Genesis 1:28

So far we have discussed the woman of virtue, showing certain key traits. It was stated that a woman must be submissive in order to be virtuous, and that her profitableness to the Lord is dependent on her submission to His Plan and Command for her. The value of a woman – her profitableness to the Lord as well as her husband – is also made evident by her productivity.

“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:28)

Joining with her husband, a woman is given the charge to “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth…”  Her value as a woman cannot be lost because God’s plan for physical reproduction requires that a man and woman be involved in a co-creative act of bringing life into the world. God has designed the woman’s body to house and nourish the fetus during development, and then to further nourish the infant by breast feeding.

As the child grown, the woman’s value is seen in her protection and instruction of her young. This is made possible because God has given the woman a “mother’s intuition.” The child is by her own body (1 Corinthians 11:12), and so the woman shares a special relation to a child. In cases where a woman either cannot have or has not had children of her own, her value is still intact in her spiritual productivity, whereby she exercises a motherly role.

“And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” (Genesis 2:18)

The man’s job as the head is only possible when his wife is submitted as the body. Either of these positions being out of alignment will prevent the functioning of the other. The two have a joint role in the leadership of the home. “It is not good that the man should be alone”; he needs the help of his wife as his body to properly order his home. A virtuous woman is supportive of her man as the body supports the head.

A woman’s value as a helpmeet enables her husband to fulfill his own responsibilities as the provider of his household. Her spiritual productivity is of great importance here, as she supports her husband in child rearing. As the woman matures, so her value increases from her ability to share her experiences:

“That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed” (Titus 2:4-5).