In this video, Grace@Work leader Cortney Alexander discusses the Bible’s high view of women.
Some people believe that the Bible promotes a low view of women. Maybe they’ve heard that the first woman, Eve, was created to be a helper suitable—or corresponding—to the first man, Adam, and have a misimpression about what that means. The fact that God created woman to correspond to man doesn’t mean that woman was created to be some sort of domestic servant for man. Instead, the Bible conveys a high view of women from its very first pages.
The very first chapter of the Bible says that God created mankind, both male and female, in the image of God. This view of woman as equally created in God’s image continues in Genesis 2, where we get more information on God’s creation of the first man and woman. After God created Eve and brought her to Adam, Adam says, “At last!” As my friend Charlie Paparelli says, “This is one of the first exclamation marks in the Bible.” After Adam’s joyful statement, we see God define the relationship for which he created man and woman: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24).
The apostle Paul builds on this concept of the one-flesh relationship in describing the relationship between men and women in the New Testament. He says, “Husbands, love your wives” (Eph. 5:25). You might say, “Sure, that makes sense.” But listen to what he goes on to say: “Love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:25-27). God calls husbands to love their wives just as Jesus loves the church. That’s a high calling, and it reflects a high view of women.
We see Paul again giving a high view of women in 1 Corinthians 11. There, he refers back to Genesis 2 in saying that “woman was made from man” (1 Cor. 11:12). But Paul makes clear that this doesn’t mean woman is subservient to man by saying that “woman is the glory of man” (1 Cor. 11:7). How does someone treat his glory? Does he treat her like a slave? Does he use her to satisfy his sexual urges then discard her? No, he cherishes her, just as Jesus cherishes the church.
The Biblical call to respect women doesn’t end with the husband-wife relationship. When Paul gave instructions to his protégé Timothy on how to relate to other believers, he gave special instructions for younger women. He says, to treat “younger women as sisters, in all purity” (1 Tim. 5:2). In other words, men should treat young women as they would their sisters. They should treat them purely, not as sex objects.
So what should a young Christian woman expect from a young man pursuing a relationship with her? She should expect him to abide by this standard given in the New Testament. If he’s pushing her for a sexual relationship without first making a lifelong commitment by marrying her, she can feel free to give him the response that Jesus gave his disciples. When they suggested that it was better off for a man to remain unmarried rather than making a lifelong commitment to a woman, Jesus basically said, “Sure! That sounds like a great idea—if you want to live a life of chastity! That is, a life refraining from any sexual activity.” That’s what Jesus expected from men—marriage or chastity. Women today should feel free to expect the same from the men in their lives.
If men adopted God’s high view of women, think how our society would change. How would that impact problems like poverty, kids growing up without fathers, sexually transmitted diseases, and human trafficking? It would drastically reduce or eliminate all of them. God’s ways truly are better than the ways of men.
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