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Women in the Bible-The New Testament (Making Sense of Christianity #2)

03 Wednesday Mar 2010

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This post is the second half of our discussion on Women in the Bible.  We started our discussion with Women in the Old Testament, and we will continue now with stories of women from the New Testament.

Jesus’ Mother Mary—Gospels

Just as Eve is the first lady of the Old Testament, in many ways, Mary the mother of Jesus is the “first lady” of the New Testament.  Mary’s story has been retold so many times that we often lose the sense of wonder and awe that this young woman inspires.

A young virgin girl named Mary is visited by an angel and told that she will give birth to a son who will be called the Son of the Most High.  God will give him the throne of David and he will reign over Jacob’s house.  Since Mary is a virgin, her son’s birth will happen not by natural means, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.[Luke 1:28-37]

Let’s put ourselves in Mary’s place.  My response would be something along the lines of “SAY WHAT???  You want me to what???”  My response would be one, frankly, of disbelief and questioning.  Or at the very least, I would’ve asked a lot more questions than Mary did.

But what is Mary’s response?  “I am the Lord’s servant…May it be to me according to your word.”[Luke 1:28]  In other words, “Whatever you say.  Whatever God wants.  If God wants it, I want it too.”  Wow.  What faith and commitment!  Whether Catholic or Protestant, one has to recognize the amazing faith of this young woman.

Jesus’ Women Disciples-Matthew 27, Mark 15 & 16, Luke 8, 24, John 20

Wait, Jesus’ women disciples?!?  We all know about the Twelve Disciples, who were all male.  Many times it seems that most of the main characters in the New Testament are men.  If we read carefully, though, we realize that there is a core group of women who also were disciples of Jesus.  Two of them are the sisters of Lazarus, Mary and Martha.  We will talk about Mary later.  Luke names other women: Mary Magdalene, Susanna, Joanna and many others.  Luke tells us these women supported Jesus from what they had to give.[Luke 8:1-3]  We learn from Matthew that many women who were at the cross as Jesus was crucified had followed him from Galilee in order to be part of his ministry.  Matthew specifically mentions Mary Magdalene, James’ mother Mary, and the Mother of Zebedee’s sons.  These women, Matthew says, followed Jesus “to take care of his needs”. [Matthew 27:55,56]  It is very possible that this group that, according to Matthew, takes care of Jesus’ needs,  is the same group that Luke mentions as supporting Jesus from what they had.  Either way, Jesus had a strong following of women disciples.

It only gets more interesting, though.  Not only does Jesus have women disciples, but at times, they seem more loyal than the men!  We are told that women are the first people at Jesus’ tomb.[Mark 16, Luke 24]  What are the men doing as the women are bringing spices to Jesus’ tomb?  They are hiding in fear.  In the meantime, the women come to put spices in Jesus’ tomb and as a result, Mary Magdalene becomes the first one to spread the Gospel.[John 20]  Not only does Jesus have a group of women disciples, but a woman becomes the first person to preach the Gospel…to the men who are hiding in fear! 

Mary From Bethany—John 12

This is Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead.   It is only a few days before Passover and Jesus returns to Bethany, the town where Mary, Martha and Lazarus live.  On an earlier trip Jesus had raised Lazarus and is now returning to Bethany for a visit.  The three siblings are, in essence, throwing Jesus a dinner party.  In the midst of this party, Mary anoints Jesus.

Now, on the face of it, this might look like a simple act of honor.  When considered in light of the larger story of the Gospels, though, this “simple” act becomes something more.  Jesus has been hinting at the fact that he will be put to death for some time now, and nobody seems to understand him.  Jesus’ followers don’t understand that he must die.  Jesus’ twelve male disciples don’t understand that Jesus has predicted his death.  Not even those closest to Jesus—Peter, James and John—understand what Jesus is trying to say about his coming death.

Nobody seems to be understanding Jesus.  Nobody, that is, except perhaps Mary of Bethany.  Jesus’ response to Mary’s anointing is not disdain as Judas and the disciples show.  Jesus’ response is to talk about his own death and burial [John 12:7-8, Matthew 26:9-13], because he knows that this anointing that Mary gives him is an anointing suitable for burial.  Mary seems to “get it”.  This is not just another anointing to recognize another holy prophet.  This is an anointing from Mary to Jesus, perhaps to say, “I hear you and understand you, Jesus, and I am willing to help you prepare for what must come, even if that is death.”  Maybe, just maybe, having seen resurrection happen once with her brother, Mary was free to help prepare Jesus for his death and burial in the hope that it just might happen again.

And this list of women goes on and on.  There is the Samaritan woman at the well who becomes the first person in the Gospel of John to recognize Jesus for who he is—the Messiah.[John 4]  There are the leaders of the house churches that Paul greets in his letters: Phoebe, Priscilla (who corrected Apollos the evangelist in his teaching)[Acts 18:24-28], Junia, Julia, etc.  There is the parable of the woman who finds the lost coin, the woman  representing none other than the Lord God.[Luke 15:8-10]

Women in the Bible–Conclusions 

All of this is good information, but what does any of it have to do with the question we are trying to answer?  Remember, our main concern in the Making Sense of Christianity series is whether or not the Bible is a trustworthy source of Truth.  What do these stories of women in the Bible have to do with the trustworthiness of the Bible?  The short answer is simple–these are stories that nobody would make up.  The men who are writing the individual books of the Bible would not have made up these stories because they would have simply been unbelievable.  These stories put women in positions they would not have normally held in that culture and society.  If someone tried to pass off these stories as historical at the time when they were actually made up, they would have simply not been believed.

However, they were believed, and the only explanation for that is that the stories are true.  And if the stories are true, then that is one piece of evidence for the Bible being a trustworthy source of Truth.

Women in the Bible–The Old Testament (Making Sense of Christianity #1)

25 Thursday Feb 2010

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If we were going to read a collection of books that were written thousands of years ago, how would we expect it to treat women?  What would be some of the characteristics that we would expect?  We would not expect women to be given very much freedom—after all, women couldn’t even vote in America until the early 1900s.  We would expect women to be viewed more as property than people.  We would expect women to be taking on stereotypical feminine gender roles—cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids, etc.  We would expect to see men given a higher status than women on a very regular basis.

In light of these expectations it is no less than shocking to read how the Bible treats women.  We will look at examples in the Old Testament in this post, and in a 2nd post we will look at the New Testament.

Eve—Genesis 1-3

One of the first things we learn about Eve is that she, along with Adam, is created in the Image of God.  Adam and Eve together are created in the Image of God and each individual reflects God’s Image.  It is not enough for Adam to be created in the Image of God—it is not good for Adam to be alone.[1]  The only thing in the first two chapters of Genesis that is described as “not good” is Adam’s existence without Eve.  So God creates Eve for Adam, so that they may together reflect the Image of God.

Something else we learn early on about Eve is that she is created to be Adam’s helper.[2]  But what does this word “helper” really denote?  Some have argued that the role of “helper” makes Eve somehow subordinate to Adam.  This interpretation, though, does not coincide with the rest of Scripture, for at least three reasons.  First, as we just discussed, both Adam and Eve are created equally in the Image of God.  It seems unlikely that Eve’s role would be a subordinate one to Adam’s if they are both equally created in the Image of God.  Second, both Adam and Eve are given the commands to multiply and subdue the earth.  Both Adam and Eve are given the rule over the fish and the birds and the creatures on the ground—in other words, both are given rule over all the animals and over the garden.[3]  Joint dominion between Eve and Adam over everything else that was created does not sound like a subordinate role at all.  In fact, it sounds like everything else is subordinate to both Adam and Eve equally.  Third, and most importantly, Eve’s role of “helper” cannot mean she is subordinate to Adam because God Himself is said to be the “helper” of humankind in Psalms 70:5, as well as other places.  If the role of “helper” was a subordinate role, it would be implied that God was subordinate to humankind because He is said to be the “helper” of humankind.  If this were the case, Eve would be subordinate to Adam.  But even though God is humankind’s “helper”, God is not subordinate to humankind, and neither is Eve subordinate to Adam.  Indeed, the opposite is true, that Eve is equal with Adam, created in the Image of God, given the same commands as Adam and created as a suitable helper for him, that she might fill in where he is weak (and presumably that he might do the same for her).

Deborah and Jael—Judges 4&5

 Deborah is both a judge and a prophet.[4]  This fact alone is somewhat unique.  That God would choose a female to be both a prophet and judge is a surprising twist when the context and culture of the Old Testament are considered.

Deborah has a vision from God and in response to that vision commands Barak, the leader of the army, and by extension commands the army itself as to where to go and what to do.  This too would be enough to raise a few eyebrows.  What is the response we would expect from Barak, the male leader of the army?  Maybe a laughing scoff and a reprimand?  Maybe we would expect Barak to simply ignore her instructions and do as he sees fit.  But what is Barak’s actual response?  Barak says to Deborah, “ ‘If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.’ ”.  What?  Not only is Barak taking Deborah’s advice, but he only has enough confidence to go if she will go with him?  This really is an unexpected twist in the story!

Deborah agrees to go with him.[5]  Through the rest of the story, Deborah gives Barak commands and he obeys her.[6]  What confidence he must have in her if he is willing to follow her commands!  Barak is probably very aware that Deborah derives the commands she gives him from what God would have her do.  Deborah is a judge and prophet, and Barak has enough confidence in Deborah’s ability to faithfully live out these roles that he listens to what she has to say—and he obeys her.

It turns out that Barak’s confidence in Deborah is well placed.  Their enemy, Sisera’s army, is defeated and Sisera is so afraid for his life that he gets down from his chariot and runs away.[7]  Sisera flees to the tent of another woman named Jael.  While he is sleeping Jael drives a tent peg through his temple and kills him.  This puts the last nail in the coffin of Israel’s enemy.

Huldah—2nd Kings 22, 2nd Chronicles 34

Huldah is a prophetess.  King Josiah discovers a book and having strayed so far from God’s commands, nobody can recognize the book.  The book is brought to Huldah, and she authenticates it as the Book of Law (probably Deuteronomy) and prophesies doom if the laws contained within the book are not followed.  This leads to Josiah’s great reform.

Here again we are met with a twist in the story.  Numerous men had failed to recognize the book.  It is also interesting that the book is not taken to Jeremiah, but to Huldah.  Where men failed, Huldah, a woman, succeeded.  She recognizes the book for what it is and because of her recognition, the people are turned again to the Lord God of Israel.

The list from the Old Testament just continues and continues.  Isaiah’s wife was a prophet.  They were in a sense the first clergy couple!  In Proverbs, the Divine Attribute of Wisdom is feminine.  There is Rahab, who hid the Jewish spies.  There is Hannah, Samuel’s mother, who dedicates Samuel to God from the very beginning. 

Stay tuned for a follow-up post about Women in the New Testament, and how our findings affect our understanding of whether the Bible is to be trusted or not.

[1]  Genesis 2:18

[2]  Genesis 2:19

[3]  Genesis 1:28

[4]  Judges 4:4

[5]  Judges 4:9

[6]  Judges 4:14

[7]  Judges 4:15

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