Roles – Construct vs Command

Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (ESV)

Anyone who has spent time researching the Myers-Briggs personality typing system will know that the life of the xNTP types revolves around the question “why?”. To the xNTP, tradition and convention are, on their own, utterly inadequate at providing justification; no number of years of history is sufficient without a reason that is applicable in the present. I am a fairly archetypal xNTP (probably ENTP, but my E/I has proven difficult to determine), and have a strong distaste for the arbitrary. As irrelevant as my personality type may seem to a discussion on gender roles, I begin here for a reason. A large proportion of the roles and conventions taken for granted in society are entirely arbitrary, justified by nothing more than tradition (I am yet to find someone who can explain why a piece of material tied in a particular style of knot around a man’s neck should, objectively, be considered a sign of formality); this is an endless source of frustration to me. So, when it comes to the suggestion that there are fixed, defined gender roles, I am not a witness biased in their favour; I could not even be described as a neutral witness. Due to my personality, I am very much a hostile witness. Nevertheless, as a Christian who strives to place myself under the authority of God’s Word, I find myself persuaded that gender roles are very much part of how we are commanded to live, not merely a construct of society.