What Is a Human?

So if men and women are both made in God’s image and share all these commands from God—how are they different? Is it just their anatomy?

I have felt the burden recently to write two articles answering (from the Bible) the questions, “What is a woman?” and “What is a man?” The first question has been circling our culture, both in Matt Walsh’s recent film with that title and in a podcast about J. K. Rowling, who has made public statements about trans women not being women. Many Christians are grateful for these cultural voices being willing to take a courageous stand against the ideological pressures of our generation.

But similar discussions have happened around the question, “What is a man?” Because men have so frequently been depicted as either power-hungry or incompetent (or both), many want to restore a vision of the glory of being a man. Christian writers and thinkers like Anthony Bradley and Aaron Renn have written about masculinity. Others, both Christian and non, have promoted more provocative versions of masculinity that have gotten much attention as well.

Men and women need to know what they were made to do. Each uniquely contributes to the cultural mandate of filling the earth with image-bearers and taking dominion over it. But they have unique roles in that mission: guarding and helping.

But as I’ve listened to these voices, I felt strongly that something is missing. It is easy to criticize the folly of postmodern culture. But that is not the same thing as giving a positive alternative to it. Often, the positive alternatives are reactionary or over-corrections that can end up doing more harm than good. Is being a woman about having a uterus? Is being a man about bow-hunting? And what about the overlap between how men and women are similar? How big is the overlap?

Always, the best way to guard against the errors of being reactionary is by staying close to the Word of God. What does the Bible say about being a man, or a woman, or even a human? I’m going to answer all three of those questions, but I think it is best to start with being a human.

A Creature Made after God’s Image 

The Bible’s answer to “What is a human?” is given in Genesis 1, and it is mysterious:

“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.’” (Gen. 1:27-28)

There has been much debate about the image of God and what it is. Is it how humans look? Is it their rational abilities? Is it the mission God has given them to do in his world? I can’t dive into all those questions here. But the main point is that a human being is a creature made after God’s image. All men are that, and all women are that. Any approach to human life and society that ignores this reality will have problems.

It’s worth noting that humans are not the image of God but made after the image of God. We find out later in the Scriptures that the image of God is the second person of the Trinity: the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son (Col. 1). He was there at the beginning, and so, ever since the beginning of the world, the purpose of human life for both men and women is to become like Jesus.

The Overlap of Being Male and Female

Since men and women both are created after God’s image, it is important to recognize how much overlap there is between men and women. The cultural mandate to be fruitful and take dominion is given to men and women jointly. It’s not like the women bear children, while the men go off and conquer the world. Men and women bear children and make disciples together. Men and women subdue the earth and take dominion over the creatures together. (Even the call to be fruitful and multiply, the apostle Paul—a single man—fulfilled through his ministry of preaching the gospel [Col. 1:5-6].) 

Humans are not the image of God but made after the image of God.

Similarly, the specific commands to husbands and wives in the New Testament are generalized to all Christians in other places. Wives are called to be submissive with a gentle and quiet spirit (Eph. 5:22; Col 3:18; 1 Peter 3:1-6). All three of those qualities are commanded to all Christians (Eph. 5:21; Gal. 5:23; 1 Thess. 4:11; 1 Tim. 2:2). That doesn’t mean wives don’t need particular exhortations in this area—they do. It just means we should not exaggerate the differences between men and women. Again, husbands are called to love and honor their wives (Eph. 5:25; 1 Peter 3:7)—commands given to all Christians, including wives (Rom. 12:10; Eph. 5:33; Titus 2:4).

Our church is a complementarian church (meaning we think God made men and women in a complementary way) that celebrates women using their gifts in basically every area of ministry—from music to administration to building planning to children to discipleship. There are only two offices that women are restricted from holding: elder and deacon. We firmly hold to the restrictions placed on women, especially around the authoritative teaching of the church (1 Cor. 14:33-35; 1 Tim. 2:11-12).

But many people have critiqued the idea that “in our church, a woman can do anything an unordained man can do,” because it sounds like a very thin complementarianism. It seems to assume that men and women are basically interchangeable and not created in distinct ways by God. Sometimes people will say, “Yes, when a husband and wife can’t ultimately come to an agreement about a decision, since the man is the head of the house, he gets the tie-breaking vote, and the wife has to submit. But this should rarely happen, if ever.” It is a fair criticism that this is functional egalitarianism. Should the differences between men and women rarely come up in how we serve God together? Likely not.

Men Are Guardians; Women Are Helpers

So if men and women are both made in God’s image and share all these commands from God—how are they different? Is it just their anatomy? Or can we make generalizations that men are rational, and women are feeling-oriented? Can we say that since men are heads of households and elders in the church, they also should be the only managers in a business? 

In the following articles, I will unpack this more, but I believe the creation story of Genesis 1-3 gives us the firmest ground on which to answer “What is a man? What is a woman?” But the short answer is: a man is a guardian; a woman is a helper. Since humans are teleological beings (creatures with a purpose), men and women need to know what they were made to do. Each uniquely contributes to the cultural mandate of filling the earth with image-bearers and taking dominion over it. But they have unique roles in that mission: guarding and helping.

What I love about these two callings is that they are both directed toward making other people flourish. Men guard homes, churches, neighborhoods, women and children, the weak, cities, nations, institutions—why? So other people will flourish. Women, too, help husbands, children, friends, co-workers, church members, subordinates, and young people. You can help either as a mom or as a CEO—but in either capacity, you are helping others. These are the unique ways men and women love their neighbors as themselves. 

My guess is that, in any capacity, it is wise for men and women to embrace these callings and not resist them. When they do, they will together reflect to the world the beautiful character of Christ.