Doctrinal Distinctives
ICGS' perspective is an Evangelical Christian perspective. We affirm the Trinity, the full deity and complete humanity of Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, His atoning death, His bodily resurrection, and His future return in history for judgment. ICGS adopts the Affirmations of the Danvers Statement as the starting point for its mission to develop and communicate a biblical theology of gender. No Christian view should be taught in isolation from the great foundational doctrines of Scripture. A Christian view of gender should consult the whole counsel of God: biblical definitions, laws, narratives, and original, exemplary patterns or archetypes.
The image of God
The image of God is the basis of all human worth and is equally present in both men and women.
The masculinity of God
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are masculine in names, roles, and nature.
Trinity a model for authority and subordination
Subordination does not mean inferiority, only a difference in role.
Trinity not a model for marriage
There is no femininity in the Godhead. God and His people - God and Israel, Christ and the Church - are the models for marriage.
The pre-Fall headship of man
Basic to God's pre-Fall creation, man's headship should be honored in marriage and the Church as part of God's creation and redemption order.
Male headship is not curse of Genesis 3:16b
God's curse upon woman is not the rule of man; rather, it is her fallen propensity to resist her husband's headship.
Wisdom and folly are personified as women in Proverbs 1-9
As such, they represent good and evil patterns of femininity to be emulated and avoided respectively.
Wisdom, in Proverbs 8, foreshadows Christ (as does the Law)
Wisdom, in Proverbs 8, should not be equated with Christ, since it is a feminine personification and a created entity.
Man and woman share the same divine image, but their glories differ
Men are the glory of God, for Christ is directly their head. In physique, bearing, temperament, and roles, they picture the strength, leadership, and love of God.
Women are the glory of man, for woman was made from the man and for the man. In body, bearing, temperament, and roles, women picture the believer and the Church - highlighting faith, response, submission, adornment, and fruitbearing.
