So much Christian teaching is dedicated to keeping men in power over women.
I don’t think that’s of Christ. I know it bears bad fruit (we’ve measured it!). And I believe that it is pushing women out of the church and making marriages worse.
And so I’m always ecstatic when I see a new resource that brings light to this issue.
This post first appeared last week on my Substack, and I’m reprinting it here for those of you who aren’t subscribed to my Substack!
I get sent a LOT of books to review, and to tell you the truth, I usually say no.
I’m just so very busy, and I have a book due at the publishers myself, and so as much as I’d love to read them all, I just can’t.
But for some reason I didn’t say no to an email that came in recently. I don’t know why this one stood out to me. But I decided to open the book.
And I’m so glad I did! Lydia Kaiser has written a book called Bible Truth about Women. It’s a wonderful summary of all the arguments showing that egalitarianism, or seeing women as equal to men and rejecting male hierarchy, is a better reading of the original language, the context of the time, the context of the rest of Scripture, and the life of Jesus and the apostles.
I’m often looking for an easy-to-read book that covers everything, and this one does it. One of the unique aspects of it was that she categorized the male hierarchy arguments into twenty different misleading tactics, and I so appreciated that. I invited Lydia to write an article explaining it to you, and here she is today!
Do you ever wonder if this was how things were meant to be?
Do you wonder if God intended for his people to operate in the church / ministry / home in an equally cooperative manner instead of a hierarchical manner but you get shut down quickly with “the Bible says men are in authority”?
Do you see verses like Mark 10:42-45 where Jesus says the Gentiles lord over each and exercise authority over each other, but “not so among you” and wonder how it could be consistent with everyone all around you exercising authority?
What exactly does “the Bible say” in its inerrant, original languages?
Is the English “plain reading of the Word” really so plain?
There is hardly anything in the Bible that is “plain” or “clear” and doesn’t need careful study and comparison to other Scripture to work out apparent discrepancies. So, to claim this issue is “right there in plain English” is inconsistent with all the study put into every other topic in the Word. And there are plenty of discrepancies to examine.
The problem has been the lack of willingness by those holding the greater power, to do anything that risks that power. This is no surprise to God who predicted to Eve that the man would take advantage and rule over her. Granted, there are many good men who wish to do right and are only following what they’ve been taught—how to be a “strong leader” and it’s confusing for them too. Maybe it’s time you found the answers to those “What about this verse?” questions.
In my new book, Bible Truth About Women—What They Don’t Tell You, I reveal 20 misleading tactics by translators and interpreters that are used to restrict women. It’s a significant body of material that is rarely addressed within conventional church teaching. Each of the twenty tactics discussed are used anywhere from one to 18 times, for a grand total of 124 examples (sadly, not an exhaustive list). I can’t mention them all here, but Sheila asked me to summarize a few of them for you today!
Misleading Tactic #1: Interpretive arguments that sound good but are actually illogical
Here are the first three of twelve examples:
- It is illogical to say that man and woman are spiritually equal, but have different roles, and then say one of those roles always has spiritual authority over the other.
- It is illogical to claim God doesn’t look at outward appearance like people do; God only looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7) but then claim God considers biological sex. (Hmmm, does our gender affect our heart? Some Reformation leaders thought so.)
- The point of Galatians 3:28 is equality regardless of ethnicity, socio-economic status, or gender. So, if we are going to continue seeing men over women, then we need to continue seeing Jew over Gentile and free over slave.
Misleading Tactic #2: Poor translations that obscure the best meaning
Here are three of eleven examples that I list:
- The poor translation of ēzer kéneğdô (Genesis 2:20) into “suitable helper” (or helpmeet) rather than more accurate words that convey strength and counterpart, such as “strong ally,” contributed to the subjugation of women.
- Translation teams that believe in hierarchy would have us believe that the Greek word for elder activity, “proistēmi” is properly understood as “rule” instead of “manage” or “give aid.” Then, when “proistēmi” is used with women, they translate it as “give aid.”
- In 1 Timothy 2:12, it is a poor translation to use the normal English word for “authority” when the Greek word there, “authentein,” is not the normal use of authority, deceiving the reader into thinking Paul is forbidding women the normal exercise of authority.
Misleading Tactic #3: Widely repeated teachings that are actually not anywhere in the Bible
There are eleven examples which I’m sure the reader would recognize. Here are just two:
- “Man was created before woman, therefore, he had more authority than woman” has been taught so many times that it is assumed to be in the Bible somewhere, even though it is not.
- The teaching that the dominion mandate was given only to the man or that the roles or responsibilities given in the dominion mandate were gender specific, is not in the text.
Misleading Tactic #7: Addition or omission of a word which strengthens a restrictive viewpoint for women
I’ve got 10 examples of this one—and here are two!
- In spite of two indications in the Hebrew that Adam was present with Eve and the serpent, Jerome left it out of the Latin Vulgate, adding to historical bias against women.
- The word “office” appears nowhere in the Greek of 1 Timothy 3 or elsewhere in Scripture— only in three verses in this chapter where translators added the English word. From this, formal “offices” emerged that exclude women.
Misleading Tactic #15: Obfuscation of the translation when leader language refers to a female
I list seven examples in the book, including one involving the obfuscation of Junia being identified along with Andronicus as highly esteemed apostles. Here are two more:
- When the ESV encounters “proistèmi” where women are included in the passage, they prefer “give aid” or “good works.” When they believe only men are included, they prefer some form of “rule” or “manage.”
- The Greek word for “teach” in 1 Timothy 2:12 that is a supposed prohibition on women for all time, is the same word used in 1 Corinthians 14:26 where everyone (including women) is to bring a teaching.
Why is all this important?
- Because half (or more) of the church is held back from fully participating in using their gifts to bless their homes and communities. Homes, churches and the lost world suffer because of it.
- Younger women who expect to live in an egalitarian world are less and less inclined to go to church when women are marginalized there.
- There are women who are mistreated, emotionally, spiritually, and even physically abused by men who go overboard with the belief they are responsible before God to control their wives and others. This is another unspeakable tragedy.
- In countries where men already oppress women, when missionaries take a hierarchical teaching to them as if it’s from God himself, it makes home life even more miserable for women.
But there’s yet another tragedy that is less obvious.
Our view of God has suffered, and the very character of God is misunderstood and maligned, affecting the walk of every believer.
A pastor told me, “God loves authority. He has chosen hierarchy and authority as his means to work in the world.” However, my study for this book showed me an all-powerful Creator who handed over his creation to humans and said, “Here, you have dominion over it together” (but not over each other).
He stepped back and let humans mess it up and suffer the natural consequences.
He calls us to himself but doesn’t coerce or force us.
He subjected himself to being in a young woman’s womb, forced through a birth canal, then required sustenance and training from her.
He didn’t come to earth to exercise dominion, but to “proclaim good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for prisoners.” (Luke 4:17-21) He gave compassion and dignity to the most marginalized in society (women, the diseased, common laborers like fishermen). He let humans misunderstand, slander, and kill him. He again left the earth to us, telling us we will do greater things than he did. He asks us to be his active body in the world rather than doing it all himself. Then, to top it all off, he invites us to sit on the throne with him, now and forever. Jesus is all about elevating others. He came and gave us the ultimate example.
This is not necessarily what we want of course. The Israelites wanted a king like other nations so God let them have one even though it wasn’t his best for them. The church has insisted on fabricating “offices” (a word that’s not in the Greek anywhere in the New Testament) out of servant-type words that Paul used for fellow laborers, and then used those “offices” to create a hierarchy where women are excluded. In Christian homes, they can’t even imagine two people cooperating, and instead claim there has to be hierarchy.
We’re so obsessed with authority that we miss the most astounding metaphors in the Bible because we’re forcing them into our ideas of hierarchy.
Do we even begin to understand the heart of God? Do we even know Jesus?
This article only lightly touches on the issues of authority and how God would have his body live in community. I invite you to read Bible Truth About Women, not just to have those ready answers to the “What about this verse?” questions, but to ponder, like Mary did, the strange ways of God.
You may also enjoy this podcast episode with Lydia Kaiser:
What do you think? Have you seen these tactics at work? Let’s talk in the comments!
>> Is the English “plain reading of the Word” really so plain?
>> “right there in plain English”
I’ve seen this many times before. As has already been said on this site, the bible was NOT originally written in English, and in fact, when the bible was written (even the new Testament), the English language didn’t even exist yet! That surprises some people elsewhere on the internet.
Then there are the people who claim that the original King James version is the only correct English version and the only version you should read.
My response: But nobody talks like this anymore and they didn’t during biblical times.
Their response: speechless or they try to argue with me that it’s the closest and most accurate translation of the Bible.
Who claim a similar origin for the KJV as Islam does for the Koran — dictated by God word-for-word in Kynge Jaymes Englyshe instead of classical Meccan Arabic.
There are a lot of Christians who if encountering Christ in all His glory, would turn their backs on Him to use the Shekinah as a lamp for their Bible study.
I can go one better than that – I’ve met a scarily large number of Christians who believe the King James version is the ACTUAL original “Bible as written by the apostle Paul”… And no, I am (sadly) not joking.
As a survivor of the Gospel According to Hal Lindsay, the first thing I think of when I hear “plain reading of the Word” is the demon locust plague in Revelation 9.
Which according to SCRIPTURE (Hal Lindsay’s “Late Great Planet Earth” which superseded the 66 other books) were “plainly” helicopter gunships with chemical-weapon “stingers” piloted by long-haired bearded hippies.
I remember that!
“Long haired bearded hippies…” I can’t stop laughing!
Lindsay was CHRISTIAN(TM) and he wrote LGPE in the early Seventies.
Given the usual Christianese late-adopter lag behind the outside/Heathen culture, right on time for the anti-Hippie outrage to peak in American Christendom. “Hippies” were the “Fags” of the day, the Spawn of Satan.
P.S. Did you know your name means “fox” in Russian and several other slavic languages? (“Lisa” or “Lissa” with emphasis on the second syllable.) After 40 years adjacent to Furry Fandom, the name gives me mental images of Disney’s Maid Marian or Mrs Fox from the Wes Anderson stop-motion “Fantastic Mr Fox”.
Very true. Most people in that area of the world during biblical times weren’t upper crust people. They spoke “normally” for their time and place.
And I’ve heard that in fact the King James bible is NOT the most accurate, because since that time, we’ve learned a lot more of the original language, uncovered more records, and so on, and can now actually create much better translations than we could back then.
Also, some of the words used in King James version have completely different meanings from what they meant then. What those words mean now is used to keep others in bondage. The only scriptures that I remember from King James version is The Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 23.
Yes, I find it so strange when people say the King James is the most accurate. We’ve discovered manuscripts far older that we’ve used to translate now. If I recall correctly, the oldest one the King James translators had was from 800 AD
They don’t just say it’s “the most accurate”.
They say it is the ONLY Bible, the REAL Bible, (“THE! WORD! OF! GOD!”), and all other Bibles (including foreign languages and those papyrus/parchment scraps from the 2nd/3rd Century) were all translated from the King Jimmy.
Not even going to get into the “KJV 1611 ONLY!” churches, some a whole dozen strong.
And in 2012 the King Jimmy even made it into the (admittedly tiny) overlap between Christian Fiction and the My Little Pony fanfic site Fimfiction. (I’m no stranger to bad fanfic, but that one was so bad I had to bail out and reach for the brain bleach about halfway through.)
“we’ve learned a lot more of the original language, uncovered more records, and so on”
Unfortunately, there are devout Christians who have been taught, and firmly believe, that anything that contradicts the first findings are somehow corrupted. Similarly, I’ve heard people proudly declare that they only read the translation that comes from the earliest manuscripts with none of these newer discoveries to introduce false teaching. In my opinion, it all goes back to a method of preaching/faith education that revolves around “we are right b/c of the Holy Spirit and scholarship is evil b/c it’s secular. It makes it difficult to have any sort of conversation b/c their starting assumptions are so different from someone who accepts that new discoveries are helpful and that knowledge is always in flux.
Absolutely. There’s so much anti-intellectualism in evangelicalism right now and it’s having worldwide consequences in health & medicine too.
When somebody says “the original language”, my first reaction is “Kynge Jaymes Englyshe?”
Not to mention that some of the wording in the KJV was politically motivated…
Yes, the KJV was commissioned by the king in order to preserve the idea of a king’s right to rule and people’s obedience to authority.
That explains why it is so beloved by so many Superapostles and their One True Churches.
“So much Christian teaching is dedicated to keeping men in power over women.”
Think of all the wasted time and energy that could have been put into something else, that could have gone somewhere else.
That’s what I think about when it comes to how much energy churches have spent making sure women don’t teach men. How much money the SBC has spent cracking down on churches that have women in leadership. And it’s like–you could have fed the poor!
Yes, and imagine if women and men spread the gospel shoulder to shoulder without all these ridiculous restrictions on half the church. Can you imagine how much faster the gospel would’ve spread? Or how much of the world would be Christian right now? Holding women back meant holding back the gospel.
Shoshana, you are so right. Acts 19:10 says “This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” In my book I talk about the writer Celsus, criticizing Christianity because it was “a religion of slaves and women” and spread through kitchens and laundries. So yes, women caused the quick spread of the Gospel. I also talk about a church model that doesn’t handicap American women.
I can imagine it, but i try not to think about it too much because it makes me so very very sad.
“The word “office” appears nowhere in the Greek of 1 Timothy 3 or elsewhere in Scripture”
And here I thought I was done finding surprises and feeling like I had been lied to by church!
My word, it’s maddening!
JC, yes, it’s maddening, but not surprising. God predicted that men would be obsessed with ruling, so there will be tactics to create structures that allow them to do so. By the second century, the church already had a bishop over each city. In my book, I talk about biblical church oversight and it’s not what we’re doing, but there are some good movements happening.
JC, Right, it’s maddening. But I’ve finally figured out that it shouldn’t be surprising, because God predicted to Eve that man would dominate in an ugly way. That ugly way includes coercion and deception. Of course, it will creep into every sphere including the church. Thank you for your passion, let’s keep spreading the truth!
It is!
This book looks so good! Thank you for sharing this resource, can’t wait to read it.