What Scripture Says About Men and Women
What Scripture Says About Men and Women
an introduction
I am not a pastor. I didn’t major in Biblical Studies. And I certainly don’t have a Ph.D. I haven’t read dozens of commentaries or books, and the Greek classes I took when getting my undergraduate were years ago. Nevertheless, I feel challenged to try to make sense of what the Bible says about men and women.
I certainly don’t attempt this claiming a higher authority or understanding than any of the scholars or theologians who have tried to make sense of these extremely difficult passages. However, I’m studying these three passages on my own because the way that people have used them in the past has not made sense to me. I want to see for myself what they say, and while I could just read the commentaries, I’d rather bathe in scripture myself while talking with the Lord. That’s far richer.
What I present here is probably nothing new. And if it is, I’m unaware of it for, as I said, I haven’t read the commentaries on these passages. I hope you will not consider this analysis some sort of ultimate authority on scripture. This is also not a word-for-word translation. While I did consult the Greek here and there for various clarifications, my paraphrasing is to get the spirit of the passage not the exact words of the passage.
The following analyses were done after reading and re-reading these passages multiple times. I listened to the entire book several times also. Then I asked the Lord to guide me in understanding what these passages might mean. My approach was with a light touch, attempting to leave the possibilities open.
I don’t do this to spearhead some sort of women’s religious liberation movement. I don’t believe that women were meant to be independent of men or that men were meant to be independent of women. The goal is for men and women to work together to edify and build up one another so that the whole body can attain the unity that Christ made possible.
These passages of scripture speak wonderful truths that are timeless even though they were written long ago to a specific people/person. God’s words are, even now, still able to cut open like a doctor’s scalpel. Therefore, both men and women in the twenty-first century have something to learn from letters written over two thousand years ago. Will we be willing to surrender our man-made safeguards of power and individuality, and learn what the spirit is saying?