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Last night a friend asked me about the roll of women in the family and about the apparent machismo in the Bible.
This subject, while worn up, continues to be a matter for discussion in many spheres and for my friend's sake I asked the Lord to guide me to bring forward the truth.
I did not have to go far to determine that the Bible could in fact be considered feminist if we were to stereotype it on the subject.
The reality is God is not concerned with bending His word one side or another, and that is because He values a person, any person, highly regardless of sex. To Him we are all His children and he loves us equally.
Many women tend to joke about the fact that man was made from dirt, and women from flesh which obviously states that all men are dirt bags, they also mention often the fact that God made men first as a prototype; and in women He corrected all defects.
The truth is the woman was made to complete the man, a man is only half a person without a woman. And God did not make woman from the foot of a man that He can step on her, or from the head that she could be superior, He made Her from His side, from his rib that they can be together, and see eye to eye.
God could have perfectly made woman from dirt as He did with man or from nothing as He did with the rest of creation, but He made her from the flesh of man that they would be one person, So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27).
Genesis 1:27 does not say God created man and then created woman, He mentions one person which He created in His own image, which is mankind, the Human race, both male and female.
Furthermore in Genesis 2:18 God said: is not good for man to be alone I will make a helper suitable for him,. In Genesis 2:23 the man said, this is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, and in Genesis 2:24 for this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
I do not think we need to go any further to state the obvious; one flesh, one person, one individual, one body, man and woman together as a unit.
Then we need to remember that although the Bible was written at times when males ruled and women were considered second class citizens, the scriptures are God inspired revelation, the Bible is the inerrant Holy Spirit inspired revelation from God, and whatever it says it means.
There are a few controversial verses in scripture which tend to bring conflict among women, especially those who do not understand and do not like the word submission.
Yet let us see the true meaning of this word: The word submissive translates the Greek word hupotasso, which is a cognate of the preposition hupo, meaning "under" and the stem tasso, meaning "to arrange.", in other words this is an arrangement, it denotes an agreement in which one leads and the other follows. This submission emanates from the wife. It is not forced by her husband as a man might beat a beast into compliance, but rather it is an action displayed from a free will. Or as we would say, 'I agree to let you lead so there can be order in the institution of the family; you are not my boss, you are not my master, I am not your servant or your slave, or your employee, you are my husband and I am your wife, and as such I agree that you be the head of the family as Christ is the head of the church.'
There is not any scripture that suggest that a man is allowed to force, slap, beat, kick, or in any way abuse or threaten his wife, in fact the opposite is true.
A Christ like attitude would guide us towards meekness and humility and love and mercy. These attributes alone would suffix to let us understand that a loving relationship between a man and a woman is about caring and self sacrifice and commitment to each other. I could mention a few verses on this regard, like Ephesians 4:29-32, Philippians 4:8, Galatians 5:22-23, and I could go on forever, for the Bible is abundant in teachings about the kind of person we should be towards everyone, not just wives or husbands.
Many male minded individuals prefer to use verses of the Bible which seem to suggest an oppressive relationship in a marriage arrangement, yet those verses are always read out of context and accommodated to the bias interpretation of the reader.
I believe Ephesians 5:22-33 states it all very clearly, and those who prefer to be controlling and abusive will always find an excuse to be who they are. The bottom line remains, if we are Christ followers we ought to be Christ like, and Jesus teaches us clearly what he expects from us.
May Love always prevail in your lives, in all circumstances and towards everyone.
Rev. Jose A. Luna
A servant of Christ Jesus
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