Are women equal to men in the bible?

Question

The bible says:
Galatians 3:28 - There is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

But then says:
1 Timothy 2:11-15 - Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing.

Sorry, that second one's pretty archaic and offensive, but it's in there.

Answer 1

Of course not. The Bible was written with the purpose of keeping women in their place and as an answer to all of the women centric pagan religions.

Older pagan religions venerated women as humans who could bleed profusely without dying and produce another live human being. In the Bible, these attributes are considered disgusting and unclean rather than celebrated.

Finally, the whole Adam/Eve thing, the serpent tricked Eve into eating the forbidden fruit, and Eve tricked Adam. All three were bad but Eve gets the worst punishment. This sets the scene for a recurring theme of women getting the worst punishments and being chattel for men. Awful book, the Bible, filled with violence and evil.

Answer 2

Warrior Bride has put it quite well. There is an order directed by God, our roles. One is not above or below the other.
As far as subjection, it is a mutual subjection, the husband to the wife as Christ did for the His bride, the church...He gave Himself for it.
One of the difficulties people encounter, is absorbing God's view without seeing it through the eyes of our own culture. Every culture has elements that conflict with God's ways. The temptation is there to reject God's way.
Yet, God's way IS obviously the best way, and has been made known to us not for our hurt, but for our help.

Answer 3

Hey brother.
This is a very interesting question and one that I considered for a while... being a sister and all:)

What touched me is that there is God's Grace.. and you posted a great verse in Gal that attests that in Christ we are neither male nor female.. but all are ONE in Christ Jesus. Under God's grace we are the many sons.. Even sisters are sons. We are all the members of Christ, containing Him and expressing Him and functioning in the Body.

When it relates to matters in the Church there is God's Governmental Order.
Where the sisters are seen as sisters. Where we take the lead to submit to the Brothers.
There is an order in the universe under God's administration.
Its.
God
Christ
Angels
Man
Woman
Children

Satan hated this order and went against it when he rebelled. Is it not interesting that he even went through the woman in teh garden? He dare not go to Adam.. but to Eve. Eve did something that we as sisters need to pay attention to. SHe came out from under the covering of Adam in addressing and reasoning with the cunning sly crafty serpent.

God put this order in the universe NOT as a way to " lord it over" anyone. This covering does two things. It protects us as sisters. The brothers are our covering and Christ is their covering ... God is Christ's covering.
This Order also SHUTS UP the enemy's accusations.
Satan is always seeking to find fault with the believers in Christ. When he sees sisters coming out from under the covering of the Brothers for their protection he points and accuses us before God. This kind of uncovering also gives the enemy ground in the chruch .. making us contaminated with the same kind of sin of ambition and insubordination that he displayed during the rebellion.

Such a sobering word.
May we take BOth the Grace adn Governing of God as our blessed portion.
We are in no way second class in the eyes of God.
Consider this.. ALL the believers in Christ make up the BRIDE..( female) YET.. we are called the ONE NEW MAN.

Our God sees and carries out things that are sometimes beyond us. But we can just trust Him to know what He is doing and learn to stay covered and supplied by all that He has in place for us.


Outside is the Roaming Thief.. Killer and Destroy.. The accuser of the Bretheren and the Cunning crafty serpent. May we never give him a way IN.. Lets keep him OUT by staying IN CHRIST.

Your sister
sandy

Answer 4

Really, this second one sounds archaic when we take into account the message of Jesus Christ under which all the Bible (New Testament) is supposed to be read: the Gospel or the Good News is against discriminations and divisions, for its aim is to bring on earth the kingdom of God where men and women are equal. This is stressed in Ephesians5:1-2: “Since you are God’s dear children, you must try to be like him. Your life must be controlled by love, just as Christ loved us and gave his life for us”. These verses are repeated in v 25 where, in the couple man is called to love his wife like Christ. But this love of Christ did not consider some one as inferior. In Ephesians5,21 each member of the couple (man and woman) is called to submit to one another. Woman is called to submit to her husband who also is called to submit to his wife. For this reason, there are equal.

Answer 5

The answer is that it depends which book in the bible you read which is why I prefer to say that it is inspired by God and not the Word of God like Jesus.
I think there is little doubt that the gospels depict Jesus as very supportive of women. Read the Mary and Martha story for instance.
The radical Paul who wrote Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, I Thessalonians and Philemon was very pro Women. You have quoted Galatians and in Romans 16 he refers to Junias as outstanding amongst the apostles. Later the books attributed to him like Ephesians and Colossians were more conservative. I think you can genuinely debate whether Paul changed his view or whether they written by one of his followers. I incline to the latter. When you get to the letters to Timothy and Titus you see a reactionary Paul.
These trends are not only seen in his attitude to women. They are seen in his attitude to slavery and to sex.
The difficulty with this reading is 1 Corinthians 14: 33-36 but for reasons to do with textual variations I think it is a later interpolation - but that is another story.

Answer 6

Paul was speaking from the middle-eastern culture of his day. Things haven't changed much in that part of the world today. Paul brought Christianity to the Greek & Roman cultures. They influenced Christian thinking, interpreting Jesus life.

Answer 7

The first is talking about in heaven, the second is not meant to be offensive. as you can see at 1 Peter 3:7 YOU husbands, continue dwelling in like manner with them according to knowledge, assigning them honor as to a weaker vessel, the feminine one, since YOU are also heirs with them of the undeserved favor of life, in order for YOUR prayers not to be hindered. Jesus and Jehovah wanted women to be respected but certain thing were only for men to do. Look at the fact that a mn's prayer's can be hindered if he didn't treat his wife right, I guess men complain about that one,lol.
And bear in mind... Everybody has a head....1 Corinthians 11:3 says But I want YOU to know that the head of every man is the Christ; in turn the head of a woman is the man; in turn the head of the Christ is God.

Answer 8

I'll reference one of my earlier answers...
The Bible was edited by men.......
early Christian man in his jealousy, in his belief that women were property, chattel....did everything in his power to obliterate good Women...
In Genesis 3 Eve is the central human character in the story. She is the mover and shaker, the active person. She explores the Garden, she meets and interrogates the snake, she makes a decision, then returns to Adam and makes suggestions for a course of action. People in ancient times saw women as active and inquiring, as shapers of society.
The Bible begins as it will continue, with the story of an independent and strong-minded woman who is, like all humans, both creative and destructive. Eve initiates change - was it a good thing, or bad? After all, if we had stayed in the Garden, we would have remained children forever.

Answer 9

For the annointed flow of the Holy Spirit to truly work in our lives, we must follow a divine order of successive submission. The wife is to be submitted to her husband, for he is to be submitted to Christ through the Pastor/Shepherd of a bible-believing Church. Once this divine order is in place, the blessings from the Lord will flow through your family household. No devil in hell can destroy this divine order; but the adversary does not want you to follow it so that he can wreak havoc in your marriage, your relationship with your kids, your finances, etc etc. So the enemy will plant doubts in your mind about the submissive role of a wife to her husband. The divine recipe is clearly outlined in the Word of God: 1 Peter 3:7-9, 1 Corinthians 11:3, Collossians 3:18, Ephesians 5:22-24

Answer 10

We are equal in value before God. We are equal in intelligence and many abilities. But our roles are different, and our strengths are different too. Women aren't as strong physically (and often emotionally too). Men are, by and large, better suited to positions of leadership and authority. Women are by and large better suited to caring and nurturing. This is reflected in society - most positions that require great physical strength are taken by men because, let's face it, women aren't as physically strong. Whereas many of the positions that require nurturing and serving - teachers, nurses, daycare workers, that sort of thing - are taken by women rather than men. This is not because it is all that's available for women, it's because it seems to be the kind of thing that women naturally want to do. And that isn't wrong, or patriarchal, or anything like that. It is simply who and what we are. I rather like it. I like being different from my husband, I like it when women are feminine and men are masculine - it's so much more interesting than an androgynous society where men and women are interchangeable.

If you want to read a really good study on God's view of women, and what the Bible really has to say about us, go here:
http://www.gty.org/Resources/Articles/2118