My Take: The Bible actually honors women
Henry Idema (“Religion and the control of women") has written, “If you read the Bible from Genesis to the Revelation of John, you see a long history of women being controlled by men.”
His statement and his examples are inaccurate.
Idema claims women who were caught in adultery were stoned, but the men were not. The Ten Commandments warn both men and women against adultery. Leviticus 20:10 teaches, “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife … both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.” Deuteronomy 22:22 reinforces their equality before the law, “Both the man who slept with her and the woman must be put to death.” The death would be by stoning.
Jesus rebuked some men who wanted to stone the woman caught in adultery and he did not condemn the woman. (John 7: 53-8: 11)
Idema says King Solomon “had multiple sexual partners … with no consequences.” There were consequences. In I Kings 11:1-6 God warned Solomon not to do it, but he took many wives anyway. “His wives turned his heart after other gods and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord, his God.” In this way, “Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”
When David committed adultery, he faced death. God in his mercy spared him, but there were tragic consequences for David. (II Samuel 12: 13, 14)
Idema then gives a long list of instances where women were unjustly controlled by men: Jack the Ripper, the Salem witch trials, Hitler’s sex-slave camps, a president who was a serial adulterer, the governments of Iran and Afghanistan. Tragic, but none of that is found in the Bible.
Idema asserts Adam feared Eve, and since then, men have feared women. In the creation account, God’s creation of women was a joyous event for men. The man rejoiced when God brought the woman, “This is someone just like me!” No hint of fear. No hint of control. How could there be? “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1: 27)
Likewise, the woman being created as her husband’s “helper” does not suggest control. God himself is not ashamed to be known as our “helper.” (The same word in Exodus 18:4; many times in Psalms) Men controlling women is not part of the teaching of the Bible:
The Bible consistently honors women. Eve created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).
Women defying the king and refusing to kill babies (Exodus 1:17).
God’s command to honor both father and mother (Exodus 20:12).
Women taking action when the men wouldn’t (Judges 4).
A wife saving her husband’s life (I Samuel 25).
A queen rescuing her nation (Book of Esther).
God’s choosing Mary to bear Jesus’ physical body (Luke 1).
Women financing Jesus’ ministry (Luke 8:1-3) and chosen to announce our Lord’s resurrection to the men (Luke 24: 1-12).
The Bible’s command for women to submit to their husbands does not involve women’s value or capability. It is referencing the structure God created in this world. The Bible is describing the role of husbands and wives. Before God commands a woman to submit to her husband, he first commands both to submit to each other.
The husband is not called the boss or the owner of the family, but the head, like a stream has a source. He is the head of his wife, not to control her, but to give love to her in the way Christ Jesus loves his church. He is to give up his life for his wife. He is to love her the way he loves his own life (Ephesians 5). That does not speak of controlling a woman, but of honoring her.
Men and women who seek to end the practice of stopping beating hearts in the womb are not after control. They are honoring lives whom God creates in his own image (Psalm 139: 13-17). They are honoring the women God chooses (Genesis 30: 22) to bear his personal treasure (Psalm 127: 3).
— Ren Broekhuizen is a resident of Holland.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: My Take: The Bible actually honors women
