As we approach each of the following texts, readers ought to spend the time familiarizing themselves before reading my commentary on them. It should be noted that I do call this section a “commentary” rather than an exegesis, and it will function in such a way. It should also be noted that this is not an exhaustive list of all the times that human sexuality is referenced in the Bible, simply a list of passages that I find notable. It should not be assumed, however, that I’m “picking and choosing” passages that agree with my position, as the section following this one will be focused exclusively on passages that appear antithetical. So open up your Bibles and let’s see what these passages have to say about a redeemed humanity viewpoint on the sexes.
Proverbs 8
The wisdom of Proverbs opens with nine chapters of speeches before launching into large chunks of two-line proverbs. These speeches create for us an image of four contrasting and comparative characters who are calling out to capture the reader’s attention. Traditionally they’ve gone by slightly various names, but we’ll call them Lady Wisdom, Lady Folly, the Wise King, and the Royal Fool.
Proverbs 8 is a speech given by Lady Wisdom, wherein she calls out to the reader to listen to her voice rather than the voices of Lady Folly or the Royal Fool. She says it like this:
8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness;
There is nothing crooked or perverted in them…
10 Accept my instruction and not silver,
and knowledge rather than choice gold.
In these ways, and many others, she is claiming that her wisdom is preferable to the Folly of perversion and the Foolishness of trusting in riches (the two primarily successful ploys of her adversarial anti-types).
She then stakes her claim to a cosmically-authoritative role:
15 By me kings reign, and rulers decree justice.
By me princes rule, and nobles, all who judge rightly.
Then she goes on to give us her credentials in claiming such authority:
22 The LORD created me at the beginning of His way,
Before His works of old.
23 From eternity I was established,
from the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth…
So if we put our observations together we get a claim like this: Lady Wisdom is the forth-going wisdom of God that is and was with God in the beginning, manifesting herself as righteousness in those who accept her instruction in faith, as opposed to the self-centered and sinful lusts of the flesh’s calling.
It’s not illogical or blasphemous to draw the obvious conclusion: Proverbs 8 almost sounds like a description of Jesus. Indeed it does, and this has been a prominent traditional Christian interpretation of the text for centuries.13 In fact, this very passage likely had an influence on the gospel-writer John’s opening statements about Jesus, making room for the Church’s comprehension of Jesus’s personhood in the trinity.10
Whether or not Lady Wisdom is a type, or pre-incarnate description, of Jesus Christ has been debated for centuries. But one thing is clear, Proverbs describes a female figure with such authoritative and eternal language that it is, in the least, comparable to the Son.
This is important for our discussion because it is a Biblical passage that speaks of God’s authority in the highest and most preeminent terms possible and regarding a female figure. One of the main arguments of traditional complementarianism is that God has given males the role of authority in the Church and Christian marriage; this being the man’s primary role to bring to humanity as a complement. However, Proverbs 8 shows us that there is Biblically cosmic language depicting the sexes in an image of both complementing and equal descriptions; those of God’s Word in John and Wisdom in Proverbs.
To say it differently, the way in which male and female were created to image God is a shadow of the way in which the Word and Wisdom ultimately do so in the scriptures.
Joel 2:28
The second chapter of Joel is a prophetic word to Israel about the coming “army of the north” that would bring a destructive “Day of the Lord” upon them. But this destruction is not assured, Joel invites everyone in the land to humbly and honestly repent of their ways and turn back to God. Joel then paints a picture of the sort of “Day of the Lord” that would come out of such a response, one of bounty in the land, joy and safety for its inhabitants. Then in a climactic moment Joel prophecies:
28 It will come about after this
That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;
And your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will have dreams,
Your young men will see visions.
29 And even on the male and female servants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
The prophet here is envisioning a day when the Lord executes full “judgement” upon the people; and because of their repentance, rather than pouring out the cup of wrath, he pours out His Spirit. Notice who receives the pouring out: sons and daughters, male and female servants...so, everyone residing in the blessed land.
This is perhaps a small note to carry on with us, but I think it’s a prophetic description of what we’ve already noticed in John: that when the curse is undone, or on the righteous Day of the Lord, there is a rightness of relationship reestablished between the sexes. This is not a stretch of interpreting. Note in Acts 15, when the Church is debating the place of the gentiles, it is the outpouring of the Spirit upon them before they have begun to obey the law that leads the church to discern, “8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.”
It is the outpouring of the Spirit that is the final word and sign to the Jews that the gentiles have been accepted into the Lord’s family, the Lord makes no ethic distinction between them in regard to His Spirit or their chosenness. The prophet Joel seems to indicate that the Lord also makes no distinction based on sex between those whom He lavishly chooses to pour His Spirit upon. So, when Peter quotes this very passage in Acts 2, we see that Peter is interpreting the prophecy as being fulfilled at Pentecost, at that very moment.
This prophetic word gives more credit to the interpretation that God’s pronouncement in Genesis 3 is a curse of sexual inequality and a disparity which is undone by the work of Jesus. Now we see that, at Pentecost, human relations are finally redeemed in the indiscriminate outpouring of the Spirit upon His sons and daughters.
Galatians 3:28
The next passage we’ll look at is Galatians 3:28. In the opening chapters of the letter to the Galatians Paul addresses salvation about as clearly as he ever does. He first gives his own testimony and credibility to preach the gospel, then he recounts a divide in the church that called to question whether one must follow the law (specifically if one needs to be circumcised) to be saved, and after a discourse about how salvation comes not by the law but by grace through faith in Jesus, Paul springboards into a discourse about what salvation means for the believer. This is where we’ll pick up:
25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
Here Paul is using metaphorical language to describe what it means when a person is saved by the grace of Jesus through faith. He paints the picture of a child being raised on an estate, one who must follow the rules/law of the home. But as that child grows into an adult, he no longer has to “follow the law”, because he is given the estate as his inheritance. However, this whole time the law had been directing him and forming him into the kind of man who has the principles of it written on his heart, such that he can use sound wisdom to run the estate. This is how Paul describes the Law and its relationship to faith; now that Christ has come, the Law is no longer our guardian, because Jesus is the son who inherits Abraham’s “estate” of promise.
Paul also explains that Jesus’ inheriting of Abraham’s promise is the believer’s too, because when one is “baptized into Christ” they “put on Christ.” Within his metaphor he now uses another metaphor of putting on Christ’s identity like one puts on a set of brand new clothes such that their friends would exclaim “you look like a whole new you!” The believer inherits Abraham’s promises to the same degree as Christ because, in their baptism of faith, their old identity has died and they are raised to a new life and identity that is Christ. Then comes perhaps the boldest statement ever made in the ancient world:
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Since the believer’s new identity is Christ, they are no longer to be seen as an “other” based on the distinctive categories that the world classifies people with. In the ancient Jewish world the most important distinction was one’s Jewish heritage or lack thereof. The other two primary social categories of the day were one’s status as being slave or free, and male or female. Those distinctive categories would have determined the degree to which you were eligible to participate in ancient Judeo-Roman social structures. Paul makes it clear, when you are baptized into Christ, you are now seen by God and the Church as a “Son” first and foremost. Paul says it like this:
4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba! Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
This is some of the strongest language the Bible has to offer regarding the believer’s identity. The claim is clear, because of Jesus, the believer can cry to God as “Father” as much as Jesus did from the cross, because His very Spirit now lives in them. So to the same degree that Jesus inherits the world, (see Esau McCaulley’s book “Sharing in the Son’s Inheritance” to get a fuller picture of what that means) every believer also inherits it through Him.14
Romans 8
In my first draft I did not include what I now consider to be one of the strongest passages in argument for the redeemed humanity viewpoint on the sexes – Romans 8. But after revisiting the topic with this section in mind, I found that it offers a profound perspective, though indirectly. But it's actually the indirect nature of the argument that I find so persuasive.
Romans 8 hinges Paul's argument from the earlier chapters of the letter. I’ll quickly summarize and certainly oversimplify the letter leading up to chapter eight: everyone stands condemned before God who, having wrath for evil, has justly handed us over to the natural outcome of sin’s dominion over us. But God also offers freedom, forgiveness, and His Spirit through Jesus who died with our sin. Uniting in His death frees us from the dominion of darkness, uniting in His resurrection raises us into reconciled life with God. Union with Christ begins when we choose to humbly accept His mercy instead of self-justifying by our own "righteousness."
In chapter 8, Paul starts to unpack what all of that ought to mean for the believer. Beginning in verse 14, he gives some implications of having the Spirit of Christ come to dwell in us when we believe in Jesus:
14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
(A note that this is the NASB 2020 translation but I have removed the words “and daughters” because I believe it is an editorial error. The addition was intended to be inclusive but unintentionally removed the cultural context that, at the time, the heirs of the estate were sons. So saying all are “sons” is not being gender exclusive but is rather elevating everyone to the status of heir, which is consistent with the rest of the passage.)
Paul's argument here is this, all who have the Spirit are the adopted children/heirs of God with Christ. Notice that Paul says “all who are being led…” and then that they are now sons, children, and heirs. In other words, all believers inherit the kingdom of God as co-heirs with Christ because we have been adopted by God as His children.
The passage goes on:
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the eagerly awaiting creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
(Again the editorial addition of “and daughters” has been removed)
What does it mean that we are co-heirs with Christ? It means that we will share in His glorious rule and reign when creation is finally set free from its slavery (as we had been) and is born into the freedom of “the glory of the children of God.” In other words, God’s children will become what we were always meant to be according to Genesis – the images of God ruling over the earth.
In Romans 8, is there any indication that women will rule in a lesser way in God’s new creation? Is there any sense that men will have special designations of leadership that women can not attain when the creation is born into this freedom? I would argue no, not at all. In fact, It seems clear that part of Paul’s point is that we all share an equal status of “sons” and “heirs” when the kingdom of God comes in fullness to set free the creation from its groaning. Paul seems to be clearly stating that, in the new creation, both women and men will be equally considered co-heirs and co-rulers with Christ.
How does this then pertain to the topic of Church leadership and the sexes? The Church is intended to be a microcosm of new creation. (Philipians 3, 2 Corinthians 5) The Church is supposed to be a foretaste of what's to come, the Kingdom of God intersecting with the kingdoms of the world and emerging as a city on a hill – a beacon and a signpost of what's to come.20
If then, in the Kingdom of God, both men and women are considered inheriting sons in whom dwell the same Spirit who advocates for us as His children, and the Church is intended to be an incarnation of that future reality here in the present, then the Church is failing its purpose when it limits the roles that women can attain.
Put another way, if we believe that the Church is created to be the present manifestation of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven, then complementarians must argue that women will continue to be submissive to men in the new heavens and new earth reality that Romans 8 refers to.
It seems clear to me that Paul’s extremely strong language in these passages shows that he too sees no distinction between the sexes as far as it regards authority in the Church, the Christian home, or in the coming Kingdom. But it’s also clear, based on Paul’s letters, that he doesn’t see human sexuality as something to be thrown out either. He regularly addresses men and women separately and in differing ways. In this way, Paul shows that he is operating within the framework Genesis lays out regarding the sexes. Or, to put it a different way, the redeemed humanity view of the sexes is really a reclamation of the Bible’s consistent portrayal of humanity, even in Paul’s letters.
So what do we do with the passages where Paul seems to contradict his own strong line of thought in Galatians? What about those where he seems to claim that, though both man and woman are Sons and heirs having “put on” Christ, that one has greater authority or designation for leadership than another? Perhaps a renewed exegesis of these texts is in order, now that we have laid the groundwork and can bring this redeemed category of the sexes with us as we interpret.
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