FaithGateway is brought to you by HarperCollins Christian Publishing and is dedicated to helping you grow and share your faith. — John 8:7. Leviticus 15. All this to say, we don’t get to read the Bible with a Sharpie, blacking out the passages we don’t like. We must start from the foundational viewpoint that the Bible is sufficient and authoritative, and when we do not understand all the pieces of the biblical puzzle, we need to remember the goodness of God and perfection of His Word and keep seeking to understand. As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. Divorce is the death of a marriage, and it produces both loss and grief. God blesses women. and that the office of pastor/elder is designed by God and delegated to qualified men, and that, pulpit teaching to a local congregation is reserved for those men, . In Christ, there is no distinction in value between male and female. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Know what it says. — Genesis 1:26–27, emphasis added. When we put women down, we tarnish the image of God. Draw closer to him, and your soul will go from lonely to connected, from overwhelmed to level and led, from aimless to commissioned and unique. Even Oprah admits that is what caused her to stop believing in the biblical God. To wrap up, I want to leave on a personal note. My husband is my biggest cheerleader and bends over backward to provide the time and resources I need to fulfill my calling to work while also fulfilling my calling as wife and mother. But will we become people who move forward to do something about it? I am not going to get into the specifics of each, as many (who are much smarter than me) have already done so here, here, and here (among many others) by using the proper biblical hermeneutical (interpretive) rules they are trained to use. Can you imagine her fear? Did she give in, in a moment of weakness, to something that she thought might bring her some relief in a loveless marriage? Misogyny. (Genesis 1: 27, 28; Leviticus 18:22; Proverbs 5: 18, 19) The Bible condemns sexual activity that is not between a husband and wife, whether it is homosexual or heterosexual conduct. God punished his people by forcing them to be ruled by women. Man is not fully like God. The women of faith in the Bible did that often. Trustworthy, Christian perspectives on life. Then, from this foundation, we can dive into the depths of what the Bible has to say about women. God, help us!” (. But what does the Bible say? It is His revelation to us. Women’s history month is upon us, and we all have cause to celebrate the female voices of the past who have paved the way for women to enjoy a fuller, educated life with which to serve our God. The author of seven books, her latest release is Unexpected: Leave Fear Behind, Move Forward in Faith, Embrace the Adventure. This is a common barrier to belief, but it’s a question I often look forward to addressing because the answer from scripture is overwhelmingly positive. Dress yourself with strength and dignity. It is not a history, science, economics, or morality book. Unfortunately, many interpret these male/female distinctions as a hierarchical difference in our worth. God has used and continues to use the influence, teaching, love, dedication, leadership, and strength of women to shape every godly man. Had she been seduced, perhaps even pressured or forced, by an unscrupulous man? And above all, her humiliation? God is the all-knowing, all-merciful, all-righteous, all-gracious, all-holy, all-mighty, all-loving God. There are no contradictions. Nearly two million children are forced into the worldwide sex trade every year.1 And 80 percent of all trafficking victims are women and girls.2 According to the United Nations, there are one hundred million women missing worldwide 3 — and five thousand girls are murdered around the world every year by their parents for acting in ways that shame their family.4. Both are made in His image (Genesis 1:27), both are separated from Him by sin and need a Savior (Romans 3:23), both may be redeemed through Christ and receive the Holy Spirit making them heirs of God (Galatians 3:27–29). — Galatians 3:28, emphasis added. However, both, man and woman are made in the image of God. Women are denigrated as often in modern society as they were in ancient cultures. Yet, together, we paint a glorious picture of God’s likeness. We need to understand this: just because abuse and inequities are recorded in the Bible, doesn’t mean it gets God’s stamp of moral approval. Then listen to these gentle words of Jesus and let them echo in your heart: Then neither do I condemn you. ), I am not going to get into the specifics of each, as many (who are much smarter than me) have already done so. Misconception #1: The Bible teaches that men are more valuable than women. Alongside all of these issues is the fact that many of the “problems” people have with the treatment of women are treatments which are also applied to men (ie. — to pornography, to the difficulty a woman has getting equal pay for equal work, to the ease with which crimes against women are ignored or covered up. Submit to your husband = sit down and shut up. . Unfortunately, many have listened more to what others have to say about the Bible and women than they have listened to the Bible itself. I find it a measure of Jesus’ mercy toward the woman that, once again, He draws all eyes away from her and toward Himself as He knelt. God has already revealed bigger plans for my life as a strong woman than I could have ever dreamed of. Now what do You say? There is no hint of hierarchy or gender roles until after the fall in Genesis 3, which comes as a result of the brokenness that enters the relationship between humanity and God, and between the woman and the man. Women are to have a gentle and quiet spirit = sit down and shut up. All eyes are on Jesus. The Bible includes many specifics about how we are to worship God together as a congregation. The name of the missing man? Apparently, only the woman — not her lover — was considered enough of an offender to be brought to the temple for immediate judgment. We’d like to think that it’s something that happens elsewhere, far away, or a long time ago. And notice how cleverly He distracted the attention of the crowd from the humiliated woman; He knelt and wrote on the ground with His finger. She had violated the law. In the church, God assigns different roles to men and women. Read the Bible for yourself. In each and every historical period represented within the biblical world, it was normal for women to be oppressed, neglected, and objectified as property. I want to say a couple of things. Throughout the Old Testament we see examples of God using women to lead his people and to save his people in various circumstances. To me that means that Mosses believed in (and says he was command by God) and supported forced rape of young girls from the spoils of war. Isn’t someone conspicuously missing from the scene? God has a particular, wonderful, extraordinary role for each female soul who would trust in His best plan for their lives, and for many, that includes leading and teaching in the public spaces. God has a particular, wonderful, extraordinary role for each female soul who would trust in His best plan for their lives, and for many, that includes leading and teaching in the public spaces. After all, God Himself made women in His own image — Male and female He created them. The Bible Does Not Say It Is a Sin for a Woman to Look Externally Beautiful or to Wear Nice Clothes Christian modesty is an external appearance that is honoring to Christ. Furthermore, if we take out all the work and influence of the women in the Bible, whom God has chosen to use to bring His sovereign, perfect Kingdom plan to earth, well…we are left with a very inadequate and incomplete story. The Bible makes it clear, right from the beginning, that God sees men and women as spiritually equal. Men, How does Jesus’ value of women change you? Marriage was ordained by God, according to Genesis 2 when he presented the first woman to the first man. A former Cru college minister, and mother to three, she and pastor-husband, Chris, serve together in the local church. Women had few rights inside the home and practically none outside of it. Published by Zondervan. First-century Palestine — the world into which Jesus was born — was clearly a male-dominated society, but it certainly hasn’t been the only one. Paul wrote to the Galatians stating this very point: There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Of all places on earth, the Christian church could be the most significant place of healing and hope — the place where women experience the joys of being respected, appreciated, esteemed, included, and celebrated. As a Baptist, I believe in complementarianism and that the office of pastor/elder is designed by God and delegated to qualified men, and that pulpit teaching to a local congregation is reserved for those men. Just think of the Salem witch trials, for example. Jesus Over Everything Week 4 — Remembering What’s True, Champions Find God’s Strength in Their Own Weakness, What Jesus Says About Women: You Are Not “Less Than”. Therefore, it should be the church that leads the way and sets the example of placing value upon womanhood… of getting them to Jesus, who can lift their shame and set them free. Imagine the crowd’s puzzlement as they watched Him. There are many stories in Scripture that are meant to point us to the absolute wrongness of the situation and make us want to cry out, “Disgusting! By the time Jesus made his first … “The penalty is not as harsh, and you can kick them like an animal, and they will do what you want them to do.”. Excerpted with permission from Unashamed: Drop The Baggage, Pick Up Your Freedom, Fulfill Your Destiny by Christine Caine, copyright Christine Caine. God loves women. I have a full-time career. My husband is my biggest cheerleader and bends over backward to provide the time and resources I need to, fulfill my calling to work while also fulfilling my calling as wife and mother. Perhaps our problem is not what the Bible has to say about women. After all, there is no verse that says, “Thou shalt not transition from a man to a woman.” But neither are there any verses that talk explicitly about gun violence, anorexia, waterboarding, fossil fuels, vaccines, GMOs, HMOs, or Pokemon Go. For example, there are severe punishments for a woman caught in adultery, and none prohibiting polygamy, while accounts of rape, abuse, neglect, and even the murder of women by “men of God” that seem to go unpunished. The Bible doesn’t leave any doubt about what these men were attempting to do. The Bible is notoriously hard on women. We have a thriving marriage. From seemingly attributing humanity’s fall into temptation to Eve in the beginning of the Old Testament to barring women from certain leadership positions late in the New, the Bible is shaped through and through by the patriarchal culture from which is … In fact, God created both men and wo… What 1 Timothy says about women and the Acts of Paul and Thecla say about women might represent competing forgeries written by authors in Asia Minor in the first half of the second century, one claiming to tell stories about Paul that lent authority to women, the other claiming to be written by Paul himself and to curtail that authority. Many a “believer” has walked away from the faith because they just couldn’t reconcile what they read in the Bible with what they felt to be true. Jesus had defied the standards of first-century male-dominated society by treating women as equals. A little controversial in this day and age. This week’s challenge: The Bible says that men are superior to women. His mother, his Sunday School teacher, his grandmother, his wife, or his neighbor. God has called, calls, and will continue to call, vital to both the church body and the pastor. God blesses women. It would be fascinating to find out, but that’s not what impresses me most about these verses. Children need discipline. He will say, “I have long been silent; yes, I have restrained myself. These statements are not contradictory. I do my best to submit to his leadership. There is so much more that could be said and I have intentionally stayed as big-picture as possible. I teach the Bible for a living through writing and speaking. But between the Garden of Eden and Garden of Gethsemane, a lot changed. And it shows up in many other ways as well, from jokes — have you ever heard a blonde joke about a dumb blond man? What about at church and in your faith community? Instead, I want to turn our hearts to application and transformation, because anyone can get their feathers ruffled. Woman is not fully like God. No, this woman was guilty of the crime of being a woman caught in adultery. But now, like a woman in labor, I will cry and groan and pant (Isaiah 42:14). We cannot help but notice that only the woman was brought before Jesus. Another passage, 1 Corinthians 7:15-17, tells us: Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God … Two children are sold into the human sex trade every minute. Katie Orr is the creator of the FOCUSed15 Bible studies and Bible teacher. I support my husband in his work as a pastor. God never called you to do anything that contradicts His Word. My husband does all of the cooking. It has those elements within it, but its purpose is not to provide a detailed dissertation on those topics. 1st Timothy was a letter written to the church in Ephesus. When we denigrate a woman, we are in fact diminishing part of the image of God. Scripture lets us know to stay away from evil women. The godly woman knows that her beauty does not come “from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes” (verse 3). I am a complementarian. As He would one day soon on the cross, He has taken all her shame and humiliation on Himself and given her a respite. God took just as much time and care knitting together every female child as He did every male child. Throughout the tapestry of the Old and New Testaments, we see a steady thread of God’s intentional choice and good plan to include and honor women. Nowhere in my experience has the denigration of women been clearer as in our work through A21 to rescue sex-trafficked women. The history of our world — all periods of history, all continents, all cultural traditions — is rampant with damage, oppression, diminishment, contempt, and hostility aimed at women. And the men who perpetrate these horrendous acts are excused with religious theology. We want to hear from you! I have been a serious student of the Bible for over two decades now, and I am still having huge “ah-ha!” moments—especially as I dig into the original time and culture of the authors’ worlds—for some of these trickier passages. Women were created as co-image bearers of God. My husband does all of the cooking. — Genesis 1:26–27, emphasis added. God created the woman as a "helper" for the man: However, being a "helper" does not imply that the woman was inferior or subservient to the man; the same Hebrew word, `ezer, translated as "helper," is used to describe God, Himself, in Psalms 33:20, 70:5, 115:9-11. What a profound thought: God’s image is only fully reflected in both man and woman. This takes a lot of hard work and investment of our resources, but before you enter the next debate about what the Bible has to say about women, you need to personally do the work to understand the difference between the following: Descriptive (what the Bible simply records) vs. Prescriptive (what the Bible specifically teaches), Cultural (what the norms were for that time) vs. Biblical (what is clearly, uniquely, and timelessly Christian), Traditional (the ways things have always been done) vs. Theological (what is actually taught in Scripture). ’s not let our lack of understanding of the Bible corrode our trust in the Bible. It is His revelation to us. I do my best to submit to his leadership. Instead, let us use the muscle of faith, stand firm on the promises of who God is, and cling to the reality of the Bible’s reliability. Here are three common misinterpretations, misconceptions, and misteachings when it comes to the Bible and women: Before we dive into what the Bible does not say about women, I think we need to start this conversation with a few important foundations about God and His Word. In Deuteromomy 20: 10-14 God says,”As you approach a town to attack it first offer its people terms for peace. I see this same kind of evil played out in A21 court cases all the time. Men were discouraged from speaking to women on the street. The crowd of people began to drift away—“the older ones first,” the Bible tells us (John 8:9). If we listen to the One Who created us, we will hear all about grace and goodness; not fear and resistance. Some use Chloe in the New Testament as an example of women being pastors. There are many famous female pastors such as Joyce Meyer, Juanita Bynum, Paula White, Victoria Osteen, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Bobbie Houston, and more, but they are all in sin. If justice had been the real goal, then the man would have been charged as well. I have all 5-star reviews and Etsy rated my store as a … If that sounds like an exaggeration, it wasn’t one by much in first-century Israel. When He didn’t, they began assaulting Him with questions again, and eventually He stood and uttered the lines that have echoed through the minds of people of conscience ever since: Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. Rather, she focuses on her “inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. Both play a vital role in bringing Him glory. They are the beauty of what God has specifically called me to as a woman. Everything we know to be true of God in the Old Testament is still true of Him in the New, and vice versa. There are multiple Old Testament laws and narratives that seem to exercise harshness toward women and promote misogyny and authoritarian abuse. Both accounts (as well as all teachings of Jesus) are of the same God. Injustice! But for a few precious moments, she senses that no one is looking at her. He has interceded for her already—and He hasn’t said anything to her yet. . Instead of letting hard verses cast doubt on God’s character, we need to first question our own knowledge and understanding of His Word. Paul had declared all people equal in the family of God (Galatians 3:26-29). Some of the “oddball,” troubling traditions we see in the Bible are primarily of cultural, not spiritual, influence. Throughout the tapestry of the Old and New Testaments, we see a steady thread of God’s intentional choice and good plan to include and honor women. “Let’s not let our lack of understanding of the Bible corrode our trust in the Bible.”, “God has a particular, wonderful, extraordinary role for each female soul who would trust in His best plan for their lives.”. The following are a few examples of how these verses might sound to the modern woman. It is primarily a theological book, intended to reveal who God is and what His plan is for mankind. This is not to say, however, that women are not to teach the Bible or have a voice and lead within the church. He does his best to love me sacrificially. Bad wives and evil women in the Bible have done great damage such as lead Solomon astray, betray Samson, and order the killing of John the Baptist. He wants us to consider what is in the Bible. Yet nowhere does God condemn a woman because of infertility. Men had complete authority over their wives and daughters and made all decisions regarding relationships and activities. Our knowledge of the New Testament shapes the way we read the Old, and so it goes the other way around. I humbly ask that you consider the following: Read the Bible for yourself. God doesn’t promise a storm-free life, but he is the anchor every happy soul needs. 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