On Purpose

Understanding God's Freedom for Women Through Scripture

Julie Zine Coleman

• Publisher: Kregel Publications
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9780825477553
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Sexuality & Gender in Religion

Many Christian women are torn between how the church has taught traditional gender roles and the liberty they see secular society afford to women. But what if the church's conventional teachings on the place of women aren't really biblical at all? On Purpose is a serious study on the verses in the Bible that have often been interpreted to define the role of women in the church, at home, and in the workplace. Each chapter focuses on a single passage, considering what it meant to the original recipients, understanding each author's intent, and applying its true meaning in today's cultural setting. With each chapter, Julie Coleman thoroughly reveals how the timeless principles in the Bible actually teach freedom for women. In fact, when rightly understood, these verses are a wake-up call that we are handicapping the church's role on earth by limiting women unnecessarily. Instead, men and women should be working side by side for the advancement of the kingdom of God.Written without anger or judgment, and with no agenda but to delve deep into the Bible, On Purpose is an enlightening study offering a fresh, scriptural perspective. It's time to set women free to answer God's call on their lives--and set the church free to function the way God truly desires.

Chapter 1

Was Woman Created with an Inherently Different Nature Than Man’s?

Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth.” So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every animal of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to everything that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

And so the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their heavenly lights. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven. Now no shrub of the field was yet on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living person. The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. Out of the ground the LORD God caused every tree to grow that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. The gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there as well. The name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and tend it. The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may freely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” And out of the ground the LORD God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. And the LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. Then the man said,

“At last this is bone of my bones,

And flesh of my flesh;

She shall be called ‘woman,’

Because she was taken out of man.”

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed.

—Genesis 1:26–2:25

Focus on Genesis 1–2

I was preparing for a coming women’s retreat with an area church when I received a troubling call from their pastor. Mind you, I was not a new speaker for them and had previously received nothing but positive feedback. But the pastor was troubled about my newly published book, Unexpected Love: God’s Heart Revealed through Jesus’ Conversations with Women. The coming retreat would be drawn from the content of that book as per their request. But now he worried that my material would contradict certain positions in their doctrinal statement.

Wait … what?

I inquired: had he read the book? He hadn’t. But he had read the four-page introduction. I racked my brain trying to think of what was in there that could possibly be upsetting. I finally asked.

He told me, “You wrote that Jesus came to set women free.”

I was puzzled. “You don’t think that Jesus came to set women free?” I asked.

“Well, it depends on what you mean by free,” he explained. He then reminded me that God had created women to be under men’s authority from the very beginning in Genesis 1–2. So, in that sense, he reasoned, women would never be “free.” Man’s headship was God’s designed, natural order.

It was one of those conversations I would replay over and over in my head for some time. Does the creation account indicate that God designed women to be subservient? Was there a hierarchy in the relationship between men and women from the beginning? Were women created with an inherently different nature than men?

Genesis is a great place to start looking for God’s true intent for women, because it is only there we get a brief glimpse of what the world was like without sin. We see the first humans near the very end of the creation account. All of earth’s flora and fauna have been brought into being. Now comes the crowning moment, when God creates a being far different than anything else. “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:27).

What Does It Mean to Be Created in the Image of God?

Images can be pretty realistic. When I was a little girl, my friend Chrissie and I went to the town carnival with her dad. For the first time, we were allowed to go through the fun house all by ourselves. We felt very grown-up as we handed our tickets to the ticket taker, and hurried past the enormous man in a gorilla costume stationed at the door. As we began to navigate the maze in the first room, Chrissie suddenly grabbed my arm in fear. “That gorilla is following us,” she whispered. We took off running.

No matter how quickly we rushed through each new room, we could not widen the gap between us and the gorilla. It was terrifying. The worst panic came as we entered the room of mirrors. We could see the exit doorway’s reflection, but every time we tried to go through it, we only banged into glass. The image was so real it kept us fooled for excruciatingly long moments. Finally, by feeling our way along the mirrored walls, we found the real exit and made our escape.

The gorilla gave up the chase as we rushed outside, back to the safety of Chrissie’s dad. I was never so happy to see an adult in my life.

As we discovered with those mirrors, an image can be convincing, but it is merely a likeness of the real thing. Both man and woman were created in the image of God. Both would reflect the reality of God to the rest of his creation.

The original audience of the Genesis account would not have had trouble understanding this “image” terminology at all. They were familiar with the ancient practice of conquering rulers leaving statues of themselves in acquired far-reaching lands. Those images stood as constant reminders of who was in charge, a representative of that ruler’s power in their absence.¹

While the rest of God’s creation evidenced his existence and power, humans alone were created in his image. They would reflect the Creator to the rest of creation, functioning as a representative of the real thing. Their very existence would, in ways other than the creation around them, show the nature of God.

Then the Lord told the man and woman how they were to represent him: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen. 1:28). God’s representatives were to have dominion over the rest of creation. Both of them.

They simultaneously received this charge from the Lord. They were to rule together. And God saw that it was very good. Then on the seventh day, he rested.

Does the Fact That Woman Was Created to Be Man’s “Helper” Mean She Was Subordinate to Him?

In Genesis 2, the narrator provides a closer look into the same events of chapter 1, furnishing greater detail about humankind. God builds man from the dust of the ground and breathes life into him. He fashions a perfect place for man to live, a garden with water, trees, and plants to provide for his physical needs. He sets man in the garden to cultivate it. All is his to enjoy.

But there is one caveat: in the midst of plenty, God places the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. From that tree, man was never to eat. With his instruction, God adds a stern warning: “On the day that you eat from it you will certainly die” (Gen. 2:17).²

But God is not quite finished. In order for man to multiply and fill the earth, there must be a counterpart. Had the man understood what was missing? It’s interesting that before creating the woman, God first gave man the huge task of naming every living creature.³ Because as he does, a realization seems to dawn on him: while each animal, from the birds of the sky to the beasts of the field, has its suitable mate, he does not.

The man has discovered himself to be unique in God’s creation. He needs a helper.

In the English language, a helper is an assistant. It is someone to come along and do another’s bidding, managing the smaller tasks that will enable the more important person to complete a job.

My children loved to assist me in making Christmas cookies when they were little. They wanted to help in every stage of baking: mixing the dough, rolling it out, cutting out shapes, and after the baking was done, decorating their creations.

When they were finished “helping” me, flour covered the entire kitchen table and much of the floor. The cookies were inconsistent: the super thin ones burned, and those too thick did not bake all the way through. And the royal icing? A nightmare. I would find traces of hardened icing for days. The capacity four young children had to make a mess while helping was unbelievable. And in the end, as proud as they were of their finished products, the cookies were substandard at best. Sometimes “help” is not all it’s cracked up to be.

Is that what the original word helper (Hebrew: ezer) meant? Was the woman created to be a mere assistant for the more important man? Was their relationship designed to be the lesser serving the greater?

When we aren’t sure of the full meaning of a word in the original ancient language, it’s good practice to investigate other places that word is used in Scripture. There are plenty of other examples of helper (ezer) available to us.

God is often described as an ezer:

• “There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to your help, and the clouds in His majesty” (Deut. 33:26, emphasis mine).
• God promised his people: “‘Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will also help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ … Those who contend with you will be as no...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. Was Woman Created with an Inherently Different Nature Than Man’s?
• 2. Did God Establish a Hierarchy for Marriages After the Fall?
• 3. Does God Approve of Women Leading?
• 4. Did Jesus View Women as Second-Class Citizens?
• 5. What Kind of Ministry Roles Did Women Fill in the Early Church?
• 6. Are Men to Be Given Precedence in the Church?
• 7. Are Spiritual Gifts Limited by Gender?
• 8. Should Women Be Allowed to Teach Men?
• 9. Does God Expect Husbands to Be in Charge of Their Wives?
• 10. What Is the Scriptural Definition of a Godly Woman?
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgments
• Bibliography