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.”

Women Who Accompanied Jesus

1 Some time later Jesus traveled through towns and villages, preaching the Good News about the Kingdom of God. The twelve disciples went with him, 2 and so did some women who had been healed of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (who was called Magdalene), from whom seven demons had been driven out; 3 Joanna, whose husband Chuza was an officer in Herod's court; and Susanna, and many other women who used their own resources to help Jesus and his disciples.

The Parable of the Sower

(Matthew 13.1-9Mark 4.1-9)

4 People kept coming to Jesus from one town after another; and when a great crowd gathered, Jesus told this parable:

5 “Once there was a man who went out to sow grain. As he scattered the seed in the field, some of it fell along the path, where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it up. 6 Some of it fell on rocky ground, and when the plants sprouted, they dried up because the soil had no moisture. 7 Some of the seed fell among thorn bushes, which grew up with the plants and choked them. 8 And some seeds fell in good soil; the plants grew and bore grain, one hundred grains each.”

And Jesus concluded, “Listen, then, if you have ears!”

The Purpose of the Parables

(Matthew 13.10-17Mark 4.10-12)

9 His disciples asked Jesus what this parable meant, 10 and he answered, “The knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of God has been given to you, but to the rest it comes by means of parables, so that they may look but not see, and listen but not understand.

Jesus Explains the Parable of the Sower

(Matthew 13.18-23Mark 4.13-20)

11 “This is what the parable means: the seed is the word of God. 12 The seeds that fell along the path stand for those who hear; but the Devil comes and takes the message away from their hearts in order to keep them from believing and being saved. 13 The seeds that fell on rocky ground stand for those who hear the message and receive it gladly. But it does not sink deep into them; they believe only for a while but when the time of testing comes, they fall away. 14 The seeds that fell among thorn bushes stand for those who hear; but the worries and riches and pleasures of this life crowd in and choke them, and their fruit never ripens. 15 The seeds that fell in good soil stand for those who hear the message and retain it in a good and obedient heart, and they persist until they bear fruit.

A Lamp under a Bowl

(Mark 4.21-25)

16 “No one lights a lamp and covers it with a bowl or puts it under a bed. Instead, it is put on the lampstand, so that people will see the light as they come in.

17 “Whatever is hidden away will be brought out into the open, and whatever is covered up will be found and brought to light.

18 “Be careful, then, how you listen; because those who have something will be given more, but whoever has nothing will have taken away from them even the little they think they have.”

Jesus' Mother and Brothers

(Matthew 12.46-50Mark 3.31-35)

19 Jesus' mother and brothers came to him, but were unable to join him because of the crowd. 20 Someone said to Jesus, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside and want to see you.”

21 Jesus said to them all, “My mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

Jesus Calms a Storm

(Matthew 8.23-27Mark 4.35-41)

22 One day Jesus got into a boat with his disciples and said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they started out. 23 As they were sailing, Jesus fell asleep. Suddenly a strong wind blew down on the lake, and the boat began to fill with water, so that they were all in great danger. 24 The disciples went to Jesus and woke him up, saying, “Master, Master! We are about to die!”

Jesus got up and gave an order to the wind and to the stormy water; they quieted down, and there was a great calm. 25 Then he said to the disciples, “Where is your faith?”

But they were amazed and afraid, and said to one another, “Who is this man? He gives orders to the winds and waves, and they obey him!”

Jesus Heals a Man with Demons

(Matthew 8.28-34Mark 5.1-20)

26 Jesus and his disciples sailed on over to the territory of Gerasa, which is across the lake from Galilee. 27 As Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a man from the town who had demons in him. For a long time this man had gone without clothes and would not stay at home, but spent his time in the burial caves. 28 When he saw Jesus, he gave a loud cry, threw himself down at his feet, and shouted, “Jesus, Son of the Most High God! What do you want with me? I beg you, don't punish me!” 29 He said this because Jesus had ordered the evil spirit to go out of him. Many times it had seized him, and even though he was kept a prisoner, his hands and feet tied with chains, he would break the chains and be driven by the demon out into the desert.

30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“My name is ‘Mob,’” he answered—because many demons had gone into him. 31 The demons begged Jesus not to send them into the abyss.

32 There was a large herd of pigs near by, feeding on a hillside. So the demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he let them. 33 They went out of the man and into the pigs. The whole herd rushed down the side of the cliff into the lake and was drowned.

34 The men who had been taking care of the pigs saw what happened, so they ran off and spread the news in the town and among the farms. 35 People went out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they were all afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told the people how the man had been cured. 37 Then all the people from that territory asked Jesus to go away, because they were terribly afraid. So Jesus got into the boat and left. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged Jesus, “Let me go with you.”

But Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Go back home and tell what God has done for you.”

The man went through the town, telling what Jesus had done for him.

Jairus' Daughter and the Woman Who Touched Jesus' Cloak

(Matthew 9.18-26Mark 5.21-43)

40 When Jesus returned to the other side of the lake, the people welcomed him, because they had all been waiting for him. 41 Then a man named Jairus arrived; he was an official in the local synagogue. He threw himself down at Jesus' feet and begged him to go to his home, 42 because his only daughter, who was twelve years old, was dying.

As Jesus went along, the people were crowding him from every side. 43 Among them was a woman who had suffered from severe bleeding for twelve years; she had spent all she had on doctors, but no one had been able to cure her. 44 She came up in the crowd behind Jesus and touched the edge of his cloak, and her bleeding stopped at once. 45 Jesus asked, “Who touched me?”

Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, the people are all around you and crowding in on you.”

46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I knew it when power went out of me.” 47 The woman saw that she had been found out, so she came trembling and threw herself at Jesus' feet. There in front of everybody, she told him why she had touched him and how she had been healed at once. 48 Jesus said to her, “My daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

49 While Jesus was saying this, a messenger came from the official's house. “Your daughter has died,” he told Jairus; “don't bother the Teacher any longer.”

50 But Jesus heard it and said to Jairus, “Don't be afraid; only believe, and she will be well.”

51 When he arrived at the house, he would not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John, and James, and the child's father and mother. 52 Everyone there was crying and mourning for the child. Jesus said, “Don't cry; the child is not dead—she is only sleeping!”

53 They all made fun of him, because they knew that she was dead. 54 But Jesus took her by the hand and called out, “Get up, child!” 55 Her life returned, and she got up at once, and Jesus ordered them to give her something to eat. 56 Her parents were astounded, but Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone what had happened.

1 And it came to passe afterwarde, that hee himselfe went through euery citie and towne, preaching and publishing the kingdome of God, and the twelue were with him, 2 And certaine women, which were healed of euill spirites, and infirmities, as Mary which was called Magdalene, out of whom went seuen deuils, 3 And Ioanna the wife of Chuza Herods steward, and Susanna, and many other which ministred vnto him of their substance. 4 Nowe when much people were gathered together, and were come vnto him out of all cities, he spake by a parable. 5 A sower went out to sowe his seede, and as he sowed, some fell by the wayes side, and it was troden vnder feete, and the foules of heauen deuoured it vp. 6 And some fell on the stones, and when it was sprong vp, it withered away, because it lacked moystnesse. 7 And some fell among thornes, and the thornes sprang vp with it, and choked it. 8 And some fell on good ground, and sprang vp, and bare fruite, an hundreth folde. And as hee sayd these things, he cryed, He that hath eares to heare, let him heare. 9 Then his disciples asked him, demaunding what parable that was. 10 And he sayd, Vnto you it is giuen to know the secrets of ye kingdome of God, but to other in parables, that when they see, they shoulde not see, and when they heare, they should not vnderstand. 11 The parable is this, The seede is the worde of God. 12 And they that are beside the way, are they that heare: afterward commeth the deuill, and taketh away the worde out of their hearts, least they should beleeue, and be saued. 13 But they that are on the stones, are they which when they haue heard, receiue ye word with ioy: but they haue no rootes: which for a while beleeue, but in the time of tentation goe away. 14 And that which fell among thornes, are they which haue heard, and after their departure are choked with cares and with riches, and voluptuous liuing, and bring forth no fruite. 15 But that which fell in good ground, are they which with an honest and good heart heare the worde, and keepe it, and bring forth fruite with patience. 16 No man when he hath lighted a candle, couereth it vnder a vessell, neither putteth it vnder the bed, but setteth it on a candlesticke, that they that enter in, may see the light. 17 For nothing is secret, that shall not be euident: neither any thing hid, that shall not be knowen, and come to light. 18 Take heede therefore how ye heare: for whosoeuer hath, to him shall be giuen: and whosoeuer hath not, from him shalbe taken euen that which it seemeth that he hath. 19 Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come neere to him for the preasse. 20 And it was tolde him by certaine which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, and would see thee. 21 But he answered, and sayd vnto them, My mother and my brethren are these which heare the worde of God, and doe it. 22 And it came to passe on a certaine day, that he went into a ship with his disciples, and he sayd vnto them, Let vs goe ouer vnto the other side of the lake. And they lanched forth. 23 And as they sayled, he fell a sleepe, and there came downe a storme of winde on the lake, and they were filled with water, and were in ieopardie. 24 Then they went to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, Master, we perish. And he arose, and rebuked the winde, and the waues of water: and they ceased, and it was calme. 25 Then he sayde vnto them, Where is your fayth? and they feared, and wondered among them selues, saying, Who is this that commandeth both the windes and water, and they obey him! 26 So they sailed vnto the region of the Gadarenes, which is ouer against Galile. 27 And as he went out to land, there met him a certaine man out of the citie, which had deuils long time, and he ware no garment, neither abode in house, but in the graues. 28 And when he sawe Iesus, he cryed out and fell downe before him, and with a loude voyce sayd, What haue I to doe with thee, Iesus the Sonne of God the most High? I beseech thee torment me not. 29 For he commanded ye foule spirit to come out of the man: (for oft times he had caught him: therefore he was bound with chaines, and kept in fetters: but he brake the bands, and was caried of the deuill into wildernesses.) 30 Then Iesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? and he sayd, Legion, because many deuils were entred into him. 31 And they besought him, that he would not commaund them to goe out into the deepe. 32 And there was there by, an hearde of many swine, feeding on an hill: and the deuils besought him, that he would suffer them to enter into them. So he suffered them. 33 Then went the deuils out of the man, and entred into the swine: and the hearde was caried with violence from a steepe downe place into the lake, and was choked. 34 When the heardmen sawe what was done, they fled: and when they were departed, they tolde it in the citie and in the countrey. 35 Then they came out to see what was done, and came to Iesus, and found the man, out of whom the deuils were departed, sitting at the feete of Iesus, clothed, and in his right minde: and they were afrayd. 36 They also which saw it, tolde them by what meanes he that was possessed with the deuill, was healed. 37 Then the whole multitude of the countrey about the Gadarenes, besought him that he would depart from them: for they were taken with a great feare: and he went into the ship, and returned. 38 Then the man, out of whome the deuils were departed, besought him that hee might be with him: but Iesus sent him away, saying, 39 Returne into thine owne house, and shewe what great things God hath done to thee. So hee went his way, and preached throughout all the citie, what great things Iesus had done vnto him. 40 And it came to passe, when Iesus was come againe, that the people receiued him: for they all waited for him. 41 And beholde, there came a man named Iairus, and he was the ruler of the Synagogue, who fell downe at Iesus feete, and besought him that he would come into his house. 42 For he had but a daughter onely, about twelue yeeres of age, and she lay a dying (and as he went, the people thronged him. 43 And a woman hauing an yssue of blood, twelue yeeres long, which had spent all her substance vpon physicians, and could not be healed of any: 44 When she came behind him, she touched the hemme of his garment, and immediatly her yssue of blood stanched. 45 Then Iesus sayd, Who is it that hath touched me? When euery man denied, Peter sayd and they that were with him, Master, the multitude thrust thee, and tread on thee, and sayest thou, Who hath touched me? 46 And Iesus sayde, Some one hath touched me: for I perceiue that vertue is gone out of me. 47 When the woman sawe that she was not hid, she came trembling, and fell downe before him, and tolde him before all the people, for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediatly. 48 And he said vnto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath saued thee: go in peace.) 49 While he yet spake, there came one from the ruler of the Synagogues house, which sayde to him, Thy daughter is dead: disease not the Master. 50 When Iesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Feare not: beleeue onely, and she shall be saued. 51 And when he went into the house, he suffered no man to goe in with him, saue Peter, and Iames, and Iohn, and the father and mother of the maide. 52 And all wept, and sorowed for her: but he sayd, Weepe not: for she is not dead, but sleepeth. 53 And they laught him to scorne, knowing that she was dead. 54 So he thrust them all out, and tooke her by the hand, and cryed, saying, Maide, arise. 55 And her spirite came againe, and she rose straightway: and he comanded to giue her meate. 56 Then her parents were astonied: but hee commanded them that they should tell no man what was done.