Distinctiveness, Dignity, Design

Mar 24

Look Closer at Biblical Role of Women in Strong Allies

Holding fast to the Biblical view of men and women can feel like a loaded decision.

To believe in the veracity of passages that directly describe women as “helpers” may seem like a slippery slope in the direction of demeaning and diminishing.

However, the full scope of the Biblical role of women is beautifully summed up by Leslie Bustard (and a host of fellow writers). Strong Allies: Creating, Cultivating, and Restoring reminds us to look closer at the pages of Scripture to find women portrayed using the exact same Hebrew word, ezer, that is used to describe the Holy Spirit.

A Challenge To Look Closer at Scripture

Reflecting on the book, Rebecca Stanley, president of the Kairos Global Foundation rightly says that Leslie and her co-contributers draw from a combination of “Scripture, story, and lived experience” to reclaim the “distinctiveness, dignity, and design” intended for women by God.

Reading Strong Allies challenged my understanding of the Biblical view of women, while also confirming that God’s word lifts up both sexes and shows how our traits pair to reflect the character of our Creator.

Ezer: Both God and Woman

Read Strong Allies, and you’ll quickly encounter the word ezer.

Pointing directly to the Bible, Strong Allies contributor Maile Silva reminds us that the ultimate holder of the title “helper” is God himself, and that in this context, God is referred to using the Hebrew word ezer throughout the Old Testament. This word is used to describe both God and women from creation onward.

The word ezer is summed up by English words like strength, initiative, and care. To be an ezer is to step into places of need and deficit and naturally bring what is lacking. Silva says that this word “carries within it the reminder that a woman’s work is not only necessary but that it echoes the strong and saving work.”

An Essential and Unique Role

Going further, Silva points to the use of the word ezer for both God and woman to show that without the aid of the opposite sex, “men cannot fulfill humanity’s mission to rule God’s earthly kingdom, nor can they fully reflect his image to the world.”

This idea of a necessary balance between the sexes is a reminder that, in the eyes of God, women are distinct, not inferior. The creating, cultivating, and vision-forming attributes of a woman following Christ balance out and refine the self-sacrifice, courage, and loving leadership of a man doing the same.

Restraining Man’s Weaknesses

Silva also reminds us that God mandated the man and the woman in Genesis 1:28 to work together to “fill the earth and subdue it.” As a man with a sinful nature, I must confess that if I’m not careful, I can take this mandate and turn it into an excuse to exploit my God-given autonomy.

She emphasizes, “To ‘subdue’ the earth earth does not mean to dominate or exploit it, but to continue the work of creation, using the materials God has made.”

As a young(ish) married believer,, this rings true in my daily life. My wife, Jordan, is the ezer of our family, a woman who, as described in Psalm 144, is a “corner pilla[r] cut for the structure of a palace.”

Jordan counterbalances and restrains my weaknesses and helps me remember that God mandates us, together as men and women, to subdue the earth by, as Dallas Willard puts it, “Putting on the character of Christ.”