Bible – Bible Society of Zimbabwe

How does the Bible view women? At face value, some of its messages and examples can seem oppressive or devaluing. But when you learn more about how Jesus responded to the Bible’s historical and cultural context, you may rethink your first impressions. Christ entered into a specific time and culture that had assumptions very different from ours. How can understanding the biblical context inform our reading? How can the context help us to better understand who Jesus is—what he values, loves, and expects of his followers? Take a look, traveling all the way back to the culture Jesus entered.

How the Greeks Viewed Women

Let’s begin with the philosophers. Writers and thinkers often infuse a culture with certain beliefs—and this was especially so in the Greco-Roman world. When examined closely, some of their ideas may seem surprisingly antiquated to the modern reader.

For example, the revered philosopher Plato believed that women should be confined to the home while men tended to the business of state and commerce. Aristotle went even further, teaching that women were inferior to men, incapable of abstract thought, and emotionally volatile. Thus husbands and fathers were to rule over their wives and daughters. This thinking reflects the basic attitude toward women during the classical period.

How did these attitudes affect a woman’s life? The picture is not a pretty one. A young Greek girl is routinely married off to an older man. Her husband is free to take a concubine, and romantic love is not expected within marriage. Her role is to bear and raise children and run the household. She will rarely leave the house. Her education is limited to learning domestic tasks. She is not permitted to vote or hold property. Why would she be? As Euripides the playwright notes, “A woman is handicapped by intellect.” Thucydides helps him along by writing, “The name of a decent woman, like her person, should be shut up in the house.”

How the Jews Viewed Women

By Jesus’s time Greek ideas—including these ideas about women—had gradually crept into Jewish culture, despite Old Testament writings to the contrary. In the creation account in Genesis, God creates human beings as both male and female, giving them co-equal stewardship over the earth (Genesis 1:26-30). Throughout the Old Testament, women are given equal access to God’s law and held equally responsible to keep it.

The Old Testament record is replete with women whose great courage often surpasses that of the men around them. The stories of Miriam, Rahab, Ruth, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, and Esther are prime examples of women whose insight and fortitude greatly influence the biblical narrative and the way God’s people understood themselves.

The Jewish understanding of women was so affected by exile, conquest, and trade that by Jesus’s time women were discouraged from studying Torah, God’s law, and encouraged to stay home to fulfill household duties. They attended synagogue assemblies seated separately from the men. The Greek-educated Jewish philosopher Philo, a contemporary of Jesus, saw women as having weak judgment and considered them unfit to learn the law. Some rabbis even went so far as to encourage men to limit their conversations with their own wives. What was the point of talking to someone with little knowledge of the law?

How Jesus Viewed Women

Into this distortion of God’s original intent for women comes a new teacher, the rabbi called Jesus of Nazareth. What do we know about Jesus’s relationships with women? Did he hold the same opinions as his culture? Let’s take a look at a few of his encounters with women.

Jesus speaks to a Samaritan woman in public (John 4:4-30)

Jesus shocks the woman at the well by asking her for a drink. Thus he steamrolls over cultural taboos against men speaking to women as well as Jewish prejudice against Samaritans. “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?”

Jesus then reveals himself to her as the Messiah and the giver of the living water for which she longs.

Jesus teaches a woman one-on-one (Luke 10:38-42)

Women were not expected to study Torah, yet this renegade rabbi singles out one woman and opens Scripture to her. Mary “sat down at the feet of the Lord and listened to his teaching.” This position was that of the traditional rabbinic student.

When her sister complains about needing help, Jesus tells her that “Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Jesus comforts a widow and confronts death (Luke 7:11-17)

“Don’t cry,” Jesus says to a grieving widow whose son lies dead in his coffin. He touches the coffin, defying ceremonial law. Jaws drop in amazement as the young man sits up and begins to speak. Jesus gives the widow’s son back to her, alive and well.

Jesus touches an “unclean” woman (Luke 8:43-48)

Ceremonially unclean due to a chronic hemorrhage, a woman touches the hem of Jesus’ cloak. “Daughter,” Jesus speaks tenderly. “Your faith has healed you. Shalom.”

Jesus touches an infirm woman (Luke 13:10-16)

The religious leaders object to Jesus’s laying his healing hands on a crippled woman on the Sabbath.

“You hypocrites!” Jesus does not mince words. “Any one of you would untie your ox or your donkey from the stall and take it out to give it water on the Sabbath.Now here is this descendant of Abraham whom Satan has kept in bonds for eighteen years; should she not be released on the Sabbath?”

Jesus deals with a woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11)

The woman’s accusers are silenced by Jesus’s words, “Whichever one of you has committed no sin may throw the first stone at her.” But he is gentle in his conversation with her.

Jesus allows Mary to anoint him (John 12:1-8)

When people are horrified at Mary’s extravagant outpouring of love, Jesus silences them all. Rather than rebuking her for touching him in this intimate way, he lavishes high praise on her. “Leave her alone; she’s anointing me for burial. This story will be told wherever the Gospel is preached.”

Jesus appears first to a woman after his Resurrection (John 20:11-18)

Although women were considered to be unreliable witnesses in court, Jesus assigns Mary Magdalene the task of being the first witness to the Resurrection.

Scripture’s Good News for Women

So what did Jesus really think of women? Did he touch them? Did he talk with them? Did he teach them? Did he give equal moral standing with men? Did he value them?

The record speaks for itself. First-century women in Palestine were second-class citizens. Sadly, some church leaders have still viewed and treated women in this way. But Jesus turned the tables on his culture, and his example calls us to do the same. Again and again, Jesus affirmed women’s value and dignity.

As the apostle Paul affirms in Galatians 3:26-28 (NIV): “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Jesus Is Anointed at Bethany

(Matthew 26.6-13Mark 14.3-9)

1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, the man he had raised from death. 2 They prepared a dinner for him there, which Martha helped serve; Lazarus was one of those who were sitting at the table with Jesus. 3 Then Mary took a whole pint of a very expensive perfume made of pure nard, poured it on Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The sweet smell of the perfume filled the whole house. 4 One of Jesus' disciples, Judas Iscariot—the one who was going to betray him—said, 5 “Why wasn't this perfume sold for three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. He carried the money bag and would help himself from it.

7 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone! Let her keep what she has for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have poor people with you, but you will not always have me.”

The Plot against Lazarus

9 A large number of people heard that Jesus was in Bethany, so they went there, not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from death. 10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus too, 11 because on his account many Jews were rejecting them and believing in Jesus.

The Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem

(Matthew 21.1-11Mark 11.1-11Luke 19.28-40)

12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the Passover Festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, “Praise God! God bless him who comes in the name of the Lord! God bless the King of Israel!”

14 Jesus found a donkey and rode on it, just as the scripture says,

15 “Do not be afraid, city of Zion!

Here comes your king,

riding on a young donkey.”

16 His disciples did not understand this at the time; but when Jesus had been raised to glory, they remembered that the scripture said this about him and that they had done this for him.

17 The people who had been with Jesus when he called Lazarus out of the grave and raised him from death had reported what had happened. 18 That was why the crowd met him—because they heard that he had performed this miracle. 19 The Pharisees then said to one another, “You see, we are not succeeding at all! Look, the whole world is following him!”

Some Greeks Seek Jesus

20 Some Greeks were among those who had gone to Jerusalem to worship during the festival. 21 They went to Philip (he was from Bethsaida in Galilee) and said, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”

22 Philip went and told Andrew, and the two of them went and told Jesus. 23 Jesus answered them, “The hour has now come for the Son of Man to receive great glory. 24 I am telling you the truth: a grain of wheat remains no more than a single grain unless it is dropped into the ground and dies. If it does die, then it produces many grains. 25 Those who love their own life will lose it; those who hate their own life in this world will keep it for life eternal. 26 Whoever wants to serve me must follow me, so that my servant will be with me where I am. And my Father will honor anyone who serves me.

Jesus Speaks about His Death

27 “Now my heart is troubled—and what shall I say? Shall I say, ‘Father, do not let this hour come upon me’? But that is why I came—so that I might go through this hour of suffering. 28 Father, bring glory to your name!”

Then a voice spoke from heaven, “I have brought glory to it, and I will do so again.”

29 The crowd standing there heard the voice, and some of them said it was thunder, while others said, “An angel spoke to him!”

30 But Jesus said to them, “It was not for my sake that this voice spoke, but for yours. 31 Now is the time for this world to be judged; now the ruler of this world will be overthrown. 32 When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to me.” ( 33 In saying this he indicated the kind of death he was going to suffer.)

34 The crowd answered, “Our Law tells us that the Messiah will live forever. How, then, can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”

35 Jesus answered, “The light will be among you a little longer. Continue on your way while you have the light, so that the darkness will not come upon you; for the one who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. 36 Believe in the light, then, while you have it, so that you will be the people of the light.”

The Unbelief of the People

After Jesus said this, he went off and hid himself from them. 37 Even though he had performed all these miracles in their presence, they did not believe in him, 38 so that what the prophet Isaiah had said might come true:

“Lord, who believed the message we told?

To whom did the Lord reveal his power?”

39 And so they were not able to believe, because Isaiah also said,

40 “God has blinded their eyes

and closed their minds,

so that their eyes would not see,

and their minds would not understand,

and they would not turn to me, says God,

for me to heal them.”

41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him.

42 Even then, many Jewish authorities believed in Jesus; but because of the Pharisees they did not talk about it openly, so as not to be expelled from the synagogue. 43 They loved human approval rather than the approval of God.

Judgment by Jesus' Words

44 Jesus said in a loud voice, “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in him who sent me. 45 Whoever sees me sees also him who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. 47 If people hear my message and do not obey it, I will not judge them. I came, not to judge the world, but to save it. 48 Those who reject me and do not accept my message have one who will judge them. The words I have spoken will be their judge on the last day! 49 This is true, because I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has commanded me what I must say and speak. 50 And I know that his command brings eternal life. What I say, then, is what the Father has told me to say.”

1 Then Iesus, sixe dayes before the Passeouer, came to Bethania, where Lazarus was, who died, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 There they made him a supper, and Martha serued: but Lazarus was one of them that sate at the table with him. 3 Then tooke Mary a pound of oyntment of Spikenarde very costly, and anoynted Iesus feete, and wiped his feete with her heare, and the house was filled with the sauour of the oyntment. 4 Then said one of his disciples, euen Iudas Iscariot Simons sonne, which should betray him: 5 Why was not this oyntment sold for three hundreth pence, and giuen to the poore? 6 Nowe he said this, not that he cared for the poore, but because hee was a theefe, and had the bagge, and bare that which was giuen. 7 Then said Iesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying she kept it. 8 For the poore alwayes yee haue with you, but me ye shall not haue alwayes. 9 Then much people of the Iewes knewe that hee was there: and they came, not for Iesus sake onely, but that they might see Lazarus also, whome he had raysed from the dead. 10 The hie Priestes therefore consulted, that they might put Lazarus to death also, 11 Because that for his sake many of the Iewes went away, and beleeued in Iesus. 12 On the morowe a great multitude that were come to the feast, when they heard that Iesus should come to Hierusalem, 13 Tooke branches of palme trees, and went foorth to meete him, and cried, Hosanna, Blessed is the King of Israel that commeth in the Name of the Lord. 14 And Iesus found a yong asse, and sate thereon, as it is written, 15 Feare not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King commeth sitting on an asses colte. 16 But his disciples vnderstoode not these thinges at the first: but when Iesus was glorified, then remembred they, that these thinges were written of him, and that they had done these things vnto him. 17 The people therefore that was with him, bare witnesse that hee called Lazarus out of the graue, and raised him from the dead. 18 Therefore mette him the people also, because they heard that he had done this miracle. 19 And the Pharises said among themselues, Perceiue ye howe ye preuaile nothing? Beholde, the worlde goeth after him. 20 Nowe there were certaine Greekes among them that came vp to worship at the feast. 21 And they came to Philippe, which was of Bethsaida in Galile, and desired him, saying, Syr, we would see that Iesus. 22 Philippe came and tolde Andrew: and againe Andrew and Philippe tolde Iesus. 23 And Iesus answered them, saying, The houre is come, that the Sonne of man must bee glorified. 24 Verely, verely I say vnto you, Except the wheate corne fall into the grounde and die, it bideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth foorth much fruite. 25 He that loueth his life, shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world, shall keepe it vnto life eternall. 26 If any man serue me, let him follow me: for where I am, there shall also my seruant be: and if any man serue me, him will my Father honour. 27 Now is my soule troubled: and what shall I say? Father, saue me from this houre: but therefore came I vnto this houre. 28 Father, glorifie thy Name. Then came there a voyce from heauen, saying, I haue both glorified it, and will glorifie it againe. 29 Then saide the people that stoode by, and heard, that it was a thunder: other said, An Angel spake to him. 30 Iesus answered, and said, This voyce came not because of me, but for your sakes. 31 Now is the iudgement of this world: nowe shall the prince of this world be cast out. 32 And I, if I were lift vp from the earth, will drawe all men vnto me. 33 Nowe this sayd he, signifying what death he should die. 34 The people answered him, We haue heard out of the Law, that that Christ bideth for euer: and howe sayest thou, that that Sonne of man must be lift vp? Who is that Sonne of man? 35 Then Iesus sayd vnto them, Yet a litle while is the light with you: walke while ye haue that light, lest the darkenes come vpon you: for hee that walketh in the darke, knoweth not whither he goeth. 36 While ye haue that light, beleeue in that light, that ye may be the children of the light. These things spake Iesus, and departed, and hid himselfe from them. 37 And though he had done so many miracles before them, yet beleeued they not on him, 38 That the saying of Esaias the Prophete might be fulfilled, that he sayd, Lord, who beleeued our report? and to whome is the arme of the Lord reueiled? 39 Therefore could they not beleeue, because that Esaias saith againe, 40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they shoulde not see with their eyes, nor vnderstand with their heart, and should be conuerted, and I should heale them. 41 These things sayd Esaias when he sawe his glory, and spake of him. 42 Neuertheles, euen among the chiefe rulers, many beleeued in him: but because of the Pharises they did not confesse him, least they should be cast out of the Synagogue. 43 For they loued the prayse of men, more then the prayse of God. 44 And Iesus cryed, and sayd, He that beleeueth in me, beleeueth not in me, but in him that sent me. 45 And he that seeth me, seeth him that sent me. 46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoeuer beleeueth in me, should not abide in darkenes. 47 And if any man heare my wordes, and beleeue not, I iudge him not: for I came not to iudge the world, but to saue the world. 48 He that refuseth me, and receiueth not my wordes, hath one that iudgeth him: the worde that I haue spoken, it shall iudge him in the last day. 49 For I haue not spoken of my selfe: but the Father which sent me, hee gaue me a commandement what I should say, and what I should speake. 50 And I knowe that his commandement is life euerlasting: the thinges therefore that I speake, I speake them so as the Father sayde vnto me.