Why Trust the Bible?Sample

Isn’t the Bible sexist?

Perhaps you’ve asked, or been asked, Isn’t the Bible sexist? Cultural messaging about Christianity has created the impression that the Bible casts women as second-class citizens. Yet the words of the Bible tell a different story.

On the first pages of Genesis, God confirms the dignity and equality of men and women as bearers of His image. In fact, in the creation story, it is the woman, Eve, who receives the first redemptive promise of the Bible: the Messiah will come through her. Yet a one-word description of Eve has set off centuries of misunderstanding. Eve is described with the Hebrew word ezer, meaning helper. What’s overlooked about this description is the fact that ezer is a title God uses of Himself. This reframes the traditionally propagated view that, as mere helpers, women are secondary to men.

Elsewhere in the Old Testament, we meet women who, despite being part of an oppressively patriarchal society, were prophets, prayer warriors, queens, judges, and worship leaders. One of the most widely known women in the Old Testament, the one described in Proverbs 31, is anything but disempowered: she’s an entrepreneur who buys and sells land, employs people, studies, teaches, strategizes, cares for the poor, and commands the respect of influential people. The Old Testament also deals tenderly and empathetically with the sufferings of women – those who were longing for children of their own, or those widowed or impoverished.

Given these clues about God’s view of women, how do we make sense of the admittedly horrendous Old Testament stories of rape, violence, and injustice against them? It’s worth noting two things.

1. These actions are never condoned.
2. Much of the text of the Old Testament is narrative, not didactic. The author is writing an account of what happened, not telling the reader to go and do likewise.

The disturbing stories of the Old Testament – like the disturbing stories in your newsfeed – point to the world’s desperate need for Jesus.

In the New Testament, we see Jesus interacting with women in radically countercultural ways. He tells stories about women in His parables. He shocks His disciples by having an intense doctrinal discussion with a Samaritan woman, to whom He reveals His identity as the Messiah (for the very first time, no less). He honours Mary by allowing her to sit at His feet for a theology class, a position strictly reserved for the male-only followers of a rabbi. And women played prominent roles as witnesses to the most central historical events surrounding Jesus. Mary is the only witness to the annunciation of the virgin birth of Christ. Women stood at the foot of the cross, hearing Jesus’ last words. Women first witnessed the empty tomb and the resurrection of Christ. In Jesus’ day, a woman’s word was considered unreliable. The fact that it was women who testified to the risen Christ is actually strong evidence for the veracity of the gospels. No one making up a new religion would’ve included women in the evidence documents!

Both the Old and New Testaments attribute to women positions of dignity, strength, and purpose, centring their voices, perspectives, needs, and potential and overturning the entrenched patriarchal biases of the day. Wondrously, Jesus was the ultimate fulfilment of God’s original intent for humanity, and Christianity transformed women’s lives. May we as the twenty-first century church uphold the Bible’s view of gender equality and model it the way Jesus did.