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The Bible and Feminism

The stereotype that Christian women are thought of as second-class citizens in the church has emerged into common thought today. In many ways the source of these suspicions has been generated from outside the Bible. Some influencing factors are, firstly, the consideration that the Bible represents the values of an antiquated society that has now been proved suppressive and disregarded as obsolete. Secondly, the rise of a certain type of feminist theory has destabilised the distinctions between men and women. The assumption of this type of theory is that men and women are not only equal, but are the same. For example, feminist theorist Judith Butler has argued that gender should not be determined by sex, but rather by performance. Therefore, she denies that gender is predetermined by the physical. As such, she believes that equality of persons necessitates the removal of gender distinctions, and thus gender roles are defined subjectively due to one’s taste and preference. The Bible fully endorses one aspect of this feminism, insofar as it supports equality between the sexes. But in contrast, Christianity teaches femininity and masculinity to be different and complementary, and to be celebrated as such.

Women and Men are equal

The Bible makes it very clear that women and men are equal:

‘For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’ (Galatians 3:27-28)

This is because women and men are both made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). Being made in the image of God means that we reflect aspects of God. For example, we create, we use complex language and thought and we have the capacity to love. It also means that we live in community, as God does in the Trinity (Father, Son, and Spirit).

The Trinity and Identity

In many ways the Trinity is beyond the grasp of our mental capacities, but we can see aspects of God’s perfect unity between his diverse persons in the fact that men and women are equal in value, but different. There is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but all are equally God. We are male and female, and are equally human. Ray Ortlund describes this well:

‘God exists as one Godhead in three persons, equal in glory, but unequal in role. Within the Holy Trinity the Father leads, the Son submits to him, and the Holy Spirit submits to both. But it is also true that the three persons are fully equal in divinity, power, and glory (the ontological Trinity). The Son submits but not because he is God Jr., an inferior deity; the ranking within the Godhead is part of the sublime beauty and logic of true deity. And if our Creator exists in this manner, should we be surprised and offended if his creaturely analogue on earth exists in paradoxical form?’

(Ortund, Raymond, Jr., Male-Female Equality and Male Headship Genesis 1-3, in Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism, Ed. Piper, John., Grudem, Wayne., Wheaton, Crossway Books, 1991, p.92)

The roles of men and women in the church are derived from this basis, that we, equal and in complementary relationship, reflect God.

Let’s generalise…

The distinctions between men and women are, in many ways, quite general. The differences between us consist mostly of our proclivities, rather than what we can or cannot do. For many, involvement in the local church does not consist of clear-cut tasks or gender boundaries, such as, traditional stereotypes of women cooking whilst the men discuss theology. There are many overlaps in the roles and duties within the church. For example: leading group activities from small to large, working with the poor, running any sort of Christ-inspired social action (this can be anything from working with young children, to heading up petitions to local and general government), administration, leading worship, writing articles, apologetics, alpha courses, counselling, giving financially, encouraging, and the list could go on and on.

Therefore, men are not considered superior to women in Christianity, as we are all God’s image bearers. The fact that we are, as men and women, in some ways different and possess some gender specific roles is an analogy of the Godhead. One is no better than the other.

In the next article, we will look at this issue with regard to serving within the local church in some more specific areas.

Some people believe that it is rather egotistical of God to demand that he has worshippers. This seems to many people to show God as a kind of overly insecure version of a teenage rocker, who has had a few knockbacks from girls in the past (before he was famous perhaps), and now needs the constant love and adoration of his fans to cover over these previous rejections!

So this begs the question, is God an insecure ageing weather man up in the clouds, desperately looking for an ego-boast, before his fragile little heart can take it no more and he goes to sit in a corner and quietly cry himself to sleep because he is not popular?

The Sufficiency of the Trinity

One of the first things that we learn about God in the bible is his Trinitarian nature. This is what Christians refer to as the holy trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Although the word ‘Trinity’ is not actually used in the Bible the concept is very clearly implicit within it. In Genesis 1:26 we see that God says he is creating people in ‘Our Image’ clearly showing that God is plural. Please do not allow this to confuse you, there is one God but three persons within the Godhead. In Matthew 3:16-17 we see another time where at Jesus’ baptism all three persons are present in differing roles.

We will discuss the concept of the trinity at greater length in our up and coming article: What is The Trinity?

The main thing for now to understand is that God the father actually lives in perfect community, with the other two people, Jesus and the person of The Holy Spirit and has done for all of eternity. Because of this perfect relationship (and therefore perfect love) which is experienced, there is no need within God for anything. He is completely self-satisfied (Acts 17:25). He is not requiring us to believe in him for some kind of ego-boast. God is not an ego-maniac.

Isn’t the universe enough for God?

It was out of this state of perfect love that God decided to express himself by creating the universe, and everything else that we see before us, the vegetation, the animals and also ourselves. It may seem surprising but in this vast universe the pinnacle of God’s creation was actually men and women (Genesis 1:26-27). Regardless of whether you believe that this came about through God creating each creature on earth through a process of evolution, or by special creation, one thing we can be sure is that we are no accident. The writer of Psalms says that we have been ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ (Psalm 139:14). God has taken great care to make sure of our very existence, and the very details of our life.

We need God

The reality is that we have been made with a desire for eternal things (Ecc 3:11). The meta-narrative (or over-arching story) of the bible is that despite the perfect creation in the beginning, we have turned our backs on God, and have fallen short of his perfect standard (Romans 3:23). This means that both our lives and the world we live in is no longer what it should be. This shows us that we need God, not that he needs us. He has promised to renew all things through the Jesus Christ.

We all have a desire to worship

It is very clear that as humans we all worship something. It may sound very primitive and like the kind of thing that people did in ancient times, but if we are not talking about simply bowing down to statues then it becomes obvious.

We all give our best time, money, dreams and passions to something, and this can become the thing that we use to identify ourselves by. This could be absolutely anything, and more often than not it’s a good thing which we have gone and made the ultimate thing.

One example would be having a relationship with someone. This can in itself be a good thing, but if we make this the ultimate thing in our lives then we end up disappointed because the other person may fail us, dump us or even if it lasts, will never treat you perfectly and will not save you for eternity. God on the other hand will never desert you, loves you perfectly as a father and offers you eternal life. He is the only one that we should bow down worship.

Conclusion

The early church father St. Augustine once said, ‘Our hearts are restless until we find our rest in him’. Far from God being needy, it turns out that we need him for fulfilment in this life, and in order to be transformed and to experience eternal glory and perfection in the next. Because God is a completely just judge, he can’t simply turn a blind eye to all the evil that goes on. It had to be paid for, on the cross, by Jesus. If we put our trust in him then we can know this wonderful God personally (Romans 10:9).

I once heard Jimmy Carr in a stand up performance make this exact point; “if we’re all sons of God what was so special about Jesus?” It’s a fair point; what exactly do we, as Christians, mean?

Colossians 1: 15-18 helps us best in our understanding of this point, it reads:

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.”

Jesus: God and son of God?

The above passage shows clearly that Jesus is God: “He is the image of the invisible God”. He is how God has chosen to reveal himself to the earth and in him we can best understand the nature of God.

At the same time in describing Jesus as the Son of God, the Bible is using this as a means of describing his position of submission to God the father. No attempt to describe this relationship will fully do it justice. The Fathers of the church describe the relationship of God, Jesus and the Spirit in terms of tri-unity (trinity). They are the same in nature but distinct in persons and this passage in Colossians is the best explanation of this in terms of Jesus. “…all things were created by him and for him”

Us as sons of God

What then does it mean for us to be sons of God? Firstly we need to be clear that this is a phrase which is only used in the Bible for Christians. The New Testament explains that Jesus is our means of adoption into a relationship with God. As Colossians describes, Jesus is “…the firstborn over all creation” and “the firstborn from among the dead”. This means that Jesus goes first on behalf of those that believe in him, and, through faith, we follow after him.

Romans 8: 29 describes this well when it says: “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

As Christians we are those who are conformed to the likeness of Jesus to the extent that we can be called sons of God and as the Bible describes “co-heirs with Christ.”

To be sons of God is then the offer available to anyone who wishes to receive it. To be a Christian is to be adopted into God’s very family and to share in Jesus’ relationship with God.