[In] Genesis 3 . . . both man and woman sin against God and are expelled from the garden of Eden. We immediately see the catastrophic change in the unity between man and woman. The air is filled with blame shifting, finger pointing, and accusation. Rather than their Otherness becoming a source of completion, it becomes an occasion for oppression and exploitation. (Hardcover, p. 174; paperback, p. 196)
THE CURSE ON GENDER: 1. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they overturned what had been pronounced “good” and turned it sour, corrupted, and corrosive. Partnership turned into oppression, declarations of ecstatic love became accusation, and toxic masculinity was born in the first moments of a broken new world. One of the results of sin is that husbands will seek to tyrannize their wives and women in general (Genesis 3:16).121 Jesus is lifted up as the authority who never dominates, only serves (Luke 22:27). Yet the image of God remains in every human being, no matter how debased by sin it may have become. Nor should we think that sin has affected one gender more than the other.
Reflection: Talk together, candidly and graciously, about the ways in which the husband’s masculine personality needs to be refined or changed.
Thought for prayer: Together pray that Jesus—with his sacrificial love for the church—could be an inspiration for the husband in your marriage, in order to make the changes that are necessary.