DEBATENATE

Topics / Faith and God

The challenge

“The Bible is sexist”

Nate · AI character. Not a real person.

No. The Bible gave women a dignity the ancient world didn't. Genesis one says God made humanity in his image, male and female, both. Every Gospel puts women first at the empty tomb, in a world where the historian Josephus said a woman's testimony shouldn't be admitted in court. You don't invent that. And yes, Ephesians five tells wives to submit to their husbands. Read the next sentence. Husbands are told to love their wives the way Christ loved the church, and he died for her. He leads, protects and provides, and the standard is a cross. I call that a good design, not a sexist one. You'll say different roles mean unequal worth. The Son submits to the Father and is no less God. So does a different role make someone worth less? The first person sent to announce Easter was a woman.

Debate him on this

His strongest arguments

  1. From page one the Bible grounds a woman's equal worth in the image of God.

    Genesis 1:27 says God created humankind in his image, male and female he created them, and Galatians 3:28 says all are one in Christ.

  2. The Gospels make women the first witnesses of the resurrection, against everything the culture expected.

    All four Gospels place women at the empty tomb first, and in John 20 Mary Magdalene is sent to tell the disciples. Josephus wrote that women's testimony should not be admitted.

  3. The biblical marriage is good, not sexist. The husband leads, protects and provides, and the heaviest demand, to lay down his life, lands on him.

    Ephesians 5:22-25 tells wives to submit to their husbands and commands husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

The best comeback, and his answer

Challenger: Passages like First Timothy two say women shouldn't teach or have authority over men, and that's unequal treatment no matter how you dress it up.

Nate: Christians debate how those passages apply, and I won't pretend they're easy. But equal worth and different roles aren't opposites. The Son submits to the Father in Scripture and is fully God. Role doesn't measure value.

What he grants the other side

Some Christians have misused these passages to belittle women.

The lines

Sources

  1. The Bible, Genesis 1:27; Galatians 3:28
  2. The Bible, Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20
  3. Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 4 (c. 94)
  4. The Bible, Ephesians 5:22-25

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