gender roles: clearing up the confusion
There is a lot of confusion out there about what the Bible says about women. Among other things. But today let's just talk women.
And as usual, self-appointed expert church types have a long history of muddying the waters further--with disastrous results.
I went to a wonderful talk yesterday on gender roles by Kathy Keller. I can't hope to do a good job of summarizing it and won't even get into the hardest stuff (you can get the MP3 at redeemer.com), but allow me to share a few points I found helpful:
1. On the word "Helper"
When God says in Genesis 2:18 "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him"--the word for helper there is really "ezer" which is someone who provides aid out of strength that the other one lacks.
To Tim and Kathy, this means that God intended for Eve to initiate (that troublesome word!), advise, lead and minister out of her STRENGTHS.
2. The Church can set the Model for Equality
The Holy Spirit fell on both men and women at Pentecost, which overturned (or should have) centuries of abuse of power, sexism and patriarchal "crap" amongst believers (to quote Kathy). From this point on, men and women are doing equally important work --though different--in the church (I can't get into the "different" part, I won't do it justice).
3. Be Careful Editing God's Language
Some people believe it's important to change Biblical language so it's gender neutral i.e. "children of God" instead of "sons of God". But--we should always be careful when editing the word of God to make it fit our cultural moment. We are all called "sons" yes, which could be construed as unfair but we are also all called "sheep", and Christ's "bride."
4. Jesus Sets the Ultimate Example
Whether we (by we, I mostly mean, "I") like it or not, the Bible does teach that women should take a subordinate role in church and marriage. However, if we kept in mind that Jesus voluntarily takes on the subordinate role--and it was his GLORY, maybe that can help us think of it differently. If it was not unjust for Jesus (who was and is EQUAL to the Father) to voluntarily and temporarily submit himself to the Father, can it be unjust for women to do the same?
I know this is long, but two other quick points:
Reportage vs. Commandment
Many people get tripped up by stuff they read (often in the Old Testament)--all the men taking multiple wives for example. We should by no means read this to mean God condones or approves or COMMANDS this. It's simply being reported to us. Those Old Testament people--like us--made BIG mistakes.
Don't Assume
We tend to breeze right by parts of the Bible we don't like to read, let alone try and obey the stuff in there. We may be tempted to think some stuff is "cultural", and only written for the that particular moment in time so it doesn't apply to us. But actually, we should really be careful of assuming our culture is an accurate judge of all other cultures, and is somehow superior. We have to find some way to obey the hard verses, and not just stick with the ones we like.
Finally, I left there with a better understanding that men and women's roles are a gift from God, not something to be embarrassed about or revolt against. Men and women are not interchangeable in God's kingdom.
And as usual, self-appointed expert church types have a long history of muddying the waters further--with disastrous results.
I went to a wonderful talk yesterday on gender roles by Kathy Keller. I can't hope to do a good job of summarizing it and won't even get into the hardest stuff (you can get the MP3 at redeemer.com), but allow me to share a few points I found helpful:
1. On the word "Helper"
When God says in Genesis 2:18 "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him"--the word for helper there is really "ezer" which is someone who provides aid out of strength that the other one lacks.
To Tim and Kathy, this means that God intended for Eve to initiate (that troublesome word!), advise, lead and minister out of her STRENGTHS.
2. The Church can set the Model for Equality
The Holy Spirit fell on both men and women at Pentecost, which overturned (or should have) centuries of abuse of power, sexism and patriarchal "crap" amongst believers (to quote Kathy). From this point on, men and women are doing equally important work --though different--in the church (I can't get into the "different" part, I won't do it justice).
3. Be Careful Editing God's Language
Some people believe it's important to change Biblical language so it's gender neutral i.e. "children of God" instead of "sons of God". But--we should always be careful when editing the word of God to make it fit our cultural moment. We are all called "sons" yes, which could be construed as unfair but we are also all called "sheep", and Christ's "bride."
4. Jesus Sets the Ultimate Example
Whether we (by we, I mostly mean, "I") like it or not, the Bible does teach that women should take a subordinate role in church and marriage. However, if we kept in mind that Jesus voluntarily takes on the subordinate role--and it was his GLORY, maybe that can help us think of it differently. If it was not unjust for Jesus (who was and is EQUAL to the Father) to voluntarily and temporarily submit himself to the Father, can it be unjust for women to do the same?
I know this is long, but two other quick points:
Reportage vs. Commandment
Many people get tripped up by stuff they read (often in the Old Testament)--all the men taking multiple wives for example. We should by no means read this to mean God condones or approves or COMMANDS this. It's simply being reported to us. Those Old Testament people--like us--made BIG mistakes.
Don't Assume
We tend to breeze right by parts of the Bible we don't like to read, let alone try and obey the stuff in there. We may be tempted to think some stuff is "cultural", and only written for the that particular moment in time so it doesn't apply to us. But actually, we should really be careful of assuming our culture is an accurate judge of all other cultures, and is somehow superior. We have to find some way to obey the hard verses, and not just stick with the ones we like.
Finally, I left there with a better understanding that men and women's roles are a gift from God, not something to be embarrassed about or revolt against. Men and women are not interchangeable in God's kingdom.
posted by Duncan and Jen | 7:33 PM
3 Comments:
FANTASTIC STUFF JEN.
(next time you take your talks on the road, please visit Kanada!!)
I agree with dbush - this is GREAT stuff. Thanks so much for sharing! Going to search on Redeemer.com for the file now :)
Oh i love it! my women's group has serious issues with this topic. all of us are working as techie professionals in this competitive work environment and being submissive is something that we continue to toss around and debate over and over again. It is my hope that we can learn from this! thanks for posting!
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