The other day, I was compelled to enter the Twitter fray — I know, I know. I’m trying to do better with my time and not get sucked into social media drama.
But when someone says that the Bible teaches that women are property…. well, I can’t let that nonsense go without saying something.
It started with a woman named “Dee” taking a shot at Timothy Keller. Most of you are, I’m sure, familiar with him. But for those who aren’t, Keller is a famous pastor and bestselling Christian author.
(Note: I will not link to Dee’s actual profile on Twitter or offer any screenshots, because doing so without her permission is IMO not in good taste. Besides, I don’t want to encourage any “piling on” so to speak. If you want to go looking for these posts on Twitter, they probably won’t be hard to find — especially if you look up my Twitter account. But I urge you to simply pray for Dee and those who have likewise been hurt by other Christians. It’s not my desire to add to any of her pain or the pain of others. I simply want to point out that pain is not a good starting point for constructive discourse and it certainly isn’t the basis for seeking truth).
When Keller recommended some authors for people who wished to honestly examine the claims of Christianity, she chimed in with a hit against Keller’s intellectual integrity — citing of all things Keller’s position against premarital sex.
I then stepped in with a question about Hebrews (which was germane to Keller’s original point – which she was attacking him on). My question was whether Keller’s position was consistent or inconsistent with this verse from Hebrews:
“Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” (Hebrews 13:4, NKJV)
Well, that question didn’t go over well.
Dee launched into a full broadside against the Bible and Christians. Turns out this is her modus operandi. Taking a look at her Twitter feed, she keeps herself rather busy hounding and attacking Christian pastors and leaders.
Trying to keep the discussion focused was a challenge since she was hurling all kinds of metaphorical hand grenades into the mix — most of them completely unrelated to the original issue.
Among her many allegations, Dee alleged that “the writer of Hebrews, like all other literate elite men of the New Testament period, saw women and girls as male property.”
Say what!?
She continued: “It’s hard to read Biblical texts when the writers didn’t see me, a woman, as fully human as men.”
Of course, she declined (or failed) to offer any Bible verses to substantiate these allegations. She pointed to “Roman house codes” and “the position of paterfamilias in Roman society.”
This is typical for many who attack the Bible.
To interpret the New Testament writers based on Roman culture or legal codes is disingenuous. Those who read the Bible should let the biblical authors speak for themselves.
The only intellectually honest way to interpret a text is to look to authorial intent and the original understanding of that author’s audience.
When you honestly confront the Bible, you see nothing along the lines of women being relegated to servant or property status. On the contrary, the very first chapter of the entire Bible makes clear that both men and women are “made in the image of God.”
To the church in Galatia, Paul lays out the equality of all believers before Christ when he declares: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28, NKJV).
It is certainly true that many men of the first century — in both Jewish culture as well as Greco-Roman culture — considered women as “less than” or as akin to “property.” But this was NOT the biblical view of women.
Women and men are both made in the image of God, and both are part of God’s kingdom – both now and in eternity.
