Male and Female

The second part of the eternal declaration concerning man is that man is to be male and female. In the original creation, which is the prototype, this means mankind is divided into the physical male and the physical female.

The concept of male and female goes beyond the biological characteristics. Man is unlike any of the other creatures of God in that the individual member of mankind is incomplete. He cannot have image or fruitfulness or dominion apart from another of his kind. No person can obtain his inheritance in the Lord by himself.

The Father and Christ are One. Neither One works or abides apart from the Other. Now we Christians are being invited into that Oneness—oneness with God and oneness with the members of the Body of Christ.

Jesus invites us to abide in him as He abides in the Father. "Without me ye can do nothing," Jesus informs us (John 15:5). This means we cannot obtain our inheritance and remain an individual apart from Christ.

Along with the necessity of being in God's image it is necessary that the member of Christ's Body relinquish his or her individuality in favor of union —union with God through Christ, and union with other members of the Body of Christ as the Lord leads.

We never lose our identity just as Christ never loses His identity. But we do lose our individuality, as Christ has lost His individuality by becoming One with God and One with us.

When man and woman become one flesh there is a loss of individuality as far as the flesh is concerned. If there were no loss of individuality they would not be "one flesh" by the definition of one.

When we become one with Christ and He becomes One with us there is a loss of individuality as far as our entire personality is concerned. If there is no loss of individuality on the part either of Christ or of us, oneness is an impossibility according to the definition of one.

The doctrine of oneness with Christ and with one another is alien to all that modern man is being taught. Satan-inspired teachers and leaders are stressing self-fulfillment, individuality, the rights of the individual. To be "in control" is advanced as a great good. Satan knows well that the surest way to create a candidate for Hell is to convince the person that he or she is a self-reliant individual, the captain of his own soul and master of his own fate. As such, he or she is useless in the Kingdom of God.

As the branch is dead and useless apart from the vine, so the human being is dead and useless apart from God and apart from those with whom God has called him into union.

To be continued.