Honoring the Dignity and Value of Women: A Biblical Perspective

It’s no secret, nor is it unclear. The Bible teaches things about women that clash with our fallen contemporary culture. Women may not function in the role of a pastor/elder (1 Tim. 2:12). Wives are to submit to their husbands as the church does to Christ (Eph. 5:22-24). Seasoned women are to shepherd younger women to, among other things, be “workers at home…[and] subject to their own husbands” (Titus 2:5).

Consequently, culture often reviles God’s word on the grounds that the Bible holds women as inferior to men. And the irony is, that contemporary western culture values women lower than just about any time and people in history. Yet, that same culture accuses the Bible of a low, insulting view of women. But, nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is, God’s inerrant word of the 66 books of the Bible regards women higher than any other ideology, religion, philosophy, or system in history. Nothing teaches a higher view of women than biblical Christianity. Here are ten reasons why:

1. Women are created in God’s image, making them infinitely valuable.

The value and equality of women is a frequently discussed topic in recent days. Various reasons are put forth for the value of women. For many in our day, a women’s value is grounded in her ability and opportunity to do everything a man does. For others, her value is in possessing equal, or greater, income as/than a man. Those reasons are, ironically, oppressive to women: if she doesn’t achieve some subjective cultural standard, then her worth is inferior. That’s a yoke they should not have to bear.

The Bible takes a different route altogether. A woman is infinitely valuable, not because of what she does or makes, but because of who she is:

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (Gen. 1:26-27).

Women are God’s image-bearers. That gives them inherent infinite worth, regardless of their abilities and achievements. The Bible does not hold up a socio-moral-economic bar and say to women, “If you can reach this, then you are valuable.” Women are valuable because they bear the image of God.

2. The Bible forbids the killing of women.

In most cultures around the world, women beyond birth are not allowed to be killed. However, in the United States, for example, it is perfectly legal to kill women at any point between conception and birth. The United States has permitted roughly 60 million of such people to be killed since Roe v. Wade. About half of all births are female. So, the United States has allowed for the killing of roughly 30 million women since 1973. To say that this is unspeakably shameful treatment of women is an understatement. The Bible forbids such treatment of women (Exod. 20:13).

3. The Bible forbids the sexual exploitation of women.

Undermining the Legacy of Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement

My wife and I were finally able to view the film SELMA. Overall, it was a very moving movie with a great cast.  As I watched the film I thought to myself, "Self, I hope you would have had the courage to join/support the peaceful march from Selma to Montgomery had you been alive and pastoring in 1965."  By the grace of God I believe I would have.

 

In this vein, my former pastor John MacArthur, was personal friends with John Perkins.  Perkins was one of the original Civil Rights leaders from the 1960's (Mr. Perkin's brother was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan).  Because of these associations MacArthur was refused meals at "white restaurants" while visiting the deep South.  In fact, John MacArthur was preaching the gospel in Jackson, Mississippi when Dr. King was shot and tragically killed in 1968.  MacArthur and some of his ministry friends drove through the night to Memphis and witnessed the MLK crime scene with their own eyes.  According to historian Iain H. Murray, "The experiences in Mississippi confirmed the truth to John that he already knew: the gospel alone could abolish the racial division, and he saw something of its power in the numbers of young people who were converted; some of them were to train for full-time Christian service;" but now I digress.

 

Back to Selma.  The only thing I did not appreciate in Selma was the theme song that was played near the end of the movie. The music to "Glory" was absolutely beautiful but some of the lyrics were fundamentally flawed.  In my opinion, one of the best ways to undermine the heroic work of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is to connect his Civil Rights legacy with the recent (violent) protests in Ferguson (and Baltimore).   Unlike so many martyrs in the original Civil Rights Movement Michael Brown was not killed because he refused to sit in the back of a bus, nor was he targeted simply because he was black.   Mr. Brown had just robbed a store and had roughed up a fellow minority in the process.  Brown fled the crime scene and was eventually shot and killed by a law enforcement officer (note carefully Romans 13:1-7).  According to news reports Brown was facing other criminal charges as well.   If true, this was not Mr. Brown's first felony arrest.  More importantly, even though the "hands up, don't shoot" narrative was disputed by several witnesses, it remains a dominant mantra among many activists today.  MLK reminded us, (quoting Jesus), that it is the truth that sets men free.