CREATED WITHOUT A PURPOSE

Quite frankly, I have been up to my neck in this topic for long, and as much as I find it a crucial part of understanding life and purpose (both as a woman and as a man who has or intends to have a wife), I find that the possibility of its truth is totally lost on a lot of people.

I understand that this theory falls in the category of revelatory teachings, and so I am happy to engage on any contrary biblically-based opinions. Hit me up let’s talk! In the meantime, let’s get into it, shall we?

Sometime last month, in a conversation with a few colleagues at work, this popular statement came up again – ‘the woman was only made to help the man fulfil his purpose’. As judgmental as this may sound, I was shocked that anybody still carried around this mindset regarding the female – that in the absence of a husband, she was as useless and purposeless as the ‘p’ in pneumonia!

Don’t misunderstand me. I am not suggesting that a woman was not made to be a helper. In fact, in another article I titled Helpers or Helots, I went on and on about how honourable the role of a helper was, seeing as God the Father prided Himself in being Israel’s helper, that the Son recognised Himself as a helper to His disciples, and that the Holy Spirit delightedly still operates in the same role even now.

My surprise really was with the suggestion that beyond and outside marriage, God had no other use for a woman, that we merely came into existence for the pleasure and satisfaction of man. And as difficult as it was to walk my friends through the entire Bible with hopes of showing them that this cannot be the case, I tried to summarize the arguments I made in Creation – The Untold, because truly, attempting to understand what happened during creation (if you believe in its truth) could point us to what may have been the intention for life and purpose for the man, and more so for the woman.

In Creation – The Untold, these were my arguments after God-knows-how-many-hours of studying:

1. Creation was in three different phases – creating [bârâ], forming [yâtsar], and making [âśâh].
   
2. a. The Hebrew word for creating is to bring something into existence out of nothing.
   
   b. The Hebrew word for forming is to mold or fashion into a form or frame.
   
   c. The Hebrew word for making alludes to the totality of the coming into existence of a thing.
   
3. That if you paid attention, you would find all three words used in different narrations of creation.
   A. There are two separate accounts of the creation of man that look like a contradiction – in Genesis 1, both male and female were made in the image of God, and then in Genesis 2, the man was made, and then the woman.
   
   B. Genesis 1:26-28
   Then God said, “Let Us make [âśâh] mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created [bârâ] man in His own image; in the image of God He created [bârâ] him: male and female He created [bârâ] them.
   
   — Notice the use of plural descriptions for man? Gives an indication of the creation of more than one entity. The verse is clear to point this out – ‘male and female created He them’.
   
   — Notice the root words used for this creation process? There was no mention of the formation of a body. Both ‘bârâ’ and ‘âśâh’ connote the bringing into existence of something that did not exist before. This is taught to have constituted the creation of the soul of humankind – will, intellect, emotions, etc.
   
   — In this originating process of creation when humankind came into existence at very first instance, both male and female were made at the same time.
   
   And this is the crux of this article; but kindly hold on to the thought. We shall return to it.
   
   C. The proof of the existence of mankind without a body followed not long after. In Genesis 2:6-7, here’s what the scriptures say:
   
   Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.
   
   Then the Lord God formed [yâtsar] a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
   
   D. I argued that in Genesis 2:7, the creation of the tripartite being (as was the image of God Himself) was completed – i.e. the inhabitation of the already-created soul into the newly formed body, and the breath of life that was spirit that produced man as we believe to exist now – spirit, soul and body.
   

4. Up until this point, the only time the female had been mentioned was the stage of earliest mention of creation in Genesis 1, when ‘God made them male and female’ in His image. So far, although God made them male and female, He had only formed one body.

Genesis 5:1-2 makes this abundantly clear:

This is the book of the generations of Adam.
In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

But God decided that it was not good for man to be alone in his consciousness in that body, and so rather than commence the entire process again, notice what He did? He put the man to sleep and took a rib to create the woman. Surely the Lord had not run out of bones, don’t you think?😂

As to why it was the rib, and if it has anything to do with anything, I do not know. But it is enough that God took of the rib of the man to create the woman; as if to say that the female had always existed inside the body of the formed man following their creation as ‘male and female’ in Genesis 1.

Now let’s go back to what led us here – Woman and Purpose/destiny. If we can agree on this tripartite creation of man and woman [and you are free to be skeptical or to disagree, but by all means, please do more than just that; study for yourself], then we can conclude that it is a blatant error to conclude that the female only came to be as an afterthought, and with the sole purpose of helping the man. Why?

Because dominion, authority and purpose were given to both male and female!

Genesis 1:26 – 30:

²⁶ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he; male and female created he them.

²⁸ And God blessed them, and God said unto them: Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

²⁹ And God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
[My pro-vegetarian agenda would fit right in here but let me mind my business😂]

 ³⁰ And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

Imagine that the popular understanding of a woman’s purpose was true, and imagine that in even one generation of believers, the men decided to heed Paul’s call to celibacy and dedication to the work of God. That would be an entire generation of purposeless, directionless, useless women birthed into this world, who could produce no fruit, make no impact and leave no legacy because their lives did not revolve around another human being with a different sexual organ.

And granted, some may be destined for only their home as the Lord pleases, like Martha. And that’s fine too, as long as they are yielded to the Lord’s guidance. But some may also be called to their community. Ask Lois or Priscila. Others to a nation; ask Esther. And even more so, some may be called to places beyond their own nations. Ask Deborah.

The point truly is that by all means, a woman does not only exist to sustain a man’s calling or destiny. The quality, worth, functionality or capacity for impact of any human being is not dependent on what reproductive organ they carry in between their thighs.

HOWEVER, God has been shown, through the scriptures, to be one sold to the principle of order and accountability. And so in the abundance of caution, please hear me when I say that this piece is not to despise the headship of a husband over a wife. Not men over women. A husband over a wife. That is what the scripture teaches.

Is the implication then that the husband is better than the wife? By all means not, dear friend. Was it not the Lord who called us all a ‘royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people set apart’ [1 Peter 2:9]? Yet does He not also require that we ‘obey our leaders and submit ourselves to them, for they watch over our souls and will give account for them’ [Hebrews 13:17]? Would it be because these leaders are born superior to other believers or are saved in some supernatural way than any other believer? Would that be the scriptures that tell us that there is not partiality with God [Romans 2:11]?

And so rather than a subjective determination of leadership based on qualification or superiority, God sets leaders over His people, and the man over his wife. It has nothing to do with worth or quality, and everything to do with accountability and order. If the family is the lifeline of growth, and we each will give an account of every resource and every capacity we functioned in, then some must be held accountable for all for the sake of direction and productivity. And in the context of marriage, one must be accountable for two or more – wife, kids, and all that it comes with. The comfort is that for they whom He has called, He has equipped for His work. You may find some comfort in A Letter To The Brothers if you’re looking for any.

And by all means, when it comes time to choose a life partner, dear friend, please recognise that it can only be one whose ruling and reigning mandate aligns with yours, ‘for how can two walk together unless they be agreed?’ [Amos 3:3]. There is so much more to speak to on this topic, but I will not be a word-glutton. This is where I drop my pen [my fingers, actually😆].

My sincere hope is that I have not stirred you up to unsubmissiveness, fellow female, but rather to some sense of purpose and direction at the very least. For when we each stand before He who has been given the authority to judge, not only will we give account as wives and mothers, but also as men made in His image, carrying His very life and Spirit, who were called to reign, rule, have dominion, subdue and fruitful.

Shine, dear friend! You too have dominion!

 Love,
[And deliberately this time]
Assaba!💖