Wednesday, April 7, 2021

The Image Of God And The Image Of Man

Even complementarians who would scoff at pushback against excluding women from the role of pastor or against pressuring men to put themselves in danger specifically for women rarely say that women and men do not both bear God's image.  There are some, though, who misinterpret a portion of 1 Corinthians 11 that calls man the image of God and woman the image of man.  The complementarian understanding of Paul's words here conflicts with the Genesis creation account, the egalitarian criminal punishment commands in Mosaic Law, and the very chapter of 1 Corinthians in question.  Even if Genesis 1 was completely ignored in favor of focusing on 1 Corinthians 11, 1 Corinthians itself is already incompatible with any kind of non-egalitarian framework.

The very statements of Paul saying men have the image of God and women have the image of man already clarify this on their own.  If men are made in the image of God and women are made in the image of man, it follows that women are still made in the image of God!  If A is B and B is C, then A is C.  Women would have to possess the same nature as man if they are metaphysical reflections of men and men have the image of God.  Only a fool would read 1 Corinthians 11:7-12 and believe that the author means that women are metaphysically inferior to men because they are somehow farther removed from bearing God's image.

Women are made in the image of men in a sense that is entirely consistent with Genesis 1:28's egalitarian declaration that men and women bear God's image.  After all, both men and women stand apart from other created biological beings, Biblically speaking, by virtue of having the unique status that comes from the image of God.  The Genesis creation story in the second chapter states that the first man preceded the first woman and that the first woman was made from the flesh of the first man, and 1 Corinthians 11 merely pertains to the order of creation, as it is not contradicting what Genesis 1 plainly says about men and women having an equal status before God.

Both the Old Testament and New Testament reveal that the Bible is explicitly egalitarian.  Superficially reading certain verses out of context and making assumptions about them leads some people to think otherwise, but the Bible itself does not classify women as lesser humans than men--nor does it consign men to a life of physical hardship in order to provide for women, blame women for sexual sins of men, or do anything other than oppose each of the gender stereotypes that Christians and non-Christians have defended for so long.  1 Corinthians 11, like Ephesians 5 and Mosaic Law, actually affirm the theological equality of men and women.

Logic, people.  It is very fucking helpful.

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