Bible Translators Contribute to the Abuse of Women
Matthew 10:32-42
32: Whosoever therefore shall confess me before mortals them [invisible women] will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven 33: But whosoever shall deny me before mortals [invisible women] them [invisible women] will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven 34: Think not that I AM come to send peace on earth I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35: For I AM come to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter in law against her mother in law 36: And a man's foes shall be they of his own household 37: They [invisible women] that love father or mother more than me are not worthy of me and they [invisible women] that love son or daughter more than me are not worthy of me. 38: And they [invisible women] that take not their [invisible women] cross and follow after me are not worthy of me 39: They [invisible women] that find their lives shall lose them and they [invisible women] that lose their lives for my sake shall find them 40: They [invisible women] that receive you receives me and they [invisible women] that receive me receive him that sent me 41: They [invisible women] that receive a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward and they [invisible women] that receive a righteous one [invisible women] in the name of a righteous one [invisible women] shall receive a righteous one’s reward 42: And whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple verily I say unto you they [invisible women] shall in no wise lose their [invisible women] reward
Comments: Matthew 10:32-42 Within these ten verses, women have been rendered semantically invisible in most Bible translations by gender-biased-translators thirteen times. Extrapolate this number across the whole of scripture and the number of times women have been erased from scripture becomes outrageous.
Modern Bible translations are only one evidence of the war between the serpent and the woman that God warned both the man and the woman about in Genesis 3:15.
In this war, men, who have been the primary Bible translators for centuries, are still today being used by the adversary as willing pawns against women. One evidence of this is the fact that many modern Bible translators continue to clothe women in semantic burqas. One of the top five best-selling modern Bible translations is the most egregious in this practice. Only a few modern translations render this largely ungenderized passage correctly, and even among those, some only partially.
It is important to speak out and push back against this contemporary practice and understand how both women and men suffer in this war between the serpent and the woman. Men who fall victim to the serpent’s lie and believe that they are more important than women—created as superior—become spiritual and emotional cripples, deriving their identity more from a false superior status than from the example and command of our Savior.
Men who ignore the warnings God gave the couple in the Garden—and by extension to all people—deprive themselves and their wives of the joys of being ezer-kenegdu (equal and opposite helps) to one another. Even worse, this dichotomy based on false beliefs can and often does lead to marital abuse and violence against women. Domestic violence and marital abuse statistics among professing believers are appalling.
Some family counselors claim that Christian role-religion teaching produces abusive behavior in husbands. Christian family counselor, Barrington H. Brennen, calls strongly held beliefs about gender roles along with strong religious beliefs of the same is a recipe for abuse. See also, Gender Role Attitudes, Religion, and Spirituality as Predictors of Domestic Violence Attitudes in White College Students, Journal of College Student Development, Mar/Apr 2004.
Despite the misogyny of most Bible translators in transforming almost every mortal into a male, which is strong evidence of the truth of Genesis 3:15, we must not throw out the baby with the bathwater by setting aside our Bibles. Rather, read it more. But read with knowledge and the help of RUACH, the Holy Spirit, utilizing resources that can’t hide the beauty of the written Word of God. A couple of my go-to’s for Bible study are online Hebrew and Greek interlinears and the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. I own a hard copy of the original, and it is included in the text of any Majority Text TR Bible found online at the Blue Letter Bible.
https://www.blueletterbible.org/
Online Hebrew Interlinear Bible
Online Greek Interlinear Bible
Jocelyn Andersen is author of the book, Woman this is WAR! Gender Slavery and the Evangelical Caste System.
What readers are saying
For those who take the pursuit of truth seriously: This book is well written, well researched, and a real eye opener. When one is changed by the spirit of God and comes into right relationship with Him, through Jesus, then the words of the Bible come alive, and He is revealed on every page. The honest student of scripture will look into the Greek, and Hebrew text, to know what is said to understand "apparent" contradictions. The scripture was not written in English. What is very clear in the text is that men and women in God's church (not the institutions) are equal in worth before God, and there is no such thing as "men rule and women submit". The false "teachers" in Christianity need to be exposed for their greed and lust for power over others. I believe that process will be ongoing. ~~ Elise (5-stars)
A unique approach to the modern-day evangelical "war" over women: Andersen is a gifted writer, and the book was easy to read even as it covers thoughtful and sometimes technical information. I am glad I read it. I’ve read a great deal about women in the church and home, and it is easy to think there is nothing new to be learned or considered – but this book has a unique approach and covers aspects overlooked by others. Everything is well documented with footnotes in case you have questions or want sources.
Andersen, from time to time in the book, had an idea that I, myself, considered quirky and could not agree with, yet usually these things were not critical to the overall argument and not a concern to me. There is a place for quirky, and unique thoughts can get us thinking! However, I had more serious concerns with the chapter on Trinitarian marriage and views of Jesus, but this is a technical issue. However, I think that Jesus being the eternal Son, eternally begotten of the Father, is an important teaching – and I disagree with Incarnational Sonship views. I also think there is more than ample evidence that the Johannine Comma is an interpolation. But that is said respectfully, as the author is not only a gifted writer but clearly well-studied and informed.
In the opening chapters of this book, I had never made the connection between the abolitionist or anti-slavery movement in the late 1800’s and the women’s rights movement. As Christian women back then began to speak out against slavery, they took push-back and criticism because they were stepping outside the women’s sphere of the home – and speaking in public, even from pulpits, when an anti-slavery meeting would take place in a church. There is interaction in the book with Frederick Douglas who saw similarities between how women and blacks were treated. Women were bound by a caste system too, thus the book’s subtitle: Gender, Slavery, and the Evangelical Caste System.
From the book: “Women’s rights movements rarely seem to have begun from what would have been a legitimate effort to simply better the condition of women themselves, but rather out of frustration from attempting to better the condition of others and finding themselves seriously handicapped in the process.” (page 34-35)
Early feminists were Christians and they, along with modern evangelical Christian feminists, are sadly mis-characterized, sometimes grossly, by certain Christians and complementarians. It is shameful, but more than that it is unfair. They should at least fight fair. They sadly often do not, truly distorting Christian egalitarian views.
There is much food for thought and “prophetic” words – meaning much needed straightforward truth speaking. Perhaps the book title seems a bit extreme, but it really is not.
Finally, I was pleased that translation bias was covered in a chapter, an issue that needs to be addressed, and one that I find quite hard to bring up with lay people or everyday believers who lack knowledge about Bible translation. We can trust our Bibles, but we also need to acknowledge that certain passages are hard to translate, and bias can come into play. ~~ L. Martin (4-stars)
An Eye-opening Look at Societal issues Among Christians: If you think Jocelyn Andersen's title of her book is inflammatory and loaded with gender-bias, please note that she is quoting the attitude of John MacArthur in his introduction to "The Fulfilled Family," "Gentlemen, don't even think about marriage until you have mastered the art of warfare."
Andersen shares with us the horrific pattern she discovered in her research—a pattern of war against women—especially in Christian churches. Although disagreements abound between denominations, the attitude toward women is very similar in nearly all of them. Even some women join in the war against women. Although similar to the cold war against the USSR, with propaganda and innuendo being the key tools, it is also a war that has been and is being waged from many pulpits. Scripture has been twisted, mistranslated, and misinterpreted, and the twists, mistranslations, and misinterpretations repeated until a large majority of Christians believe the human changes to scripture ARE scripture, and insist that to deviate from the misinformation they have been taught is to rebel against God. ~~ Waneta Dawn (5-stars)
Game Changer: Living in a predominantly Baptist area, women are taught to submit to their husbands. And I have struggled with what was being preached behind the pulpit many, many times.
Ms. Andersen’s novel is a game changer. We shouldn’t simply accept what is being interpreted and fed to us. We should do our research and not be afraid to question inconsistencies.
~~ Kristine (5-stars)
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