Women, the Gender of God, and the Warning Passages in Hebrews: Dr. Amy Peeler
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- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
- Amy Peeler is a rock star New Testament scholar with a Ph.D from Princeton and who’s been teaching at Wheaton college for over 10 years. Amy is also the author of several scholarly books including You Are My Son: The Family of God in the Epistle to the Hebrews (2014), Hebrews: An Introduction and Study Guide (2020), and the forthcoming Women and the Gender of God (Oct 2022). In this conversation, we talk about her book Women and the Gender of God, wrestling with questions related to God’s non-sexed existence yet gendered revelation (if…that’s even the best way of framing it). God is not male; but he reveals himself as…himself, and Father, and King, and with He/Him pronouns. What does this mean? How should we think of God? Is he male, a man, masculine, or do these categories all fall short of God.
Oh, and we also wrestle with the notorious warning passages in Hebrews; namely, Hebrews 6 and 10. Dr. Peeler walks us through the Greek text and theological context of these difficult passages.
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Wow. Love Dr. Peeler! Loved listening to her commentary! Thank you for this episode!!
What a fantastic, meaty conversation, thank you.
I would say that yes the Catholic tradition tends to elevate women more, because of the tradition of women religious and female saints, as well as the deep respect for Mary.
Really great interview.
The only tricky part is “…if you continue to sin…”. They ignore this except for Preston’s throw away line “It’s not going to a PG-13 movie…”
If God does not have a preference for presenting himself as "male", why is it that in all of eternity, he will be embodied in the masculine form of the glorified body of Jesus, who is male?
May not indicate a "preference" so much as choice to not let a daughter go thru the torture and shame and who knows what else would have been done to a daughter who wud be rejected.
Amy states that Mary was "never elevated". Perhaps it could be more defined as to what "elevated" means in this conversation. Mary herself said: "All generations shall call me blessed.". Does this not refer to a singular privilege she had by virtue of being Jesus' mother, that no other human ever had or will have. If the foundation stones of the New Jerusalem, in eternity, bear the names of the apostles, out of honor for their service to Jesus on earth, aren't they being elevated for all eternity? If they are "elevated" in heaven, what will Mary's honor be for her role? In what way do we call Mary "blessed" and honor her on earth?
57:00 This is no laughing matter. One of the MAIN THEMES in Hebrews is that we are to FEAR, so we ENTER OUR REST [being in the "those who belong to Christ list in Galatians 5] here and for eternity. If we feel guilty now because of willfully sinning, we'll be guilty when we see Jesus face to Face. Hebrews 6 (and maybe 10 also) is talking about openly renouncing Christ so the Jews could practice Judaism again. Only then could they not be forgiven.
The writer to Hebrews says we must "OBEY" Christ, not just believe: Hebrews 5:9 “Having been made perfect, he [Jesus] became to all of those who OBEY him the author of eternal salvation….”
After we have DONE THE WILL OF GOD we receive the promise: Hebrews 10:36 For you need endurance so that, HAVING DONE THE WILL OF GOD, you may receive the promise.
Hebrews 12:14-15: “Pursue PEACE WITH ALL PEOPLE, and HOLINESS, WITHOUT WHICH NO ONE WILL SEE THE LORD: 15 looking carefully lest anyone FALL SHORT OF THE GRACE OF GOD; lest any ROOT OF BITTERNESS [“stronghold of unforgiveness”] springing up cause trouble, and by this many become DEFILED….”
She mentioned "Behold the Man." Who was the author? There are several books with this title. :) Also, I may have missed this, but is her newest book the one that she talks about Mary? Thank you.
Funny enough, when I just clicked on the video it jumped right to the Behold the Man--Amazing (I'd first heard it in the car). Okay, now just the Mary references? :)
It’s actually not called “Behold the Man”. It’s titled “Unmanly Men”. It’s written by Brittany E Wilson
@@jaredmatthews1561 Thank you.
58:30 Romans 7 is NOT AN EXCUSE; was life BEFORE the Son. Paul then declares WE MUST OVERCOME sin in Romans 8, walking according to the Spirit, not according to the flesh, or we will die. What Paul really said:
Romans 7:4 Therefore, MY BROTHERS, you also were MADE DEAD TO THE LAW THROUGH the body of CHRIST, that you would be JOINED to another, TO HIM who was raised from the dead, THAT WE MIGHT PRODUCE FRUIT to God. 5 For WHEN WE *WERE* IN THE FLESH, the sinful passions which were through the law worked in our members to bring out FRUIT TO DEATH. 6 But *NOW* WE HAVE BEEN DISCHARGED FROM THE LAW, having died to that IN WHICH WE *WERE* HELD; so that WE SERVE IN NEWNESS OF *THE SPIRIT*, and NOT IN OLDNESS OF *THE LETTER*.
Romans 8
Rom. 8:1-17 There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION to those who are IN CHRIST JESUS, WHO DON’T WALK ACCORDING TO THE FLESH, BUT ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh; 4 that the ordinance of the LAW might be FULFILLED IN US, WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH, BUT AFTER THE SPIRIT.
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind of the flesh is death, but the MIND OF THE SPIRIT IS LIFE AND PEACE….
12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13 For IF YOU LIVE AFTER THE FLESH, YOU MUST DIE; BUT IF BY THE SPIRIT YOU PUT TO DEATH THE DEEDS OF THE BODY, YOU WILL LIVE. 14 FOR AS MANY AS ARE LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD, THESE ARE CHILDREN OF GOD. 15 For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that WE ARE CHILDREN OF GOD; 17 and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and JOINT-HEIRS WITH CHRIST; IF INDEED WE SUFFER WITH HIM, that we may also be glorified with him.
We never have to WILLFULLY sin: “No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” - 1 Cor. 10:13
Spiritually speaking (gender aside), matriarchal wisdom can begin with a fundamental understanding of the cyclical nature of reality (God).
Represented by the snake in many creation myths, the living cycle has a trinity of a beginning (head), a middle and end (tail). As above so below, the sexes were created in the image of God's cyclical nature where Mother is the head and opening to all beginnings and Father holds the tail to all endings (through which the sowing of seeds allow for the next great matriarchal rebirth).The joining of the two (symbolized by the Ouroborus or the marriage ring) is the sacred union needed in assuring the creation and continuation of new life cycles. To speak of the present day God as "Our Father" is simply an admission to our collective positioning within the bigger cycle.
As all mothers have direct experience with the creator quality of birthing, so is the direct experience of rebirthing the divinity within (baptism) belong to that which is spiritually matriarchal. (John 3, verse 3-8).
Sekhmet statues (ancient Egyptian) carry most of their weight in symbolic memory of what was a mother culture dedicated to the direct experience of baptism. As the leg shaped hairlocks extend from maternal breasts to the womb of rebirth, the lioness's head proportions are such that they highlight the bust of a second animal figure. The Lioness's ears as eyes and eyes as nose (nostrils) brings to life the figure of a reptile. 'Neath the halo headress of the solar egg, the lioness's egg fertilization process being internal (Set) and the reptile's egg fertilization process being external (Setting), such being key components to the safety of entering the trans-egoic or "born again" state. The life threatening fear associated with the predatory nature of a lion and/or crocodile encounter are reflective of the intense ego death experiences associated with the transpersonal awakening process.
In spiritually matriarchal times, illumination could be seen as wearing the false beard (ancient Egyptian funerary "ego" death mask) as the high state of cyclical self knowing; high awareness of both our upper matriarchal half and our lower (later) patriarchal half (compared with a mini lower body replica, an "as above so below" tail end beard extension); in full recognition of her civilizational Underworld, her inevitable cyclical destiny. The male pharaoh wears his beard tapered in reverse, indicating a pointing upwards towards the patriarchal head, divine representative of God's tail end cycle.
Mary Magdalene's anointing and wiping of Jesus's feet with her hair can then be seen as head to tail (toe) imagery as she descends her matriarchal head to his patriarchal feet, thus reenacting the high understanding of the divine cyclical process. (John 12:3)
To carry the Ankh was perhaps to symbolically carry that upper and lower understanding. As the upper matriarchal womb symbolised the fertile birthing of civilization, below, the now Christian cross is carried to place emphasis on the lower (later) "End Times" Father principle of the great cycle.
Lord Ganesha, the elephant headed Hindu diety, displays a cyclical head to trunk symbolism and points to the Mother head of his matriarchal elephant society. Ganesha (like the elephant) wears God's cyclical nature on his face.
A whole temple was dedicated to the ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor, who is the matriarchal "Uterus" personified. ruclips.net/video/J0m0zJSEFK0/видео.html
"See all women as mothers, serve them as your mother. When you see the entire world as the mother, the ego falls away. See everything as Mother and you will know God." - Neem Karoli Baba
Descriptors or Names? God calls Himself and Yeshua by their names, some are gendered, many are not. Using a name repetitiously without substituting a pronoun can get exhausting to keep up with in conversation and switching to various names of God when conversing with a person who is not familiar with them is likely unwise. So, use of pronouns is fine-unless we don't believe God calls Himself the pronouns that He does in the Bible.
What of the Bible using "Wisdom"-there in either the time before or at Creation-being a "She/Her" pronoun and some in the Faith holding to Wisdom and Holy Spirit being different names within the godhead? I always think it's interesting how it seems God the Holy Spirit is usually referred to as "the Holy Spirit" and not as "He" (unless Holy Spirit is Wisdom/She, then it's another thing).
Great points on Jesus during His first years on the earth. As a woman, no...being Christlike is to imitate His likeness of who He was toward others and how He honored God the Father before the demands of those around Him. None of that is "masculine", or sex-related.
The question coming back to Mary and women is certainly provoking.
Current statistics do not say Evangelicals are leaving for any other religion or alternate denomination of Christianity, rather they are leaving and opting to live without a faith.
Some people feel "drink the koolaid" isn't a reference to just following the masses but a reference toward a stereotype toward African Americans (this was told to me by a friend who is African American after she overheard the same quote by a Caucasian woman at work and she never looked at her the same way). So while we can't know who it may harm or not, you can be aware of this one being possibly injurious and maybe avoiding it going forward.
What was meant by the guest saying she "is more Armenian"?
I'm confused on anyone thinking they would need Christ to pay for all sins past, present, and future-when He did do that-"again"...is that a literary technique and not a literal thing? Would an ongoing heart posture toward or against God better point to those who cannot return v prodigals?
I think we could really run with not shunning the younger gens and starting more conversations with them and hearing them-like how this expert said she does in her classes, kind of gaining a deeper view of where others are coming from while finding her own footing even all that more secure, simultaneously.
What a great chat! Thank you, both.
God IS masculine....NOT feminine....if we read the BIBLE, we KNOW this and there is no confusion.
Not so. This is patriarchal mentality.