What Does The Bible Say About Women Pt. 1 - Creation and Fall
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Intro
Today, we’re starting a new topic specifically on what the Bible says about women. In this series, we’re going to talk about the Biblical perspective of women from the creation account to the NT. We’re going to dispel some myths about what the Bible does say and what the Bible does NOT say about women.
My job isn’t to tell you what to believe or shouldn’t believe, but rather present to you what the Bible says and give you the tools you all need in order to better understand a holistic perspective of Scripture. This is often a hotly debated issue for many Christians, so I am going to simply present to you what the Bible says and provide some best practices to utilize when interpreting Scripture. So, let’s get started.
Remember, throughout all my classes I emphasize the importance of several hermeneutics. One of the biggest ones (you can learn more about it in the “Foundations” teaching series on the website, is Reading the text “Forward” or “Front to back.” That is what we’re going to do here today. Reading it with the understanding that the stuff that happens later, hasn’t happened yet.
Women and Men each as image bearers
Read Gen 1:26-30
What does this passage say about the special relationship between God and Humanity?
Humans are Image bearers, made in the likeness of the creator.
What does it mean to be Image bearers of God?
Only humanity is made in God’s image, and we are tasked with Stewardship over the Earth and the things that live here.
Notice, who specifically is given dominion? It’s both males and Females –“Humankind/Mankind” It is a shared responsibility and a shared authority over the earth
אָדָ֛ם “Adam” “human, person”
אֲדָמָֽה “Ground, dirt, earth” so Adam is basically “dirt person” (Check out the end of Ch 3 when humans will return to the dust when they die).
To say that “adam” means “male” is to barrow of a translation. In fact, there is a specific word for “male, man” and it is אִישׁ and “female/ woman,” is אִשָּׁ֔ה So, humanity is the only thing made in God’s Image and both (not just the men) are given dominion. And this idea of coming from the ground connects with the other created things coming from the Ground as well–Plants and the other animals
So, Both women and men each have a unique standing within creation and before the fall, our relationship with each other, the earth and its inhabitance, and God was “very good!” We have a special intimate Kinship with creation. That is the special standing of humans being the image bearers of God. We are unique, we are an intimate part of creation, and we’ve been given charge to take care of it.
Women as “helper”
Read: Gen 2:18-22
What do you think of when you hear the word helper? What role does the “helper” play in your mind? Often, it’s seen as a weaker role by many.
Is that how you think the Bible describes the role of helper?
Read: Psalm 30:10; Psalm 33:20; Psalm 70:5; Gen. 49:24-25; Exod. 18:4; Deut. 33:7, 26, 29;
What do these passages say about who is a helper? What does this do to the argument that a “helper” is someone who is weak or plays a supplementary role? Is God weak or does he play a supplementary role?
Instead of viewing a biblical “helper” as someone who is secondary, instead, a helper should be understood as someone who provides someone else with what they lack. And ONLY through the intervention of that “helper” can a job get done as intended. As God steps in and fills in what we lack, the woman here provides a strength that Adam lacks to get the job done. So women here is seen as the only suitable thing in creation that can provide what Adam lacked.
So based on this, and based on our understanding of Gen 1-2, what can we say about any sort of power structure or hierarchy? That at least in Gen 1-2, the only power structure that exists is between God and the rest of creation. There is no special status one higher than the other between each other in the pre-fall order of creation.
Argument that women brought sin into the world
Let’s shift gears a little bit and talk about some arguments that have been repeated throughout the church’s history.
In the past, and today, people have looked at Gen 3 as a sort of explanation as to why women are subordinate to men. Let me break it down.
Argument #1
Some people argue that "Women are gullible (therefore inferior/must be subordinate to men) because the serpent deceived Eve. Sin is her fault."
However, upon closer examination, this argument easily falls apart.
First, the concept that Eve was gullible is a laughable understanding of the text. Here’s why
Read: Gen 3:1-6
v. 2 note that that isn’t what God said to Adam, “You must not touch it, or you will die,” but was far more likely to have been Adam who incorrectly gave Eve this information.
vv. 4-5, the serpent was correct here. They ate and did not die because when they did eat it, humanity did learn the difference between good and evil.
v. 6– Eve was actually a very shrewd in her reasoning and logical in her assessment The Bible said that the fruit “was good for food,” and “Pleasing to the eye.” The Bible also said that the fruit is “desirable for gaining wisdom.” So, her assessments were all correct and logical.
If you want to use the argument that the woman was gullible, I could just as easily say that “the reason why the serpent went to the woman was because the man was dumb!” He was most likely the one who incorrectly told Eve about not touching the fruit. Adam was the one who readily, without question, took the fruit from Eve He should have been the one to say, “NO WAY, that’s the fruit we can’t touch!”
I could just as easily say “Why would the serpent waste his time with the dummy when the serpent could spend his time trying to persuade the smarter one?” However, both of these assessments would be eisegesis, Me reading something into the text that isn’t there. It is simply not good thinking to argue that Eve was the gullible one and thus the Sin problem is her fault alone.
Argument #2
Some people argue that "Hierarchy exists because God confronted Adam first."
This line of reasoning also easily falls apart.
Up until this point, no hierarchy exists yet, they are still coequal stewards of creation and both coequals in their sin against God. Rather, Adam was the one who had the conversation about “Don’t eat the fruit” with God to start with, so of course God is going to go to Adam to ask “Hey! Why did you do the thing that I explicitly told you not to do?” The idea that God went to Adam first, was because Adam was the one that just happened to be told first. Any sort of power dynamics are an inference from us. Think of a foreman on a construction site. You go to him first to learn what’s going on. This is how Humans think. But this is not how God thinks.
Prescriptive vs Descriptive punishment
Let’s get to the interesting point I want to share with you.
“Your desire will be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” many people in the church today point to that and say “See, it says it right there, men ‘shall’ rule over women.
Read: Gen 3: 8-19
The question becomes “Are these things prescriptive or descriptive?
- Prescriptive: God saying, “This is my decree, this is my will, I am restructuring everything and thus saith the Lord.”
- Most of the time, many people see this passage as prescriptive.
- Descriptive: God saying “See what you did! What I’m about to tell you is the natural result/consequence of your choices. This is how life is going to end up being for you from now on.”
- Clearly God is providing correctives to the sin issue that now exists. Each party involved receives a corrective followed by a natural consequence that is a direct result of the SIN, not a consequence of the corrective itself.
- Serpent (v.14-15)
- God’s corrective: Cursed among the livestock, you will crawl on your belly and eat dust
- Descriptive consequence: Because you are cursed and crawl and eat dust, there will be enmity between you and humanity.
- It’s NOT a DECREE– just a description of the consequence. Because you tried to elevate yourself in the animal kingdom and tried to bring humans lower, God will widen that gap and make you the lowest of the animals!
- Man (v.17-19)
- God’s Corrective: Cursed is the ground
- Descriptive consequence: Because the ground is cursed, you will have to toil, it will produce thorns, you will sweat, you will return to the ground.
- It’s NOT a DECREE– just a description of the consequence. You ate the fruit I told you not to eat. Well now you have to work for your food.
- Woman (v. 16)
- God’s Corrective: I will make childbearing painful
- Descriptive consequence: Because childbearing is painful, your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.
- It’s NOT a DECREE– just a description of the consequence. Because your husband doesn't have to experience a dangerous life-giving process, you will want to be like him. Because you played with death, God is going to make the thing that is meant to bring life into the world far more difficult.
- Serpent (v.14-15)
This word for “Desire” by the way is not a good thing.
Gen 4:6-7– says that "Sin’s desire is to have you," when talking to Cain. This “desire” denotes a power struggle brought into the world because of sin.
Consider the implications of a prescriptive interpretation for this passage. If these passages really are decrees from the Lord as to “this is how the Lord is reordering creation,” Then why don’t we have any Bible examples of God punishing women for not “desiring their husbands” enough? Why are there no examples in Scripture of explicit references to men saying, “why aren’t you ruling over your wives enough?” No one ever gets in trouble for not doing these things. The Bible never comes out and tells a man, "Hey you need to rule over your wives more. Because you are not ruling over them enough, God will now punish you for your transgression against his law set in Genesis 3.
The reason doesn't give an example of this is because it's not a Decree or a Law that must be obeyed, but rather a description of the consequences of OUR sin choice.
Consider other implications if it's prescriptive. If it was prescriptive, then women farmers would be more successful than male farmers. The ground would only be cursed for the men, not the women. See how that doesn’t work? If it's prescriptive, then only the men would return to dust when they die. Obviously, women return to dust as well, so clearly it’s not prescriptive and a command for just men. It would be breaking God’s Decree if men (and women) farmers didn’t sweat and toil to produce crops. If that’s the case then all John Deere tractors are going against God’s laws!
Take Away
These are descriptions of the direct consequences of our sins. This was not part of God’s good design. Yet that is how some people act when it comes to the interpretation of scripture. We as the Kingdom of God need to think about God’s intentions for creation and push back against ideas that are clearly not present in these texts but are instead inferences on our part.
What was most impactful for you today?
How can we use this to help people become better disciples of Christ?