A Christianity rooted in patriarchy will always define women first and foremost by their relationship to men.

A Christianity rooted in the gospel of Jesus will see women first and foremost as human beings created in God's image.

May we understand the difference.

There is a way of reading Scripture that begins with hierarchy. And there is a way of reading Scripture that begins with goodness.

If we begin in the wrong place, we will mistake the curse for God’s design.

Let’s dive in.

1. Adam Means Humanity.

In Book of Genesis 1, the Hebrew word “adam” is used. It is the same word translated “Adam” and “humanity.” English pivots between the individual Adam and the collective humanity, but the Hebrew does not. The text declares:

“So God created humanity (ha-adam) in God’s image… male and female God created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

The word is the same.

God does not first create a male as a complete and solitary ideal and then later decide to make a female as an afterthought. God creates humanity “adam” in the divine image. And this humanity is expressed as male and female together.

The image of God is not housed in maleness.

It is borne by humanity, “both male and female.”

To translate and preach this passage as though “Adam” means a gendered man alone is to miss the narrative arc before it even begins.

2. It’s not a rib, it’s a side, it’s a half.

In Genesis 2, we are told that God takes what English often translates as a “rib.” But the Hebrew word “tsela” is used throughout the Old Testament to mean “side” or “half.” Like the side of the ark, the side of the temple, and the side of a structure.

The imagery is not of a spare bone plucked from a superior body. It is of one whole being divided into two corresponding sides.

Humanity is formed. Then God takes from the human’s side and fashions woman. It is not good for “humanity” to be alone, without a distinctly other to be in relationship with. The poetic declaration that follows is not ownership but recognition:

“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.”

This is not hierarchy. It is kinship.

The narrative is showing us shared substance, shared dignity, and shared image.

Half male. Half female. One humanity.

3. Hierarchy is named as a curse, not a command.

The creation narrative in Book of Genesis 1–2 pulses with harmony: humanity with God, humanity with the earth and animals, man with woman.

Then comes rupture.

After the fall in Genesis 3, God describes one of the consequences of sin. To the woman, God says:

“Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” (Genesis 3:16)

Notice what this is.

It is not a command.

It is not a design.

It is a description of the curse.

Just as toil, pain, and death are distortions of creation, so too is domination over others. We see this with Cain and Abel later on too.

When man is placed over woman, Scripture explicitly locates this in the fallout of sin. Hierarchy between the sexes enters the story as fracture, not as God’s blueprint.

Any theology that treats male rule as God’s ideal has begun its doctrine in Genesis 3 instead of Genesis 1.

4. Paul and the restoration of creation.

The apostle Paul echoes the restoration of this original vision. In Epistle to the Galatians 3:28, he writes:

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Paul is not erasing embodiment. He is announcing that the divisions that once structured power no longer define worth or status in Christ. He is pointing back to Genesis 1, to shared image and shared inheritance.

When Paul addresses marriage in Epistle to the Ephesians 5, he begins not with wives, but with everyone:

“Submit yourselves one to another out of reverence for Christ.” (Ephesians 5:21)

He is talking about mutual submission, not women to men.

In a Roman world structured by rigid patriarchal household codes, Paul reframes authority through Christ’s self-giving love. Wives are to submit to their husbands and husbands are commanded to love as Christ loves, sacrificially, self-givingly, unto death. The model is not domination. It is cruciform love.

The call subverts empire-shaped patriarchy by making power look like surrender.

5. Jesus and the dignity of women.

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus speaks with women publicly, receives them as disciples, entrusts them with theological truth, and commissions them as witnesses to the resurrection. He does not subjugate women, he restores them.

Where culture silenced women, Jesus dignified them. Where religion marginalized women, Jesus welcomed them.

He does not reinforce the curse.

He embodies new creation.

So any theology that demands women be subjugated to men does not begin in Eden’s harmony. It begins in the fall. It mistakes the curse for the command.

It reads Genesis 3 as though it were Genesis 1.

It reads all of Scripture through the lens of patriarchy and then reads history and reality through the same distorted lens.

This corrosive theology has been used to justify the subjugation of women, to limit their leadership, silence their voices, curtail their independence, and deny their rights.

For the sake of our sisters.

For the sake of our daughters.

For the sake of our wives and mothers.

For the sake of women.

For the sake of humanity.

We must refuse any theology that would be weaponized against them.

God’s original design was not domination.

It was shared image. Shared calling. Shared glory.

May we have the courage to return to the beginning and to call the curse what it is.

A Christianity rooted in patriarchy will always define women first and foremost by their relationship to men.

A Christianity rooted in the gospel of Jesus will see women first and foremost as human beings created in God's image.

May we understand the difference.

Here are some needed resources on this topic:

Ordained Women of the Patristic Era: https://www.cbeinternational.org/resource/ordained-women-patristic-era/​

Women church leaders in the New Testament: https://margmowczko.com/new-testament-women-church-leaders/​

The Neglected History of Women in the Early Church: https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/women-in-the-early-church​

Artifacts show that early church women served as clergy: https://www.ncronline.org/spirituality/researcher-artifacts-show-early-church-women-served-clergy​

Who Was Phoebe? https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/who-was-phoebe/​

5 Myths of Male Headship: https://juniaproject.com/5-myths-of-male-headship/​

5 Reasons to Stop Using 1 Timothy 2:12 Against Women: https://juniaproject.com/5-reasons-stop-using-1-timothy-212-against-women/​

Yes, Paul Really Taught Mutual Submission: https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/05/paul-taught-mutual-submission-ephesians-wayne-grudem/​

The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth, by Beth Allison Barr: https://a.co/d/aV16Fml​

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