The Woman in Ministry
By Dr. Helen Jacobs

“…she shall be called Woman…” (Genesis 2:23)

PART 1
In some of today’s modern society, we find in some churches that there is a great wall of partition formed by prejudice between men and women that has evolved over the centuries.

Ignorance of the Bible and human arrogance among the saints have caused many to use the Scriptures to hinder and spiritually cripple their sisters in Christ.

God’s earliest blueprint must govern our thinking with regard to gender. Ha’adam, with the definite prefix or Article “Ha“, used in Genesis 1 for “Man” is not the proper name Adam with a prefix or an article. Ha’adam is a generic term meaning “Humanity” or “Mankind.”

Genesis 5:1-2 states God blessed Adam and Eve and called their name “Man” (Ha‘adam) in the day they were created. After this, the prefix or article is dropped and “Adam” becomes the proper name of the man. Note that God did not give His command to rule to just one person, but to all humanity, including the soon-to-be-woman!

Genesis 2:18 says that Eve was Adam’s “help meet.” The woman was created to help, surround, protect, and aid the man. The word “meet” indicates that she was to be in the presence of the man, fronting or facing him, being his corresponding counterpart and appropriate mate-they would answer to each other. The Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) translates “help meet” with the word “homoios”, which means “of the same nature, like or similar,” and signifies equal force or rank.

“Help” is a word frequently used in reference to the Lord Himself, especially in the Book of Psalms (see Ps.22:11, 46:1, 121:1-2 etc). Therefore, it is not a degrading position for the woman. It’s verb form indicates aid or supply that the individual cannot provide for himself-the woman is the “help meet” for the man.

Woman wasn’t created just as man’s assistant or server. She was to be his associate, a co-worker with full rights and privileges. She was added strength to fill his weaknesses.

Since man's purposes are complimented through his relationship with woman, satan knows this and will try to sow discord to hinder the plan of God. He readily does this through the misinformation on Women that is taught in the church, which cause devastating effects on women such as:

1. Eliminating unnecessary painful adjustment to conform
2. It perpetuates ignorance & bondage for generations to come
3. It places limitations that hinder full development
4. It triggers a rebellion to be free that can lead to perversions
5. It extinguishes the flame of creativity & robs the world
6. It gives ignorant men the illegal license to mishandle and damage God’s property
7. It causes women to be judged, valued by an erroneous standard

Hidden in every damaged person is the person of purpose that God designed. We have all been damaged by the effects of lies and false beliefs. But, the good news is that the damage that occurs before truth is embraced can be reverse!

John 8:32 says, “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”

Where did you learn your concept of truth?

Religious false beliefs about women are a product of tradition and improper interpretation of scripture.  God’s nature transcends to every human bias. Christ is not prejudiced. He says in his word in Galatians 3:28, “There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female; for ye all are one [man] in Christ Jesus.

There is neither Jew nor Greek. In other words, In Christ the old, worldly lines of separation are all blotted out. We are All one. One person, as it were, "one new man" (Eph. 2:15), of which Christ is the head. All, without regard to nationality, race, sex, or position in society that is blended into one whole.


PART 2
Men argue for the subordination of women based upon creative order. They say that the woman was created after the man, and therefore secondary to him. With the same logic, we observe that animals & dirt were created before Adam, yet are we not superior to him! God was more concerned about His commission to Adam (male & female) than He was about the order in which they were created & formed.

Eve completed Adam; she was derived but not inferior. She was not created to serve Adam, but to serve with Adam. Therefore, as a woman works & rules, she does not lose her femininity but rather regains it.

In Eden, there was no job assignment according to gender. Man & woman had the same destiny & shared humanity. In Genesis 2:21, it says that Eve was taken from Adam’s side, but the woman was not created just to be man’s sidekick! The word “rib” is a mistranslation & should read “side” or chamber.” The Greek word for this in the Septuagint is “pleura.” It is used to describe our Lord’s “side” from which the wife of the last Adam was taken (John 19:34; 20:20-27; 1Corinthians 15:45)!

One renowned commentator of Scripture wrote, “If man is the head, she (woman) is the crown, a crown to her husband, the crown of the visible creation… The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.”

As noted, “Ha’adam” initially was a collective term for “mankind,” and includes women. Man (mankind) is male & female. Thus, a man and a woman in right relation reveal the image of God, and God is love. Both the mother’s love (female) and the father’s love (male) are necessary to fully express God’s divine nature. The mother’s love is unconditional love, while the father’s love is a firm, earned respect.

 

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