Some
verses in Paul's letters mislead women into thinking
that God considers them to be inferior beings—passages
such as, "I do not allow a woman to teach," "A woman
must not speak in the ecclesia," "Man came before
woman," and so forth. In
Eve Raised,
Martin Zender turns orthodoxy on its head, demonstrating
that, not only do these verses not disparage women, they
actually show woman to be a superior creation worthy of
protection.
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My
goal in writing is not only to tell the truth, but to
cause that truth to soothe and heal hurt feelings
between the genders. The misconstruing of Paul’s “women
can’t teach” passages have turned women not only against
God and Paul, but against men. Some men have deserved
it. They have treated women—at least in their
attitudes—as second-class saints. These passages, to
men, have become text-weapons with which to belittle the
female rather than protect and cherish her. The males,
flattering themselves, read Paul’s words and crown
themselves kings. Strange. These passages, rightly
grasped, make the men dedicated guardians of the fair
sex.
Let
us together-pull—men and women— with new understanding.
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Women,
as we have seen, are our better selves. It is our duty
to keep them from struggle and harm. They are too
precious to be exposed, challenged, shot at, stoned,
tortured, shipwrecked, and raped. Why not spare the sons
of Adam, that is, males? Because Adam was first molded,
thereafter Eve. He is the expendable one; the one of
whom we require this kind of sacrifice. The woman is his
glory, and her we must preserve.
What nation sends its women
to the front lines of wars? Any civilization worthy of
the name protects its women and children from armed
conflict for the same reason the Smithsonian protects
the Hope Diamond. Is it that the Hope Diamond is not
good enough to mingle with the other rocks? No. It’s too
good; it’s too precious. It belongs to a more esteemed
category than the other rocks.
The apostle Peter also wishes
for women, “a meek and quiet spirit, which, in God’s
sight, is costly” (1 Peter 3:4). Would that more
women wished the same for themselves— and that more men
wished to provide it. A quiet life is a promotion; it is
an upgrade from teaching. It is more costly than
teaching.
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Whenever I hear men gloating about being the heads of
their homes and receiving more exceeding honor, I
happily point out that God gives exceeding honor to that
which is deficient. Pharaoh was deficient in every way
to Joseph, yet still occupied the throne.
“Congratulations on your exceeding honor,” I say to the
husbands. “This proves that you are deficient.” It’s
true. The husbands walk away sulking. I always pray that
they swallow their pride and learn how rewarding it is
to serve the superior gender.
I
continually marvel at God’s paradoxes. God gives the
lesser sex (males) the headship over the greater sex
(females) because in God’s odd way of doing business,
the deficient (males) get more exceeding honor. And yet,
the honor of the deficient (male) is to assume the
Christ-like place and serve the more respectable member.
Why
didn’t God do it “the right way” in the first place and
let women lead men without the power struggle? It’s
called exercise of character. God says: Let us see if
man is wise enough to discern the proper direction for
marriage (his headship), then bold enough to articulate
it. Let us see if woman is humble enough to be taught,
then bold enough to live the lesson. Let us see if the
husband can trust his wife enough to acknowledge her
house-managing wisdom, and the wife faith118 MARTIN
ZENDER ful enough (and, paradoxically, subject enough)
to cherish that which has been entrusted to her.
No one can accuse God of
doing things the easy way, yet who can match Him in the
personal fulfillment department?
