In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, He did so for a purpose. While the beauty of all creation is a merit unto itself, God made the universe to be a place for His greatest act of creation (us) to abide and be in relationship with Him. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Gen 1:27). Not only are we the pinnacle of God’s creation, but we are created to be like Him. God, who is all that is true, good, and beautiful, created us to be the same way.
All of these attributes that are found in God are encompassed in one virtue: love. Love is who God is, and by its nature, love needs a community to exist. Thus, we know that God who created us, is a Trinity of Persons that expresses perfect love to each other. And if we are made in His image and likeness, we are meant to mirror God’s loving community if we are to actualize our purpose and be satisfied with our lives.
This is why He created us as men and women. A man is created as a unique loving being which finds his perfection in God. In the same way, a woman is created as a unique loving being which finds her perfection in God. Because God is the common source of perfection, when men and women use their unique gifts and talents to love, they become unified. Their individual gifts become complimentary when brought into true love.
The most obvious form of complementarity between men and women is in their sexuality – specifically the sexual act. Anatomically, men and women fit together in the sexual embrace, and (provided that everything goes well) their sexual complementarity will produce new life. In this way, a man and a woman participate in the creative power of their Creator. By lovingly coming together, a man and woman’s relationship can be elevated to something rooted in the divine.
But roles in the sexual act is not the only form of complementarity between men and women. Personality, intuition, productivity, creativity and more are all informed by a person’s gender. Left to their gender extremes, a man or a woman will miss out on true goodness in life. A man may be inclined to be so goal oriented that he neglects his environment. An example of this could be a college dorm room where a man has only what he needs: a bed, a tv, a couple of chairs, and a video game system with few decorations or pleasantries within the room. It is just a place to sleep, study and play. Likewise, a woman may be so environmentally focused that she does not strive for higher goals. A woman who prefers to spend all of her free time in the comfort of her home reading/binging/scrolling rather than engaging in a communal life will miss out on a certain vitality that she has been created for.
The solution to both of these extremes is to learn from the opposite gender and adapt some of their traits. A woman can teach a man to slow down from his goal oriented activity, and care for his environment. Likewise a man can help a woman expand her world beyond her comfort zone. In this way, both man and woman become more themselves by allowing their gifts to compliment each other, not by becoming hyper focused on their unique gifts. ***Please note: This is not the only difference amongst many between men and women, and this example does not encompass each individual man or woman.
This is why God created us men and women. He created us to come together and be unified through our complimentary differences. He created both in equality but not uniformity. When men and women come together in love in society and in the family, new life is created, whether that takes the form of a healthy community or a baby or both. But when we focus as men and women on the good that God has created us for, then we are one step closer to being in the image of our Creator, a community of love.