I continually find it fascinating in our supposedly highly feminist world, that no matter what context they are operating within, the parameters and expectations of what women as supposed to be like, are forever ‘boxed in’.
It appears frequently that they are judged on all manner of things for which men would never be judged. The bar is set higher and, at times, no matter what she does, it is never right.
Whilst there are plenty of passages about women in The Bible that are dismissed by contemporary audiences as totally archaic, there are many details that I sadly think are too often missed.
People often take issue with the apostle, Paul, claiming that he expresses sexism; but they may have glossed over the details.
Take his ‘inestimable packet’ aka The Epistle to the Romans. For centuries this book has been revered as the cornerstone of Christian theology: ‘an inspired masterpiece of logic which struck the keynote of orthodoxy for the universal Church through all the succeeding ages.’
Written by a man though, you say. Yes. But carried to its destination by a woman.
Phoebe.
We know nothing of her, other than the fact that Paul has no issue with placing her name first in his list of personal greetings at the conclusion of the epistle.
However, as Herbert Lockyer writes: “That she must have been a woman of some consequence appears from the fact that she planned a long journey to Rome on business of her own and offered to convey to the saints there Paul’s letter”.
Had Phoebe not been the business woman that she was, she could not have performed the task given to her for the sake of the church, throughout the ages. And her task was critical.
Paul is not ashamed to honour her work:
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.
Cenchreae to Rome is not a short distance. It’s over 1,100km. A woman travelling that distance in ancient times? Extraordinary.
Phoebe was not stuck in a gender box. And neither should be any gospel woman. The gospel liberates us from all manner of things. Not that we should go on sinning so that grace may increase (Thank you, Romans…and Phoebe) but the parameters of gospel operations are more freeing than that which we might believe.
I remember many years ago speaking with someone about a missionary couple we discovered we both personally knew. He said of their mode of operation the following, which has always stuck in my head:
“They’re inside the box. They’re outside the box. They dance around the box. They do whatever they want with the box.”
And it was true.
I think this is what gospel women – and men – are to be like. We are not defined by cultural or gendered stereotypes and do not need to adhere to them. However, this doesn’t mean we must always avoid these stereotypes. I can embroider and sing parlour ballads at the piano with the best of them. (Mendelssohn’s On Wings of Song being the best of them in my opinion)
Gospel men and women are free to do whatever they wish with the box.
As Paul also wrote:
Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
And no, that wasn’t from Romans. Rather Corinthians, aka a letter to Phoebe’s home town.
Yours spinning the box,
Alison
All quotations in this post other than The Bible are from All the Women of the Bible by Herbert Lockyer. First published in 1967.