"Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion'... So God created man (humankind) in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." Genesis 1:26a & 27
All of humanity, men and women, are created in the image of God. All of humanity, men and women, are given 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" (Genesis 1:26). This means that men and women share a common and equal glory. The weirdest person you've ever met is still more glorious in the eyes of God than the most rare bird or most beautiful fish or even most grand mountain. Humans, men and women, are the crown jewel of the creation story.
"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." 'Us' is a strange word for God to use. Was He talking to the angels or the council of Heaven? I don't think so, because He says "Let us make..." and then "So God created man in His..." Singular and plural are used interchangeably. I believe that this is the Trinity. Humans, men and women, are made in the image of the Triune God. This is significant. God the Father is not God the Son nor God the Spirit. God the Father is not more God than the others are either. The Trinity is co-equal, co-eternal and co-God. The persons of the Trinity are equal yet beautifully different. Men and women are made in the image of the Trinity in this way. Men are not more or less gloriously human than women and vice versa.
Yet "male and female He created them." Why not say "He created humans"? It is obviously because there is a distinct difference. God create people and He created them into two subgroups: male and female. God designed that males and females make up humanity. God created them differently.
So, men and women must be different yet co-equal in there shared humanity and dominion over the rest of creation. Men and women have an equally wonderful relationship with the Creator yet our Creator God in His love of diverse beauty created men and women differently. This is the essence of complementarianism.
I see two major pitfalls we take in regards to understanding men and women.
On the equalitarian or feminist side of things I think we fall off the horse when we tell men the way to be more glorious is to be less Godly masculine and we tell women that the way to be more glorious is to be more masculine and less feminine. This may sound nice, but in essence we tell our little girls that the worst part about them is their femaleness and we tell our boys that the worst part of them is their maleness. If equal means the same when it is clear that they are not the same then we demean our women and men and put them on a road to try to live unnaturally.
On the complementarian side there is the pitfall of creating definitions the Bible and our design don't. Too often I agree with someone's premise but then they sadly get to a therefore with which I can't agree. We do complementarianism a disservice when we over-define the roles of women and men. I don't have time to get into all of this in detail, but there are many stupid walls between men and women drawn up by those that rightly understand the silliness of egalitarianism. If your definition of manhood is that the man always controls the checkbook or always makes the most money then you're making this silly. If your definition of a woman is the one who cooks better then you're smearing stupidity on what is a beautiful thing.
We must avoid the pitfalls of even good understanding. Let's make an effort to say what the Bible says and only what the Bible says about our design as men and women. Then let's display what it looks like when men and women complement one another well in the dance of life. Let's show the world how men and women in their glorious differences and similarities can make the world flourish today.
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