How (Not) to Read the Bible by Dan Kimball

Author:Dan Kimball [Kimball, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2020-10-02T00:00:00+00:00

“ ‘In the last days, God says,

I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

your young men will see visions,

your old men will dream dreams.

Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days,

and they will prophesy.’ ”

Something new and unprecedented in human history was happening with the birth of the church. In the fallout of sin in this patriarchal world, God was moving to bring change and restore what had been lost. Dr. Rodney Stark, a sociologist, writes in his book The Rise of Christianity that “Christianity was unusually appealing [to women] because within the Christian subculture women enjoyed far higher status than did women in the Greco-Roman world at large.” He notes that the early church “attracted an unusual number of high-status women.”4

Has the church throughout the ages used certain Bible verses against women in wrong, even harmful ways? Sadly, yes. There have been—and still are—some churches and Christians who misuse the text to create misogyny in God’s name. But when you study the Scriptures and seek to understand them in their cultural context, it’s clear that the Bible is not against women, but an advocate for women. God created women and men to represent him, to make a difference in this world, serving uniquely as men and women, as equals, with whatever gifts God has given them.

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