Biblical Sexuality, Pt.5 - Sexism (Issue #1)

This is the fifth post in my discussion of biblical sexuality. In it I shift from developing a theology of sexuality to dealing with the practical issues surrounding that topic. This first of four posts dealing with issues is about sexism.

Brief Recap.

In the beginning of this blog series (and I know that was a while ago, but things have been busy lately 😝) I set out with the goal of establishing a biblical theology of human sexuality and applying that theology to several specific issues.

In developing my theology of this issue, I asked four questions, and I will briefly summarize the answers to them here (feel free to read the original posts - they are linked). My four questions were:
  • What is a human? A human being is the crowning glory of God’s creation, a being made in His own image in order to carry out His intended role as a mediatorial ruler for God on earth. 
  • What is gender? Gender is part of the image of God in that God, in His infinite wisdom, chose to have humanity consist of two counterpart genders which together complete His image and so are able to fulfill the purpose of humanity.
  • What is marriage? Marriage is the God-designed union of one man and one woman for life for the purpose of companionship, which leads to sanctification and serves as a temporary picture of the present and future reality of the believer’s union with Christ.
  • What is sex? Sex is the God-designed, physical expression of love within the marriage bond, which God intended as both a blessing to be enjoyed as well as a continuing promise to keep one’s vow of committed, self-sacrificial love.

Four issues

Having now finished developing a biblical theology of sexuality, I am ready to move on to the issues. The four issues I plan to delve into are:
  • Sexism
  • LGBTQ+
  • Clothing
  • Singleness
As I said at the beginning of this series, my hope is that by the end of this study I will have equipped you who read this blog with a foundation of what God says about this sensitive and important issue, and that you will be empowered to interact with the issues surrounding it in love and wisdom.

Sexism

This first of my four issues posts centers around the theme of sexism. Now, this is a term which bears some explanation, so I will first endeavor to define my terms. The easiest way to do this is to ask the professionals what the word means:
  • Merriam Webster: "1) prejudice or discrimination based on sex, especially : discrimination against women. 2) behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on sex" [1].
  • Encyclopedia Britannica: "prejudice or discrimination based on sex or gender, especially against women and girls" [2].
  • Oxford English Dictionary: "Prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex" [3].
The OED also lists for the benefit of the user several synonyms of the word, which are: "chauvinism, discrimination, prejudice, bias" [3]. Now, obviously "sexism" does not have exactly the same meaning as any of these words, but they can be used to get across much the same idea.

But this synonym list brings up another key term: "chauvinism," specifically "male chauvinism," which the OED defines as "male prejudice against women; the belief that men are superior in terms of ability, intelligence, etc." [4]. And it is little wonder; God told us in Genesis 3:16 this would be the way of things until sin is dealt with:
Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.
God says that human sin is the cause for the infamous "battle of the sexes" we see today; sinful, self-centered human beings are prone to harm others, and as Kathy Keller has pointed out:
"Under the influence of the curse in Genesis, every human culture has found a way to interpret male headship in a way that has marginalized and oppressed women."[5]
(It is interesting to note that, according to Google, the word "sexism" was not commonly used in printed materials until the 1960s, when it suddenly spiked up [6], presumably because before that time nobody with power in society talked or cared about it, but that might be my historical bias peeking through.)

Conflict of terms

Now, all of the definitions I found hone down specifically to sexism expressed by men toward women, but is that the only form of sexism? We seem to live in a society where in the public eye only oppressors are capable of negative profiling and the oppressed are always viewed as innocent (see: link1, link2, link3).

The articles I have linked above present the views of several women, and their general tenor is to contend that, while women can be prejudiced against men, they cannot be sexist toward men. They make such statements as:

  • "People often quote the dictionary at me - 'Sexism is discrimination on the basis of one’s sex' . . . This definition would seem to imply that either gender can be sexist but I’m going to make a rather bold assertion today. That isn’t true." [7]
  • "Sure, men might experience discrimination, bullying or even disparagement of their gender, but this doesn't equate to sexism. Sexism is institutionalized." [8]

There may be some truth in their assertions, but the natural response is to reject them because they seek to radically redefine a term in common parlance; the major dictionaries agree that the primary essence of sexism is prejudice, not institutionalized oppression.

All people are capable of prejudice, whether they are in a high or low societal position, whether they are a member of the elite or subordinate gender, and whether they are empowered or disenfranchised. So what exactly is sexism?

Action or ideology?

I actually found one of the articles linked above, an interview regarding a soon-to-be-released book, to be helpful in developing my position, as well as a blog post I stumbled upon while studying this topic (its title is quite telling regarding our current societal dilemma: "Can a woman be sexist? Can a black person be racist?").

The gist of what I gleaned from the two articles is this: we typically think of sexism as something you do, but in reality it is more of a mindset or worldview which determines how we act. Notice how all the dictionary definitions I gave above mention both prejudice and discrimination, the first being a mindset and the second being that mindset evidencing itself in action. What does sexism look like when it is put into action? Hatred, specifically misogyny and misandry, hatred of women and hatred of men.

So, what is sexism? I would argue that sexism is a perspective that either gender is superior or inferior to the other and therefore should be either privileged or deprived. In a word, sexism is discrimination that starts in the mind and then manifests itself in discrimination in actions.

Theology

So, let's take what we learned about gender in the second post in this series and unpack it.

  • Both women and men are created in the image of God; that means both genders are infinitely valuable because they bear God's mark. (Gen. 1:27).
  • Both women and men are necessary for the full imaging of God in that both must exist and cooperate in order to fulfill the purpose of humanity as God's mediatorial rulers of the earth (Gen. 1:28).
  • Both women and men are created to complement each other, as God designed them specifically to work in unison for His glory (Gen. 2:18, 22-25).
Putting all of this together, I conclude that women and men should be equally valued, equally esteemed, equally respected, and equally honored as legitimate, viable, and beneficial members, not only of society, but of humanity in general simply because of what they are. As Bruce Ware so poignantly quipped:
"Nowhere in Scripture is the differentiation between male and female a basis for the male’s supposed superiority in value or importance, or for female exploitation. All such attitudes and actions are sinful violations of the very nature of our common humanity as males and females fully and equally created in the image of God.” [9]

"Double-minded"

We could just leave the issue there and say that sexism is wrong as an ideology because it contradicts the teaching of Scripture, but there is a bigger issue at stake here; the root of this problem is that we human beings do not see and evaluate people the way God does.

Over and over in Scripture we see references to something called "respect of persons" (Deut. 1:17; Lev. 16:19; 1 Sam. 16:7; Prov. 24:23; James 2:1, 9; 1 Pet. 1:17. Jude 16). In both Old and New Testament idiom, the wording is literally "receiving faces;" the idea is showing partiality based upon appearances or social standing [10]. In modern idiom, we would use the term "discrimination."

In his epistle to oppressed Jewish Christians, James opposed a lifestyle which he calls "double-mindedness." He goes on later to describe that there are two philosophies or worldviews ("wisdoms" as James calls them): that of God and that of Satan (3:16-17). God's "wisdom" results in a life characterized by humility, kindness, and the evidence of the fruit of the Spirit in one's life. Satan's "wisdom" brings about "jealousy . . . selfish ambition . . . disorder." This is the dichotomy.

The "double-minded" person, James says, is the one whose life is unstable because he is constantly switching back and forth between God's worldview and Satan's (1:6-8). In picturesque fashion, James calls such believers "adulteresses," recalling God's incrimination of Israel under the Old Testament prophets (4:4). Those who waver back and forth in this way are not only unstable, they are unfaithful to God. But James does not leave it there; he next asserts that those who ally with Satan by following his philosophy have identified themselves as God's enemies (4:4)!

Devilish discrimination

It is in this overall context that James speaks in 2:1-7 about "respect of persons." The problem he addressed specifically was the disparity between how believers treated the rich and the poor. In honoring the rich and mistreating the poor - discriminating - James argues that these believers were being "double-minded."

Why? Because God's "wisdom" recognizes all people as his image-bearers and treats them as equals, while Satan's "wisdom" views people as having different worth based upon their usefulness to us. These believers were discriminating for their own selfish benefit, and so were following Satan's philosophy rather than God's.

How does this apply to the issue of sexism? Well, if sexism is an ideology that asserts different genders have different value or worth, then it is part of Satan's "wisdom" and not God's. The challenge of James is that we must esteem people as having equal value and treat them as such. Thus, not only sexism, but also sex-driven discrimination, misogyny, and misandry are all condemned.

Christians are called to love all people self-sacrificially (Luke 10:25-37), and not only is discrimination opposed to love (3:18-19), but any form of hatred - be it based upon gender, socioeconomic status, or ethnicity - is "Satanic" (3:15).

Conclusions

I have sought to make the case in this post that sexism is an ungodly perspective on the world, which rejects the truth about humanity and divinely-created gender in favor of the lies of Satan, which leads to actions that are sinfully discriminating and inconsistent with a a life led by the Holy Spirit.

Sexism is an issue which, like many others in our convoluted age, our society is unsure exactly how to solve. We struggle with bringing about equality since we usually operate in pendulum swings; we are now at the point where, instead of recognizing that men have oppressed women for ages and establishing equal standing, there are many who would advocate that now it is time for the women to rule and oppress the men. But this is not justice.

Why does it matter? and why should Christians care not only about how we treat but also about how we view others of our own as well as the opposite gender? Because God says it matters, and because to do otherwise is to oppose God Himself and to ally with His enemies.

Sources:
2. www.britannica.com/topic/sexism
3. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/sexism
4. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/male_chauvinism
5. Kathy Keller, in The Meaning of Marriage
6. "It is impossible for women to be sexist towards men," by Louise O'Neill, 2017
7. "6 Reasons Men Can Literally Never Be Victims Of Sexism," by Kat George, 2015
8. Google Ngram Viewer, "sexism"
9. Bruce Ware, in Biblical Foundations for Manhood and Womanhood
10. Kurt Richardson, The New American Commentary: James
All Scripture references come from the ESV.

© Ben Flegal, 2018

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