Male Female Equality: Demystified

In today’s world, we hear it over and over and over. The man is the head of the household.
Period.
However, I have some food for thought for you.
You may not be reading this post as a christian but that part is just a few verbal declarations away from being so. What I want to talk about is why society has deemed men as the patriarch of the power pyramid of society. You see, there are certain spiritual principles at work that can not be changed by anyone. When we apply these principles to our lives – it’s then that God will bless you and give you peace in your life. I’d be willing to bet that a majority of people on this planet still think that men are superior to women or vice-versa. Why is it that this is a majority?
Let’s check the scriptures for the answer to this question of male female equality
Paul writes a lot about a greek term called “Kephalē”, which to date, has been translated wrongly by the church and many scholars. Kephalē literally means, “Source of life” (in creation). When Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, used Kephalē, he meant to use this word and not another word, “archon” which means authority, or leadership, or headship. Many of today’s scholars are saying that Kephalē is the literal meaning for headship, which is not the case.

In English the word “head” has many meanings. One metaphorical meaning of head is “leader” or “chief person”. In English the “head” of an organisation is the leader, the top person. In Koinē Greek, the Greek of the New Testament, the word kephalē (head) also has metaphorical meanings; however “leader” or “chief person” is usually not one of them.

Male Female Equality: 1 Corinthians 11:2-3

1 Corinthians 11:2-3 NIV says, "2 I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the traditions just as I passed them on to you.3 But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God."

To see what Paul meant, we need to look at how the keywords in Greek were translated into English.
2 I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the traditions just as i passed them on to you.” What does Paul mean by traditions? To know that you must know the culture and time he wrote this in and know his character as well.
We all know that Paul is not one to boast, is very humble, and is a man after God’s own heart. Wouldn’t you agree with this summation of Paul? Great! So, now that we agree on this – we can also agree that God’s character is also in question here as well. When God speaks to us, he speaks with authority but it comes in love – which does not have a “power play” in mind. Tony Campolo says it brilliantly when he says,

“Nothing is more dangerous than religious people with power. Power Solutions are so simple. Love is difficult. But once you have exercised power you have forfeited the privilege of expressing love.”

I’m sure if you are reading between the lines right now you know that what I’m about to say is that men are always trying to figure out a way to outrank each other. When we go for power, that rules out any notion of love. If we know that God IS Love, then we also know that God would also not use power to subdue any of His children. We are created equally. The traditions that God was most likely speaking of were traditions of loving one another in Christ and showing people the good news – not of subduing Gods people.
3 But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.”

This verse is one of those verses that are blatantly translated wrong by scholars. The word to clue into in this verse is the english word “head”. In the Greek, this word is Kephalē, not Archon. So the actual translation of this verse should read more like this, “But I want you to realize that the ‘source of life’ of every man is Christ, and the ‘source of life’ of the woman is man (remember Eve came from the side of Adam), and the ‘source of life’ of Christ is God.
I have to believe that the last part of this verse is a fallacy and used there to justify the middle statement of man being the head of woman. Again, untruths to deceive the church and keep greater than half of the church – the female population.
Some might be thinking that I’m some sort of feminist. I’m here to tell you that it’s just not true in any style or fashion. This is a whole different blog post and if needed I can go over what the definition of feminism is and how over time the church (yes, I said church) has taken this terminology to a whole different twisted end. It’s not only the church doing this either. The root of the problem is power.
So, I’ve broken down 2 verses that have been translated wrongly by scholars, but there are a few more verses that need to be dealt with before I close this post.

Male Female Equality: Ephesians 5:21-33

In Ephesians 5, Paul writes, 21 Submit to one another in fear of the Messiah. 22 Wives should submit to their husbands as they do to the Lord; 23 because the husband is head of the wife, just as the Messiah, as head of the Messianic Community, is himself the one who keeps the body safe. 24 Just as the Messianic Community submits to the Messiah, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
However, This is the basis for many of the Complementarians, and patriarchal belief system. It’s a society of heavy burden when Paul writes this – however, he doesn’t mean for the man to be authoritative but rather egalitarian in relationships. The word here is hypotasso. This word in the greek means to be considerate or thoughtful. Some have said that it should translate into submission or authority. Once again, the true meaning is taken by how Paul would have preached it, not how people would have taken it in that day.

Male Female Equality: Luke 11:27-28

27 As Yeshua was saying these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice to call out, “How blessed is the mother that gave birth to you and nursed you from her breast!” 28 But he said, “Far more blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it!”

Male Female Equality: Conclusion

The woman in the crowd clearly has good intentions with Jesus but Jesus also knows that what He says, Pay attention to what Jesus isn’t saying here. In other words, Jesus is saying that we are all important and that he was not going to agree with what the woman in the crowd says about his mother being a baby machine. It’s a way that Jesus says to his followers, male female equality is the way creation was meant to be from the start!
In conclusion, this word of that many english speaking christians have been misled to believe that there is a hierarchy to be submitted to is wrong. It says in Genesis that God created us equally and God does not mince words. He says what he means, however, man has minced words – even the bible has been translated so that there is a wrong authoritarian spirit loosed over women. That’s a burden that women should not have to deal with over any time period. Just think how much creativity we have been missing out on because we are subservient to the man being the “head” or “authority”.
I personally, don’t want to carry the burden of ALL THINGS in any sort of relationship. it has to be a relationship of value add or sharing. That’s where you see the difference between successful relationships and ones that end.
If you’re still searching for more answers about living a Christ-like life, check out, getting free from generational curses
If you found this information helpful, please share it to your social network and click the like button below!