“The Same... Just Different”

Monday, November 05, 2012

Sometimes it seems as if the Bible views women as inferior to men.  A woman should serve her husband and should be submissive to him, and she should pretty much keep to herself and her family, much like Islamic women today and women in various other cultures.  The Bible also mentions slaves.  How does this relate to equality that we seem to demand in our culture today?  I've heard a theory that the Bible was written in a specific time period, and in order for people to pretty much take it seriously, it needed to have ideals and beliefs for that time period.  What are your thoughts on that, and if you think that might be correct, how do we fit everything in the Bible into our lives today?

Sincerely,
Cultural Relevance

Dear Cultural Relevance,

The Bible does seem to treat women as inferior when it is viewed through the lens of today’s American culture – because our culture is thoroughly dysfunctional when it comes to men and women.  Just one look at the modern divorce rate shows our dysfunction.

The Bible emphasizes gender differences, but that is not the same as saying men and women aren’t equal.  In fact, the Bible is very specific in stating that women are equal with men (1 Pet 3:7).  Women are different than men – big shock.  Unlike modern American culture, which tries to pretend that there are no real differences between men and women, the Bible comes right out and says that they are unique.  This blatant honesty is jarring to today’s culture.  But we must remember that being different is not the same as being inferior.  Men can’t exist without women, and women can’t exist without men (1 Cor 11:11-12).  Both men and women have souls (Gen 1:27), and God created them both.  The way the Bible deals with male and female roles is timeless, and therefore, It doesn’t cater to the specific dysfunctional whims of modern America.

The timeless nature of the Bible is also the reason for the Bible addressing slavery.  God makes it clear that it is better to be free than a slave (1 Cor 7:21).  However, slavery does exist in many cultures and always has.  The Bible tells slaves and slave-owners how to act because the Bible is God’s Word to all mankind.  In a free society, such commands seem archaic, but for the many slaves throughout time, such commands are vital and exceptionally pertinent.

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