Sophia, Deborah, Mary Magdalene: The Bible’s case against female submission

By Walter Hesford | FāVS News Columnist

The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News. 

I am tired of hearing from supposedly Bible-believing Christians that women need to be subservient to, under the control of, men.

One church that proclaims this is Moscow’s Christ Church.

True, the patriarchal elders of such churches can point to a few Bible verses that reflect the patriarchal cultures in which they were written. And there are more than a few biblical stories of women who are victims of these cultures. For a devasting analysis of four such stories, such as that of the gang rape of a concubine in Judges 19, see Phyllis Trible’s “Texts of Terror: Literary Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives.” 

But the Bible is also filled with accounts of women who act forcefully and independently. Here are several from Hebrew Scripture: 

• The strong and clever Rebekah tells her son Jacob how to fool her husband (Genesis 27:5-17). 
• The strong and clever Rachel steals her father’s household gods (Genesis 31:19). 
• The prophet Miriam does not ask permission from any man to lead women in singing a song celebrating the deliverance of the Hebrews from slavery (Exodus 15:20-21). 
• The prophet Deborah does not ask permission to sing of Jael, who without instruction from any male drives a nail through the head of a Canaanite king (Judges 5:12-21). 
• Naomi and Ruth successfully plot to gain a husband for Ruth and a grandson for Naomi, from whom David descends (The Book of Ruth).

In the New Testament we read about:

• The woman who demands that Jesus heal her daughter, though she is a Gentile (Mark 7:24-36). 
• In a parable of Jesus we have the woman who kneads enough bread to feed a village; no male helps her do this, and the leaven she uses is compared to the kingdom of God (Matthew 12:33). 
• Sisters Mary and Martha live without any male supervision. They welcome Jesus into their home and learn from him (Luke 10:38-42).
• A woman breaks open an alabaster jar filled with costly nard and pours it on the feet of Jesus, anointing him for burial. She asks no male to give her permission to do this; Jesus vigorously defends her bold action against those who criticize it (Mark 14:3-9). 
• And Mary Magdaline, according to the Gospel of John, is the first to recognize and proclaim the risen Lord (John 20:16-18). No male supervises her.

Sophia: wisdom has no male supervisor

The desire of some patriarchal Christians to keep women under control is not really Bible-based. It reflects fear of women and perhaps a desire to return to the good old days of the 1950s when the airways proclaimed that “Father Knows Best.”

The Bible, in fact, proclaims that Sophia knows best. Sophia is the female personification of Wisdom (“sophia” is the Greek word for wisdom). In the biblical book of Proverbs, we hear from and about her. Without any male supervision, she calls us to follow her ways. She answers only to the LORD — Yahweh, the Lord of Creation. 

She was involved in creation from the beginning: “When he [Yahweh} established the heavens, I was there,” she says, “when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was there beside him like a master worker; I was his daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world, and delighting in the human race” (Proverbs 8:7-31 NRSV).

Sophia’s role in creation and affection for humans gives her the authority to instruct us, male and female alike. “Happy is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, watching beside my doors,” she says (8:34).

We learn that “Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars” (8:1). She has set a feast for us and invites us to partake of it: “Come eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed” (8:5).

Christian readers may note the link between Sophia and Jesus. The opening of the Gospel of John has Jesus taking some of Sophia’s roles. In other Gospels, Jesus himself continues the tradition of considering wisdom to be female and suggests that his teachings like hers have authority: “…wisdom is vindicated by her deeds” (Matthew 11:19); “wisdom is vindicated by all her children” (Luke 7:35).

Those who promote the subjugation of women might say that Sophia is just a personification, not an actual woman. Yet, in union with all the actual strong and independent women of the Bible, she is vindicated by her deeds. 

It would be wise not to socially and politically subordinate women. It would be wise to listen to and learn from them.

FāVS News uses professional journalists and thoughtful commentary to explore faith, values and ethics. Support journalism like this by making a tax-deductible donation. FāVS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. © FāVS News. All rights reserved. Reproduction permitted only to authorized media partners or with written permission.