THE ROLE OF A GODLY WOMAN

INTRODUCTION:

The subject in perspective is a vast one. It does not deal with the role of just any woman but the role of a godly woman in all spheres of human existence, so to say. Before the introduction of sin to our world, distinguishing between the godly and the ungodly woman was not in any way necessary, as everything God created in the beginning is recorded as being “good” and being without any evil.

For this subject to be adequately vacated therefore, it is important that the understanding of the divine design and the nature of the woman, as it was established in the beginning, should, here, be considered in order to enlighten us on the process of the development of the woman mentally and spiritually; and her indelible contributions to our world.

Genesis 1:27 reveals how both the male and female gender were created into one body as “one flesh and one bone” being that both the man and the woman were initially “clothed” in a single bodily covering, bearing one soul and one name – Adam (Genesis 5:2): this was how God Almighty created the human race as at the time he took his rest from his works (Genesis 2:2).

However, when “the Lord God” – the word of God, as it were, took over the physical establishment of all that is earthy and earthly, he (the Lord God) found that “it was not good for the man to be alone”, and so, by his unction, he “took out” the woman from the man, making her a separate entity.

It must, here, be understood also that because scriptures identifies 3 entities as having the power to create through thoughts and words: God Almighty, his word and the man, it therefore means that if God was at rest, and the creation of the man was still been finalised, then it was the word of God that Genesis 2:4 called “the Lord God”.

THE DIVINE DESIGN AND NATURE OF THE WOMAN

The principal objective of taking the woman out of the man was, principally, for her to be the “load shedder” for the man – to help the man in the administration of the earth as delegated to the man by God himself (Genesis 1:26-28). As the last being in creation, the woman was created to be soft, kind, motherly, affectionate, caring, considerate and she was made God’s minister for world peace. She was made the help meet for the physical man and also his comforter.

By this analogy, the godly woman is physically responsible for the man, just as the Holy Spirit is spiritually responsible for every believer. A careful consideration of the role of the Holy Spirit in a believer, it would be discovered that it is the same role the woman plays in the life of our world – the woman helps the man, she comforts him, she teaches his generations, and bears the burdens that makes the burdens of the man light and his yoke easy.

At the turn of earthly events, we discovered that the human habitation, which began with the man and his wife at the individual level, grew into a family, and then into a nation and finally establishing our present world, as constituted.

And just as the divine plan for the salvation of the fallen man was vacated, beginning from God giving “a ram for a man” (Genesis 22:13), progressing to God instroducing “a lamb for a family” (Exodus 12:21), to “a lamb for a nation” (Leviticus 16:33-34) and finally, Jesus came as “the lamb of God for the world (John 1:29). So has God given the world the woman to be a help meet for the man, a care giver for his family, a supplicant for his nation and a pillar for our world: she is “the bearer” of the human race, giving birth to all in the human race.

As our world developed and community participations expanded, the role of the godly woman also expanded to include her participation in the development of politics, the reengineering of the socioeconomic life of people and in facilitating human religious inclinations.

THE WOMAN AS THE FOUNDATION OF HUMAN PROPAGATION

Women have been seen to be good managers of men and resources, excellent home builders and dedicated housekeepers, caring wives and dutiful mothers, gifted leaders and born drivers of universal justice. The godly woman is given for the cushioning of the harshness of men for which our world is known.

From Eve to Sarah, from Rebekah to Tamar, from Deborah to Ruth, from Hannah to Bathsheba, from Esther to Mary, every godly woman, though tainted by their human limitations, all were examples of dedicated support, faithful companions, tools for success, definers of our divine systems and channels for divine fulfilments, on behalf of the man.

It is usually said that a woman can raise 10 children but 10 children out together cannot raise a mother. Another saying goes that “if you train a man, you train an individual but if you train a woman, you train a nation, and it is the nations that makes up our world.

Therefore, the role of the woman is first to be the channel of propagation for the human race, the trainer of undeveloped minds, the carer of the home, the pillar of her husband, the peace initiator in conflicts, the burden bearer for families and the most vulnerable and easily exploited of all the creations of God.

As much as we have examined the role of the godly woman in the family and nation, we ought also to examine the role of a godly woman in the Church. It must be appreciated that the Church is another world of it own as every believer is a special of human who live in a dual world – the natural and spiritual worlds.

This is made possible by the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the renewal of our human minds. So apart from the physical and natural responsibilities of the woman, she also has duties to vacate as the anointed of the Lord.

THE WOMAN AS A SPIRITUAL ENGINEER

The human being was at creation designed as a “living soul”. He was created a soul-being with an earthly body which he wore as his cloth. The initial making of the man made him “flesh and bone” (Genesis 2:7, 21-25). We must take note of Genesis 2:25 how the man and his wife were naked and we’re not ashamed.

This is to show how the woman shaped our present spiritually by the happenstance of Genesis 3:6-7. The man and his wife were created naked but were not ashamed, but when the woman went out apart from the man, she brought home food that changed the entire spiritual design of the man, robbing him of his spiritual essence and making him a natural man.

Fear and apprehension was introduced into human living at this point, and the woman became the first in all human history to communicate with and to manifest the devil; and she also testified that he exists as an adversary of God (Genesis 3:6). Anything contrary to God is against him (Matthew 12:30).

So the same way that the woman caused the sinning nature of the human race, she was also responsible for being the channel through whom the redeemer came to earth, taught the way of righteousness and died to purge man from sin and to give him victory over death, which was brought about by the eating of the forbidden tree.

God knows the end from the beginning and until we, human beings know as we are known, we would not understand the dimensions of why God allowed the progression of human existence from being soul-being, to being a natural being and finally to being a spiritual being.

In Church today, the woman has shown much vigour as the caretaker of the house of God. It is clearly indicated in Luke 8:2-3 that the earthly ministry of Jesus was roundedly supported by women, most of whom were not even godly when Jesus met them. If God can use anything, then he has used the woman for his glory on earth.

THE ROLE OF THE WOMAN IN HUMAN EARTHLY EXISTENCE

As we have considered from the beginning of this discussion, the role of the woman on earth has been as follows:

The channel of human propagation, the trainer of undeveloped human minds, the caregiver to the human homes, the pillar for husbands, the peace initiator in earthly conflicts caused by men, the burden bearer for families, she is soft, kind, considerate, saceificial and the most vulnerable, denigrated, abused, raped, hurt, deceived, excluded and exploited, yet she is the most enduring, patient, preserving and long suffering. The woman was made to be the burden, yoke and pain carrier for our world. She is the Divine cushioning for the human race.

The entrance of the word of God gives light and direction to the simple, unlike the recent position of Pastor Chris Oyakhikome, suggesting that the creation of the woman is an afterthought, and not in the “original plan of God, let it be known that Genesis 1:27put a lie to his recent assertion. That the truth might be told, Genesis 5:1-2 questions Pastor Oykhikome’s position.

God bless you all.

A Conference Paper prepared by Deaconess Emem Nkanta