Marti and I will be publishing a 4-part series on “Returning Respect to Women.” Much damage has been done to women and as a result to men in evangelical circles over the years due to misunderstanding the scriptures. The tragedy is not the words of scripture, but the later misuse of them that have excluded women from roles Christ intended them to have.

This article is a summary of what will be discussed here over the next four days:

The Problem: Cultural and Biblical Misreadings

Jesus’ Model of Respect

Paul’s Context and Misinterpretations

A Vision for Renewed Relationships

We encourage you to refer to this summary often. It will help to provide context to the four leading subjects. We also encourage you to recommend this study to those who are not members of the Catch, and suggest they sign up.

Returning Respect to Women: A Gospel Paradigm for Men and Women

Introduction: Returning Respect to Women

Culture rarely shifts overnight. Entrenched ideas and inherited beliefs resist change. Yet the gospel itself calls us to transformation, not stagnation. And one truth remains clear: God never authorized one human being to diminish or judge another.

For too long, within many evangelical spaces, women have borne the weight of judgments—spoken and unspoken—rooted in traditional male thinking rather than the Spirit of Christ. Whether in the context of an unexpected pregnancy, divorce, or simply seeking a place within the church, women have too often found themselves pushed to the margins. Rather than being embraced with grace and dignity, they are left unarmed in a world that already treats them harshly.

If we are serious about embodying Christ’s way, we must do more than apply “better arguments” or clever reasoning. Ideas alone will not heal hearts. What is required is a cultural and spiritual reorientation—a shift in the very dynamics that shape how men and women relate. This means dismantling ingrained habits of hierarchy, suspicion, and silence, and replacing them with practices of mutual respect, compassion, and dignity. Only then can sustained and lasting change take root, both inside and outside the church.

It is God’s work to draw people to himself. Our calling is simpler, but no less sacred: to care for the weak, to lift up the hurting, to stand with the abused. Jesus never silenced women, never dismissed them, never treated them as less than fully human. He entrusted them with his most important message—his resurrection—and restored their dignity in a culture that had stripped it away. If Christ himself met women with such respect, then Christian men must do the same—meeting every woman as though they were meeting Christ, and caring for them with the same measure of love they desire for themselves.

Such a paradigm shift is not optional. It is essential. To treat every man, woman, and child with the dignity of God’s ongoing creation is not a progressive idea—it is the essence of the gospel. Our role is not to judge someone’s choices or to decide their destiny. Our role is to walk alongside them in love.

When evangelical men reclaim this posture of respect, when women experience the church as a place of safety rather than scrutiny, then hearts can change. Not because of arguments, but because of love lived out in action. That is the kind of environment that renews lives, restores trust, and reawakens enthusiasm for a relationship with God—especially among women who have too long felt excluded.

The Problem: Cultural and Biblical Misreadings

The Christian church has inherited interpretations of scripture that too often silence women rather than empower them. Passages such as 1 Corinthians 14:34–35 (“Women should remain silent in the churches…”) and 1 Timothy 2:12–14 (“I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man…”) have been read as eternal laws rather than pastoral instructions for specific contexts.

In Corinth, Paul acknowledged women praying and prophesying (1 Corinthians 11:5). To then forbid them from speaking altogether would contradict his own recognition of their role. Scholars suggest Paul was addressing disruptive practices, not silencing all women for all time. Some even believe those verses may have been later insertions by scribes.

In Ephesus, where Timothy ministered, women held religious authority in the cult of Artemis. Paul’s caution against women teaching may have been aimed at correcting specific errors, not barring women from ministry permanently. His rhetorical appeal to Eve’s deception in Genesis was not meant as a new theology of sin—since elsewhere (Romans 5:12) Paul places the responsibility for sin on Adam. Rather, it was a strategy for a particular cultural struggle.

The problem is not Paul’s letters. The problem is the misreading of Paul’s pastoral words as gospel commandments. This misreading has fueled hierarchical patterns, silenced women’s voices, and reinforced cultural prejudices.

Jesus’ Model of Respect

To discern God’s heart, we must look to Christ. Jesus consistently elevated women in a culture that devalued them:

• He spoke publicly with women, breaking social taboos (John 4:7–27).
• He welcomed Mary of Bethany as a disciple at his feet (Luke 10:39).
• He healed women, affirmed their faith, and included them in his ministry (Luke 8:1–3).
• He entrusted Mary Magdalene with the first announcement of his resurrection (John 20:17–18), making her the “apostle to the apostles.”

Jesus did not silence women. He equipped them. He trusted them. He loved them without hesitation or condition. His treatment of women was revolutionary for his time—and it should remain revolutionary for ours.

If evangelical men seek to follow Christ, they must embody this same respect. Women are not secondary helpers in the gospel; they are co-heirs, partners, and leaders in God’s kingdom.

Paul’s Context and Misinterpretations

Paul’s letters were pastoral responses to young churches struggling with cultural pressures. They were not constitutional blueprints for every church in every age.

In Galatians 3:28, Paul wrote: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” This is not situational advice; it is gospel truth.

Paul also affirmed women leaders:

• Phoebe, a deacon (Romans 16:1)
• Junia, “outstanding among the apostles” (Romans 16:7)
• Priscilla, who instructed Apollos alongside her husband (Acts 18:26)

Taken as a whole, Paul’s ministry demonstrates that he did not silence women. Rather, he navigated local tensions while upholding the equality of all believers in Christ. The tragedy is that later generations mistook situational instructions for universal prohibitions, locking women out of leadership roles Christ himself invited them into.

A Vision for Renewed Relationships

If the gospel is about reconciliation, then our relationships must reflect that reconciliation. Evangelical men are called to set aside inherited prejudices and embrace women with the same level of respect they would show Christ himself. This vision requires:

1. Awareness – Acknowledging how scripture has been misused to control or silence women.
2. Repentance – Turning from ingrained cultural and personal biases that diminish women.
3. Action – Creating church cultures where women are heard, trusted, and empowered.
4. Partnership – Recognizing that men and women together reflect the fullness of God’s image.

Renewal comes not through debate but through love lived out. Churches that embrace women as equal partners will not only heal wounds but also ignite new enthusiasm for faith. Women who have felt excluded will rediscover Christ’s invitation. Men who have felt bound by cultural expectations will experience freedom to love as Christ loved.

This is the paradigm shift the gospel demands: to remove barriers, restore respect, and renew life—for all.

Conclusion

The question is not whether culture can change. It is whether the church will lead the way in that change by returning to the radical vision of Jesus.

To silence women is to misrepresent the gospel. To honor women as Christ did is to live the gospel. When evangelical men embrace this truth, the church can move beyond judgment and hierarchy into a new paradigm of mutual respect, love, and dignity.

This is how true cultural change begins—not with arguments, but with acts of love, lived out in community.