Men Vs. Women: Spirituality And The Gospel Of Jesus (Why The Gospel Is Easier For Women Than Men)

In this article we'll pick up where the last article ended. There I talked about the tendencies of men, vs. those of women, and how this impacts our relationship with God and other people. This article will look at why living in God is usually easier for women than men, and how it can become easier for men.

MEN ARE DIFFERENT FROM WOMEN

Men are more dominated by practical, functional and goal oriented things. Their desire is to reach the destination, and get the job done, rather than stop and smell the roses along the way. Men are results oriented and rational, while women are more people oriented and relational.

They are more concerned with the means to the end, with the journey, and with stopping to smell the roses, than achieving a goal or getting to a destination. As I said in the last article, this is not true of every man and woman, but it is generally true.

GOSPEL REVELATION IS EMPOWERING

The gospel of Jesus talks about a life of spirituality and experiencing spiritual growth. Women relate to this better than men. The last article spoke of this: men are more Old Testament focused because it is more rule based, rational, and deals with practical undertakings. The New Testament is much more spiritual in thought and application.

Men understand things like, "DON'T commit adultery, cuss or steal" and "DO go to church, read the Bible, attend small group, and give money." Men thrive on measurable things that they are able to apply. This is the way the Old Testament is.

The New Testament speaks of more spiritual things: our unity with God, Christ within us, the glory of God in us, and the gospel being God's presence and power in us. Many men back away from things like this. It takes too much time to figure them out. They're too busy trying to get to some destination, and this is like stopping to smell the roses. It's not concrete enough for men.

WE SHOULD BE ROOTED AND GROUNED IN THE GOSPEL

This shows why men fall short spiritually at times. If their focus is the more concrete Old Testament based on laws, rules, precepts and principles, the New doesn't make sense to them. Thus the gospel is easier for women than for men. Paul says this OLD system has been replaced by the NEW Covenant gospel.

He says not to minister the OLD Testament but minister the NEW (II Cor 3:6-7). The NEW replaced the OLD (Heb 9:9-10, 10:9). The Old was abolished (Eph 2:14-15). He says it was nailed to the cross of Christ - which means it was put to death (Col 2:14).

But men are rational thinkers. As such, they easily revert back to the Old Testament ways. At best, they try to mix the Old with the New - grace with law. Jesus says not to do this. Paul calls us fools if revert back to the Old Testament when we have the better New Testament (Gal 3:1-3, Heb 11:39-40). At the same time, women are relational thinkers who more easily integrate the tenants of the gospel.

The gospel of the New Testaments makes us 'fathers the gospel' to others (I Cor4:15). It is ministering the love of God, and of Christ (John 13:34-5, 15:9, Eph 3:17-19). All ministry is done in grace and truth (Eph 4:29, John 1:17). It is about ministering the glory and the fullness of God in us (II Cor 3:18, Eph 3:19-20).

You can't give away what you ain't got! If these things are not in your life, and if you are founded in law under the Old Testament, you can't minister God's manifold grace and his unconditional love. Paul says you must be dead to the law to live in God and to minister his New Covenant gospel (Gal 2:19). If anyone, man or woman, is stuck in the Old Testament religious system to any degree, they can't minister the New Testament gospel. They are trying to mix law and grace - oil with water - the blood of animals with the blood of Jesus.

Men strive more than women. Living in rules and precepts, men think it is their lot in life to work in order to acquire. I think this is became of the fall of man. The gospel talks about resting and receiving, which is more passive. Women do far better than men.

THE OLD TESTAMENT IS NOT BAD

Don't miss this! I'm not saying the Old Testament is bad! It has lots of good stuff in it - history, Proverbs, Psalms, prophecy, etc. But it also points to the New (the Christ event, or the cross of the finished work of Jesus). We've all heard how 'the Old foreshadows the New.'

Jesus says to repent of believing all other things and believe the gospel of the Kingdom that he came to bring us (Mark 1:14-15). When Paul says the Old has been abolished he means it is no longer meant to control and govern our lives. We should not live by it. We should of course read it, and compare it against the better New Covenant that we have now. But we should live by the gospel of God's Kingdom. We should repent from trying to live by the Old ways. One reason for this is that everyone failed who tried to live it (Rom 3:10, Acts 15:10).

ALL THINGS HAVE BEEN MADE NEW

"Old things have passed away (died). Behold! All things have been made new" (II Cor 5:17). This literally means ALL things. Even we have been made a 'GodMan' - a new species. Paul calls this being a New Creation in Christ. I call it being a NCIC (pronounced 'Nick'). This is all because ALL the law, prophets and psalms were fulfilled in Jesus (Matt 5:18, Luke 24:27, 44).

This means we are no longer to live by ROTE - by precepts and principles. This is how things were in the Old Testament. Most men, who think rationally, don't like this. They like the concreteness of living by rote. The New Testament speaks of relationship: first with God and then with each other. This is the way most women think. This is usually too subjective for most men, and not objective enough. In the last article I showed how Eve's desire was to relate to Adam, but his desire was to rule her.

In the New Testament, we are all equal in Christ. Yes, we are male or female physically, but there is no male or female spiritually (Gal 3:28). We are all the same, and as one in the eyes of God. Women were not equal in the Old Testament. Women were held in low esteem.

In the Bible, women could be stoned for adultery, and other things. They had no rights. The gospel of Jesus gave women equal rights. The New Testament makes them the same as men, at least in God's eyes, if not in the eyes of men who are usually the church leaders.

As The Gospel Coach, I see that women much more readily and easily live in the gospel of the New Testament than men do. And living a gospel life of belief was the very first command of Jesus after spending 40 days in the wilderness with Satan. The most important thing on our Lord's mind and heart were the first words out of his mouth: "Repent and believe the gospel."

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