Lalitha: (reading an article) Only the Sikh faith has no
gender differentiation between men and women where all are equal.
Me: True, but so also in Christianity.
Lalitha: No. In the Bible if a woman made a vow and the
husband or father disallowed it, it would not stand. They are not equal, but
under the authority of the man.
Me: That is the culture of the time, and not the Bible
teaching in gender.
Lalitha: That way you can prove anything.
Is there cultural accommodation in the Bible? When Jesus
said “It is because of the hardness of your heart that Moses gave this command”
does it mean that the Jews interpretation was wrong because of the hardness of
their heart, or this command was given because of the hardness of their heart? I
prefer to see it as a wrong interpretation by the Jews, but many see it as a
cultural accommodation in the Mosaic Laws to culture. On the other hand, the
laws on slavery and concubines are clearly an accommodation to culture, since
these are not what God wanted at any stage.
So what is the teaching on gender in the Bible? Firstly,
they are clearly different and so roles are different. However, the first role
indicated in the Bible for women was to be a helpmeet. The word used here is ‘ezer’ which means help or succour, or
one who helps or succours. This word is used 21 times in the Bible – Genesis
2:18, 2:20, Exodus 18:4, Deuteronomy 33:2, 33:26, 33:29, Ps 20:2, 33:20, 70:5,
89:19, 115:9, 115:10, 115:11, 121:1, 121:2, 124:8, 146:5 Isaiah 30:5, Ezekiel
12:14, Daniel 11:34 and Hosea 13:9.
In the 19 instances outside Genesis 2, 16 refer to God helping
Israel. In 2 instances it is of a more powerful nation sending its armies to
help Israel. In one it speaks of no one to help Israel. From this it can be
concluded that the primary meaning of ‘ezer’
is of a more powerful person helping a weaker person. Just like Jesus said in Matthew
19:4-6 the text in Genesis 2 shows the original intention of God that there
should be no divorce, I would say that this was meant to be the original position
of woman in relationship to man. However, due to culture, Jesus says in Matthew
19:8, that Moses permitted divorce. Hardness of heart led to the fallen
culture. This same fallen culture has led to the inferior position of women in
the world, and their suppression, instead of women being God’s power for man.
In the New Testament, while we see many signs of liberation
for women, (in they being among Jesus’ disciples) there is no attempt to over
turn the state of affairs. The approach taken through the Bible is to curtail
the negative effects of a fallen
culture, rather than try to force a divine view on people who cannot understand.
Hence we find that slavery, concubinage are referred to without condemnation,
when laws are made to curtail abuse of victims.
To Paul our testimony to those who do not know God was more
important than setting right these injustices for the present. He felt that if
we did try and set these right, it would affect the testimony of the church.
This has been Paul’s theme in 1 Corinthians, not to do anything, even if it is
right in the sight of God, if it will turn people away from God.
In the New Testament, with the empowerment of the Holy
Spirit where we should be able to understand the divine will, these cultural
aberrations need to be set right within the church, to the extent where it does
not spoil its testimony. Unfortunately for the church, these aberrations are
being forced on the church as the will of God, and the Biblical teaching, so
that education is proving the liberator rather than Jesus. The world seems to
be moving ahead of the church.
