Article June 30, 1997 Issue

Womanhood uplifted by Christ

Janet Heineman Clements

Women's issues continue to be of widespread interest in the world today as evidenced by the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women held two summers ago, the gender discrimination issues argued before courts of law, and women's increasingly influential role in politics. For many, this interest indicates a desire to bring more freedom, justice, and compassion to women.

Many of the struggles facing women have their root in false concepts of woman's origin, identity, and purpose. For example, in the second chapter of the Bible's book of Genesis, the story of Adam and Eve portrays woman as a second-class citizen, subservient to man because she was created after him and made from a part of him.

Healing the effects of this incorrect view of womanhood requires replacing this paradigm with the understanding of God's Word, which reveals everyone's spiritual identity. The first chapter of Genesis clearly states this true identity: "God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" (1:27). The image of God is not defined or limited by gender but is complete and expresses the full range of all the qualities of God, including what we might think of as either female or male qualities. Dummelow's Bible commentary suggests that the creation of male and female was simultaneous. And Science and Health states, "With a single command, Mind had made man, both male and female" (p. 524). In that light there is no dominator or dominated. Both male and female qualities are equally blessed of God.