The Image of God and the Role of Women in Leadership: Part Two—The New Testament
Part one of this article explored how men and women equally bear the image of God and the call to have dominion over the earth (Gen. 1:26-31). Male hierarchy only occurred as a consequence of the sinful actions of Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:16), whose image-bearing was marred deeply. Yet spiritual leadership in the Old Testament arose from both men and women; many female leaders defied the patriarchal culture to demonstrate their obedience to God.
If one wishes to consider, however, the best way for women and men to bear the image of God faithfully, then we must look no further than Jesus himself.
Jesus, the Perfect Image of God
Colossians describes Jesus as the “image of the invisible God” (1:15) in whom “all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (1:19). John Wesley declared that believers experience the new birth when they are “‘renewed after the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness;’ when the love of the world is changed into the love of God; pride into humility; passion into meekness; hatred, envy, malice, into a sincere, tender, disinterested love for all mankind. In a word, it is that change whereby the earthly, sensual, devilish mind is turned into the ‘mind which was in Christ Jesus’” (“The New Birth,” II.5). If we are to understand how women are to bear God’s image, then, we must explore the mind of Jesus regarding women.
Although Jesus chose twelve men to be his closest disciples, this choice served as a new symbol of the twelve sons of Jacob, whose descendants became the tribes of Israel. Nonetheless, among the many other disciples who followed Jesus were women such as Mary and Martha. In the famous argument between the sisters, Jesus commended Mary for choosing the “better part” when she sat at the feet of Jesus to learn from him (Luke 10:38-42). This was a stunning affirmation of Mary—rabbis of the day would never let females sit at their feet in discipleship!
This was not the only time Jesus entered into theological discussions with women; his conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well turned into a debate regarding Samaritan and Jewish beliefs (John 4:19-26). Ultimately the woman became convinced that Jesus was the messiah, and she ran into the village to spread the good news to her neighbors, who believed because of her testimony (4:39). In yet another story, a Canaanite woman approached Jesus to ask for healing for her daughter, who was tormented by a demon. Jesus at first rebuffed the foreigner, telling her that he had come only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt. 15:24). When he declared that it is not right to take the children’s food and throw it to dogs (i.e., to take the blessings of Israel and give them to the gentiles), the woman refused to be silenced. She knew that God was a God of abundant provision, and so she argued that even the dogs receive scraps from under the table (15:26-27). Jesus applauded her faith and healed her daughter. Only rarely did Jesus commend anyone who entered into theological debate with him, and yet this woman received his praise.
Certainly the male religious leaders of the day had not accomplished such a feat; rather, Jesus often scolded them for their poor theological understanding and practice. When a woman anointed Jesus in Luke 7:36-50, for example, the Pharisee who hosted the dinner party judged Jesus for allowing a sinful woman to touch his feet. Yet Jesus publicly shamed his host by declaring that this woman, who had been forgiven much, demonstrated great love and hospitality in her actions of washing his feet—an act of hospitality that the religious leader had failed to perform. Similarly, when Mary anointed Jesus in John 12 (in a different anointing story), Judas chided her for wasting the perfume that could have been sold and given to the poor (12:4-5). Jesus rebuked the male disciple, however, and affirmed his female disciple’s superior actions, which had prepared Jesus for his burial (12:7-8). Jesus was less concerned with the gender of the speaker and more concerned about the theological truth he or she presented.
In his teaching Jesus used women as examples of faithfulness and dedication to God. Whether pointing to the woman who gave all she had—two small coins—as an offering to the Lord (Mark 12:41-44), telling the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8), or describing God as a woman looking for her lost coin (Luke 15:8-10), Jesus was willing to describe spiritual exemplars in female terms.
Jesus’s greatest affirmation of women came after his resurrection. Female disciples were the first witnesses of the empty tomb, and the angel instructed these women to go and tell the other disciples that Jesus was alive (Matt. 28:7, Mk. 16:7, Lk. 24:5-10). It cannot be argued that the women were only instructed to do so because no men were present to carry out the task. In John’s version of the story, Peter and John ran to the tomb after Mary Magdalene reported that the body was gone (John 20:1-10). Yet Jesus did not appear to the men then. Rather, Peter and John left the tomb and Mary remained behind. Jesus appeared and commanded her to tell his disciples that he was alive and would soon be ascending to his Father (20:15-18). Jesus, reflecting the perfect image of God, commissioned a woman to preach the good news of his resurrection.
Gender Roles in a Spirit-Led Kingdom?
When Jesus began ushering in the Kingdom of God, everything changed. The status structures of society no longer held sway over the new people of God, because those who had clothed themselves in Christ discovered “there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). David deSilva describes Christ’s shattering of social hierarchies this way: “Since each individual has now put on Christ in baptism and wrapped Christ about himself or herself like a garment, each individual now wears, as it were, the same uniform…” (The Letter to the Galatians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, 2018, p. 339).
This wearing of the same uniform was reflected in the way that women traveled with and cared for Jesus. These women provided for Jesus and his disciples out of their own resources (8:1-3). Jesus thus demonstrated that the cultural role of provider—expected of males—was not necessarily a kingdom role. Believers help whoever is in need, regardless of cultural expectations.
After the resurrection, both women and men alike in the fledgling church experienced the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. When Peter explained the phenomenon to the questioning crowd in Jerusalem, he quoted the prophet Joel, who had declared: “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy” (Acts 2:17-18). The Spirit refused to acknowledge the cultural norms of gender or socio-economic status, but instead fell upon men and women, slave and free alike. An affirmation of Peter’s use of Joel occurs later in Acts, where it is reported that the evangelist Philip had four daughters who had the gift of prophecy (21:8-9).
The Spirit-empowered life also looks similar for both men and women. When the apostle Paul declared that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control,” he did not make any distinction between men and women (Gal. 5:22-23). Although gentleness may have been viewed culturally as primarily a female characteristic, men were not excluded from bearing this fruit.
This other-centered kingdom ethic undergirds Paul’s commands to husbands and wives in Ephesians 5:21-32. Paul’s thesis statement for this section occurs in v. 21: “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” The mutuality commanded here provides a strong contrast to the culture of the day, in which the male head-of-household had ultimate power over all members of the family. This is why Paul spends far more time explaining to husbands what mutual submission looks like for them than he does explaining the concept to wives. To the women he declares that they should submit to their husbands as to the Lord, describing a husband as head of his wife just as Christ is “head” of the church, which could imply a number of different meanings. To narrow the range of possibilities, one must explore how Paul uses the term elsewhere. The closest usage of “head” elsewhere in Ephesians occurs in 4:15-16, where the term means “source” (i.e, Christ is the source of growth in the body of Christ). Similarly in Ephesians 5 Paul acknowledges that a husband is the source of life for his wife, who in that culture depended on him for food, clothing, and protection. This usage is not about authority or power as much as it is about a woman giving honor to one who cares for her. When Paul addresses husbands, six times he urges husbands to love their wives; a husband must love his wife as he would love himself. The model for this self-sacrificing behavior is Christ, who gave himself up for the church (5:25). Rather than using culturally given power to dominate, men must use Spirit-given power to uplift. The wording may be different, but for both men and women, a marriage thrives when patterned upon the self-sacrificing love of Christ, who calls all believers to treat one another with love, kindness, and respect.
Spiritual Leadership in the Church
As the Spirit empowered all believers, God raised up both male and female leaders in the early church. Priscilla and her husband Aquila were tentmakers who traveled with Paul, and they were leaders in churches in Corinth (Acts 18:1-3), Ephesus (Acts 18:18-19, 24-26), and Rome (Rom. 16:3-5); they also taught Apollos the Way of God “more accurately” (Acts 18:26). Phoebe was a deacon of the church in Cenchreae and a benefactor of Paul (Rom. 16:1-2); she delivered his letter to the Roman churches, and thus would have answered any questions the Romans had about the letter. In essence, she was the first interpreter of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Perhaps most important among Paul’s co-workers (for he names a number of women as his co-workers) is Junia, who along with Andronicus is described by Paul as “outstanding among the apostles” (Rom. 16:7). Richard Bauckham has convincingly argued that Junia is the Latin name of Joanna, one of the women who witnessed the resurrection (Gospel Women, 2002, pp. 109-202). The fourth-century church leader John Chrysostom stated of Junia, “To be an apostle is something great! But to be outstanding among the apostles—just think what a wonderful song of praise that is! They were outstanding on the basis of their works and virtuous actions. Indeed, how great the wisdom of this woman must have been that she was even deemed worthy of the title of apostle.” The evidence from the early church thus suggests that both men and women were active in the formation and leadership of churches.
How, then, can we explain passages that on the surface appear to limit the leadership roles of women in the church? In 1 Cor. 14:34-35 Paul declares that women must be silent in the church; they are not permitted to speak. This is an astonishing statement from someone who just three chapters earlier gave instructions for how women should pray or prophesy in church! In 1 Cor. 11:4, Paul declared that women who pray or prophesy should have their heads covered. Clearly Paul expects women to participate in the body of Christ, including speaking publicly. The issue for Paul in chapter 11 concerns propriety in worship. He wants to ensure that believers in the body of Christ do not misinterpret the message of those who speak. In Paul’s time, hairstyles communicated a great deal about a person’s status. Long, flowing, loose hair on a woman could indicate she was a loose woman. Indeed, she could be confused for a temple prostitute from one of the nearby temples; these women often had ecstatic visions while wearing their hair loose. Paul instructs women to wear their hair tied back (or under a veil) when they pray or prophesy to show culturally appropriate modesty and avoid confusion with pagan practices—but he does not prohibit women from speaking. In chapter 14, then, something else must have prompted Paul’s prohibition. A different kind of speaking is involved here, and verse 35 gives the clue: women who want to know something should ask their husbands at home. It appears that these women—who generally had far less education—were interrupting the service to ask their husbands for clarification. Paul is commanding respectful worship without interruptions. Although Paul says women should be subordinate according to the Law, no Old Testament law fits this context. The most likely scripture principle comes from texts like Prov. 1:5 and Ps. 25:8-9, which encourage a posture of humble learning for all people.
But what of the headship language in 1 Corinthians 11? Paul declares that “Christ is the head of every man, and the husband is the head of his wife, and God is the head of Christ” (11:3). If Paul were emphasizing a strict hierarchy, however, we would expect the order to be different—God, then Christ, then men, then women. But this is not the order Paul gives, which signals a different intent for the list. Rather, Paul clarifies that men and women are not independent of one another: “For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman; but all things come from God.” (11:12). God is the source (“head”) of all things. In this passage, “Paul is confirming a new order, which is already operative in the authority women have to pray and prophesy in the assembly. In the end, he sees women and men as both differentiated by virtue of creation yet also interdependent in the new order, their ministries jointly needed for the building up of the church” (Dorothy A. Lee, The Ministry of Women in the New Testament, 2021, pp. 118-19).
Does this new order break free from patriarchal cultural norms? At first glance, 1 Tim. 2:11-15 appears to cast doubt on this. When interpreting epistles, however, readers must always be aware that they are hearing only one side of the conversation. If we were listening to someone talking on the phone, we would need to look at the larger context to determine if a caller who said, “I’ve got to run off now!” was in distress or was simply trying to end a conversation. When we look to the context of the epistles to Timothy, however, it is clear that false teaching has entered the church (1 Tim. 1:3-4, 6:3-5) and that some women have aligned themselves with this teaching (2 Tim. 3:6-7). The discussion in 1 Tim. 2:13-15 concerning Adam and Eve is likely an effort to correct some of these false doctrines, which may reflect a proto-Gnosticism. (Some later Gnostic texts describe Eve as superior to Adam or being created prior to Adam.) The prohibition on women teaching or having authority over a man thus addresses the specific situation of false teaching. These women must submit themselves to learning the truth of the Gospel rather than trying to dominate the church with their false teaching. The issue here is not that women are teaching the gospel, but that certain women are teaching a false gospel.
Imitating Christ
When Paul began his discussion of head coverings in 1 Corinthians 11, he started by urging the church to imitate him as he imitates Christ. As we have seen, Paul described women as co-workers, deacons, and apostles. He expected women to speak in church—as long as such speech was orderly and presented the truth of the Gospel (the same expectations he had for men). In this, Paul was imitating Jesus, who affirmed the wisdom of faithful women and called women to proclaim the good news of his kingdom. If we today are to reflect the perfect image of God revealed in Jesus Christ, then how are we to do any less?
Dr. Suzanne Nicholson is Professor of New Testament at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. She is a Deacon in the United Methodist Church and serves as Assistant Lead Editor of Firebrand.
Additional resources:
Women in the New Testament: An Eight-Week Bible Study