every living thing that moves upon the earth.” God blessed man and woman and charged them both in verse 28: “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over. Their equality is not limited to spiritual standing before God, but applies to their dominion over the earth. 1 It teaches that man and woman are created equally in the image of God and together have dominion over the earth (Gen 1:26–27). Genesis presents gender equality, rather than male leadership, as humanity’s created state. From creation to new creation, the Bible’s message about gender in the church and marriage consistently affirms the equal standing of man and woman. I have prayerfully wrestled for forty-one years with the texts’ apparent contradictions on gender and can honestly say that the biblical texts themselves have transformed my understanding. Can we arrive at a consistent biblical position without doing violence to the text? Need one sacrifice good exegesis at the altar of systematic theology? Surely, good exegesis and good systematic theology go hand in hand. Is the Bible divided on the issue of gender? Many highly respected evangelical scholars believe there is a tension in the Bible between affirmations of gender equality and gender roles. Editor’s Note: This article has been translated to French.
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