In a recent post I described the journey toward masculinity and noted the cycle of separation, discovery of identity, and union.
To underscore I offer the following thoughts I wish had included in the original post. Adam was created before Eve. He was given a mission tending the garden and naming the animals. The authority and power to name indicates dominion. He was also given the law, the command to not eat from a particular tree. When no help-meet was found for him from among the animals God gave him a wife to share his mission.
See the cycle of masculinity? Adam was separated from the ground and and shaped into the image of God, and God’s breath gave him life. Then in solitude he was given a mission and moral compass. He discovered his identity and purpose. After that he was given a wife, who was taken from his side and intended to live at his side. Adam is formed by separation and differentiation (masculine), and the woman is formed to be united to man (feminine).
Now see the significance of the fall? Instead of living into his moral agency Adam deferred to his wife. Her nature was to include him in what she was doing, which she did when she handed him the fruit as he stood there with her. He did not remain masculine, leading her from the perspective of his mission and moral compass. Instead he allowed himself to be united into what she was doing when she did not have the same missional and moral reference points.
Man’s continual struggle is to remain differentiated enough to live into his moral agency, his identity and purpose, while being fully committed to his help-meet. Interesting to ponder.
To underscore I offer the following thoughts I wish had included in the original post. Adam was created before Eve. He was given a mission tending the garden and naming the animals. The authority and power to name indicates dominion. He was also given the law, the command to not eat from a particular tree. When no help-meet was found for him from among the animals God gave him a wife to share his mission.
See the cycle of masculinity? Adam was separated from the ground and and shaped into the image of God, and God’s breath gave him life. Then in solitude he was given a mission and moral compass. He discovered his identity and purpose. After that he was given a wife, who was taken from his side and intended to live at his side. Adam is formed by separation and differentiation (masculine), and the woman is formed to be united to man (feminine).
Now see the significance of the fall? Instead of living into his moral agency Adam deferred to his wife. Her nature was to include him in what she was doing, which she did when she handed him the fruit as he stood there with her. He did not remain masculine, leading her from the perspective of his mission and moral compass. Instead he allowed himself to be united into what she was doing when she did not have the same missional and moral reference points.
Man’s continual struggle is to remain differentiated enough to live into his moral agency, his identity and purpose, while being fully committed to his help-meet. Interesting to ponder.
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