Distinctions Between Sexes

Distinctions Between Sexes I. This message is a summarized review of previous detailed messages preached on the topics. II. A major area where necessary distinctions are challenged is that of the sexes. A. sex: Either of the two divisions of organic beings distinguished as male and female respectively; the males or the females (of a species, etc., esp. of the human race) viewed collectively. B. God made two sexes at the beginning. GEN 1:27; 5:2; MAT 19:4. 1. This organic distinction includes the brute creation. GEN 6:19. 2. Brute beasts show this nature coded within them and are not confused about it. Species survival depends upon it. 3. The brutes act by instinct. Man, the sentient being with the capacity of rational thought and determinative will, is sometimes shamed by his rejection of the obvious things of nature. 1CO 11:14. 4. We are at a point in modern culture where the organic distinctions of male and female in humans and in the brute creation are being denied and tinkered with. 5. “Follow the science” now means that male and female are not biological codes but psychological constructs. Remember what our Lord taught about man “thinking” his way out of biological reality. MAT 6:27. 6. Accommodating the error is the novel term “gender” as a substitute for “sex.” Gender is “the state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones).” Hence, gender is said to be molded by feelings and external influences and is “trans” or “fluid.” 7. Lately, there has been somewhat of a cultural “course correction” on this issue but some of the more outspoken opponents of transgenderism were/are supporters of sodomy and so-called “gay marriage.” a. They, by having already undermined the very concept of distinct sexes and according relationships, laid the foundation of transgenderism. b. Further, the arguments used to justify sodomy and gay marriage are also being used now to justify pedophilia. C. Male and female are equal before the law and in Christ (GAL 3:28) but God ordained distinctions of power between the sexes. 1. Husbands have headship over wives, an ordinance which preceded the Fall. 1CO 11:8-10; EPH 5:22-24. 2. The pre-Fall order is also the first basis of the restrictions against women preaching or speaking out in church assembly. 1TI 2:11-13; 1CO 14:34-35. 3. When Israel walked away from God, they were reproached by women ruling. ISA 3:12. D. The woman is the weaker vessel, and to be honored as such. 1PE 3:7. 1. In general, she is weaker physically and emotionally. Exceptions do not nullify the general state. 2. It was said in reproach of Babylon that their men became as women. JER 51:30. 3. Effeminacy (unmanly weakness, softness or delicacy) in men is to be repented of. 1CO 6:9. 4. It is not uncommon for women to seize power in the home out of a sense of self- preservation when the husbands are not leading decisively, effectively. E. Men’s hair should be short and women’s hair long (comparatively). This is especially so in marriage. 1CO 11:1-16. Distinctions Between Sexes 2-23-25 Page 1 of 3  1. We read of “...the hair of women...” (REV 9:8), which is nonsense unless there is some distinction between men and women. 2. Man’s head is to be uncovered (short hair) whereas woman’s hair is given her for a covering of her head and is her glory. vs. 10-15. a. In humans, the head is “the upper division of the body, joined to the trunk by the neck.” b. A profile of one’s body above the shoulders gives a reasonable measure of the head. c. It is a shame and dishonor for a man to have long hair sufficient to cover his head; it is a shame and dishonor for a woman to deliberately have insufficient hair to cover her head. Medical necessity is an exception. d. We ought to feel shame when God and godly people call out our folly. Paul in at least two other places in this epistle had spoken to their shame about their poor judgment. 1CO 6:5; 15:34. 3. Nature itself teaches these things. vs. 14-15. a. Male and female in general in nature have obvious differences. b. Nude adult male and female humans are covered/uncovered in their privates. c. Fighting against the natural order is a dangerous proposition. ROM 1:26-27. d. Sodomy/lesbianism is warfare against spiritual and natural revelation. A similar argument applies to the hair-length issue. Both cases involve a refusal to govern one’s desires to the glory of God. 4. In 1CO 11, Paul is setting forth decorum in authority as touching male and female, husband and wife. a. He recognizes an equality in the Lord. v. 11. b. Yet by the order of creation, of nature, and command, sinful woman is subordinate to sinful man and her head should be covered by hair accordingly. c. Sinful man is not subordinate to sinful woman and his head should therefore not be covered accordingly. 5. Some say that v. 16 is Paul dismissing any need to contend over hair length. a. In context, it is rather Paul dismissing any contention for no distinctions in hair length contrary to nature itself, a custom which neither the apostles nor the churches stood for. b. Corinth was a dissolute church with Gentile hangovers like mingled paganism (1CO 10:20-21; 2CO 6:14-18) and loose moral standards (1CO 5:1-2). It would not be a great stretch to conclude that some of their contentions were for things sympathetic to their Gentile backgrounds of effeminacy and same-sex copulation (1CO 6:9), perhaps even a custom of breaking down natural distinctions of men’s hair and women’s hair. F. (DEUT 22:5) The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God. 1. As with hair length, so with apparel. Distinctions should be respected. 2. I have addressed this topic in considerable detail in the past (Apparel, 10-3-10) in which I showed from Scripture and reasoning that the same God which condemns effeminacy in men reciprocally condemns a woman who acts or looks like a butch (A tough youth or man; a lesbian of masculine appearance or behaviour. Also attrib. or as adj. In the U.S. also applied to a type of short haircut, crew-cut.). 3. If you deny the principle of maintaining reasonable distinctions in male and female Distinctions Between Sexes 2-23-25 Page 2 of 3  apparel or behavior, you have no basis to speak against transvestism and the drag- queen madness that has worked its way into churches and schools which is a predatory sexual fetish. You also lay the foundation for the conscription of women into the military and combat. 4. Modesty of apparel applies to all in public contexts but especially women. 1TI 2:8-10. a. modest: Well-conducted, orderly; not harsh or domineering. Of female attire: Decent, not meretricious. b. meretricious: Of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or befitting a harlot; having the character of a harlot. c. Nakedness is to be covered in public, especially in mixed-sex settings. We live in a post-Fall world, not Eden. GEN 3:21-24. d. cover: To put or lay something over (an object), with the effect of hiding from view, protecting, or enclosing; to overlay, overspread with. e. Saran-wrap may cover but it doesn’t hide from view. f. We should hate “...the garment spotted by the flesh” (JUDE 1:23) g. Discretion is especially important for women. PRO 11:22; TITUS 2:3-5. III. Our standards in all things are not to be formed by the world. EPH 2:2; ROM 12:2; JAM 1:27. Other relevant studies/sermons: Apparel (10/3, 10, 17/2010) Modest Apparel (11/18/2018) Transgenderism (9/11, 18, 25/2016) Distinctions Between Sexes 2-23-25 Page 3 of 3