Gender Bias in Bible Translations

Different Christians read different Bible translations. Some believe that only one translation is right and condemn other translations as allegedly wrong.

Luther and the translators of the King James Bible included John 8:1-11. They also recognised and translated Mark 16:9-20 as Scripture.

Many modern translators claim that both passages are questionable because they are not found in the supposedly best manuscripts. In some modern translations, the two passages are included but a footnote warns readers that they are not found in some of the best manuscripts. Otherwise they may be omitted but added as footnotes.

I am not a Bible scholar. I studied literature at university. I am interested in the thematic structure of texts.

What are the important ideas in both of these two controversial passages?

In both passages, women are not taken seriously by the spiritual leaders. In both passages, sexist men are rebuked by Jesus himself.

In John 8, pious Jewish men brought to Jesus a woman they had caught committing a sexual sin. They wanted Jesus to order her stoned to death, because the Old Testament law required it.

Jesus was outraged that these men were so unjust. Where was the man who had sinned with this woman?

Jesus exposed this hypocritical injustice, forgave the woman, and saved her life.

Mark 16 tells us that the first witness to Jesus' resurrection was not one of the apostles but a woman, Mary Magdalene. This was certainly no accident. God himself had chosen this woman to be a witness.

Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons.

She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept.

And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. Mk 16:9–11 NKJV

In John 8 the unrighteous leaders were religious Jews. In Mark 16, the unrighteous men were the apostles whom Jesus himself had appointed as his leaders!

Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. Mk 16:14 NKJV

In the first centuries after the apostles, who compiled the supposedly best manuscripts of the Bible? The scribes and church fathers. 

There may have been doubts about these passages for two reasons. One is that they may have been added to the original writings of Mark and John. This does not necessarily invalidate them. Deuteronomy was written by Moses, but the last section was added after Moses died.

The other reason is that both passages show how male leaders made unjust judgements against women, and Jesus rebuked the men.

The church fathers and scribes had the task of examining the manuscripts of John and Mark. They had to judge the different copies and decide which versions were authentic.

I think it was inconceivable to some of these men that Jesus would have respected women more than male spiritual leader. That could be precisely why these two passages were omitted from some highly respected manuscripts.

On the other hand, most of the scribes were probably men, and the passages were therefore probably included by men. Sexist distortion of Bible translations can be a problem, but not all male editors or translators twist the text.

The sexism of the early church fathers is not hard to find. In some of the writings of the church fathers, women were openly vilified because of Eve's first sin.

However, there is another reason to confirm the authenticity of these disputed passages, namely the thematic and literary structure of the Gospels of Mark and John. I will explain this in my next blog post.

Luther and the King James translators accepted this passage as authentic. I am not saying that these older translations are better than modern translations in every way. There are other places in the Bible where these old translations are gender biased, but that is not the subject of this post.

Cancel Culture

 Traditional conservatives in Western Countries want us to believe that Cancel Culture is an evil revolutionary movement invented by angry black people and left wing activists.

Sometimes cancel culture can go too far. Some very significant men in history did very bad things. If we no longer celebrate their positive achievements, our understanding of history will suffer.

• King David had too many wives, and he was not always a good father.

• George Washington was the first president of the USA, but he owned a lot of slaves.

• Martin Luther persecuted Jews and Anabaptists.

• Johannes Brahms was a misogynist.

But wait a minute. Is Cancel Culture really a new thing? 

I am a lover of classical music. Over 100 years ago there were no women playing in some elite symphony orchestras. Now there are numerous wonderful composers and conductors who are women.

I am 74, and I have loved classical music all my life, but only in recent years I have heard a lot of music by female composers, which was previously ignored.

Very recently I heard of a woman who worked closely with Einstein. She was a genius and her ideas had a big influence on Einstein, but he got all the credit while she was forgotten.

When Spanish conquistadors took over Mexico and South America, they systematically set out to suppress indigenous languages and culture. Cancel Culture.

When European colonists invaded North America and Australia, they committed genocide and suppressed indigenous languages and culture. Cancel Culture.

I once met an African preacher who migrated to Australia. He told me that dancing was not permitted for Christians. For Africans, dancing is like breathing. Cancel Culture.

When I was a child in Australia, I went to a Church of England Grammar school. We learned about British heroes and colonial pioneers. 

We learned that Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, but we were not told that an Australian professor and a German Jewish refugee shared the Nobel Prize for penicillin, when they took Fleming’s discovery and turned it into a life-saving medicine. Cancel Culture.

As a Christian, I had heard a lot about the Welsh Revival in 1904.

Some years ago some Welsh preachers visited our church in Australia.

 We learned that one of the most powerful ministries in the Welsh revival was the preaching of a 15-year-old girl. When she preached in city streets, crowds came to be blessed: politicians, business leaders, prostitutes, and everyone in between. 

She is ignored in most Christian history books. Cancel Culture.

Cancel Culture has been practised for centuries by conservative white Christians.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Ga 3:28 NIVUK84

Misunderstood and Alone

Jesus paused at a well and spoke to a woman. This was considered very unseemly.
Firstly, Jesus was a Jew, and she was a Samaritan woman. As a holy Jewish preacher, it was also expected of him to distance himself from women.

The woman was surprised because normally Jews wanted nothing to do with Samaritans.

The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) John 4:9 NIV84

It turned out that she was a genuinely despised woman because she was in an illegitimate relationship, but Jesus did not care about outward appearances when the Father was leading Him to a person who might be open to God.

Many preachers call this woman extremely sinful because she was married five times and divorced who knows how many times. We fall into the temptation to judge her as a slut, but Jesus understood humanity better than most Christians.

In those days, and in many cultures today, no woman was allowed to just kick her husband out.
The man was in charge. She was either rejected several times or widowed over and over again.

In many cultures today, and most likely in Samaria back then, single women are considered fair game. A woman married five times may have been innocent, but simply barren.

There are also cultures and countries today where such a woman has to make an unsavoury choice. 

No man wanted to be the sixth husband, but alone and without a family, she would have to prostitute herself or simply be exposed as a victim for repeated rapes. 

So she lived with a man, even though it was obviously not ideal.

Shame and guilt often go together, but shame is not guilt. Jesus bore the most extreme shame when he hung stark naked on the cross, although he was totally blameless.

A devout Christian woman who is persecuted, enslaved and raped by communists or Muslims for her faith experiences terrible shame, but in God's eyes she is completely innocent.

Perhaps you are misunderstood. This can be a very cruel and lonely experience, and it can last a long time.

A German poet describes these experiences with deep insight.

Strange, walking in the fog!
Lonely every bush and stone,
No tree sees another,
Each one is alone.

Strange, walking in the fog!
Life is loneliness.
No one knows another,
Each one is alone.

Hermann Hesse was perhaps rather depressed and the poem is very pessimistic, but he has uncovered a grain of truth.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer explains how we must all stand alone before Jesus.

Only Jesus understands you totally, and despite all your faults He loves you too, just as He loved that woman at the well.

We can have times when we find real togetherness with someone, but these good times come and go. Jesus gave this woman new hope.

She was very misunderstood and lonely, but Jesus gave her a new life in which she could safely find real community and also human relationships. By believing in Jesus, she became a signpost for her village.

This loneliness, this life of misunderstanding, was never God's intention for you.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7 NIV84

When we try to live our lives without God, we move away from the only source of love and understanding.
God wants to help you find your way back to His heart.

God Hears when Women Cry

A young woman employed in the Australian parliament was raped by a male colleague, but it was treated as a political problem by the ruling party and hushed up.

A few weeks ago, this courageous woman protested publicly. This unleashed a "Me Too" movement in the Australian political world.

This week we have seen a new scandal. I was so outraged that I had great difficulty praying about it without anger and resentment.

At last I made an effort to pray for justice without anger. Then I had the clear impression that God was answering me.

"I have heard the cry of the women."

Then I said to the Lord. "But many of these protesting women are not Christians. They are not praying in Jesus' name."

Then the Lord spoke clearly in my mind.

"When the Hebrew slaves cried out in Egypt, you think they were all holy and righteous."

Then the LORD told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. Exodus 3:7 NLT

And do you think all these angry women are unbelieving feminists? Not at all.

I know Christian women who have been victims of brutal bullying in supposedly pious churches.

One of the most prominent preachers in Germany is Gaby Wentland. She rescues women from human trafficking and prostitution. She is also a political activist against human trafficking.

I heard her say, "There is more prayer in brothels than in the churches in Germany."

"I have heard the cry of the women."

God speaks clearly in our hearts when we ask for justice with all our hearts.

God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. Matthew 5:6 NLT

Most English translations do not speak of “Justice” but “Righteousness”.

In Hebrew, NT Greek, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and German, the word in Matthew 5:6 means Both Righteousness AND Justice.