I have been assigned the topic of the biblical doctrine of maleness.

It is fundamental to all that we say about the responsibilities that men have.

There could just as easily be a biblical doctrine of femaleness as presented.

That is not my task.

And so this is not designed in any sense to highlight maleness as a superior theology to that

of femaleness, but to show what is at stake in our understanding of the fundamental,

of creation principle, redemptive principle that is involved

in maleness.

Genesis 1 says, God said, let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their

kinds, livestock, and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds,

and it was so. God made the beast of the earth according to their kinds, and it was so. God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds,

the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground

according to its kind, and God saw that it was good.

Then 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 birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and 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. And God blessed

them, and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have

dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing

that moves on the earth.

Chapter 2. Then God said, it is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper fit for him. So out of the ground, the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every

bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them.

And whatever the man called, every living creature, that was its name.

The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field.

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