We read the Bible as a family each night after dinner. On this particular night, the story is the feeding of the 5000. Well, more specifically, the feeding of the 5000 men.
My daughter’s face told a story that her question confirmed: “Dad, why did they only count the men? Didn’t they care about women back then? Were women less important?”
What’s a dad to say to that?
My instant reaction was to talk about how the Bible was a product of its time and culture, and about how we’ve moved on as a society. We are so much more enlightened and egalitarian now days. I am so thankful you didn’t live back then.
But a little more reflection revealed the folly of my thinking. Why are we so quick to accept the modern morality tale of the progress of our society? Yes, sweetheart, women now have the vote and get counted. They also get molested by footballers, told they aren’t beautiful unless they’ve had every piece of inappropriate hair removed from their bodies, pressured to have surgery so that they can have appropriately sized and proportioned breasts, and told that, in spite of holding down a full-time job in order to make ends meet and managing their households, their beauty matters more than their brains. (Why else do we keep getting fashion updates about the First Lady and the Prime Minister’s wife?)
What does the Bible tell us? It tells us that women are co-heirs of eternal life (1 Pet 3:7); that they are to be treated with dignity and respect as those worthy of honour and praise (Prov 31:25-28); that they are to be treated with purity as sisters, not as objects of sexual gratification (1 Tim 5:1-2); that they are fellow workers in the gospel (Phil 4:2-3; cf. Rom 16:1-2); that they are to be honoured greatly for their sacrificial service for Jesus (Rom 16:3-4); and that they are destined for glory and are precious siblings of the Lord Jesus Christ (Gal 3:25-29).
I’m thankful that we live in a world where women are counted and can vote. But I don’t think that those things are the measure of the dignity and respect that belong to our sisters in Christ. True biblical community—living in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ—is where women will be truly treated with dignity and respect.
Perhaps I should have said this to my daughter: “Darling, you’re important because God has made his world in such a way that it cannot function without you (1 Cor 11:11-12), because Jesus died for you, and because God has destined you for glory and made you his fellow worker in the gospel. You are his precious daughter, created to bring glory and honour to the ruler of eternity.”
We read the Bible as a family each night after dinner. On this particular night, the story is the feeding of the 5000. Well, more specifically, the feeding of the 5000 men.
My daughter’s face told a story that her question confirmed: “Dad, why did they only count the men? Didn’t they care about women back then? Were women less important?”
What’s a dad to say to that?
My instant reaction was to talk about how the Bible was a product of its time and culture, and about how we’ve moved on as a society. We are so much more enlightened and egalitarian now days. I am so thankful you didn’t live back then.
But a little more reflection revealed the folly of my thinking. Why are we so quick to accept the modern morality tale of the progress of our society? Yes, sweetheart, women now have the vote and get counted. They also get molested by footballers, told they aren’t beautiful unless they’ve had every piece of inappropriate hair removed from their bodies, pressured to have surgery so that they can have appropriately sized and proportioned breasts, and told that, in spite of holding down a full-time job in order to make ends meet and managing their households, their beauty matters more than their brains. (Why else do we keep getting fashion updates about the First Lady and the Prime Minister’s wife?)
What does the Bible tell us? It tells us that women are co-heirs of eternal life (1 Pet 3:7); that they are to be treated with dignity and respect as those worthy of honour and praise (Prov 31:25-28); that they are to be treated with purity as sisters, not as objects of sexual gratification (1 Tim 5:1-2); that they are fellow workers in the gospel (Phil 4:2-3; cf. Rom 16:1-2); that they are to be honoured greatly for their sacrificial service for Jesus (Rom 16:3-4); and that they are destined for glory and are precious siblings of the Lord Jesus Christ (Gal 3:25-29).
I’m thankful that we live in a world where women are counted and can vote. But I don’t think that those things are the measure of the dignity and respect that belong to our sisters in Christ. True biblical community—living in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ—is where women will be truly treated with dignity and respect.
Perhaps I should have said this to my daughter: “Darling, you’re important because God has made his world in such a way that it cannot function without you (1 Cor 11:11-12), because Jesus died for you, and because God has destined you for glory and made you his fellow worker in the gospel. You are his precious daughter, created to bring glory and honour to the ruler of eternity.”
