This is the challenge of relying only on the text of the Bible in passages like our reading this week. In the Bible, passages that teach patriarchal misogyny against women exist along with passages that subvert chauvinistic ways of viewing and treating women. The Bible is not univocal on the subject of egalitarianism between the sexes. It’s simply not. Those whose biases are against women will find plenty in the Bible to support their prejudices. Those who believe in and fight for gender equality will also find passages in the Bible to support their efforts.
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This is Part 2 of The Bible and Gender Equality
(Read this series from its beginning here.)
Even in the work of Paul we find both kinds of texts:
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)
And:
Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. (1 Corinthians 14:34)
Some have solved the dilemma by stating that we must discern the trajectory of our sacred text. Yes, they say, we find both sets of texts in our Bible, but we should ask, which direction is the text moving in as a whole? Is the Bible moving toward sexism or away from it?
I’m not sure it’s that simple.
With the issue of slavery, U.S. Christians who supported slavery during the abolitionist movement accused Christian abolitionists of throwing away the Bible in order to oppose slavery.
With the call for LGBTQ inclusion in our society and the Christian church as a whole, homophobic, biphobic, and transphobic Christians state that Christians who are welcoming and affirming of our LGBTQ family and friends are throwing away the Bible to affirm them.
Here too, whenever subjects arise such as women’s ordination in denominations refuse to recognize and honor the equality of women in ministry, those who view gender equality in the church as evil say that Christians who support egalitarianism must throw away their Bibles.
The Bible and gender equality is a subject of ongoing theological debate within many Christian communities. This debate draws passionate voices from both complementarian and egalitarian perspectives. Egalitarianism holds that men and women are created equal in worth, dignity, and capacity, and that their equality should extend into all areas of life—including leadership roles in the church, home, and society. When read through an egalitarian lens, the Bible can offer a strong foundation for gender equality.
The biblical case for egalitarianism typically begins in Genesis. In the creation narrative of Genesis 1, both man and woman are created in the image of God: “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27, NRSV). This passage affirms that both men and women equally reflect God’s image and share in the divine mandate to care for creation (Genesis 1:28). There is no hint of hierarchy in this first creation account.
Patriarchy then appears in Genesis 3:16. We’ll pick up there and follow its challenging thread, next, in Part 3.
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