Journal: Eikon
Volume: EIKON 04:1 (Spring 2022)
Article: Indicatives, Imperatives, And Applications: Reflections On Natural, Biblical, And Cultural Complementarianism
Author: Joe Rigney

Eikon 4.1 (Spring 2022) p. 28

Indicatives, Imperatives, And Applications:
Reflections On Natural, Biblical, And Cultural Complementarianism

Joe Rigney

Joe Rigney is the president of Bethlehem College & Seminary in Minneapolis and a pastor at Cities Church in St. Paul. He is the author of five books, including More Than a Battle: How to Experience Victory, Freedom, and Healing from Lust.

As complementarians, we believe that both men and women are made in God’s image, and that God has designed us in distinct and complementary ways for his glory and our good. My aim in this article is to provide a framework for conceiving, celebrating, and expressing our complementarian convictions that weaves together nature, Scripture, and culture; or indicatives (statements of fact), imperatives (commands and exhortations about duties and responsibilities), and applications (wise extensions of biblical principles into new circumstances).

In offering this framework, I will make reference to a number of relevant passages in the Scriptures. I do not, however, intend to offer extended exegesis of these passages; that important work has been done elsewhere. Instead, my goal is to set forth a basic framework for linking together God’s world, God’s word, and our place within it as men and women.

The framework consists of three basic statements.

1. God’s acts establish basic facts (indicative).
2. God’s commands fit those facts (imperative).
3. Our applications ought to fit those facts and those commands (application).

Eikon 4.1 (Spring 2022) p. 29

I. God’s Acts Establish Basic Facts.

Here we see the indicatives. Indicatives are statements of fact, statements about what is. And I have three kinds of facts in mind: facts of creation, facts of nature, and facts of redemption.

By facts of creation, I have in mind certain facts about humanity, established by God when he created Adam and Eve, revealed in Genesis 1–3, and echoed throughout the Bible. These are primal and original facts. One example of a primal fact of creation is male headship.

Many biblical scholars have noted that the early chapters of Genesis teach that men are the head of their homes. This teaching is revealed through the several primal facts of creation that are picked up, echoed, and appealed to throughout the Bible. Here are some examples:

1. Adam was created first;
2. Adam is the name of the human race;
3. Woman is created from Adam’s side as a helper
4. Adam names the woman;
5. God gives Adam the moral design for the garden prior to Eve’s creation, implying that he was to instruct her...
   
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