GENDER EQUALITY: THE BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVES

GENDER EQUALITY: THE BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVES

Q:        What is Gender Equality?

A:        The word gender is the state of being either male, female or intersex; it is typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones.

Q:        What then is this growing clamour for Gender Equality of Men and Women?

A:        It is the demand by feminists for the need to secure the rights and opportunities for women equal to those men.

Q:        Can you explain this further?

A:        In most parts of the world, women are denied a lot their rights simply because they are females. It takes various forms e.g, economic, political or cultural discriminations, disregard, insult, control, exploitation, oppression, gender-based violence etc. Some females are paid less salaries and wages than their male counterparts for equal work done by both gender at the same place of work.  

           

Q:        Has the clamour anything to do with the Christians or the Church?

A:        Yes. It has. The reality of gender inequality in the larger society is one that the church cannot shy away from. Though we Christians are not of the world but once we live world, the things going on in the world have ways of filtering into the church.

Therefore, it behoves on those that are awake and alert in the spirit, soul and body to rise to the occasion and make a balance between the contending views regarding the original gender relationship plan of God as revealed in the Holy Bible vis-à-vis world’s version.

Q:        What is then the General perspective of the Church on Gender Equality?

A:        Various theological institutions and the church have relied on the authority of the Bible to oppress half of the body of Christ. For centuries now, the church used the Bible to create a theology that has twisted the precise representation of what God had planned for the relationship between men and women in the family and body of Christ. What emerges from that is that the present academic appeal to an egalitarian approach to church and family maneuvers the church towards a pathway that reverses the issues within the church, but ignores the injustice done to the church.

To suggest that the Bible does not speak of differences between genders, except in the obvious physical and sexual roles, would be a grave injustice to the holy text. For those of us who do hold the Bible to be the inspired word of God, the better biblical example of male and female relationships speaks abundantly about their differences, both pre- and post-fall. Therefore the stronger biblical approach is that men and women are divinely designed differently by God to fulfill different roles within the church & family.

Q         What exactly does the creation story say about gender?

A:        According to the Bible, in the beginning God first created the heavens and the earth. He began to engage himself in the creation of man and woman, (see Genesis 1 &2). For many years, theologians and non-theologians alike have been basing their understanding of God on the principles taken from the book of Genesis. This book can be said to be the foundational text to Christian theology in general, not only on in gender.

The summary of the creation story, according to the book of Genesis Chapters 2 & 3, goes that:

·         God created man first from dust of the earth- ( Gen. 2:7)

·          God created woman second from Adam, and unlike the rest of creation, the woman is taken from another creature-man, not nature -(Gen. 2:22)

·         Adam names the woman Eve -(Gen. 2:23)

·         Man/woman relationship became the reason for husband to leave his family to be with wife -(Gen. 2:24)

·         Satan tempts Eve to disobey God’s instruction -(Gen. 3:1-5)

·         Eve brings Adam into the matter -(Gen. 3:6)

·         Women are cursed because of Eve's actions -(Gen. 3:16)

·         Men are cursed because of Adam's actions -(Gen. 3:17).

Q:        What are the implications of the Biblical passages you highlighted?

A:        While the above provisions in the book of Genesis are clear, it is in their interpretations that opinions differ between contemporary feminists and the core Biblical adherents.  Flowing from the above account, opinions have been expressed that because Adam was created first, it implies that Adam (man) is superior and Eve (woman) is inferior. That the idea of woman is an after-thought of God who said that it is not good for the man to be alone. (Gen. 2:8). Concerning Eve, Gen. 3:16 (NKJV) reads:

I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.

This indicates that Eve was denied her birth right, and therefore a woman's existence depended on man.  

Again, the account shows that Adam had power over Eve, followed by man's desire to leave his home to setup another similar power structure. Further, Gen. 3:1-5 implies that Eve is untrustworthy, gullible and simpleminded human being. The consequences of their actions and inactions suggests that the punishment of Eve is greater than that of Adam which means that Eve's sin was greater.

The account also reveals that Satan attacks at the weaker point, i.e., the woman. Even though Eve may not have heard directly from God about abstaining from either touching or eating the fruit, there is evidence that she knew about the instruction, the exact location of the tree and even confessed the instruction as having been issued by God (Gen. 3:2-3)

Q:        Does the sequence of human creation story make any difference to equality?

A:        It can be argued that the accounts in Gen. 2:7 & 22 are only sequential arrangement connecting Adam and Eve from the beginning. In other words, God may have planned that one human being will be made before another one without strictly following the same mode of creation-dust. Indeed, it could have been the other way round so that Eve could have been made first and Adam second. But as the records have it, it is for a purpose that the Maker followed the order of Adam first and out of him, Eve. That sequence is for a purpose: the first to rule over the second.

Q:        Would the position be different if Adam and Eve didn’t sin against God?

A:       It is believed that in the pre-fallen world (before Adam and Eve sinned), God designed the relationship between Adam and Eve to be totally egalitarian.
In actuality, the ideal, initial relationship which Adam and Eve shared was egalitarian. In other words, the different consequential roles God assigned to Adam and Eve, respectively, made explicit that which was implicit. That is, the roles only came to lime-light after they committed the sin of disobedience against God. There was not a hierarchy of power; there were not roles for each of them to carry out, mainly because there was no need for it.

Before Adam and Eve fell, there was no need for work. The Garden of Eden provided everything they needed. They were only expected by God to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and everything that moves on earth. See Gen. 1:28. The position would have been different if Adam and Eve obeyed God’s command not to eat the fruit.

Q:        All the above seems to be Old Testament Position on gender equality. Has the position changed today?

A:        The Bible is neither time nor space-bound. Ephesians 5:22 directs women to be submissive to their husbands. In 1Corinthians 14:34-35, St. Paul admonished the Corinthian Christians that their Women should not speak in the church but learn from their husbands at home. However, Paul wrote this text because there were a collection of women in the Corinthian church that were purposely exercising their freedom in Christ to speak inappropriately. Therefore, they were being reprimanded for rude behaviour. Paul simply wanted to stress the importance of orderly worship services.

In 1Timothy 3:1-13 Paul required those aspiring to the position of Bishops, overseers and deacons to be the husband of one wife. This could mean that in order for a person to be a deacon or overseer, one must be male, because only males can be husbands.

Q:        Does the Bible Support the modern day gender equality movements?

A:        Today’s feminists clamour for equality of men and women in all spheres of life? That is not what the Bible really contemplates. Inasmuch as the Bible doesn’t authorize the discrimination of women, as it is done today in the world, it does teach that Women should respect, submit and recognize men as their head in the church and family.

Uchenna .H. Okoronkwo

uchenna.okoronkwo@gmail.com