Question: Does God love women?
Answer: This is an interesting question, but it certainly has a Scriptural answer. First let me remind you that it says in Genesis: “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27) In other words it takes both the attributes of the woman and the man to see what God is like, since both are half of the picture (image) of God.
We know that God loves women by His actions. The Bible says that Jesus, God’s Son, is the express image (picture) of God the Father. “He (Christ)* is the image of the invisible God (the Father)* (Colossians 1:15a), since this is so, let us see how Christ related to women when He lived on this earth in the flesh.
Let’s start with the resurrection of Christ and work our way back through His life by way of summary. Who did Christ appear to first after He had risen from the dead? Yes, it was the women. “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.” (Mark 16:9)
Some people think there is a contradiction in Scripture because Paul says that He appeared to Peter first. “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas (Peter)*, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren.after that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. (1 Corinthians 15:3-7
The thing that people do not understand about this passage is that Paul is only pointing out the men in the order that they saw Jesus after His resurrection, because in those days only men were allowed to be witnesses in a court of law. Therefore Paul is pointing out men who saw Jesus, but he is not saying that the women were not the first to see Christ alive from the dead.
So Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene and many other women before He appeared to Peter or any other of the male disciples. “But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Then they said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.’ Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.”
“Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?’ She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, ‘Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to Him, ‘Rabboni!’ (which is to say, Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.” (John 20:11-18)
Not only did Jesus appear to Mary Magdalene before He appeared to Peter and the rest of the male disciples, He also appeared to other women disciples. “But the angel answered and said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. ‘He is not here; for He is rise, as He said, Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.’
So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word. And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, ‘Rejoice!’ So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.” (Matthew 28:5-10)
I believe one reason Jesus may have appeared to the women first after He had arisen from the dead is because He loved them, but also because of their courage under fire that the male disciples did not show when He died on the cross. All the rest of the males had run away except for John. Mary, Jesus’ mother, and other women were at the cross when Jesus died. “There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome, who also followed Him and ministered to Him when He was in Galilee, and many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.” (Mark 15:40-41) Notice these women had been with Jesus all along in His earthly ministry.
Who did Jesus stop to talk to on His way to Golgotha, was it not the women? “And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him. But Jesus, turning to them, said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.” (Luke 23;27-28)
Why else would these women have been so loyal to Jesus except that He had had a godly love for them! Who is Jesus? He is God in the flesh, what He was like is exactly what God the Father is like! Does He love women? certainly He does! Look here at some other examples of women that God showed His love to. There is the history of the Samaritan Woman at the well. “He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob a gave to his son Joseph. (Jesus wanted to talk to a woman in particular that He wanted to reach with salvation. Jews normally avoided this area, and went way around it; not Jesus He headed right for it to talk to a woman.)*
“Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. (Noon)* A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give Me a drink.’ For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him ‘How is it that You, being a Jew ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?’ For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. (Jesus broke all the prejudice barriers of His day, first Jews did not associate with foreigners, and secondly they would not talk to a foreign woman. This did not stop Jesus, He (God) was showing how much He loved this woman
even though the Jews in general did not.)*.And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that he talked with a woman; yet no one said, ‘What do You seek?’ or, ‘Why are You talking with her?’ (John 4:3-29) Jesus had led this woman to salvation. She was saved and immediately went and brought others to Christ.
Jesus healed physically and spiritually many women in His ministry, taught them, and feed them. “Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.” (Matthew 14:21)
In the book of Hebrews where we have the hall of fame of some outstanding Old Testament believers we find several women. “By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.Women received their dead raised to life again.(Hebrews 11)
How could we end this answer without mentioning women like Elizabeth, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Through prophecy Elizabeth said of Mary, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb! Earlier the angel Gabriel had appeared to Mary, who God regarded very highly, and said she would be called blessed! “And having come in, the angel said to her, ‘Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” (Luke 1:28)
Then later Mary said: “‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.'”(Luke1:46-50) This includes the women!
You have so many more women in Scripture that God did so many special things for because He loved them, often their husbands are hardly even mentioned. Like Hannah who had Samuel, a great prophet of the Lord. Samson’s mom, who was privileged to have had an appearance of the Angel of the LORD performing miracles for her. Then there is Deborah who was a mighty warrior leader in Israel. You have Esther the Queen who saved Israel through her courage spoke of in the book of the same name. On and on the list could go of women in the Bible that God showed his love for. Proverbs 30:10 says, “Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies.”
The Holy Spirit, the third person in the Holy Trinity said that: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. You see, God loves women and men exactly alike! “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
Thanks for the letter, and yes God does love women!
Gary Thomas Panell
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