One of the most common charges I hear brought against Christianity and the Bible today is that of misogyny. In my own experience, I have known Christianity—a lifestyle of being in relationship with God as exemplified by Christ Himself—to be the opposite of misogynistic, but I do not discount that others have had a very different experience when it comes to the Church.
Scripture, however, is clear on this point: anatomy isn’t relevant to our relationship with God. God is focused on the heart (I Samuel 16:4-7), not the physical attributes.
There are fair criticisms of Churchianity in terms of women being perceived & treated as lesser, but that seems to me to be the influence of the traditions of men… and Jesus isn’t shy about telling us what He thinks of those who put their religious tradition above their actual relationship with God:
Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? ...You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:
'This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.
‘But in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ (Matthew 15:1-3, 6-9; cf. Isaiah 29:13)
In Galatians chapter 3, Paul talks about the purpose of the Law (the Mosaic covenant) and contrasts works (Law) with faith (the Abrahamic covenant). The point of the Law was and is to demonstrate to us works are the evidence (fruit)—not the cause (seed)—of redemption (salvation). The Law is not capable of bringing redemption—only faith can do that. (Galatians 3:1-24)
Put more simply, obedience does not necessarily bring us to the point of a personal relationship, but a personal relationship does, bring us to a place of willing obedience because without that personal relationship, it isn’t possible to obey the commandment:
Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8-10)
After contrasting the different purposes and outcomes of Law & faith in Galatians chapter 3, Paul expresses that the Law is a guard rail meant to help keep us on the road, but it is no substitute for the faith that fuels the engine and brings us to our destination:
"But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. For you are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:25-29)
Is it true that women have been treated badly throughout history, including within the church? Yes.
Is it true that treating anyone as lesser is a violation of Christ’s commandment that we love one another (remembering that Jesus defines ‘your neighbor’ as any human being with which you come into contact)? Yes.
Is it true that the fact that something occurs within the church does not automatically mean that God approves of that thing? Yes—both the letters of Paul to some of the churches (particularly the church at Corinth) and the prophecy of John known as the book of Revelation make it clear that there are things that go on within the church that God is not okay with.
What is also true is that the prophets make it very clear that it is not the will of God to treat others as lesser or unworthy. In fact, the writings of the prophets caution that greed, injustice and oppression anger God, that they were among the sins that Israel had committed along with idolatry, and that they were among the sins for which Israel was punished by the Babylonian exile. As my auntie says, “God don’t like ugly,” and to trample the rights of others—particularly the needy, afflicted, and unfortunate—is something that does indeed deserve the description of “ugly” in the eyes of God.
Those who know me know that I am a stickler about context because context matters. And when you’re talking about a book that is essentially an instruction manual for life, context is critical to understanding. You can’t take a verse in Deuteronomy about foods that Israel is commanded not to eat and attempt to apply that to Christians without having a look at Acts (11:1-18 and 15:19-21) to see what it says about dietary restrictions for Gentiles who follow Christ. The same is true of other commandments and restrictions. The Abrahamic covenant is based in keeping faith (clearly—it had been in existence for centuries before Moses was even born) with a God who called Abraham a friend (Is. 41:8); the Mosaic covenant is one of law that was relayed to Israel via a servant of God (one who sometimes struggled with his very human emotions in his role as a servant)—a servant who was denied entry to the Promised Land because he publicly broke faith, did not treat God as holy, and did not trust God to fulfill His word (Deut. 32:48-52).
Because context does matter, in this series I’ll be focusing on several women whose stories appear in Scripture and discussing why they’re important. I’ll probably discuss a bit about women in history as well as in Scripture—and how women have had a much greater impact on society than we often realize. And, of course, as nearly any discussion about women in Scripture must, I’ll start with Proverbs 31. If you want to know what Scripture says about women, it doesn’t get much clearer than the basic Scriptural description stating what character qualities and traits a woman who is growing in relationship with God either possesses or is consciously striving towards.
*Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from the 1995 update to the New American Standard Bible
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