God loves women, and from the very beginning he has worked to bless them. The Bible teaches that women and men are equally created in God’s image, with equal dignity and worth. God also made them different on purpose, so they could complement each other as partners. Sin brought hostility between the sexes, but through Jesus, that curse is reversed and God’s original blessing is restored.
A Countercultural Starting Point
Many people assume the Bible looks down on women. That’s what you might expect from ancient writings, since much of the ancient world openly treated women as inferior. A Sumerian proverb compared a woman to a pitfall and a ditch. Plato suggested a man who lived a cowardly life might be reborn as a woman. Aristotle wrote that the male is by nature superior and the female inferior. Sadly, some churches have also treated women in ways that don’t reflect God’s heart.
But the opening chapter of the Bible says something radically different. Before the first sin, before any human culture took shape, God made this declaration:
Genesis 1:27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Being made in God’s image means we reflect him mentally, relationally, and spiritually, and we share the responsibility to represent him in creation. That applies to women and men alike. God’s first blessing was equality: women and men are equally valuable to him.
God Elevated Women Throughout Scripture
That theme runs through the whole Bible. Scripture celebrates women like Deborah, who led Israel as a judge, Esther, who risked her life to save her people, and Ruth, Hannah, Abigail, and Rahab. In a world where property usually passed only to sons, the daughters of Zelophehad asked Moses for their father’s inheritance. God not only granted their request, but he also made it part of Israel’s law.
Numbers 27:7 What Zelophehad’s daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father’s relatives and give their father’s inheritance to them.
Jesus went even further. He taught women as disciples, welcomed them into his ministry, and defended them when others looked down on them. Women were the first witnesses of his resurrection, entrusted with the most important news in history. In the early church, women like Priscilla, Lydia, and Phoebe played vital roles in spreading the gospel.
Different by Design, Partners in Purpose
God’s second blessing was differentiation. He made women and men different on purpose so they could complement each other. Genesis 2 gives a closer look at creation: God formed Adam, placed him in the garden to work it, and gave him a command. But something was missing.
Genesis 2:18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
The Hebrew word for “helper” doesn’t mean someone lesser. The Bible uses the same word for God as our helper. Eve was Adam’s partner, uniquely designed to share the work of filling the earth and caring for creation together. Part of this design is a calling for men to submit to God and then lovingly lead, not by dominating, but by serving, protecting, and speaking the truth.
The Curse and the Cure
Sin shattered that harmony. When the serpent tempted Eve, Adam was right there with her, yet he stayed silent and ate the fruit too (Genesis 3:6). Both were responsible, and both were broken. Part of the curse was conflict between the sexes: “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you” (Genesis 3:16). The partnership God designed turned into a power struggle. But even in that dark moment, God gave a promise.
Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.
This is the first hint of the gospel. A descendant of the woman would crush the serpent. Jesus was born of a woman, struck on the cross, and rose again to defeat sin and Satan. Through him, the curse is reversed. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10), and in him, “there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
The Takeaway
What does God really think about women? He loves them, values them as equal image-bearers, and designed them with purpose. Sin brought hostility between women and men, but through Jesus, God restores his original blessing for both.
