I’m a Christian Woman and I am a Feminist, Because God Did Intend for Women to be Equals

*Note before you begin reading this article will make a lot more sense when you read I’m a Christian Girl and I’m Not a Feminist, Because God Did Not Intend For Women to be Equals in conjunction. I tried to match her style and tone, line for line.

it is dangerous for me to believe that I am not equivalent to a man.

To start off, I am not writing this to bash conservatives or get hate messages. I am simply writing this to state why I am a feminist.

March is International Women’s Month and it got me thinking about how much women around the world face oppression in the 21st century. I enjoy educating people about the importance of women’s rights, particularly in the South.

If you know me, then you know that I love Jesus. He taught me everything I know about justice. He truly cared for those in the margins, that’s why he told us, again and again, to look after the widows and the orphans. It’s why he spoke truth to power, empowered women, and trusted them to be the first ones to speak about his resurrection.

From a young age, I felt frustrated when the Church told me that my voice wasn’t valuable and that as a woman I couldn’t teach, or preach, or lead. It made me feel like less than a man. As I have grown up, I, too have ventured off from a church different than my parents. Since I’ve grown up I have taken responsibility for my faith, researching hermeneutics, advocating for justice, and praying to God. Through all of this growth, I have learned a lot and realized that what I was told as a girl about what being a woman is, is wrong.

I do believe God meant for women and men to be equal.

There, I said it, the thing that many complementarians disagree with.

It is a shocker, I know, but I have some Biblical evidence to back up this belief I have.

The following list is of first-century women ministers and church leaders mentioned in the New Testament: Philip’s daughters (Acts 21:9), Priscilla (Acts 18:26; Rom. 16:3-5, etc.), Phoebe (Rom. 16:1-2), Junia (Rom. 16:7), possibly Chloe (1 Cor. 1:11), Euodia and Syntyche (Phil. 4:2-3), Nympha (Col. 4:15), Apphia (Phlm. 2), “the chosen lady” (2 John 1), “the chosen sister” (2 John 13), and probably Lydia (Acts 16:40), etc. (sourced from Rachel Held Evans Blog)

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In the Old Testament, there are also plenty of examples. First and foremost being Deborah, At the beginning of Judges 4, the text reports that “Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time.”  She led Israel! What a clear example of women’s leadership.

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But there is also Miriam: Micah 6:4  “I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam.” Huldah was a trusted prophet in 2 Kings 22:14-20. Esther disobeyed her husband and saved a nation. Ruth broke societal norms with Boaz and became part of Jesus’s line. Jael and plenty of other women also break with submission to do God’s will, because they are submitted not to men, but to God.
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I could go on, but there are plenty of examples of women leading, pushing past their gender roles, prophesying, and even being apostles. Which leads me to believe the following:

We are to be equal with our husbands if we choose to get married.

We are to function in our giftings, whatever they be.
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We are to care about justice and those on the margins.

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We are to be valued.

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All of this is explicitly laid about by God in the Bible. Oh, and nowhere in Proverbs 31 does it say a wife should submit to her husband.
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We are equal to our male counterparts. Also, Jesus didn’t write Proverbs 31, that would be some crazy time-travel.
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A husband or man is supposed to care about justice, empower his wife, and use any privilege he has on behalf of those without it.
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Women and men are equal in God’s eyes, and both represent God.
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Because we are all equal, we can all treat each other with respect and kindness. I am so thankful we were created equal. I am so grateful that the whole spectrum of humanity, in all of its diversity, represents God as image bearers. It is pretty great.
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So, you see I am a feminist and it is important that I am.
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It is acceptable for me to have this belief that God intended for men and women to lead together. It is harmful, to be honest, for people to have differing opinions. Writing this was easy because the language I used was very simplistic.
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To feminists and otherwise who are reading this, there is plenty of evidence to back this up. Please check out resources like:
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A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans
Powerful and Free by Danny Silk
Jesus Feminist by Sarah Bessey
Half the Church by Carolyn Custis James
Why Not Women by Loren Cunningham
Marg Mowczko’s blog
Biblical Christian Egalitarians
Faith and Feminism podcast
OK, so I was a little catty in responding to I’m a Christian Girl and I’m Not a Feminist, Because God Did Not Intend For Women to be Equals, but I promise I have a good reason.
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The belief that women are less than men, or not equal, is straight up unbiblical and dangerous. I know dear Rachel was probably just repeating what fundamentalists around her are saying, but sadly this view is very damaging towards women.
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When you believe that women are not equal, that justifies oppression, harassment, and violence towards women. Do you want to know how I know?
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Because I worked as a missionary for several years, specifically working with women who were sexually exploited, and you know what I learned: it’s not lust driving the sex trade (though that’s part of it) it is inequality between men and women.
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For millennia inequality has been driving the evils in our society: like slavery, racism, sexual assault, violence, and the silencing of minority voices. When you make people less-than, then you can do whatever you want to them.
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The truth is you do not buy a woman in the sex trade unless she is an object. You do not assault a woman walking down the street unless her consent does not matter. You do not silence her unless you believe her voice is not valuable.
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And by claiming that women are unequal to men, however unintentionally, you are perpetuating just that.
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Rachel, I get that you are wanting to be loved and accepted by the community around you. I, too, would have claimed similar things when put under pressure from my church 10 years ago. But the beliefs you are claiming are hurting women, right now, right in your very own community.

Please, do a deeper study of the Bible, use the resources mentioned above, and thank a feminist who came before you who gave you the right to express the beliefs that you currently hold.

With love,

Meghan

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7 Responses

  6. Hi, Meghan! I read both articles, and can see valid points on each side. If Rachel’s post and your post were a spectrum, I would likely fall somewhere in the middle. I believe that Scripture points to women and men having complete and equal worth and value as image-bearers created by God (Gen. 1:27-28) yet distinct roles in the life of the family, marriage, and church that are equal in importance, but different from one another (Ephesians 5:22-33, 1 Timothy 2- the main texts complementarians would point to). I agree with you in every way that God champions and values women throughout Scripture. I’ve had good and helpful discussions from people with differing viewpoints about the texts you’ve mentioned and the ones I’ve mentioned, and am familiar with the general viewpoints of each side. I would like to get your thoughts on whether or not you see any difference in the roles of men and women outside of procreation. Are there/should there be any differences in family, marriage, work, or church roles that men and women hold? In your opinion, what purpose did God have in creating men and women to be distinct from one another, or is anatomy and biology the only thing that separates the sexes? Your answer to the last question might simply be God’s sovereignty in being able to do whatever He’d like, which is true, but I would be really interested to know your thoughts. Thanks!