Men and women were created equal in their initial perfection.
They are currently equal in their fallen state.
They will be forever equal in their heavenly home.
God affirms this equality throughout the Bible.
– God gave Adam and Eve the same dominion over the earth.
– Sarah was a co-participant in God’s covenant with Abraham. God confirmed the mutuality of his commitment by changing her name as well as his.
– In the fourth commandment, God institutionalized the same day of rest for men and women, so both had time to pursue their interests.
– Many of the heroic figures in the Old Testament were women, including Ruth, Rahab, Esther, and Deborah.
– The noble wife described in Proverbs 31 was a strong and wise entrepreneur and landowner.
– God likened himself to a woman or a mother several times in the Old and New Testaments.
– Jesus taught and trained female disciples, even though the education of women was frowned upon at the time.
– Jesus unveiled some of his greatest theological truths directly to women, such as “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.”
– Jesus initiated a conversation with a Samaritan woman who was a cultural outcast. According to prejudices of the day, he should have ignored her. This woman became the first person to recognize that Jesus was the Messiah. She evangelized her village. All this occurred because he treated her respectfully.
– Jesus rejected the common law that allowed men to divorce their wives arbitrarily.
– Jesus destroyed the societal norm that deemed sexually abused women guilty of adultery when men violated them. Instead, he declared that men who lust after women who are not their wives are committing adultery, even if they do not act on this desire.
– Jesus defied convention when he allowed himself to be touched by a woman with a chronic menstrual problem. He commended her faith.
– Jesus healed a disabled woman on the Sabbath at the synagogue, to the chagrin of temple leaders. He forcefully declared that God valued her more than their self-righteous legalism.
– Jesus permitted a woman of ill repute to anoint his feet publicly after she recognized his divinity. He valued her opinion of him. He was not offended by her notoriety.
– The death of Jesus paid the penalty for the sins of women as well as men. Women attended his crucifixion.
– After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to two of his female disciples before he appeared to any of his male followers.
– After Jesus ascended to heaven, the Holy Spirit indwelled women as well as men, so both could proclaim the Gospel.
– None of the gifts of the Holy Spirit are exclusive to men. God distributes them to both women and men, as he wishes.
– The epistles of Paul, James, and Peter were addressed jointly to men and women.
– In his letters, Paul praises several women by name for their ministries. He said women could teach and prophesy in church.
– Paul told the Galatian church that in God’s eyes, there is no distinction between male and female. Spiritually reborn men and women are equivalent branches of the same vine.
– Peter wrote that women and men are joint heirs of God’s grace. He blesses them equally.
– A woman named Phoebe was a deacon in a church near Corinth.
– A group of women started the church at Philippi.
– A woman named Priscilla and her husband co-mentored Apollos, who became a pillar in the early church. She and her husband operated a tent-making business together and hosted a church in their home.
