How Does the Bible View Women? (Part 2)
In the previous installment, we looked at Genesis, the beginning of time, and found that women were created with worth and dignity as God’s image-bearers; created with purpose and beauty, with an indispensable role to play in creation and in God’s kingdom as we’ll see shortly.
But what went wrong? How do we find ourselves in such a broken existence, where the relationship between men and women is distorted leading to all the problems we face today? We see clearly what happened with our first ancestors. In choosing to break God’s rule in the Garden, they failed to trust Him, to trust His words, His definitions and His boundaries. And that continues on today. Which is why this controversy exists; we have rejected God’s good design, and exchanged the truth for a lie.
This is not without consequence; the relationship between God and mankind is ruined and the relationship between man and women is ruined. We see the beginnings of a power struggle as one of the consequence in verse 16 of chapter 3 in Genesis. However, there are so many more consequences; the oppression of women, confusion around gender, the loss of definition for what masculinity and femininity truly are (to name a few), all these things can be traced back to the fall of man in Genesis 3. Sin brought disorder and confusion, and the possibility for a world where misogyny and sexism exist. But you see, that was not there in God’s world as He initially created it. All these things came as a result of a rejection of God, and ultimately, a rejection of goodness itself, leaving mankind lost, without the identity and purpose we were originally created with.
Redemption and Women
Let me draw your attention to Genesis 3:15; we see something beautiful, hope in the midst of judgement:
“I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
There’s already a plan of redemption in the mess, and it involves a woman! This is the first mention of God’s plan of salvation, right when things go wrong, and of all the details He reveals, we see how a woman, and her unique role of childbirth, would be a part of His plan to save mankind. The Seed spoken of here is Christ; He would crush the serpent’s head (defeat and the devil), “bruise his heel” refers to His death which would ultimately lead to victory (notice contrast between “crush” and “bruise”). And we know that Jesus (the Seed) was born of a woman, in order to achieve salvation for us. God chose a woman to play such a pivotal role in salvation. Just think about that! How can this God be anti-women?
When salvation finally comes through Jesus’ resurrection, we see that women are included as equals in sharing the gift of life. Jesus came for men and women. It’s both men and women that are heirs together with Christ. It’s men and women that form the body of Christ. Both men and women are called to point others to Jesus as He establishes His kingdom on earth. The Spirit gives His gifts to men and women and uses them powerfully, throughout the Old Testament, church history and today. Because of Jesus, God sees us women as His precious, beloved daughters, nothing less than that. That’s an incredibly high status, to be called a child/a daughter of God almighty. It’s a position of tremendous privilege. “See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are!” – 1 John 3:1 (see also Galatians 3:26-29; John 3:16; 1 Peter 3:7; Romans 16:1, 3, 6, 12, 13) You are valuable to God, and if you are following Jesus, I want to remind you that you are God’s dearly loved daughter. That is how God sees you. That is who you are forever. And He wants to use you in the world for His glory.
God is still working out His plans and purposes today and they include women. Not as an afterthought, but as those who have always been part of His plan. He is restoring His image-bearers in Christ, that they may once again reflect God’s glory as He originally intended. And because of this we see that there are still different roles for God's sons and daughters to play, as it was in the beginning. That hasn’t changed. There are many women in the Bible (Old and New Testaments) that have been used by God in amazing ways and who are great examples of faithfulness. Sarah, Deborah, Ruth, Esther, Rahab, Mary, Anna, Elizabeth, Priscilla, Lydia, there’s a list in Romans 16, etc.
Jesus and women
The gospels are filled with beautiful examples of how Jesus treated women and the effect He had on them. Think of the woman with alabaster jar - what about Jesus would cause her to boldly anoint Jesus with such expensive perfume in front of those who would frown upon her. What led to that expression of worship and love?
What about the woman who had the issue of blood? Did you know that she would’ve been considered unclean and therefore not allowed to go near anyone in public spaces, let alone touch them because that would spread her uncleanness to the person she touched? In that story, Jesus had just been called upon urgently to heal a dying girl, and there were people crowding Him. But when she touched Him, His response to her is deeply moving. He stops for her first of all, and moves towards her with tender love and compassion. He saw her. He cared about her and her condition. He wasn’t mad that she had touched him.
We see the women who followed Jesus and sponsored His ministry; some of those women were the first people to witness the resurrection of Jesus! God used women to be the first to declare that Jesus had risen from the dead, despite the fact that a woman’s testimony was not seen as credible at that time. He didn’t care about that.
Jesus ultimately laid his life down for women. What does that tell you about where He stands?
So, how does the Bible view women? Is it ultimately anti-women? I’d say there’s overwhelming evidence that that is not true, not even close. Quite the opposite actually.
