Dictionary of Bible Themes: 5745 women

5745 women

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Dictionary of Bible Themes » 5000 Humanity » 5650 Human relationships » 5745 women

God created both women and men in his image and likeness. Scripture shows women in a variety of roles, playing an important part in God's salvation plan. In Christ, there is no fundamental distinction between believers on account of gender, race or social status. Women played a significant part in the life of Jesus Christ and in the early church. The NT both records their role and faces the questions thereby raised.

The creation of women

Genesis 2:20-24 See also Genesis 1:27; Genesis 5:1-2; 1 Timothy 2:13

Women and the fall

1 Timothy 2:14 See also Genesis 3:1-16; 2 Corinthians 11:3

Examples of godly women

Ruth 1:16-17 Ruth; 1 Samuel 1:9-28 Hannah; 1 Samuel 25:2-35 Abigail; Esther 4:15-16 Esther; Luke 1:41-45 Elizabeth; Acts 9:36-42 Tabitha

Examples of women who are condemned or judged

2 Samuel 6:16-23 Michal; 1 Kings 21:1-25 Jezebel; Proverbs 5:1-6 the adulteress

The women of Jerusalem:

Isaiah 3:16-4:1; Ezekiel 13:17-23

OT laws concerning women

Exodus 21:22-25; Leviticus 12:1-8; Leviticus 15:19-30; Deuteronomy 22:5

Women in office in the OT

As a judge or leader

Judges 4:4-5

As a prophetess

Exodus 15:20-21 See also Judges 4:4; 2 Kings 22:14-20; Isaiah 8:3

As a queen

2 Kings 11:1-3 See also 1 Kings 10:1-13 pp 2 Chronicles 9:1-12; Esther 1:9-21; Esther 2:17

Women as wives and mothers in the OT

Proverbs 12:4 See also Genesis 2:24; Genesis 21:11-12; Proverbs 18:22; Proverbs 31:10-31

Women in the life of Jesus Christ

In the birth narratives

Luke 1:26-56; Luke 2:16-19,36-38

In the ministry of Jesus Christ

Luke 8:1-3 Jesus Christ respected women and talked to them as individuals with spiritual understanding. This was a considerable deviation from the cultural conventions of the time. See also Matthew 9:20-22 pp Mark 5:25-34 pp Luke 8:43-48; Matthew 15:21-28 pp Mark 7:24-30; Mark 12:41-44 pp Luke 21:1-4; Luke 10:38-42; John 4:7-30; John 11:17-44

In the passion narratives

Matthew 27:55-56 pp Mark 15:40-41 pp Luke 23:49 See also Matthew 26:6-13 pp Mark 14:3-9 pp Luke 7:37-38 pp John 12:1-8; Matthew 27:61 pp Mark 15:47 pp Luke 23:55-56; Matthew 28:1-10 pp Mark 16:1-11 pp Luke 24:1-11

Women's ministry in the early church

As prophets

Acts 21:8-9 See also Acts 2:17-18; Joel 2:28-29; 1 Corinthians 11:5

As teachers

Titus 2:3-5 See also Acts 18:24-26

As deacons

Romans 16:1-2 NIV footnote at verse 1. See also 1 Timothy 3:11 fn

As hostesses

Colossians 4:15 See also Acts 16:15; 1 Corinthians 16:19

As workers in the church

Romans 16:12 See also Romans 16:6; Philippians 4:2-3

As an apostle

Romans 16:7 Interpreters disagree over whether Junias was a man or a woman, and also over whether Paul meant these two were notable in the ranks of the apostles or were well-known to the apostles.

Instructions to women in the early church community

Their role in the church meetings

Their behaviour as Christians

1 Timothy 2:9-10; Timothy 5:11-16; Titus 2:3-5; 1 Peter 3:1-6

The care of women in the early church community

Acts 6:1; 1 Timothy 5:1-10

Women as the weaker sex

1 Peter 3:7 See also 1 Timothy 2:13-14

Women and their relationships

Their relationship to God through Jesus Christ

Galatians 3:26-29

Their relationship to their husbands