choice.
God came as a man in the form of Jesus Christ; a Male, a Second Adam. Jesus chose the Twelve; every one of them a male. When the Church was established, Paul writes that as one of the qualifications to be a pastor was to be a male. The Early Church only had male pastoral leadership. The point I am making is, the reference to the Church being the Bride does not change the masculinity of the Biblical order that God has established. Nothing changed in the New Testament concerning the Biblical order of things, but God corrected the abuse of women, and showed that they are valued by Him, that the approach to God is not limited through the husband, both can be equally saved and submit themselves to God.
Submission is not the same as "insignificance," or lack of value. God sees us all as having value that He gave His life for us. Women are of equal value to men in God's eyes. Yet, we can no more take a feminine anthropomorphic illustration and run with it to extremes in defiance of everything that God has already set in stone. The Church is Feminine in her reliance on God, its responsibility to be chaste and pure, faithful to God. And as God is Superior to all humanity, we are to submit completely to Him as a faithful wife. In this, the Church is feminine.
Where the Church is not feminine, is how it operates and functions. It reflects what we know of Biblical order. Man was created first, then woman. Eve was placed in submission to man. God chose a male figure for His representatives and spiritual leadership. God tells us that the Church is the same as a marriage relationship where the woman submits to the man, and the man loves and cares for the woman. As believers we submit to God in the Biblical order, as a woman is supposed to submit to her husband. But that is as far as God shows this relationship to be Feminine. The operation and function of the Church is still Masculine as God intended, and because of this, it is not designed to be predominately Feminine.
Rev_2:20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
one day men will understand, but who is willing to give it all away for His sake.