Was the Bible sexist?

[TonyChanYT]

The Bible was written in sexist cultures and practices. Back then, all cultures were sexist in the modern sense of the word. The writings reflected this inequality. The central message, however, was not sexist. Galatians 3:

28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

If you think the Bible was/is sexist, then you are judging the Bible according to our modern sense of sexism. The term "sexism" emerged after the feminist movement.

 

[Adrift]

The Bible was written in sexist cultures and practices. Back then, all cultures were sexist in the modern sense of the word. The writings reflected this inequality. The central message, however, was not sexist. Galatians 3:


If you think the Bible was/is sexist, then you are judging the Bible according to our modern sense of sexism. The term "sexism" emerged after the feminist movement.

Some passages go beyond just sexist:

• Deuteronomy 22:28–29; God’s punishment for the raping of a virgin is to pay her father 50 shekels of silver and marry her for life. The rapist was seen as ruining someone else’s property, not ruining a young girl’s life. Forcing a girl to marry her rapist and have her father accept some money as compensation. Disturbing on a few levels.

 

[Wynona]

Many in western countries ( Hello from the U S)

are obsessed with fairness. The Bible is not. I gathered 75 verses pertaining to women in Scripture. The language is purposefully humbling. Words like silence, submission and subjection are used, with Paul explaining that it was Eve who was decieved by the serpent in the garden of Eden. Therefore women are not to be pastors or have authority over men.

I trust Scripture with all my heart and have always been blessed by obeying it.

This purposefully humbing language, I accept. Take for example, the commands for wives to submit to their husbands in everything and reverence their husbands. It offends our society's ideas that fairness is always the ideal. But the Bible never assumes we are always going to have fair circumstances. It teaches us that when life is inevitably unfair, we must do the right thing anyway out of love and fear of the Lord.

is it fair that wives are commanded to submit to their husbands? No. Neither is fairness always a goal for the Christian to strive for.

Fairness would actually work against me, in the context of life goals. If I had to work just as hard as my husband and take on the stress that he takes on, I would suffer.

Life is not fair. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and then spent years in prison for a false accusation. Is that fair? Yet God used him to save an entire society from famine.

Life is no where close to fair. But the Word of God never fails.

 

[TonyChanYT]

Many in western countries ( Hello from the U S)

are obsessed with fairness. The Bible is not. I gathered 75 verses pertaining to women in Scripture. The language is purposefully humbling. Words like silence, submission and subjection are used, with Paul explaining that it was Eve who was decieved by the serpent in the garden of Eden. Therefore women are not to be pastors or have authority over men.

I trust Scripture with all my heart and have always been blessed by obeying it.

This purposefully humbing language, I accept. Take for example, the commands for wives to submit to their husbands in everything and reverence their husbands. It offends our society's ideas that fairness is always the ideal. But the Bible never assumes we are always going to have fair circumstances. It teaches us that when life is inevitably unfair, we must do the right thing anyway out of love and fear of the Lord.

is it fair that wives are commanded to submit to their husbands? No. Neither is fairness always a goal for the Christian to strive for.

Fairness would actually work against me, in the context of life goals. If I had to work just as hard as my husband and take on the stress that he takes on, I would suffer.

Life is not fair. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and then spent years in prison for a false accusation. Is that fair? Yet God used him to save an entire society from famine.

Life is no where close to fair. But the Word of God never fails.

Great spiritual insights. Thanks

 

[Bob Estey]

The Bible was written in sexist cultures and practices. Back then, all cultures were sexist in the modern sense of the word. The writings reflected this inequality. The central message, however, was not sexist. Galatians 3:


If you think the Bible was/is sexist, then you are judging the Bible according to our modern sense of sexism. The term "sexism" emerged after the feminist movement.

Paul and Peter might have been a little sexist.

 

[Jim C]

To imply the Bible is sexist is to imply God is sexist. Sexism is a human concept which holds no meaning whatsoever to God. As the Creator He neither needs nor requires our approval for His commands.