Equal or Identical

LIFE Group/Family  Discussion Guide

Equal or Identical  

Breaking the Ice: Please explore answers to the following question with your group: Why do you think the role of women in the church and society generates so much controversy?

Please Read: Genesis 1:26-27

1.      In what ways are humans made in the “image of God - Imago Dei?”

2.      What in this text tells you that the “man” referred to here is representative of mankind and not just one man?

3.      What does the fact that both men and women are made in the image of God have on the gender role discussion?

4.      What was God’s original work for both men and women?

Please Read:  Genesis 2:19-22

5.      How was Eve different from Adam?  

Please Read: Genesis 3:16, 4:7 & Song of Solomon 7:10

6.      According to Genesis 3:16 what was Eve’s curse?

7.      These three verses contain the only use of the Hebrew word tshuwqah  (tesh-oo-kaw') which is translated as “desire.” How do the last two contribute to our understanding of the first? 

Please Read: I Timothy 2:8-15 & I Corinthians 14:33-35

8.      How have these verses impacted the role of women in the church in the past?

9.      How do these verses effect your understanding of the role of women in the church today?

 

Please Read: Galatians 3:23-27

10.    How do you reconcile these verses with the verses above?

11.    What is new for women in Christ Jesus from what they experienced historically or what they experience in most societies today?

For further exploration:

 http://www.cbeinternational.org/

 

http://strivetoenter.com/wim/about-2/

 

William J. Webb  Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: 2001

 

Ronald W. Pierce, Rebecca Merrill Groothuis, Gordon D. Fee (eds.),        Discovering Biblical Equality: Complementarity Without Hierarchy. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005