The Uncovering

By Bleaux Savage

At the turn of the 21st century God is turning His attention toward women just as He did 100 years ago. A huge cultural shift took place for women in the 1920s and it's happening again. Last time the transformation was cultural. This time it is spiritual and God is bringing this revival into the church.

 

In The Uncovering the most difficult and challenging Scriptures regarding women are cross examined for this generation. Since the birth of Christianity there has been an attempt to silence women in the church and to pervert the true Gospel message. It's time to remove religiosity from the conversation and see what God who is the Author of His word actually has to say.

 

God has called both men and women to serve Him in equal capacity and it's time for the church to catch up with it. God is ushering His people into a new era and it's time we get on board.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bleaux Savage
• Release date: Jan 7, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393964896

Book preview

Copyright Page

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

THE UNCOVERING.

Second edition. May 1, 2023.

Copyright © 2020 Bleaux Savage.

Written by Bleaux Savage.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973 1978 1984 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible, public domain.

Statements or words enclosed in brackets or in boldface were inserted into Scripture quotations to add emphasis or to provide clarification. They are indicated by (emphasis added).

CONTENTS

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

WOUNDED

MISOGYNIST

INFLUENCED

RESTORED

DETHRONED

GREAT REVERSAL

MULTIFACETED

MARCHERS

KYRIOS

PERCEPTIONS

MALE JESUS

LEAD OX

CONCLUSION

NOTES

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INTRODUCTION

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Is the church preaching lies about women?

Why does history hate women?

Did Jesus start the Feminist movement?

Why did the church try to erase the  female apostle from the Bible?

Why did translators change facts in the  Bible to suit men?

Is Paul the biggest misogynist of the Bible?

And finally ... is God a Chauvinist?

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This book is about fixing misconceptions and realigning priorities. There has been so much misunderstanding and twisting of God’s word concerning women. It has harmed believers and ultimately the spreading of the Gospel. It is a wound that has become generational and plays out in the scene of social politics everyday.

The only thing holding many women back has been church doctrine that has for so long been laden with misogyny, bias, and personal opinion. This has clouded the truth of God’s word to such a degree that sometimes we can barely see it correctly anymore. This book is not about rewriting God’s word. It’s about revealing what it actually says.

We cannot continue to say that God views man and woman equally but then continue to disqualify women. This is hypocrisy at its uttermost. The church has forfeited its authority to speak on certain issues because it has been found in error. The church must correct itself. Looking at woman through man’s filter is not what God ever wanted. We’ve allowed personal opinion and culture to influence our understanding of God’s word for too long.

It Is Time For The Church  To Get It Right

This book is also for men who have been taught that everything is their responsibility. The church has taught men that if a wrong decision is made it’s their fault. The reason? The church places men as the de facto leaders. Much fault and blame has been placed upon men’s shoulders. Chauvinism doesn’t just hurt women. It hurts men too.

This book is about realigning positions and responsibilities in the way that God designed it to be. Wrong doctrine has misled men and women alike. So many Christians who believe in gender equality still believe a man should be the leader. I’m sure there are many who will hate this book and many who will love it. Some probably just picked it up out of curiosity. I didn’t write this book to push an agenda. I wrote this book to be obedient to what God has called me to do.

Jesus is The Author Of Our Lives   And Of His Word 

During the writing of this book God revealed Himself to me as the Author... the Author of our lives and the ultimate authority on His Word. God is the Author in question being asked what His work actually means. We can read it but still lack understanding as to the Author’s intent. This has damaged man, woman, and the church. The goal of this book is to answer the many questions that people have about this topic. The topic of women in the church is one of the most divisive in the body of Christ. It’s time to change that.

I Wanted Answers So I Went  To The Author For The Truth

When I was a child I was reading passages of Scripture pertaining to women in the New Testament and the Lord said to me, That’s not what it says. It changed my life forever. For the last 20 years I have sought God on the subject of women’s place in the Bible and in the church. It was the motivation behind writing this book. So many times it resounded through my mind, Is God a chauvinist? His Word sure made Him sound like one. We cannot constantly question our place in Him and be on stable ground simultaneously.

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1. WOUNDED

The devil has tried to distort the role of women and men have tried to define it. The wounds of woman have created our present era and have defined entire generations. These wounds are unseen, unheard, and unspoken, but they reverberate throughout the centuries. Lost to the history of humanity that has been authored by men. Well, God has another history to write for women. It is written not by the pen of men but by His pen which will not be blotted out. In the fight over woman’s identity, God’s identity for her will prevail.

Scripture has been used as a weapon against women rather than a weapon for woman. God is her advocate and her liberator. He saw the hidden tears and silent screams of women crying out in frustration at the fact that they were born female. Wondering why God had allotted them to live such a life as to prohibit their very personhood. A sense of identity stripped and a hollow emptiness that only God can take away. Where are the women to turn but to God? Not surprisingly since its earliest beginnings Christianity has been largely adhered to by a female majority.

Even in the church Christ’s identity has been maligned. Made into the image of a man who is biased against women and who has supposedly made her less than the rest of creation. Christ has been made into the enforcer of men’s ways leaving many to wonder, is God a chauvinist?

Many have tried to make women serving in leadership positions in the church about Feminism and a push for equality. It is perceived as modern secular thinking trying to invade the church. On the surface this seems right to the average onlooker. However, it goes much deeper than that. The devil hates women. He has always hated women. Since the garden he has hated woman and has sought to destroy her. Why?

I heard a woman say once that God told her He had given women’s bodies the blueprint for creation. I personally believe women are a symbol of God’s creation and a picture of God as Creator. Women carry life and God is the giver of life. Satan hates life and is the harbinger of death.

The enemy brings dissension to the forefront whenever women begin to arise and proclaim the Gospel boldly. Many of Paul’s letters are actually addressing questions people had about the role of women. Just like today, people have always questioned it. The greatest deception of all that has spread throughout the church is that it is a sin for a woman to be a pastor. This lie has bound so many women because they fear sinning against God by going into ministry. How sad is that?

The Identity Of Woman Is What  It’s Always Been About

The Apostle Paul is considered one of the greatest misogynists of all time. Didn’t he say that women are to be silent in the church and that they are not supposed to teach men? Didn’t Paul also say that women are supposed to be under the authority of their husbands and be housewives? Nope! Paul didn’t say those things and that is what we are going to explore in detail in this book.

The topic of women has been one of the greatest misunderstandings of the church age and it is time to set the record straight. No longer will women question their place with God. No longer will it echo through the halls of the church that women are not to serve God in the same capacity as men.

Paul’s alleged restrictions on women have caused some to even question the authenticity and infallibility of the New Testament. Women held positions of power in the earliest churches that Paul oversaw. We would never know this by reading an English translation of the Bible. Women operated as deacons, teachers, apostles, and ran house churches. Women were indispensable to the formation of the early church.1

This book isn’t about rewriting the Bible to say something that modern readers want to see in the age of Progressivism. This book is about ensuring that women really know what their Father says and thinks about them. Much has been cloaked and wrapped in a shroud of mystery. For centuries the enemy has been using the traditions of men to keep the truth from being shown.

Church father’s distorted Paul’s words and ultimately Christ’s. Many Christians today are still carrying this distortion on to the next generation. They think that they are obeying the Word of God when in actuality they are carrying on the traditions and interpretations of men.

In the succeeding centuries after Paul, the church began to add their own rules and prohibitions. Women’s roles as church leaders became bound by a Greek centric world view rather than Christ’s world view. This is where the deception began. Christ culture should always reign. We must never view Scripture through our own cultural lens but through God’s lens.

Seen But Not Heard

For a span of more than 1,000 years 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and 1 Timothy 2:12 were used to bar women from both singing and praying audibly in the presence of men during church service. This prohibition led to the development of all male choirs like the Vienna Boys Choir which still stands today. Church leadership was so adamant about women not singing in service that young boys in Italy were castrated to preserve their higher pitch voices. These boys were then used throughout the remainder of their lives to form the church’s choir. This practice went on for hundreds of years and these men, known as the castrati, were singing in the Sistine Chapel even into the early 1900s.2 The last castrati was Alessandro Moreschi who died in 1922. The church wanted the higher pitch of female voices but did not allow women to sing. This undoubtedly caused unimaginable harm and changed the course of many people’s lives.

Part of the church’s prohibition was due to the fact that women were not allowed to touch the altar.3 This strict enforcement was established over a millennia prior by the Council of Laodicea. This council sought to enforce what they thought was the correct New Testament interpretation of Scripture regarding women. Rules like canon 44 which stated Women may not go to the altar was enforced. This prevented women from operating as bishops, elders, and deacons as they had done for over 3 centuries since the time of Paul.4 Church fathers banned women from approaching the altar and from even taking communion if they were menstruating.5 This prohibition lasted in parts of the church until recent decades.

Until the 1890s, churches still did not permit women to sing in worship services. 6 They were required to remain completely silent. This left women unable to worship God in His own house. By the turn of the 20th century women gained some freedoms and were permitted to sing during services. Despite this, they were still not allowed to be members of the choir. The primary concern being that they would be too close to the altar. Female choir members were prohibited even when they agreed to stand far away from the sanctuary. The altar, singing, and choir were reserved for the church liturgy from which women were banned.7 This left women having no roles to fill other than the ones that the church prescribed such as nun or dutiful wife and mother.

These attitudes permeated Western culture and undoubtedly influenced society in ways that I think we are not fully aware of even today. Oberlin College, the first college to admit female students in 1837, did not allow women to take public speaking courses. The doors were opened to females not because they wanted them to be educated, but because they thought women who were learned would make better wives. Yes, I know it was a different time. However, when the women graduated they were not even permitted to read their own graduation essays.8 They were required to have a man read it for them.9 It was considered inappropriate for a woman to speak publicly even if she was reading her own work. The public female voice was also limited in the courtroom as well as on the Senate floor.10 It was considered wrong for women to engage in public speaking because it was viewed as a role only for men both inside and outside of the church world. These views have been held since the time of the ancient Greeks.

Times have changed much for women and there are no longer prohibitions on public speech. However, the church is still the only place in modern society where women are still silenced. God’s house is the only place where women are still unable to be equal participants. How sad is that? This explains why so many find the church to be irrelevant and why the church has no influence to speak on platforms about Feminism. For over a millennia people have presented these prohibitions as God’s idea when nothing could be farther from the truth. We are going to go into detail on 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and 1 Timothy 2:12 and lay to rest this controversy. I think over 1,500 years of misunderstanding is quite long enough.

2. MISOGYNIST

This is a fundamental chapter that will build the foundation for the rest of the book. We are going to go through quite a bit of history. This chapter is necessary to understand the rest of the book. I am going to break down each passage verse by verse going back to the original language that the New Testament was written in. This will give us the truth of what was really being said by the Apostle Paul in his time.

Responsa

Why do we need to know what a responsa is? A responsa was how rabbis answered questions that were asked of them. Some of the New Testament writings of Paul were written using responsa. This includes some of the most controversial and misunderstood verses in the Bible concerning women. Understanding the responsa is paramount to understanding what Paul said about women and ultimately what the Holy Spirit said about women.

A responsa is an individual or a group asking an authority on Jewish law, such as a rabbi, a question or a series of questions. The rabbi would respond by giving his responsa. Jesus gave responsas to the Pharisees because He was recognized as a rabbi or teacher. Responsa is still practiced today by rabbis.

During the time of Paul, Jewish women held positions of leadership in synagogues. Although elders and leaders were male in Jerusalem, the Jewish communities living outside of Israel depict women possessing the title of elder as well as being leaders of synagogues. Writings from this time also suggest that women were members of councils of elders.1 Paul, who wrote most of the entire New Testament, was born in modern day Turkey. He would certainly have been familiar with the appointment of female elders and leaders within the Jewish community. Rufina, who functioned as the head or president of a synagogue in Turkey only a few decades after the life of Paul, is one of such examples.2 The concept of women operating in these leadership roles is not a modern concept but rather an ancient one that predates any restrictions that later church fathers implemented.

During the time of the early church, responsas were often done by exchanging letters. Paul being an authority on Jewish law would have been very familiar with this style of question and answer. Responsas are found throughout the New Testament. A modern reader just doesn’t realize it.

The purpose of the first letter to the Corinthian church was to answer questions that they had asked of Paul. We see many responsas throughout. Paul addresses questions ranging from marriage to the resurrection of Christ. Responsa was not just pertaining to women. It was used for many topics in Paul's letters to the churches.

The New Testament was written in Greek. In the Greek language, quotation marks do not exist so it makes it more difficult to differentiate the church’s question from Paul’s response. To know who is talking, we have to look at the context and juxtaposition of the statements.

Be Quiet!

Where do we see a responsa in 1 Corinthians?

Here is the Corinthian church's question about women speaking out publicly:

34The women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says. 35 If they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church. -1 Corinthians 14:34-35

Paul’s answer