Does the Bible recognize equality between men and women?
By Ruwayda Mustafah.
The controversy surrounding the status of men and women in Christianity involves the concept of “authority”. The concept of “authority” is synonymous with “power”. When someone has authority over something it necessarily follows that they would have some form of exercising power over it. For example, as a teacher I would be in a position of authority over my male and female students. How much authority I would have over my male and female students is contingent on college policy.
The intrinsic factor of who is in authority relates to equality. And equality here implies similarity and not sameness. It is important to distinguish between identicality and equality because they are two different concepts which are often misunderstood to mean the same thing. The term equality, that is, to be equal or equally treated is only in the qualitative sense and does not necessitate being treated or perceived as identical to something else. For example saying women are equal is not to say that they are the same. Therefore equality signifies being similar and not identical. If equality was about identical rights, then it would have been referred to as “identical rights“ and not "equal rights".
In the beginning of creation according to the Old Testament, both man and woman was created (Genesis 1:27). Then we read in (Genesis 2:7) how God created man first and then created woman to be a help mate for the man (Genesis 2:18). In other words the woman was created for the sake of man. This initial stage of creation is crucial in order to form a understanding of the platform upon which man and woman is raised upon according to the bible. Genesis sets out the purpose for the creation of women, and that is to be subservient and a helper of men. However the man is not created for the woman. And this illustrates that the bible does not sanction equality between men and women in relation to their purpose. Man was created to be a servant of God (1cor 11:9) and woman to be a servant of man (Genesis 2:18).
- The authority of men over women (Ephesians 5:17-33)
I will quote the passage which relates to husbands and wives completely so that I’m not accused of isolating particular verses of the bible. And unfortunately some do isolate one verse without considering the verses that follow it. It’s crucial that the bible is read contextually and not taken out of context.
17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. 18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. 22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
No one can deny that the Bible does sanction love towards wives. However does love constitute as conclusive evidence for equality? Anyone who affirms this is patently false because as Human beings we may love many things for several of reasons. For example one can love a pet very dearly. In fact many, if not all pet owners love their pets and look after them rather well. And the pets usually respond to the commands of their owners. Of course here I’m not giving the analogy that a Christian wife is a pet to her husband, certainly not. What is strikingly obvious from the above is the following:
- Submission to the authority of a male figure (husband) is equivalent to submitting to God. This elevates the status of Husbands to God because Christian women would have to submit to their husbands and God equally.
- The husband is the head of the wife. He is above her and is superior. Just like the head master at my college would be superior to me, and students.
- The church is subject to Christ, under the absolute authority of Christ. And likewise women are to be under the absolute authority of their husbands, in literally all areas as the highlighted verse clearly illustrates.
- Men should love their wives. Loving someone does not brush away the highlighted verses where women are addressed to be under the absolute authority of men, with no exception. Absolute authority to your husband when he is right or wrong is degrading, unfair and not to mention humiliating to many pious and righteous women.
- Christian women are deficient in comparison to men (1Peter 3:7)
It’s unclear how one would honour something of the weaker vessel, or what the correct understanding of the weaker vessel would mean. This is open to several interpretations. It could refer to the deficiency of Christian women in comparison to Christian men. Or it could be coinciding with the above quoted passages which illustrates that absolute authority of man over woman and the level of “honouring” that a man is permitted to give unto those under his authority.
However, It is obviously clear that the bible does not sanction equality between men and women when it comes to authority. Women in Christianity may well be loved but, that does not act as evidence of them being equal to men. There are no instances in the bible where formal or proportional equality is acknowledged. The rule of rationality dictates that men and women in instances where they are equal should be treated equally. In other words absolute subjection of women to the authority of men is unfounded in any relevant respect to their biological disposition.
- Equality in redemption
Christians often respond by saying there is equality in redemption. Redemption was necessary because of the woman in Christianity (Genesis 3:6). And just because both men and women are saved through human-blood-atonement it does not necessitate equality in it’s actual sense. Since this does not fall under any of the well known and acknowledged categories of equality but, under a special circumstance and not a general one. Also equality in redemption is attained through a male gender which poses another problem mentioned in Sexism and God talk by R.R. Ruether.
In traditional Christian theology, Christ is the model for this redeemed humanity that we have lost through sin and recovered through redemption. But Christ as a symbol is problematic for feminist theology. The Christological symbols have been used to enforce male dominance, and even if we go back beyond masculinity Christology to the praxis of the historical Jesus of the synoptic gospels, it is questionable whether there is a single model of redeemed humanity fully revealed in the past. This does not mean that feminist theology may not be able to affirm the person of Jesus of Nazareth as a positive model of redemptive humanity. But this model must be seen as partial and fragmentary, disclosing from the perspective of one person, circumscribed in time, culture, gender, something of the fullness we seek. We need other clues and models as well, models drawn from women’s experience, from many times and cultures.
In other words, the Jesus of Nazareth can arguably be perceived as a positive model in the sense that both men and women are redeemed through him according to the Christian doctrine. However, it poses yet another problem for the Christian women that argue biblical Christianity has room for equality between men and women because redemption is through a man and not woman. And this reinforces the notion that domination and subordination of women is not the result of social convention but one rooted in the biblical teaching of the role of men and women.
- The voice and presence of women in the house of God
For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. or Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Not withstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
I'm open to different interpretations of the above verses. I don't believe they are taken out of context but they evidently seem to coincide with each other. One possible interpretation by Christian Apologists could be the following taken from gotquestions.org
The context of this passage, and much of 1 Corinthians, is the order and structure of the church. The Corinthian church was noted for the chaos and lack of order that was rampant in that assembly (v. 33). It is interesting that no elders or pastors are mentioned, and the prophets were not even exercising control (see vv. 29, 32, 37). Everyone was participating with whatever expression they desired “whenever” they desired. This included tongues and prophesying by women who were taking the lead in the services instead of being submissive, as God’s Word makes clear (1 Timothy 2:11-15). Apparently, certain women in the Corinthian church were out of order in disruptively asking questions publicly in the chaotic services. It is not coincidental that many modern churches that have tongues-speaking and claim gifts of healings and miracles also permit women to lead worship, preach, and teach. Women may be gifted teachers, but they are not permitted by God “to speak” in such a manner in His churches. In fact, for them to do so is “shameful,” meaning “disgraceful” (v. 35).
This is taken from a Christian website that makes it clear. Women were the cause of disorder and chaos as well as it reinforces the idea that women are to learn in silence. It is unclear who these disruptive women were from the scripture. But the point here is even Christians concede that if women were to speak in churches while men are prophesying then they are "disgraceful" and "shameful" and are not permitted.
The context of 1 Corinthians 14:33-35 is talking about interpreting and understanding the gifts of tongues and prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:26-32). Therefore, 1 Corinthians 14:34 is not commanding women to be absolutely silent in the church all the time. It is only saying that women should not participate when tongues and/or prophecy is being interpreted and tested (1 Thessalonians 5:19-22; 1 John 4:1). This is in agreement with 1 Timothy 2:11-12 which says that women should not teach or have authority over men. If women were involved in deciding whether a prophecy was truly from God, they would be disobeying what the Bible says in 1 Timothy 2:11-12. Therefore, Paul tells women to be silent when tongues and prophecy are being interpreted so that they will not be disobeying God’s Word.
The above explanation seems dishonest to me because when we read 1 Timothy 2:11-15 the reasoning is clear. Adam was not deceived and he was formed first. And this can be viewed from several perspectives. I will withhold my view on these passages and instead use the Christian apologists' explanation of it; Women regardless of how a minority have acted during a particular time should not be denied the right to speak or ask questions in relation to their belief. The point here is biblical Christianity denies women the right to speak in church as well as the right to exercise their knowledge through teaching yet these rights are granted to men. And these again illustrate that the bible does not allow room for equality between men and women. If women are permited to speak then which part of the scripture gives them this right? Unconstitutional rights are by default unprotected and therefore left to society conventions to dictate whether women should or should not be given such rights. And this justifies women being deprived of similiar rights historically because no one can substantiate a cohesive argument against misogyny.
My contention is not so much that women should be given the right to exercise their knowledge and teach others but instead that men are granted this right and women are deprived therefore equality does not exist. A Christian woman can easily believe that she should not speak in church or teach men because men are in authority but, no Christian can affirm that biblical Christianity stands for equality between men and women.