Is the Bible Sexist?

Product Information

Evangelical leaders began to hold secret meetings, conferences and evangelical associations to work out, and then promote, a fully developed framework for complementarianism. This piece is a part of our Spark series: The Use of the Bible to Justify Inequality and Advance Social Justice

The Reverend Dr. Claudette A. Copeland is a native of Buffalo, New York. She serves as Co-founder and Pastor of New Creation Christian Fellowship in San Antonio, Texas. The Archbishop managed - quite compellingly, in my opinion - to reconcile the seemingly sexist discourse of the Bible with our understanding of God as loving his children equally, who created both men and women in His image, and who would never regard a person as being of greater worth - or choose to bestow greater status on them - simply by virtue of their being a male.He tells us that the Bible is as unread and misunderstood as A Brief History of Time, a comparison that makes me bristle. We start with a stab at what the Bible is. Is it Harry Potter-esque fiction? Is it Aristotelian morality? Is it history? Well, it's all of those things and more. Its construction is bizarre: epic in narrative, trivial in parts, and trippy in conclusion. How many books tell the same story four times? Toby says we should read it as a whole, in context, and possibly in a group. But who does? In any case, it seems plain to me that if only theologians and biblical scholars can get full understanding and benefit out of the Bible, then we're in real trouble. As Mark Twain said, "It ain't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand." See Hershel Shanks, “Predilections—Is the ‘Brother of Jesus’ Inscription a Forgery?” Biblical Archaeology Review, September/October 2015. Timothy 2] begins by stating that “men should pray” (and the word used here for men is andras, a gendered word that refers only to males) and then says “women should dress themselves modestly and decently” (vv. 8–9). So men are to pray, and women are to dress modestly. That’s quite a contrast. But there’s more: “Let a woman learn in silence and full submission. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to be silent” (vv. 11–12). The author’s rationale: “For Adam was formed first, then Eve, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor” (vv. 13–14). According to this text, women were to be silent in worship gatherings (and men were certainly not told to be silent), and the rationale for this mandate is that woman (Eve) was created second and sinned first. And the final blow is this: A woman “will be saved” (the future tense of the standard word for “be saved,” “be given salvation”) “through childbirth if she remains in faith and love and sanctification with modesty” (1 Timothy 2:15). The Bible affirms the equality of both men and women. Jesus died for all people, and salvation is offered to everyone by grace through faith. Scripture affirms the value of women and men, something the Lord has always done. We need to tell critics the truth about the Bible in love and grace.

Hannah:Some might miss the short discussion of Hannah’s life at the beginning of the book of 1 Samuel, but what Hannah’s story reveals most is a faith in God to make miracles happen while dealing with one of the hardest things in her life: infertility. Another example is in the creation narrative, where God says “Let us make man in our image and likeness” describing them as “male and female,” (Genesis 1:26 and 27). The Old English term “man” describes all humanity. Yet the ESV retains the Old English language, while the TNIV and NLT substitute “human beings.” That modern linguistic clarification doesn’t make the text gender-neutral, but rather gender-accurate—reflecting the actual meaning of the biblical text.

LISTEN: Three Common Obstacles to Understanding the Bible

Read the text that someone (or yourself) might have issues with, and try looking at it from multiple translations. See what the person (or you) thinks, and how sexism might be interpreted from this passage. What you will discover instead is that God believed in women as much as He did in men, seeing they were able to do anything because God created them to be leaders in faith. Strong, Resilient Women Jesus intentionally affirmed and included women. We see a continuation of this in the early Church, from Lydia and Tabitha to Philip's daughters. The New Testament ascribes numerous roles to women in the early Church ­as teachers of theology, deacons, church leaders and prophets, and there is even a disputed reference to a female apostle called Junia. If that important American document were being crafted today, a modern Thomas Jefferson would ignite a firestorm of protests if he chose the same outdated wording. Language is dynamic. John even jumped within Elizabeth when Mary came to visit her, as the sound of her voice caused the baby to be joyful. And Elizabeth was part of this process by helping encourage Mary of the mission God gave them both, part of orchestrating God’s great plan of redemption on earth.

Scripture encourages wives to submit to their husbands as to the Lord. However, a godly marriage involves mutual submission and husbands loving their wives as Christ loves the church ( Ephesians 5:21, 25). Wives are not subordinate or less than their husbands. In his Systematic Theology, Grudem defends his complementarian rational for insisting on retaining “man” for human beings: To find and maintain a spiritual balance between the God-ordained positions of authority, we must look to Scripture. The New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old, and in it we find principles that tell us the correct line of authority and the cure for sin, the ill of all humanity, and that includes discrimination based upon gender.

3. Invention of Infant Adoption

Christopher Rollston, “The Marginalization of Women: A Biblical Value We Don’t Like to Talk About,” Huffington Post, August 31, 2012. The OT stories were cosmic myths and reflected the views of the constellations. They were written at a time when the goddess was being dissed. A correct reading of the original OT would also exclude the name of Eve who cosmically was Ishtar/Ashera. Adam had 2 wives, one in Eden, one afterwards. Only the man was expelled if you read the text. It was believed the perverse worship of the goddess caused two meteors to destroy two Babylonian cities, according to ancient texts. Ishum who pleaded with Irra not to destroy anymore cities became Abraham in the OT as did many Akkadian kings and gods. Noah’s wife didn’t have a name because there are no stars in Argo or Orion that represent women. Sarah is represented in Hercules, Rebecca in Cancer, Jacob’s wives in Auriga, Moses’ wife in the Pleiades (one of seven sisters, not hard to figure out), Bathsheba in Sagittarius and oddly she was also Ishtar. Tamar- Northern Crown etc. When God created Adam, He “formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Gen 2:7). Adam’s creation is extraordinary and required God to use His divine power to form this being. On the other hand, Eve’s creation is less significant: “the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs…and made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Gen 2:21-3). The means by which Eve was created is enough to be extremely suggestive that the woman is inferior to man. To begin with, Eve is a derivative of Adam. She is literally created from the rib (a very small part) of Adam, and thus is dependent on him for life. The words “she was taken out of Man” emphasize this point and indicate that Eve will occupy a place secondary to Adam. There is no suggestion here that woman might be superior or even equal to man after reading this passage. While it is impossible to argue with the written words that woman was taken from man’s rib, Trible challenges the interpretation that man was responsible for woman’s creation. She states that “human life is God’s gift; it is not possession” (81). She believes that for both man and woman, creation is an act of God and that when the man says “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” he is not implying that she is derived from him or subordinate to him. Rather, he is saying that he shares equally with the woman the dust of the ground and the origin of their lives. In 1987, a group including Piper and Grudem met in Danvers, Massachusetts, to prepare a statement that came to be known as the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. It set out the core beliefs of complementarianism. David Marvin serves as the Teaching Pastor at CityBridge Community Church in Plano, Texas. Previous to taking his role there in 2023, he led a young adult ministry; “The Porch” for nine years, at Watermark Community Church. David received his master’s degree in biblical studies from the Dallas Theological Seminary. In addition to his role as a pastor, his first priority is being a husband to his wife, Calli, who is a licensed counselor. David and Calli have three children: Crew, Monroe, and Bear. To find out more about David, his latest resources, and his book, visit davidmarvin.org