"Neither male nor female" (1)

An analysis of the Scriptures relevant to the roles of Christian women.

In response to a request for information on the subject of the role of women in the church, I will be posting a series of notes which I wrote some time ago which are an analysis of the Scriptures relevant to the subject.

This analysis is by no means exhaustive and its purpose is simply to contribute to the discussion of this subject by providing some comments on the context and meaning of the specific texts most frequently used.

Galatians 3:26-28
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Jewish men thanked God daily that they had not been born 'a Gentile, a woman or a slave'. Such a view was obviously affecting the church and Paul refuted it in no uncertain terms.

Paul here is taking up the original intention of God in creation: Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the- air, over the live-stock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. (Gen 1:26-27). Both male and female were created in the image of God and jointly given 'dominion' without distinction, the two sexes together constituting 'man'.

For other comments on the Genesis background see the notes on Genesis 3:16 (to follow).