Then God said, “Let Us make man 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 man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26-28.)

God made man in His image. Both male and female bear God’s image. Genesis 2 provides more dimensions to the creation account of Genesis 1. Before the creation of woman, the text says: “But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him” (Gen. 2:20). God then created woman for man as a helper. She is called woman, because she was taken out of man (Gen. 2:23). Man was not created for woman: “For man is not from woman, but woman from man” (1 Cor. 11:8). The Hebrew word for man is “adam.” Genesis 5:2 says, “Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.” Why would God use the name of only one sex as a generic term for both? Why didn’t God use a neutral term such as “persons” to describe them? Why call them “man”? Perhaps this speaks to male headship.

Contemporary thinking balks at this concept. “Men,” “male,” and “masculine” are often used as disparaging words by certain segments of our culture. Some have sought to eradicate terms which use the masculine form to describe any person, of either sex, that is involved in an activity, profession, etc.; however, the word of God goes against the grain of today’s sensitivities. The Bible teaches male headship/leadership in the home and in the church (1 Cor. 11:3; 14:34, 35; 1 Tim. 2:8-13; 3:1-8; Eph. 5:23-33; Titus 2:4-5; 1 Peter 3:1-7). God has called men to lead, and women to help.

The Bible teaches against male domination over women. The verses just mentioned show that men are not to assert themselves over a woman’s will, nor disregard her value. Men are to be considerate; husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church, instead of being bitter towards them (Eph. 5:25; Col. 3:19).

Men and women are spiritually equal in that they both bear God’s image with eternal souls to be saved (Gen. 1:27; Gal. 3:28). But this does not mean that males and females are the same. God’s intention is not to level out all distinctions between the two. Marriage is not a human custom, but rather a divinely created institution for all ages and cultures. Different roles exist in this partnership that glorifies God. While men and women are to love each other, they are not to love each other in the same way (Eph. 5:33). Men are to accept the primary responsibility of leading the home and the church to glorify God. Women are to help and support men in the effort.

Instead of following human traditions or popular opinion, Jesus pointed people to the Scriptures, God’s word, for what ought to be done in religious matters and life in general (Mk. 7:5-13). Jesus came to earth to fulfill the Scriptures (Mt. 5:17), from His birth (Mt. 1:21-23) to His death (Jn. 19:24, 28, 36) to His resurrection (Psa. 16:8-11; Acts 2:25-28). When resurrected, He said to two of His disciples, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?” (Lk. 24:25, 26). The following verse explains: “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Lk. 24:27). To the eleven, He said: “These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me” (Lk. 24:44).
When He was young, His parents found Him after three days of searching; He was in the temple talking with the teachers of the law, discussing the Scriptures (Lk. 2:46). He was determined to do His Father’s will (Lk. 2:49). When He was asked to read the Scriptures at His hometown synagogue in Nazareth, He concluded His reading of Isaiah with this statement: “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Lk. 4:21).

When Jesus was tempted by the devil. His response was to quote Scripture, saying, “It is written…” (Mt. 4:4, 7, 10; Lk. 4:4, 8). If we will resist temptation to sin, we must follow in the footsteps of our sinless savior (1 Pet. 2:21-23; 2 Cor. 5:21). He was determined to follow the Scriptures instead of giving in to the tricks of the devil. Those who trust their own thought and feelings without much regard for the written word of God are susceptible to being led astray into sin (Jer. 10:23). We must hide God’s word in our hearts so that we do not sin against God (Psa. 119:11).
When Jesus healed a leper, He told him to go to the priest and make the offering Moses commanded (Lk. 5:12-14). Jesus pointed the healed man to following Leviticus 14. Many people today have an attitude in regard to the Bible that says, “Well that was written a long time ago, and we live in a different world today.” Before Jesus died on the cross the law of Moses was still in place. While Jesus walked on the earth, He told people to follow the law of Moses even though it had been written around 1,500 years in the past. We should have the same attitude toward God’s word today, particularly in following the last will and testament of Jesus Christ (Heb. 9:15).
When an expert in the law of Moses put Jesus to the test, asking Him, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”, Jesus responded by asking him, “What is written in the law?” (Lk. 10:25). The crucial question of what to do to be saved eternally must not be left to human tradition or public opinion. Only the word of God can provide a sure-fire answer. Consider what the word of God says you must do (Acts 2:37, 38; 16:29-34). Follow Jesus to Whom the Scriptures pointed and Who pointed to the Scriptures in the path to salvation (Jn. 8:24; 14:6; Lk. 13:3; Mt. 10:32; Mk. 16:16).

Romans 1:18-32 is a passage which describes the downward spiral into which men plunge when they remove God from His rightful place. Though God has given enough proof of His existence, divinity, and eternal power by the material world He has created, some are bent on suppressing this evidence to pursue their own concepts of freedom. Though these individuals profess to be wise, in reality they become foolish. Their hearts are bent on fulfilling their twisted lusts. They applaud and approve of any lifestyle that shakes a defiant fist at Almighty God. Paul was describing the Gentile world in his time, but doesn’t Romans 1:18-32 sound like a fitting description of some aspects of today’s society?

What else should we expect when we remove the eternal God from our educational systems and the values that shape public policy? Not every atheist is immoral, but society in general becomes debased when people no longer feel accountable to God, no longer have eternal purposes in their lives, and live primarily for present pleasure. People talk about their rights, but give no undergirding reason for those rights. Unlike the founders of this nation who cited our Creator as the basis for our right to life and liberty, often today rights are assumed to belong to people based on what those in power deem to be equitable. This rationale has proved to be deadly many times in many nations throughout history.

However, Christians living in ungodly societies is nothing new. The Bible has very applicable instructions for how we should behave righteously when the world around revels in wickedness. Peter wrote, “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation” (1 Pet. 2:11, 12). Christians have escaped the corruption that is in the world because of sinful lusts and have become partakers of God’s nature (2 Pet. 1:4). We continue to give considerable effort to add righteous qualities to our lives such as faith, moral excellence, knowledge of God’s word, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly affection and love (2 Pet. 1:5-7). We give considerable effort to add these and make our calling sure lest we become blind and fall into our former ways. We do not want to become entangled again in the defilements of the world that pose such a serious threat to our eternal souls, knowing that if we did, we would be worse off than before our initial escape/salvation (2 Pet. 2:20-22).

When the world becomes darker in wickedness and sin, then the Lord becomes more noticeable as the light of the world (John 8:12; 1 John 1:5); and those who follow Him stand out and shine all the brighter in reflecting God’s glory (Mt. 5:14-16; Eph. 5:8; Phil. 2:15). Our ultimate goal is not to arrive at utopia by political success here on earth, but to point people to the treasure in heaven (Mt. 6:19-21) where our premier citizenship is (Phil. 3:20).

Selective obedience is actually disobedience. Good parents do not allow their children to pick and choose when they will obey. Likewise, God has given commands to men expecting all of them to be followed. He is the one lawgiver who stands behind all of the commands. If we fear God, we cannot treat His words as a buffet, picking only those precepts which we like to keep, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). When it comes to civil offenses, people speak of “breaking the law” in general not “breaking a law” because one does not have to commit every crime to be a criminal. The law has a unity to it which is indivisible.

The above reference in James is in the midst of a discussion about showing partiality.  Evidently a problem existed of honoring the rich and snubbing the poor (James 2:1-4). To act this way was to disregard God’s law. “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors” (James 2:8-9). God’s law demands love for all. One may well refrain from breaking one stipulation of God’s law, but to show partiality runs against the whole tenor of the law in loving your neighbor as yourself, referred to here in James as the “royal law” (cf. Lev. 19:18).

By way of illustration, James 2:11 gives an example from the Old Testament law given on Sinai, “For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.” Prohibitions against adultery and murder are found in the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:13, 14; Deut. 5:17, 18). Both do harm to one’s neighbor (Rom. 13:8-10). The point James is making would be true with any two of the commandments of God. The murderer may be faithful to his wife, but that does not absolve him of taking innocent life.

Selective obedience really is a form of idolatry. The attraction of the idol is to be able to create our own good and evil. Sin occurs when we set ourselves up in the place of God (Gen. 3:5). Thus, the beginning of the Ten Commandments is foundational to what follows. If one is willing to have another god besides the one, true God, then disobedience to God’s commands in other places will follow (Ex. 20:3). If one wishes to fashion a god in the image of the creature rather than following the authoritative Creator, then God’s rightful place has already been supplanted (Ex. 20:4-6; Rom. 1:25). Selective obedience takes God off the throne and puts self on the throne.

Let us not treasure our own opinions or the trends of the world around us above the commands of God by following only those commands that agree with us. Instead, let us reverence God by esteeming all His commandments highly. “Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold. Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way” (Psa. 119:127, 128).                                                -Mark Day