Editor's Column

Whether from attending scholarly meetings that deal with the Bible and gender, or from emails sent from pastors and teachers telling of developments in their denominations, churches, and institutions, or from reading the morning paper most days of the week-one thing is crystal clear: issues related to God's design of human masculinity and human femininity are far from going away! Perhaps all reading this editorial would echo agreement to the observation that it seems that gender issues are "front burner" issues of our culture, ones where the church has the opportunity to bear witness to God's wisdom and truth, or issues over which Christians may stumble and falter, bringing harm to themselves and to their communities of men and women, to the greater dishonor of Christ and the gospel. If the ministry of CBMW was important seventeen years ago when it commenced, its contribution within the body of Christ today is urgently needed. To the end that God and his word may be honored in our lives, our churches, and witnessed to in our communities, we gladly offer the insight and help that this journal may bring.

This issue of the journal offers two fine articles on the broad theme of biblical masculinity. Over the past several decades, men have been told repeatedly by the culture-shapers what they are not to be, so they now lack any clear understanding or vision of what it means to be a man. Into this void come two excellent discussions of the "manliness" of being male. Mark Liederbach focuses attention on the requisite manliness of the husband in a healthy and happy marriage relationship, and Stuart Scott (author of The Exemplary Husband: A Biblical Perspective) extends the discussion of masculinity to see many of its central, biblical features. If one of the great needs of homes, churches, and communities is for men to know what it is to be men, these articles will give much direction from Scripture, and much encouragement for men to see afresh what they are created and called to be.

Alan Branch's contribution on the seduction of abortion rights helps us see better why commending biblical manhood and womanhood is such an enormous challenge. We live in a world marked by opposition and we best see what the "other side" thinks. In a similar vein, Martha Peace (author of The Excellent Wife: A Biblical Perspective) helps us see better the many seductions of the world around us all. What stands in opposition to biblical gender values and commitments is not only the organized efforts of abortion advocates but also the multitude of worldly influences that ride in the air we breathe. Dan Heimbach (author of the newly released True Sexual Morality: Recovering Biblical Standards for a Culture in Crisis) confirms one of the areas that even we in the church are most susceptible to is in the lure of seeing sexuality as a form of therapy. His warnings here are wise, and his appeal is consistently to see and engage in sexual experience only in accord with the good and wise design of our Creator.

Jim Hamilton provides a rich and insightful sermon in this issue on 1 Cor 11:2-12, and we gratefully continue our "Celebrating Biblical Womanhood" column with Nancy Leigh DeMoss's helpful analysis of true beauty. As in the past several issues, we offer again here one sustained book review and then our annotated bibliography on key books on gender matters published in the year 2003. We hope readers will be made better aware of both some of the wonderful gains made and deep concerns before us in resources that come from our publishing houses.

As always, we hope and pray that God will be pleased to used this journal for the edification and strengthening of his people, whether by warning them away from dangerous paths or by calling them more zealously to continue on the faithful path, the path of life itself. We have no truth on gender matters-or any other matters-apart from the gracious revelation of God. We trust that readers will detect our ambition to be faithful to that revealed truth. To God alone be the glory.