Jesus Complemented

What did Jesus Do?

“So they are no longer two but one flesh”
Mark 10.8

After almost an entire creation week of pronouncing all that He had done “good,” God suddenly took a second look, so to speak, at Adam, and saw something that He was compelled to admit was “not good”--man was somehow alone, incomplete, without a suitable partner. (Genesis 2.18) God realized man needed a fit helper, someone who would not be his exact equal, another man, but rather the perfect complement to man, and so God created woman. God knew that humanity is complete the complementarity of male and female. And it was the complementarity and completeness of the joining of male and female that God blessed. (Genesis 1.27-28)

Woman was not created an exact copy of man, there are some very real, and wonderful, differences between men and women. In some respects man is woman's superior. But then there are those aspects of womanhood men can never achieve, so women have their particular superiority over men as well. The divine intention was not for the differences to become points of competition and contention between men and women, much less reasons for any envy or jealousy. Instead, the differences, the complementarity, are to be celebrated, enjoyed, valued. The coming together in complementarity is what God has always blessed.

Jesus was exceptional in His day for the respect He showed to women, how He valued them. Those women who were Christ's followers ministered in ways that complemented the work of the Apostles. The Lord's observations on the partnership of marriage revealed His understanding of, and appreciation for, the complementarity of a man and a woman.

As for marriage, one and one equals two, but in marriage two becomes one, not by reduction or subtraction of anything from the man or woman, but by adding to both partners that which makes them complete, that which complements. In an inexplicable way, the image of the divine in which God clearly and intentionally, created human beings, the complementarity of male and female is necessary. “You complete me” is not just a come on line, it is a statement of a biblical truth, which the first man recognized and rejoiced over (See Genesis 2.23). Men and women are supposed to complement, that is, complete, one another. For this reason, and for other reasons as well, the Bible instructs that marriage is to be “held in honor among all” (Hebrews 13.4). Even so, not all need to be married, for

“...each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.”
1Corinthians 7.7

[The Apostle Paul explained to the church in Corinth that God's plan for some is
marriage, while for others it is singleness.]

Men, women, husbands, wives, do not fret yourselves over your differences and perceived inequalities, but accept, celebrate, that you are different, and love and support one another by complementing each other. That's what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministrie.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4