You are standing there, and suddenly a beautiful panorama opens before you, a paradise, Eden. Lovely flowers of every kind welcome you. The river runs along, playful, feeding that garden, while the trilling of the little birds sets the whole place to music. The green grass cools your bare feet, which come alive at the touch of the freshness of the earth. You lift your eyes and take another look, and far off in the distance you see the fruit trees, laden with sweet, juicy fruit… Mangoes, guavas, figs, cherries, apples, oranges, Mmmm… How delicious! You begin to run to pick some of them, but you are frozen by the lion lying under that tree, and you notice that two does walk right past him and he does not swipe at them at all… You regain your calm, and you realize that all the animals mingle without any conflict, and walk in pairs all over the place. Then, for the first time, you notice that there is someone there, leaning against a palm tree, breathing in the healthy air and looking at the blue sky with a smile on his lips… It was Adam, surrounded by so much beauty, but alone… What a waste! To enjoy so many beautiful things, but without having someone like himself with whom to share them…
Yes, the Maker felt that very same thing, which is why He said: “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him” (Gen 2:18). When we say suitable, we are referring to a person or thing that is fitting and appropriate for something. This adjective that expresses the quality and property of something, if we join it to the word help (an action that assists, cooperates, rescues), we can define that a suitable help is something that assists you, cooperates with you, rescues you in a fitting, appropriate, necessary way. What has been translated as “suitable help” is the Hebrew term ézer, and now we are facing the intention, the motive of God’s heart in creating woman. The LORD God was looking for a help for the man, someone who would be like him, so that she could help him, rescue him, surround him, complement him. Up to that moment the Creator had found no one and nothing created that could be an ézer for Adam (v. 20). In that sense, God was looking for someone with the same essence, presence, and dignity as the man.
Most Bible interpretations translate the term ézer as “suitable help” (help meet -King James Version- or helper fit), and the problem is not so much in the translation as in the application, since it is used with a connotation of inferiority, implying subordination, inferiority, something totally removed from and contrary to God’s intention, as we have already seen. The original Hebrew expression was ézer négued (help suitable, a translation into older English), which denotes help like him, appropriate. According to scholars on the subject, they have found evidence that the Hebrew word ézer originally had two roots, which, over time, disappeared. These two roots mean “strength” and “power.” And it is that for someone to help another, they must have the same qualities or the complement that makes the other one necessary. Something simple: a kitchen assistant, for example, has to know how to cook like the head cook or chef; otherwise, he would not be a help, but a tremendous hindrance.
On the other hand, the Hebrew word négued means “opposite part,” and among other terms we find specifically “counterpart or spouse,” as well as “opposite,” “in front of,” “ahead,” and “as his own presence.” Wow, how beautiful! This last meaning shows us that God wanted for Adam someone like him, but different, someone opposite who would be a complement, someone who would be like his own presence. Otherwise He would have made another man, wouldn’t He? But God made a woman (ézer négued). He took her from the man’s rib, symbolizing that the woman was part of him, and at the same time, what would complement him. Adam understood it perfectly, because he said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Gen 2:23). As you see, Adam had no problem receiving her; on the contrary, I think from his expression that he was so glad that he even prophesied and said: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen 2:24). That is, they will be so very united that, being two, they would become one, so that the differences will not be seen. Adam was seeing as God sees.
If we were to take a deeper look at the term ézer, it is closely related to the word azár, which is translated as help, aid, shelter, ally, helpers, assistance, among others. The Hebrew term ézer is used 21 times in the Scriptures. The first time it appears is in Genesis, where it is used twice as “suitable help,” referring to the woman. Then it appears in compound words such as “rock of help” (eben-ézer); “My brother is help” (Ahi-ezer); “helpless” (Jezer); and “God of help” (Eliezer). We find it 3 times referring to helpers (political power and armies) on which the people of Israel leaned (Ezek 12:14; Dan 11:34; Hos 13:9). But its greatest use (16 times) refers to God as the Helper, the one who sustains and rescues His people. Let us not miss the opportunity to delight in some of these passages:
- “I will lift up my eyes to the hills; From where will my help come? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth” (Ps 121:1-2).
- “Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield” (Ps 33:20); “I am afflicted and needy; Make haste to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay” (Ps 70:5);
- “O Israel, trust in the LORD; He is your help and your shield” (Ps 115:9). “Happy is he whose helper is the God of Jacob, Whose hope is in the LORD his God…” (Ps 146:5).
It is wonderful to verify, in the light of the Word, that God, in creating woman, used a term that is so relevant to Himself, the true ézer of the human being. The woman would have the strength and likeness of the man, to be his help as God is; someone similar to him and corresponding to him. Hallelujah! So much so that, in creating the human being, God said: “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness; and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, over the beasts, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps 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. And God blessed them, and said to them: Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, and over all the beasts that move on the earth” (Gen. 1:26-28). Notice the emphasis, “blessed them” and “said to them”; it was not only to Adam, but to both. Of course, as the apostle says, the woman was created for the sake of the man (Adam) and the man was created first (1 Corinthians 11:8-9), so that Adam named the animals, etc. before Eve existed (Gen 2:7-17). We acknowledge that there is a merit there, an honor. But both the authority and the dominion over what was created were given by God to the two of them, to the man and to his female, as we have already seen, because it was a task they would carry out together, jointly, for God.
Before God, the woman is not placed in a lower rank than the man. If we continue using a limited interpretation of the Scriptures to support flawed, hierarchical ideologies of gender, we are doing so without God, because we have already clearly seen that God did not make it that way. The woman is different from the man, yes, but at the same time “similar to him” and “corresponding to him” (ézer négued). That is precisely the cause and the reason for which she was created.
Woman in God’s Order
Sin definitely wounded us in the heel (Gen 3:15). It is no secret to anyone that the role of woman in society, apart from being a sexual object, is full of prejudices. But in the church, the questionings regarding the role of woman in the church are no fewer, and it seems that they see us through the lens of Eve and not of Christ. That is why, at times, I ask myself how many men who have received the mercy of God to preside over a church will have to give such an account to God for preventing many women from flowing in the gifts that God has given them, for the edification of His church. Especially when the original model, given by God, in the home as well as in the church and society, shows mutuality instead of hierarchy, complement instead of a patch, and unity in diversity.
God is a God of order, and He has established an order in His kingdom, but not of positions, rather of ranks. And rank, in turn, is not by hierarchy, but by excellence, eminence, purpose. When John the Baptist was asked about Jesus, he said: “This is He of whom I said: After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for He was before me” (John 1:30). For John, Christ had a higher rank than he because He was before him. Likewise Adam was before Eve, and therefore had a higher rank than she. In the ranks of the kingdom of heaven, Christ has the preeminence in everything, because He is the head of the body, which is the church, but He is also the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead (Col. 1:18); that fact does not leave the Father or the Holy Spirit on a lower rung. As for us: “Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ” (1 Cor 11:3); in that order, the wife must be subject to her husband as to the Lord. The word subject is the Greek word jupotásso, which implies subordination, but not implying servitude or humiliation. This word, among its different meanings, is a Greek military term meaning “to arrange troops, in divisions, under the command of a leader.” A troop obeys the voice of one command, not two commands. In that sense, the man has been placed by God as leader, and the woman is second in command. In its non-military use it speaks to us of a voluntary attitude of yielding, cooperating, assuming responsibility, and bearing a burden. When the woman understands the order she occupies in the Kingdom of God, submission is not ominous to her but pleasant, because she recognizes that it is more spiritual than hierarchical.
Nevertheless, if the principle of submission between spouses is not seen through the heart of God, the woman rebels and does not respect her head, and the man tramples and abuses the woman. It is no surprise to us, then, to see that the Word commands the man to love his wife, and the wife to be subject to her husband (Eph 5:24-28, 33). It is a matter of order. And look at how the apostle concludes: “Nevertheless, in the Lord, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man; for as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman; but all things are from God” (1 Cor 11:11-12). Man and woman have a different role in the purpose, but before God they are equal in dignity.
God made us disciples, and commanded us to make disciples, without respect of persons. The Word says that Christ “… ascended on high, led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men […] And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Eph 4:8, 11-12), and the word translated here as “men” is the Greek word anthropos, which refers to man or woman, to a person, to a human being. It is the same word the apostle Paul uses when he instructed Timothy and said to him: “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these (entrust these) to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim 2:2). In contrast with anthropos, when it refers to the male sex, specifically to a man, the word used is arsen and aner (Rom 1:27; Luke 23:50), also as husband (Luke 1:26). On the other hand, when it refers to the female sex or a female, the term thelus is used (of the breast) (Matt 19:4; Gal 3:28); and for a married woman, gunes is used (Matt 1:20). In fact, the term “faithful” used here is the Greek word pisto, which is translated primarily as faithful, and speaks of trustworthy, reliable, believing. And how interesting that one of its uses designates the believing woman, which is used in 1 Timothy 5:16. In short, both believing men and women (anthropos), if we have received from the Lord the gift and the training to teach, and we are trustworthy, faithful and reliable people, we are debtors to that grace, for by the grace of the Lord we are what we are (1 Cor 15:10).
And I believe it is appropriate to clarify that this article is neither a feminist pamphlet nor a patriarchal conception that seeks to redress or keep women in one stereotype or another. It is not my intention to elevate woman above man, nor do I have the authority to determine the role of women in a local church, especially when the subject brings with it a struggle for power and despotism. Nor is it a reaction to something or someone, for I rejoice that in our church we have the government of God represented in the presbytery by men of God, and most of the ministry leaders, prophets, and deaconesses are women who, in ministering -not only in a message, but with their lives- edify and inspire us. Therefore, this article is only an overview of woman in the light of the Scriptures, in whose portrait she is blessed. In fact, from the Old Testament we could name many outstanding women who enriched us with their lives and testimonies, such as Deborah, Hannah, Esther, Ruth, and even the intrepid Rahab and the wise Abigail, among many whom the LORD God Himself honored in that way.
Even when Israel turned away from the LORD and broke the covenant, the prophet, with holy zeal, asked the Lord to rise up and confront the unfaithful, idolatrous, and rebellious people. Micah summoned heaven, earth, and the mountains and hills to come and see and be witnesses of the LORD’s lawsuit with His people. Yet when the LORD speaks to them, He begins by saying: “My people, what have I done to you, or how have I wearied you? Answer me!” (Mic 6:3 NBH). My God, what tenderness! It is enough to make one fall on one’s knees in repentance. My brother, I do not know if I am making myself understood, but Judah’s sin was grave; they had left the true God to go worship idols, practicing sorcery and all the customs of the pagan peoples whom the LORD had driven out of that place for those very reasons, and had given the land to them. The LORD could have brought fire down from heaven and consumed them all; nevertheless, He chose to reason with them, to appeal to their consciences… And in His appeal He mentions what He had done for them, telling them: “For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, And redeemed you from the house of bondage, And sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam” (Mic 6:4 NBH), that is, Mary (RV60). In other words, the people of Israel had no motive or reason to have invalidated the covenant, since the LORD had not failed them, and the divine argument was that He freed them from the slavery of Egypt, He redeemed them in the sense that He compensated all their years of servitude with blessings and prosperity in the promised land, and He gave them exceptional leaders, God-fearing, who took them to the very heart of the purpose: Moses as their mediator, Aaron as high priest and prophet, and Miriam or Mary, as a prophetess and example and guide of the women (Exod 15:20-21). There God places Miriam on the level of Aaron and Moses… Holy One! How much we need that character, that divine Spirit! Oh, if we only knew the heart of our God! It is something that moves me, and I am amazed that, though He is so jealous of His glory, He gives us a share in His work, when He is the one who really does it all. And we, still today, fighting over first place…
Woman in the New Covenant
From the beginning, even in the sentence He gave to Eve, God has let the intention of His heart toward woman be seen. And as Jesus said, because of the hardness of man’s heart (Matt 19:8), she has had to suffer from the customs framed in the cultural and traditional thinking of that time, by which woman has been denigrated until today, because of sin. But with the arrival of the new dispensation, in the light of the Scriptures, the position of woman has been redeemed and dignified by Christ Jesus, in the kingdom of heaven, where being first does not imply being more important, but being first in humility, in obedience, and in service, and of that none of us can boast, but we press on toward the goal, to the prize of the supreme calling of God in Christ Jesus (Phil 2:5-9; 3:14; Matt 20:25-28).
At this point, it is impossible not to mention the verses in the Pauline epistles that have been taken, in some churches, as fierce arguments for misogyny, or rejection of women in positions of authority, not only by men who have deeply rooted prejudices against women, but by women themselves who place women in subordinate positions, denying them every possibility of leadership or service in the church. One of these passages is 1 Corinthians 14, where the apostle Paul was instructing the church in Corinth in the use of the gifts. In this case, he was telling them not to forbid prophesying or speaking in tongues, but to do so decently and in order, as is done in all the churches (v. 33). And in that context, he said: “Women should keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but rather they are to be subject, as the Law also says. And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home, for it is improper for a woman to speak in church” (1 Cor 14:34-35 NBH). Paul was correcting disorder, and part of that disorder was the interruption of the women (Gr. gunes), or wives of the prophets, while instruction was being imparted or a prophecy was being spoken, because instead of edifying they brought more confusion. The word translated as “keep silent” is the Greek word sigao, which implies “to be still,” “to stop speaking.” Apparently, when they had some doubt they began to talk and to stir up a commotion, so Paul commanded them that, if they did not understand, if they had some doubt or needed more teaching, they should ask their own husbands at home. The emphasis here is not that women be silent in church, but that the Corinthian women submit to the order of the assembly, and also to their husbands, as is fitting. Otherwise, the apostle would be contradicting himself when he said: “… every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered…” (1 Cor 11:5 NBH), where it is understood that the woman prays and prophesies in church.
In this same sense, we also see the apostle Paul instructing Timothy to make certain corrections in the church of Ephesus, where they were straying from the true gospel. There was a tremendous problem there with false teachers (1 Tim 1:3-7), in a church that was barely being formed. So Paul instructs Timothy on how to put these things in order, avoiding arguments and vain babblings, establishing intercession, so that they devote themselves to prayer, and guiding them as to how they ought to conduct themselves in the house of God. In that sense, he gives certain guidelines about the conduct of women specifically in the congregation, and we know that, in first-century Jewish culture, women were not allowed to go to a synagogue or to study the word; nevertheless, Paul says that they should learn in silence and in submission (1 Tim 2:11). The woman could now receive the teachings. Then he says: “For I do not permit a woman to teach, nor to exercise authority over a man, but to be in silence” (1 Tim 2:12). Here the word silence, in both verses (11-12), does not imply being mute, in complete silence, as siopao and sige are translated in Mark 3:4 and Acts 21:40, respectively, in the sense of not speaking, of total silence. Here the word Paul used was hesuchia, which is translated as silence, but in the sense of tranquility, of quietness, of being calmly settled, and not in complete silence.
According to some commentators, in this context the apostle does not forbid women to teach in the congregation, but to do so in an authoritative manner, violating the order: “For Adam was formed first, then Eve” (1 Tim 2:13). And he also says: “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman, being thoroughly deceived, fell into transgression” (1 Tim 2:13-14), drawing a parallel between what happened in the garden when the woman was cunningly seduced by the serpent, and the straying that was apparently being confronted in that place. Neither is Paul blaming Eve for the fall and exempting Adam, for he would not have said in Romans: “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come” (Rom 5:14). It is clear that this rigid position taken by the apostle Paul was not against the female gender, but against the women of the church in Ephesus who were apparently being influenced by false teachers (1 Tim 1:4-17). What Paul was guarding was that the charge of authority of the apostolic teacher in the church not be usurped or contradicted by misguided women influenced by false teachers.
And the apostle Paul concludes his counsel to the woman by saying: “… she will be saved in childbearing if she continues in faith, love, and holiness, with self-restraint” (1 Tim 2:15 NBH). This phrase is interpreted in different ways, but what I understand, in the light of the Word, is that here he is not sending the woman home to give birth and raise children so that she may be saved—no, no. Here he is not speaking of the salvation worked by God for all humanity. Neither is the apostle taking away from the woman every opportunity to serve in the church; rather, he refers to the most honorable work a woman can have, which is to be an instrument of bringing the children of the kingdom into life. For where would this word apply to those who would never marry or those who are barren, who are just as loved and worthy as the other daughters of God? The word salvation used here is not soteria, which refers to the eternal salvation Jesus worked on our behalf, but the word sózo, which is also translated as protection, security, preservation, salvation in the sense of remaining in that state. It is good to know that the woman will remain safe, confident in her salvation, not because of the many children she may have, but because of faith in Jesus in leading a life of devotion to God. A life surrendered to obedience to Christ will make the woman an exceptional wife and mother. Let us not lose sight of the fact that both men and women are saved by the most important birth accomplished on this earth, which is the birth of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
So, in conclusion, it is important to say that in order to study the Word in the light of the truth, we cannot isolate a verse from its context or from its historical background. Nor can we grant these verses—which were correcting a deficiency in a local church—the character of a universal teaching for the church of all times. In fact, Paul himself did not subject himself to these ordinances given to the churches in Corinth and Ephesus, since in his epistles he himself mentions and acknowledges many of the women who were his faithful co-workers. Beginning with Timothy, to whom the faith was passed on by his mother and his grandmother, who also taught him the Word—and notice, not the father (2 Tim 1:5; 3:14-15). Lydia was the first fruit of conversion among the Gentiles (Acts 16). Priscilla was publicly acknowledged by Paul as his co-worker, a teacher of the Word, who, together with her husband, had a church in her house (Rom 16:3; Acts 18:26; 1 Cor 16:19). In Acts the daughters of Philip the evangelist are mentioned, who prophesied (Acts 21:9). Paul also greets and distinguishes Phoebe, the deaconess of the church in Cenchrea (Rom 16:1), his co-workers Euodia and Syntyche (Phil 4:2-3), Mary, Persis, Tryphena, and Tryphosa, faithful workers of whom he says they have labored much in the work of the Lord (Rom 16:6, 7, 12). In the case of Junia, together with Andronicus, she was counted among the apostles, and Paul even says of them: “they were in Christ before me” (Rom. 16:7).
And better still, before the apostolic church, the model Christ left us is impeccable: a ministry that favored woman against every Jewish law and tradition. Let us begin by saying that our Lord Jesus Christ came from a woman (Luke 1:35; Gal 4:4), and someone will say: “But that does not even need to be said; it is unnecessary.” But if we take into account, for example, Melchizedek, who appears in antiquity without father, without mother, and without genealogy (Heb 7:1-3), or the case of Elijah the Tishbite, one of the most important prophets of antiquity, who appears in 1 Kings 17 with no genealogy or history, Jesus could have come that way too. But no, the Scripture’s inspirer wanted it to be recorded that the Son of God was also the Son of man, making the woman blessed for being the vehicle through which would come the One who would bruise the head of the one who bruised her at the heel, and with her all humanity (Gen 3:15).
No, my brothers and sisters, we did not learn the disparagement of woman this way from Christ… We can see Jesus going through the cities and villages with His twelve disciples, and the women among them. The Gospels mention, among the women who followed Him, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, and many others who provided for Him out of their means (Luke 8:1-3). Christ defended women from abuse and abandonment by men (John 8:11; Matt 10:1-12). Nor did He care about being seen alone with a woman while instructing her, even when she was a Samaritan, despite the prejudice that existed among the Jews toward that people (John 4:9, 27). He praised the faith and love of a sinful woman in front of her detractors (Luke 7:37-50); and it was the worship of that woman who poured a very costly perfume on His head that He singled out, saying that wherever the gospel would be preached, what she had done would be told (Matt 26:7-13; Mark 14:3-9). He praised Mary for having chosen the one thing needed, the good part that would not be taken away from her, which was to learn “at His feet” (Luke 10:42). He also opened Lydia’s ears so that she would be a channel of salvation for the Gentiles (Acts 16:14, 40). At the end of His days, it was a woman who anointed Him for burial, before giving His life for us (John 12:7). It was to the women that He first appeared when He rose, and it was Mary Magdalene whom He sent to confirm to the disciples that He had risen (John 20:15-18). And when He ascended into heaven, He left a united church, without distinction of sex, praying and pleading, to be clothed with power from on high, with the promise of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8, 14; 2:1), that which was spoken through the prophet Joel:
“AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THE LAST DAYS,’ says God, `THAT I WILL POUR OUT OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL FLESH; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS; EVEN ON MY SERVANTS AND ON MY MAIDSERVANTS I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT IN THOSE DAYS, and they shall prophesy” (Acts 2:17-18 NBH).
It is time for us to live in the Spirit and consider the feminine figure under the loving gaze of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us focus on the beginning of her creation, God’s intention in giving life to woman, which was affected by sin, but which now in the new creation has been dignified and redeemed, according to the original design: ézer négued. When the LORD God created Eve, He brought her and placed her before the man, and for Adam she was the most beautiful gift he had ever received from his Maker, his isha. Today, in Christ, all things have been made new, and in the Lord, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man (2 Cor 5:17; 1 Cor 11:11). All this teaches me that the Lord wants the unity and mutual collaboration of man and woman, which is why He made them complements, so that both, working on behalf of the Holy purpose, may focus on the goal, the prize of the supreme calling that is in Christ Jesus, because it is necessary—it is not good that man should be alone! Whoever persists in seeing woman through a worldview of sin and the traditions of men is not seeing according to Christ (Col. 2:8), and is limiting the purpose of God in His Holy Kingdom. Nor will he be able to hear the voice of the One who makes all things perfect, and who says to us: “You are destroyed, O Israel, but in me is your help” (Hos 13:9).
Contribution by: Marítza Mateo
