God created humanity as male and female. Although gender differences are evident in behaviour and role, Scripture teaches the equality and complementarity of the sexes.
The creation of male and female
Genesis 1:27 See also Genesis 2:20–24, Genesis 5:2
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
The fall disrupted relationships between male and female
Genesis 3:14–19 See also 2 Samuel 13:1–19; Proverbs 5:3–14; Matthew 5:28; Romans 1:26–27
So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” To the woman He said: “I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth; in pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground — because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
The equality of male and female
Equality under many old covenant regulations
Numbers 5:5–7 See also Leviticus 20:10–12; Numbers 5:1–4; Deuteronomy 15:12–15, Deuteronomy 23:17–18
And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites that when a man or woman acts unfaithfully against the LORD by committing any sin against another, that person is guilty and must confess the sin he has committed. He must make full restitution, add a fifth to its value, and give all this to the one he has wronged.
Equality in religious observance
Exodus 35:22 See also Numbers 6:1–4; Deuteronomy 31:12; 2 Samuel 6:19
So all who had willing hearts, both men and women, came and brought brooches and earrings, rings and necklaces, and all kinds of gold jewelry. And they all presented their gold as a wave offering to the LORD.
Equality of accountability
Lamentations 2:21 See also Leviticus 20:27; 2 Chronicles 36:15–17; Acts 5:1–11
Both young and old lie together in the dust of the streets. My young men and maidens have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of Your anger; You have slaughtered them without compassion.
Equality in Christ
Galatians 3:26–28 See also Acts 2:17–18; Joel 2:28–29; 1 Corinthians 11:11–12
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Variations in the treatment of male and female
In OT patriarchal society
Leviticus 27:1–7 See also Genesis 17:9–14; Exodus 13:1–2, Exodus 13:14–15; Numbers 3:14–15, Numbers 5:11–31, Numbers 18:8–10
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘When someone makes a special vow to the LORD involving the value of persons, if the valuation concerns a male from twenty to sixty years of age, then your valuation shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel. Or if it is a female, then your valuation shall be thirty shekels. And if the person is from five to twenty years of age, then your valuation for the male shall be twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels. Now if the person is from one month to five years of age, then your valuation for the male shall be five shekels of silver, and for the female three shekels of silver. And if the person is sixty years of age or older, then your valuation shall be fifteen shekels for the male and ten shekels for the female.
In legislation protecting women under the old covenant
Numbers 27:1–7 See also Numbers 36:1–12; Deuteronomy 22:13–19, Deuteronomy 22:25–29
Now the daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, belonged to the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. These were the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. They approached the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders, and the whole congregation, and said, “Our father died in the wilderness, but he was not among the followers of Korah who gathered together against the LORD. Instead, he died because of his own sin, and he had no sons. Why should the name of our father disappear from his clan because he had no sons? Give us property among our father’s brothers.” So Moses brought their case before the LORD, and the LORD answered him, “The daughters of Zelophehad speak correctly. You certainly must give them property as an inheritance among their father’s brothers and transfer their father’s inheritance to them.
In roles within the NT church community
1 Corinthians 14:33–35 See also 1 Corinthians 11:3–10; Ephesians 5:22–24 The idea of “headship” is complex, but is generally regarded as including the ideas of responsibility and authority within a relationship; 1 Timothy 2:11–15; Titus 2:1–5
For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace— as in all the churches of the saints. Women are to be silent in the churches. They are not permitted to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they wish to inquire about something, they are to ask their own husbands at home; for it is dishonorable for a woman to speak in the church.
In behaviour within the NT church community
1 Timothy 2:8–10 See also 1 Corinthians 11:3–16; 1 Timothy 5:1–2
Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or dissension. Likewise, I want the women to adorn themselves with respectable apparel, with modesty, and with self-control, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, as is proper for women who profess to worship God.
Male and female roles within marriage
1 Corinthians 7:1–7 See also Proverbs 31:10–31; Ephesians 5:22–33; Colossians 3:18–19; 1 Peter 3:1–7
Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good to abstain from sexual relations. But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife. Do not deprive each other, except by mutual consent and for a time, so you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again, so that Satan will not tempt you through your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command. I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.
Male and female imagery used of God
Female imagery
Matthew 23:37 parallel Luke 13:34 See also Proverbs 8:1–11; Isaiah 66:12–13
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!
Male imagery
Psalm 47:2 See also Exodus 15:3; Psalm 23:1; Matthew 6:6; Luke 11:11–13 parallel Matthew 7:9–11
How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth!
Related themes
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Bible Aquifer. Formatted for this site, with Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.