How Readest Thou? How Do You Read it?
Introductory Comments by O. Kris Widmer, Adventist Minister and Chaplain
I have read much in the past 35 years regarding the pros and cons of the ordination of women to ministry in Christianity in general and my own branch of Protestantism – the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
I have concluded that God created males and females to be equals in the home, church and society. Any hierarchy due to sin, and is undone by the redemption of the Jesus – his example, his teaching, his death and resurrection.
It can be helpful to read the opinions of others, and what follows is a satirical piece by an Evangelical woman who worked all her life to teach the equality of the genders from a Bible perspective. She wrote it to help people see that scripture is often interpreted according to the pre-conceived ideas of the speaker/writer/student.
When Jesus was asked a question about Biblical interpretation, he responded with a return question. “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” Luke 10:26. In studying any and all Bible texts, we must be honest with ourselves and answer two questions. 1. What does the Bible say? 2. What do I think it means?
I hope the reprinting of this piece will accomplish it’s intent – to help you think, and to advance the idea that the genders of humanity are equal before God. This idea necessitates the equal recognition of ministry gifts in any and all churches – whether they have pastors, elders, priests, rabbis, imams or shamans.
Order of Creation, Redemption and Climax demands Female Supremacy
by Alvera Mickelsen
Mrs. Mickelsen founded Christians for Biblical Equality
She and her husband worked for years to help Evangelicals see men and women as equals before God and in ministry. She died in 2016, at the age of 97.
Forward:
In light of the persistent emphasis on the assumed “order of creation” in Genesis 2, we present the following tongue-in-cheek look at the “order of creation, redemption and climax” to establish the subordination of men to women. We believe our case has as much validity as the historical approach that sees the subordination of women in the order of creation. (The validity of both approaches, we believe, is equally non-existent.)
Article
In studying the early chapters of Genesis, before sin entered the world, we get a clear picture of God’s intention that females should dominate over males.
Let us first examine the order of creation that appears in Chapter 1. The creation begins with chaos, darkness and void. But God moves in an orderly way to change that chaos into a beautiful world in which human beings stand at the pinnacle. First the light is separated from the darkness – day and night (first day). Then the waters are separated from the dry land (second day). Then the earth brings forth vegetation and plants (third day). God next creates the sun, moon and stars (fourth day.) On the fifth day God makes animals, and finally, on the sixth day, God creates human beings. The movement is clearly from chaos to harmony and order.
Chapter 2 refines this further as it tells how God creates man and finally woman – the pinnacle of his creation. This second chapter indicates that God made the male as he made the animals and birds – from the dust of the ground. Then he placed the male in the garden and told Adam (the male) to give each of them names. In the process it was clear to both Adam and to God that the male was inadequate by himself for the responsibilities he had. So God said he would make for Adam a strength and power corresponding to him.
Unfortunately, male translators have refused to recognize the clear force of the Hebrew word “ezer” used here and usually translated “helper”. This word appears 21 times in the Old Testament and is nearly always used of God as he supports humans with his superior strength and power. In the same sense, the woman “helps” the man with her superior strength and power and wisdom.
Adam clearly understood this subordinate relationship as is seen in Genesis 2:24, where the male says, “Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh.” This surely indicates that the make is to be under the supervision of his father and mother until marriage, when he leaves them and “cleaves” (meaning “is glued to”) to his wife.. If God had intended the woman to be subordinate to the man, surely the Bible would say “For this reason a woman leave her mother and father and cleaves to her husband.” If God has meant equality, the Bible would say “the man and woman will eave their mother and father and cleave to each other.”
This interpretation of the creation account is verified by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:7, where he writes, “woman is the glory of man (meaning mankind).” This concept is further emphasized in 1 Corinthians 11:9 where Paul writes, “Neither was the man created for woman, but woman for man.” He is obviously saying that woman was created because the man couldn’t get along with out her. Paul then goes on in the next verse to say, “For this reason the woman ought to have authority over her head (the man).” However, Paul seems to realize that what he is saying may tend to make the woman feel that she can lord it over the man, so he reminds woman, “nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman, for as woman was made from man (and is thus the pinnacle or glory of creation) so man is no born of woman. All things are from God.”
Satan clearly understood God’s hierarchy in the Garden of Eden for he approached Eve rather than Adam, knowing that she was the one in charge. And when she handed the forbidden fruit to Adam, he ate some of it immediately, recognizing her God-given dominance over him. When God called to Adam and asked what had happened, Adam replied, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree and I ate.”
This interpretation is verified in 1 Timothy 2:13-15 where Paul reminds his readers in Ephesus that Eve was created after Adam, thus she was the pinnacle of God’s creation. He also reminds them that Satan, recognizing the primacy of Eve went to her with his temptation – not Adam. Eve, God’s chosen leader, was clearly deceived by Satan, while Adam simply followed her instructions. In spite of this fact, Paul says, the woman is still the agent of salvation for all humanity (“she will be saved by the birth of the child.”) and in that position she is expected to live in faith, love and holiness, with modesty.
Of course, God held Adam just as responsible for the sin as Eve, since they each had the capacity to obey or disobey God.
When the punishment for sin was handed out, both Adam and Eve got a full share, but God still recognized the higher status of the woman. He told Eve that although she had so grievously sinned, she would be the instrument though which salvation would come to the world. “He (the seed of the woman) shall bruise your (the serpent’s) head, and you (the serpent) shall bruise his heel.” The person of the divine Savior would be the given to the woman as the dominant one in the pair, but it would be accompanied by great toil. And worst of all, a terrible “role reversal” would occur. The divine order of creation (female domination) would be reversed, and the male would rule over the female. The havoc that this role reversal has wrought is easy for even the most casual observer to see. We have war, fighting, inability to communicate with nations, friends, or neighbors – all the result of male dominance that entered the world with sin and thus reversed God’s ordained order of creation.
God’s own preference in roles with man and woman did not change – only the sinful acts of humans got mixed up. For example, we see that “naming” was the primary responsibility of women. The Bible does not say who named Cain or Abel, but it clearly says that Eve named the third child, Seth (Genesis 4:25) All of the sons of Jacob (for whom the twelve tribes of Israel were named) were named by Rachel and Leah. The only exception was Benjamin, because Rachel died in his childbirth and Jacob therefore had to name him.
We see this same significance in the New Testament, where the angel Gabriel appears first to Mary and announces the coming Savior. Gabriel tells Mary that she is to name the Baby Jesus.
God’s choice of Mary as the human parent of Jesus is another evidence that God still saw the primacy of the woman in the human race. Actually, no male played any part in the conception of our redeemer, but God chose a woman to bear the Savior through apparently normal processes of growth within the womb. Since the birth of the Savior was miraculous anyway, God could have just have easily have made Christ from the rib of Joseph, just as he made Eve from the rib of Adam. But He did not.
Instead, God fulfilled the original promise to Eve in the garden of Eden. HER “seed” would bruise the head of Satan. Women were the exclusive human instruments of the salvation of all humanity.
Women will continue this role in the days ahead as is evident in the book of Revelation. In Revelation 12, a woman is clothed with the sun, and on her head is a crown of twelve stars. She is pregnant, and she and her offspring represent the people of God, whom the dragan (sic) (Satan) has been trying to destroy from the early church to the present day. But God prepares a special place for her in the wilderness where she is nourished during persecution. Again, God’s revelation to John shows the woman in her proper God-ordained place of leadership – the position from which she was removed when sin entered the world. This is reinforced by the fact that when Satan is thrown out of heaven after the ascension of Jesus, he immediately went forth to make war on the woman and her posterity.
It is no accident that the church in the New Testament is always referred to as female. The church embodies the very power of God and is his instrument for the salvation of His people. The church (ekklesia is the feminine gender) is subject only to Christ, for it was through a woman that the Savior came to this world. The woman through the Bible is God’s instrument though which salvation comes.
Often we hear men refer to the Jewish system of preference for the first male in the family as some kind of “proof” that God ordained Adam to be dominant over Eve. The silliness of this interpretation is apparent when we note that God himself usually chose the younger to be his chosen leaders. Jacob (the second born twin) became the ancestor of the Hebrew people, rather than Esau, the first born. when God send Samuel to anoint the a king to take the place of Saul, he did not permit Samuel to anoint the oldest son of Jesse, as the Jewish custom would have it, but insisted on taking the youngest in the family. God chose Moses rather than Aaron, the older son. Jesus reinforces this principle when he said that to be great in his kingdom a person has to be come as “the youngest” (Luke 22:26) This again would point to the primacy of Eve in God’s plan.
The God-ordained dominance of women is also seen in God’s choice of the ancestry of his chosen people. Who was the determining ancestor of the Hebrews? Was it Abraham? Not at all. Abraham had eight children, born of three different women. God’s chosen instrument of ancestry was Sarah. Isaac, Sarah’s only child, was the one through whom the Hebrews came. Ishmael, the son of Abraham by Hagar, did not count in God’s plan, nor did the six children of Abraham and Ketura. Obviously, Sarah was God’s chosen vessel for the ancestry of the Hebrews. Abraham was only the agent by whom she became pregnant. This is verified by Paul’s words in Galatians 4:21 where Christians are told that we are the children not of the bondwoman (Hagar), but of the free woman (Sarah).
Sarah’s God ordained leadership in the ancestry of the Hebrew nation is reinforced in Genesis 21:12. In this passage, a conflict has risen between Abraham and Sarah over what to do with Ishmael. In keeping with Sarah’s ordained dominant role, God tells Abraham that he is to obey Sarah in the matter. “Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for though Isaac shall your descendants be named.” We should also note that nowhere in the Old Testament is any wife told to obey her husband.
God’s choice of female as the spiritual leaders in marriage is illustrated in the story of Manoah and his wife (parents of Samson) in Judges 13:2-24. Since the Bible has been so overwhelming interpreted by males instead of females, small wonder that few people have ever heard or taken note of this remarkable evidence of God’s choice of the wife as the leader of the family. Manoah and his wife were without children and longed for offspring. One day, the angel of God appeared to the wife and old her that she and her husband would have a son who should be reared as a Nazarite (long hair, no wine or strong drink). This son would be used of God to deliver the Israelites from the Philistines.
The woman told her husband about the angelic visitation. He immediately believed her story (indicating his acceptance of her spiritual leadership) and prayed that God would again send his messanger (sic) with more instructions for his upbringing. God did send the angel again and for the second time the angel appeared to the wife (even though it was an answer to the husband’s prayer.) The woman understood the importance of her husband having first-hand contact with the angel and she rant to bring Manoah to the meeting. When Manoah asked for further instructions, the angel responded, “Of all that I have said to the woman, let her beware.” The angel reinforced her leadership in the family.
Manoah suggested they prepare sacrifices for the angel, but the angel said that the sacrifice should be offered to the Lord instead. Manoah and his wife di so, and the angel “ascended in the flame of the altar.” Manoah was so frightened that he said, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.”
His wife had the better understanding of theology and she replied , “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a cereal offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.” The woman obviously had the superior understanding of the nature of God.
This is probably the reason that one of the most crucial attributes of God is represented as female – wisdom in Proverbs 8. And the love of God is often compared to the love of a mother for her child.
Simple observation of male female traits indicate how the “role reversal” that occurred when sin entered the world has damaged all of humanity. Psychological tests and biblical data show that males tend to be more aggressive than females, more eager to show how “strong” they are, less skilled in building deep relationships, less able to communicate love and feelings. Women usually have greater verbal skills, are better listeners, find nurturing easier than men find it, mature more rapidly, have greater endurance, are more willing to negotiate rather than fight. These are the very skills that are needed in the world today both in leadership of nations and of the church.
The worldly practice of having men in places of leadership has brought an unending sequence of devastating wars (the natural result of the need to show who is “biggest and strongest”. Churches with male leadership have had a tragic history of conflicts – ranging from the Reformation to the smallest village hamlet.
The basic purpose of the church involves nurturing and communicating the Gospel – both of which tend to fit the “female psyche” better than that of the male. The failure of the world of nations and of the church can perhaps be laid finally to the “role reversal” that changed God’s “ordained order of creation” involving female leadership to the sad state we have today.
Since the biblical teachings on this subject are crystal clear, it is obvious that the leadership of women over men as a divine mandate can only be denied by refusing the authority of the Scriptures. There is no middle ground. Either we accept the clear teachings of female leadership and male subordination - or we deny the authority of the very Scriptures that are the foundation of our faith.
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What are we trying to say in this article? That selective, propositional exegesis can build whatever case the propositional logician wants to establish. Unfortunately, big lies repeated often enough seem to become accepted regardless of how little foundation they have. Let’s stop assuming that ancient myth that “female subordination” is found in the “order of creation” and substantiated in Paul’s interpretation of Genesis. Let’s rather stay with sound principles of interpretation, all textual passages, and a fresh look at the new order Christ came to establish.
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