Christ as the Paragon of Femininity

“Wait, what!?” you exclaim. “That doesn’t sound right. We know that Jesus Christ was incarnate as a man, not a woman, so how can He show us femininity?”

Certainly Jesus Christ became a man, but that doesn’t mean that only manhood comes out of God. If we think about gender in isolation, we might object. But the Bible teaches us differently: that gender finds its meaning in relationship.

In relationship to His church, the incarnate Member of the Trinity, the Christ demonstrates masculinity in its archetypal form.

But in relationship to the First member of the Trinity, the Second shows us the precursor to our femininity in sundry ways.

God is Triune, a community of persons (Matthew 28:19, 2Corinthians 13:14). This is a fundamental teaching of the Christian faith. We must allow the apostle Paul to expand our thinking beyond the common (and very true) understanding of the First and Second persons of the Godhead as Father and Son. When Paul says, “the head of a wife is her husband and the head of Christ is God,” (1Corinthians 11:3), and “all things (masculine and feminine) are out of God” (1Corinthians 11:12), he is not only citing Trinitarian actions as our examples. He is also encouraging us to see how all our relationships come out of, and in some way mirror, God’s Trinitarian relationships. We are Their image (Genesis 1:27).

So if you want to see a real woman, look at Christ in the relationship between the Second and the First of the Trinity.

That may seem difficult. A great depth veils Their union, but God in His great kindness shows us glimpses. He sees our need to know ourselves through knowing Them. With marvelous benevolence to our poverty, God pulls back the curtain revealing choice moments of Their love. To name a few…

The great Power of creation, the Word, got done the creation work of Elyon (the high and exalted One, a name for God). The Word made it work in real time (John 1:1-3). The mighty Executrix made streams flow and mountains rise. An irresistible Force birthing worlds of splendor, the Word expressed the Speaker’s map.

And when all went awry in the crown of creation, the mighty Executrix powered and performed the rescue mission of Adonai, the ruler. The Great Help-Meet accomplished the plan of redemption for God. That is woman.

Christ made Earth as a footstool for Elyon (Isaiah 66:1, Matthew 5:35, Acts 7:49), that is, a place to rest His feet.  Giving this feminine rest was the Wisdom’s great delight (Proverbs 8:30-31). In all this, Christ promoted God at every turn, seeing supreme purpose in doing that (John 12:28, 17:1). In turn the First lifted Christ up (Philippians 2:9-10), which served, in the end to glorify the First (v11).

If you want to see a real woman, look at Christ with the Christ’s One and Only. From which what we know as Femininity has come, unleashed.

Can you see Christ this way?