The Mother of All Living Sermons

I would like to start with a prayer request. I’m not a fan of the unspoken prayer request, but I imagine the person involved in the prayer request would not appreciate strangers knowing about her business, so I will not name any names. Please pray for a friend from quizzing. When I first met her, she was a bright and bubbly Christian. In fact, she joined quizzing because she just wanted to get to know better her Lord and Savior, who she loved so much. The only problem, however, is that her Christian fellowship was a Christian fellowship that thought to hold to certain religious beliefs, you had to hold certain political beliefs, and no true Christian would hold to any political beliefs contrary to what this Christian fellowship believed, which was simply not true. She too did indeed know it was simply not true. Not only did see conflicts between their political beliefs and their religious beliefs, she saw how her differing political views actually correlated better with her religious views, but her Christian fellowship refused to listen. Nevertheless, she sought out a group of friends who would encourage and support her political stances. Unfortunately, this group of friends further verified that indeed her political stances did contradict her religious stances (again, not true), but her political views were correct, and her religious views were incorrect, so she had to abandon her religion to hold stronger to politics. At worst, I worry she’s falling away from the faith, and at least, she’s stunting her spiritual growth. Please pray for my quizzing sister in Christ, that Jesus will keep her strong, that she may be a witness to both her Christian fellowship and her friends, and that I may know how to counsel her through this rough time.

So far, my witness to her is to converse with her on the lies the group of friends have fed her, and one sticks out as peculiar, which fits well into a Mother’s Day sermon. One of the lies told by her friends is that the Bible is misogynist. Merriam-Webster defines misogyny simply as “the hatred of women.” Therefore, a misogynist hates women. Thus, to call the Bible misogynist is to say the Bible hates women. Yes, this is what her friends have claimed about the Bible: The Bible hates women. According to them, at best, the Bible treats women like second-class citizens, at worst, the Bible treats women like slaves, property to be bought, sold, and traded, so why would any self-respecting woman read the Bible? It would not surprise if so many Christian, both brothers and sisters in Christ, have heard this argument. So, while the best thing to do is pray for my quizzing sister in Christ, the next best thing to do is talk about how you can combat this lie.

Of course, there are some easy, low-hanging fruits we can go to for easy retorts. Turn to the book of Judges, turn to the fourth chapter, and read about Deborah, a prophetess, or a female prophet, who takes reign of the army of Israel when Barak refuses to do so, and she leads Israel to victory of Canaan. Turn to the book of Esther and read how the Jewish girl Hadassah becomes Esther queen of Persia, and she uses whatever little power she has to save her people from genocide across the empire. These women are hardly second-class citizens or slaves. If this is too Old Testament for you, the New Testament has lesser known but more important examples. Turn to Romans 16:1 and read how Phoebe was a deaconess. Yes, I know that can translate into “servant,” but the Greek term διάκονος (diakonos) is literally where the English word “deacon” come from, so I will be brave to enough to say, I think English Bible translations who translate it into “servant” instead of “deacon” do so to avoid alienation from the churches who have a hard stance against women leadership in church. Turn to Colossians 4:15 and read how Nympha had a church meet in her house. Yes, while “church in her house” can simply just mean she hosted a church, a lot of scholars now agree a person hosted a church because that person led the church (cf. Acts 16:15&40). Both the Old Testament and the New Testament praise women in leadership, which highly contests the notion that the Bible makes women second-class citizens or slaves.

Of course, like I’ve said, that’s easy, low-hanging fruit. Graham doesn’t do easy, low-hanging fruit; Graham does hard, high-hanging fruit. What is the high-hanging fruit of this topic? Let’s a pick a woman from the Bible that opponents of the Bible would use to prove that the Bible is misogynist. What a better character than Eve! How fitting for Mother’s Day, for the name Eve means “mother of all living,” so she everybody’s mother. I have heard some wild accusations of the Bible about Eve, and maybe you’ve even heard crazy ones yourself. Some say, “Eve is created second, making her secondary to man!” Others will say, “Eve is created differently, making Eve a lesser human!” Still other will complain, “Eve is blamed for the fall of man, and Eve is punished unreasonably harshly.” Those who oppose the Bible with these comments truly have never read the Bible themselves, for those who have read the Bible should see that, not only are all these statements false, but the Bible goes out of its way to teach the opposite.

 

Without further ado, please turn to the book of Genesis. As you turn there (like it would take anyone a long time, unless your Bible has a massive introduction and/or preface), let me point out that, from the onset, since an account of woman’s creation even exists in the Bible, the Bible cannot be misogynist. Comparing the Bible with ancient creation myths around the world will reveal the Bible is in the minority just solely in the fact it records the how woman became living human. A majority of ancient creation myths do not record any story about the creation of the woman; only a minority of the ancient creation myths do. Some have tried to justify this by declaring that the creation of woman is assumed alongside the creation of man, but others rightfully state that the ancient creation myths without retelling the creation of women subtly hint that the world has no need for women.

 

The minority of ancient creation myths that do mention the creation of women have a habit of putting the creation of women in a negative light. For example, look no further than the famous Greek myth of Pandora’s Box. According to the Ancient Greeks, the myth takes place during the Golden Age, when there were just men (and no women), when technology rapidly advanced, when no man had any want or need because man shared all resources equally, and man had no enemies or foes…except Zeus. See, with the help of Prometheus, the Greek titan Zeus assigned to creating men, men had tricked Zeus into accepting offering of bones instead of the fat of the meats, and men had stolen fire, sacred to the gods. Now Zeus had already punished Prometheus by chaining him to a mountain and having an eagle eat his liver daily. As for man, however, Zeus thought man had it going too well, so he wanted unleash sorrow and suffering onto them. Fortunately, he had a jar (yes, you heard me right: jar. Apparently, Erasmus mistranslated it during medieval times, and nobody ever bothered to correct him. Since, however, everybody is used to calling it a box, I will continue to call it a box.) that held sorrows and suffering. Unfortunately, Zeus could not open it on man, or else the suffering and sorrows would come back on him. Furthermore, men were on edge because Prometheus warned them not to take anything from Zeus, so men could not easily be tricked. Therefore, Zeus decided to try creating a human himself, and this human would become the first women. Zeus got all the gods involved. For example. Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, to make her beautiful. As another example, Hermes, the messenger god, taught her an eloquent tongue to speak well. Hence, her name was Pandora, meaning “all endowed” or “all gifted.” Finally, Zeus gave her 2 gifts: the gift of curiosity and the gift of the box full of sorrows and suffering. Zeus told Pandora, “Don’t open the box, for no mortal should look on it,” conveniently leaving out what is in the box. Well, a box with unknown contents and a curious woman are a bad combination, and it is only a matter of time before Pandora opens the box and unleashes the curse of sorrows and suffering on man. The moral of the story seems to be, “Darn those women and their curiosity! If it wasn’t for woman’s curiosity, humanity would be cursed with suffering!” Now at this point, one may think, “Well, that may explain why women suffer, but it does not explain the suffering of men because a woman opened the box, not a man.” That’s right! What you heard was the more famous, rated G version of the story. There’s an alternative, rated R, version of the story in which Pandora says to men, “Hey, if you can open this jar for me (maybe this is where the stereotype of the woman not able to open the pickle jar comes from), I’ll do anything with you,” to which the men say, “Anything?” and Pandora replies, “Anything!” Yes, that’s exactly what you think it means. This is worse! At least with the former legend, curiosity just got the best of Pandora. In this myth, Pandora actively seduces man to bring curses upon humanity. The clear moral of this story is, “Beware of women! They will use the sexuality to seduce you and to curse you, which will always bring sorrow and suffering!” Now the reason for man’s suffering falls less on the contents of the box/jar and more on the woman herself. Why do men seek to become richer, so much so that they will make other men poor in the process? To impress women, of course! Why do men seek to become the most powerful kings and emperors, to the point of enslaving other men? So, they can marry any woman they want, of course! Now that’s a sexist and misogynist origin story! As stated earlier, and pointed out now, many ancient myths do not mention the creation of the woman, and those that do, a lot of them mention the creation of woman as a negative thing. The Bible, however, does mention the creation of the woman, and as will be drawn out soon, the Bible puts the creation of woman in a positive light.

Let’s dive into the actual text. The meat of the text will come from Genesis 2, but the trip to Genesis 2 requires a pitstop in Genesis. For those unfamiliar with the book of Genesis, Genesis has 2 creations accounts. Commentators have different explanations on why, with some more blasphemous or heretical others. Personally, I believe Genesis records 2 different creation narratives because it tells the same story from different perspectives. Genesis 1 talks about the creation from God’s point of view, as God lays out an organized plan to bring order to the chaos. Genesis 2 tells the creation story from the human’s point of view, as God creates the perfect habitat around man. Since Genesis 2 comes from the human’s point of view, most of the theology about woman will come from Genesis 2, but Genesis 1 does have an important fact worth noting.

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 (ESV)

While so much can come out from this verse, pertinent to this study, three words need extra highlighting. The “man” in “So God created man in his own image” is the Hebrew term אָדָם (adam). Now the “man” here in אָדָם (adam) is short for “human,” which is short for “human being.” The last line of the verse states that God created them זָכָר (zāḵār) and נְקֵבָה (n^eqēḇāh). Most, if not all, Bibles translate the two Hebrew words as “male” and “female,” and rightfully so. Unfortunately, some people living in the 21^st century insist that that gender and sex are not interchangeable, and they also insist that gender is a social construct (which I actually understand to extent). Therefore, I must state this bluntly: a זָכָר (zāḵār) has a penis, and a נְקֵבָה (n^eqēḇāh) has a vagina. For proof, look further than a few chapters later. In Genesis 6&7, the Lord commands Noah to bring animals in the ark, זָכָר (zāḵār) and נְקֵבָה (n^eqēḇāh), with the clear intentions for them to multiply and fill the earth after the flood. There is no way around it and for good reason. In this one little verse in Genesis 1:27, God warns the reader, “Alright, when you go into the next chapter, you will discover that I created the woman after the man, and you will also find out that I created the woman in a different manner. This does not make her more or less in the image of God. The woman is equally made in the image of God.” Thus, the theology taught about the woman from Genesis 1:27 is that the woman was equally made in the image of God. Now let’s advance to meat of the creation story of the woman.

Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. ~Genesis 2:19&20 (ESV)

Although the text does not paint the most vivid picture, it has enough description to imagine what happened here. (Disclaimer: what you read in the remainder of the paragraph consists of nothing original, as the rest of the paragraph contains bits and pieces I have picked up from pastors and comedians alike.) The Lord says to Adam, “Okay, here’s the deal, I’m going to bring these animals to you one by one, and whatever you want to name them, that’s its name. Seriously, the first thing that comes to your mind, that’s its name.” Adam responds, “Okay, no problem, I got this.” God brings in the first in the first animal, “Alright, Adam, I got this animal. It's one of the larger animals. It’s gray. It’s got a big jaw. It likes being in the water. What are we calling it?” Adam announces, “Hippopotamus!” Picture a stenographer angel off to the side, asking “How do you want me to spell that?” The Lord tells the angel, “Oh, just sound it out.” Then God turns to Adam and says, “Okay, I’m bringing in the next animal. This animal is also one of the large ones, and it’s gray, too. This one, however, has a horn. What’s its name?” Adam is now starting to get in the groove, and he declares, “Rhinoceros!” The poor stenographer angel is mumbling under his breath, “Wow, seriously, where did he get this guy?” Unfortunately, as time passes, and as the animals get smaller, Adam is getting tired, and not one creative idea is left. “Alright, Adam,” the Lord tells Adam, “Here’s the next one. What its name?” Adam replies, “Dog?” God is like, “Hey, that’s just my name backwards…never mind, whatever, here’s the next one, Adam. What’s its name?” Adam sighs and states its name, “Cat?” God is like, “Oh, hey, wait, I didn’t make one of those…” (Just joking! Just kidding! Just playing! I own a cat, and I love my cat!) If you think that’s bad, it got worse when it came time to name insects! The Lord asks Adam, “Hey Adam, what are we calling that insect hopping along the grass?” Adam takes a big sigh and announces, “Grasshopper.” God proceeds, “Okay…well, what are we naming that insect flying around that animal you named a horse?” Adam takes a deeper sigher and declares, “Horsefly.” At this point, the Lord probably told Adam, “Let’s take a break, before you name all the fishes swims…”

In all seriousness, though, something has to be going on here, for the naming of animals interrupts the creation of the woman. Imagine that the Lord is not merely brining Adam the animals to name one by one, but rather, picture God bring Adam the animals two by two. Not only does Adam name the animal species, but he also gives names to both the males and the females. (I apologize in advance, for I am neither a zoologist nor a farmer, so I will probably butcher this, but you should still understand the illustration.) Imagine Adam saying, “Alright, this animal species we shall call a horse, which the males we will call stallions, and the females we will call mares.” Picture Adam stating, “This animal we will name bovine, which we will name the males bulls and the females cows.” Imagine Adam announcing, “This animal species we shall call pig, which the males we will call boars, and the females sows.” Picture Adam declaring, “The animal we will name a chicken, which the males will be named roosters, and the females hens.” As Adam goes through the process, he comes to a realization. He must have realized, “I’m a אָדָם (adam), or a human being, and the זָכָר (zāḵār)/male human is a אִישׁ (ʾîš), then where is the נְקֵבָה (n^eqēḇāh)/female human being?”

All of a sudden, Adam becomes sad. All of a sudden, the reader (and maybe the original audience of the Israelites? And maybe the angels watching Yahweh create?) panics! In Genesis 1, with every day of creation, God announces the day’s creation was טוֹב (tov), or “good.” In fact, when the Lord overlooks everything that he created, he declares the creation ט֖וֹב מְאֹ֑ד (tov meod), or “very good.” For the first time in the Scriptures, located right in Genesis 2:18, the Lord has to state that something as לֹא־ט֛וֹב (lo-tov), or “not good,” and it’s the fact the man is alone. How can the very good creation, the perfect habitat for humanity, have something that is not good? Indeed, a good reason to panic! Before anyone can panic, God makes known that he has a plan.

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” ~Genesis 2:18 (ESV)

In the Hebrew, Yahweh announces that he will make a עֵ֖זֶר כְּנֶגְדֹּֽו (ʿēzěr k^eněḡěḏo) for man. Depending on your English Bible translation, the עֵ֖זֶר כְּנֶגְדֹּֽו (ʿēzěr k^eněḡěḏo)  will translate into “helper suitable for him” (NASB), “helper fit for him” (ESV & RSV), “help meet for him” (KJV), “helper comparable to him” (NKJV), “helper as his complement” (CSB), “helper as his partner” (NRSV), “helper suitable for him” (NIV, both 1984 and 2011 editions) or “helper who is just right for him” (NLT). The כְּנֶגְדֹּֽו (k^eněḡěḏo) part literally translate into “like what is in front of him.” Most commentators equate this to mean “corresponding to him” or “alongside him,” but I would even equate it to mean “equal to him” or “similar to him.” More interesting, however, is the עֵ֖זֶר (ʿēzěr). From the root עֵ֖זֶר (ʿēzěr) comes the name Ezra, but most often עֵ֖זֶר (ʿēzěr) does not refer to a human, but it refers to the Lord himself! In Exodus 18:4, when Moses recognizes how God freed the Hebrews from Egyptian slavery, Moses calls Yahweh an עֵ֖זֶר (ʿēzěr). David names the Lord an עֵ֖זֶר (ʿēzěr) whenever David escapes from his enemies or wins victoriously over his enemies (see Psalms 20:2, 70:5, 89:19, 121:1&2, 124:8 and 146:5). Between Moses and David, the common denominator lies within the fact that God has brought salvation or deliverance, thus making Yahweh a savior or deliver. This makes sense because the verb form of עֵ֖זֶר (ʿēzěr) is עָזַר (ʿāzar). The verb עָזַר (ʿāzar) means “to deliver from death” or “to save from danger.” Therefore, עֵ֖זֶר (ʿēzěr) could translate “savior.” Thus, the Lord declares here that he will make “a savior equal to him.”

My sisters in Christ, especially the wives and mothers out there, I am going to give you some fuel to the fire on this Mother’s Day. I imagine as the good Christian couples you are, you two don’t get into any fights, or arguments, or even debates 😉. You just sometimes get into some “intense discussions” 😉. Ladies, next time you find yourself in one of these “intense discussions” with your boyfriend, fiancé, or husband, if he starts getting a little mouthy with you, you snap back and say, “Hey! Remember I am your savior! There you were in your singleness! You were eating canned food and frozen meals because you couldn’t cook. Your living quarters were a pigsty! Your fashion sense so out of whack it was embarrassing to just stand around you! You had to get down on one knee and beg me to marry you, and you even had to bribe me with a diamond ring! You do not talk to your savior like that!” Now my brothers in Christ, I can imagine what you’re thinking. You are probably thinking to yourself, “Well, my girlfriend/fiancée/wife is not the perfectly sinless Son of God like my true savior is.” That’s true, you’re right, your girlfriend/fiancée/wife is not the perfectly sinless Son of God (sorry, ladies, you’re not getting away with that, even on Mother’s Day). I would also imagine, however, that Christ’s will for your life is not always how you wanted to go. I imagine you may have vented your frustration to Jesus. After all, if prayer is simply communicating with God, you may have prayed or communicated with God your frustrations. In venting your frustrations, however, you probably never used foul language, you probably never name called, you probably never used put downs or talked down, you probably never resorted to logical fallacies. In the same way, your girlfriend/fiancée/wife does not deserve foul language, name calling, put downs, belittling or logical fallacies in your “intense discussion.” If anybody gets anything out of this point, remember God created the woman to be your savior, so boyfriends and husbands, thank your girlfriend or wife for something that she saved you from, whether that be from loneliness, failure, lack, processed meals, a dirty home, or an out of whack fashion sense.

 

²¹ So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²² And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³ Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” ²⁴ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ²⁵ And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. ~Genesis 2:21-25 (ESV)

According to Genesis 2:21 in the Hebrew Bible, Yahweh created the woman by taking man’s צֵלָע (ṣēlāʿ), which better translates into “side.” Quite possibly, somewhere along the translation line, somebody saw that the Hebrew manuscript said “side,” looked at the human anatomy, wonder to himself, “Now what side organ could the Lord have used to create the woman?” and from that he somehow concluded “rib,” which tradition just stuck with, even until now. Personally, I like to think this is the first recorded kidney transplant. I know some Christians still refuse organ transplants, claiming an organ transplant runs contrary to the Christian faith, but such an argument falls flat when God himself performs an organ transplant. Ultimately, the argument over which organ Yahweh used has no importance, for the symbolism carries the significance of the Lord making the woman out of the man’s side. Now I am going to do something I don’t quite often do: quote Matthew Henry. See, Matthew Henry is like a Nintendo 64: it was really great in its date, but now, it’s incredibly out of date and looks bad. This quote from Matthew Henry, however, has aged quite gracefully. In his commentary on Genesis 2:21-25, Matthew Henry comments, “the woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.” Everybody can let out an “aww” right now. Cuteness aside, Matthew Henry hits on an important part. Even the body part the Lord chose to make the woman out of reflects the woman’s equal status to man.

 

Matthew Henry

Genesis 2:22 records that God brought the woman to the man, just like he did with the animals. The text invites the reader to imagine Yahweh approaching the just awoken Adam, saying in a sing-song voice, “Oh Adam, I have someone else for you to name…” and Adam begins, “Oh come on, Lord, I just woke up, can’t you give me just a bit more time, I just need…” but then Adam sees God’s newest creation and says, “Woah man!” Yes, I couldn’t resist, but there’s a point to that, which will become apparent soon.

At this point in Genesis 2:23, the narrative prose stops and poetry begins. The shift in writing style probably intended to highlight the creation of the woman. The first word to come out of Adam’s mouth is הַפַּ֗עַם (hapǎǎm), or “at last” or “finally,” pointing back to conflict of Adam not finding his equivalent when naming the animals. Adam’s first comments observe how the woman has the bone and flesh and he does. On the surface level, by doing so, Adam observes that Yahweh has made the woman out of the same stuff as him, which already makes her his equal. This is why I included Genesis 2:25 as part of the Scripture. Because both are naked, Adam can clearly see different body parts, yet he states she is made of the same stuff. In Hebrew poetry, however, bones typically symbolize strength, and flesh typically symbolize weakness. Therefore, Adam’s comments observe how the woman shares in the same strengths and weaknesses as he does, further emphasizing the equality. Even more to the point, the ancient Hebrews used the phrase “my own flesh and bones” like modern English-speakers say, “my own flesh and blood.” The saying emphasizes a relationship, even more further highlighting equality.

To cap everything off, Adam names the Lord’s newest creation “woman,” or in the Hebrew text אִשָּׁה (ʾiššā). The Hebrew term for “man” (as in male human) is אִישׁ (ʾīš), and now the Hebrew word for “woman” (as in female human) is אִשָּׁה (ʾiššā). Even without knowing the Hebrew language, anybody can see the terms are remarkably similar, almost the exact same word, with the exception of the extra letter in the end. In fact, this will become a pattern in the Hebrew language, for most, if not all, of the female animal names will simply be the male animal names with a hey at the end. For example, for horses, the male stallion Hebrew is סוּס (sûs), and the female mare is סוּסָה (sûsāh). Even in the naming of the woman reflects the similarity of the woman to the man, almost the same, which displays her equality.

 

¹⁴ The Lord God said to the serpent,

       “Because you have done this,

cursed are you above all livestock

and above all beasts of the field;

       on your belly you shall go,

and dust you shall eat

all the days of your life.

¹⁵    I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring;

       he shall bruise your head,

and you shall bruise his heel.”

¹⁶ To the woman he said,

       “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;

in pain you shall bring forth children.

       Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,

but he shall rule over you.”

¹⁷ And to Adam he said,

       “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife

and have eaten of the tree

       of which I commanded you,

‘You shall not eat of it,’

       cursed is the ground because of you;

in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

¹⁸    thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;

and you shall eat the plants of the field.

¹⁹    By the sweat of your face

you shall eat bread,

       till you return to the ground,

for out of it you were taken;

       for you are dust,

and to dust you shall return.”

~Genesis 3:14-19 (ESV)

 

While I want to focus in on Yahweh conversing with the woman, I put the Lord’s whole dialogue here, in the hopes of seeing a pattern and a lack thereof. Note how God never explicitly curses the woman. Literally, the term “curse,” or אָרַר (ʾārǎr) in the Hebrew text only applies to the serpent (3:14) and the ground (3;17). Notice how Yahweh’s speech the serpent and to Adam begins with “because you…” but the Lord omits this beginning when talking to the woman. Between these two observations, it would seem that what God tells the woman falls more under descriptive than prescriptive. In order words, Yahweh does not actively penalize the woman here, but rather, the Lord passively reminds the woman that sin has its consequences, God makes her fully aware of those consequences. In all fairness to the woman, the serpent deceived the woman, whereas the serpent and the men deliberately rebelled in their sin, as evident by their punishment starting with “because you…”

A lot could be said about Yahweh announcing a multiplication of the woman’s pain in childbearing, but more pertinent to our point about the misogyny entering the world as a result of the fall, Genesis 3:16b deserves more examination. The key words in Genesis 3:16b are תְּשׁוּקָה (t^ešûqāh) and מָשַׁל (māšǎl). Now תְּשׁוּקָה (t^ešûqāh) is an exceedingly rare word in the Hebrew Old Testament, only appearing three times. The first one appears here in Genesis 3:16b. The last one happens in Song of Solomon 7:10, in which, ironically, the man desires the woman, as opposed to Genesis 3:16b, in which the woman desires the man. The middle instance occurs in Genesis 4:7, and this instance also pairs with מָשַׁל (māšǎl). In Genesis 4:7, the Lord informs Cain of what sin wants to do to him. Just as mankind and sin find themselves in a constant struggle of control, as evident by Genesis 4:7, so the man and the woman will find themselves in constant struggle of dominating and submitting, as evident by Genesis 3:16b. What Yahweh intended to become an equal relationship, sin would make a power struggle of dominance and submission. What the Lord intended to become “to love and to cherish” became “to dominate and to submit.” What God intended for reciprocal love would turn into marital stress and strain. Some have used their verse to explain why, even in the most patriarchal societies, despite a woman’s craving for independence, she would still succumb to a marriage. Other have even gone as far as using this verse to explain why some women will still stay with the most abusive husbands. Either way, even if these points are true, the truth remains that sexism, misogyny and patriarchy are the result of evil sin infiltrating Yahweh’s good creation.

The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living ~Genesis 3:20 (ESV).

 Scholars could and have said much about the name of Eve. Without diving too much in the Hebrew language, a few things deserve pointing out for the name Eve. First, note that the Hebrew name for Eve, חַוָּ֑ה (havvah), looks nothing like the Hebrew term for humans, אָדָם (adam), or the Hebrew word for man, אִישׁ (ʾîš). Already, the sinful nature has begun taking over Adam, and he has already begun distancing himself from Eve. Second, notice how Eve’s name means “mother of all living.” No longer is the woman “a savior equal to him,” but rather, Adam sees Eve as just “the mother of his children.” Ouch! Again, the sinful nature in Adam desires to distance himself from Eve. Together they reveal that, when Adam names the woman Eve, he treats her no differently than when he named the animals, asserting his dominance over the woman, demanding her submissiveness. Once again, the sexism, misogyny and patriarchy came about as a product of humanity’s fall into sin.

Not only does Genesis 3 not direct the primary blame for the Fall upon the woman Eve, the whole Bible does not direct the primary blame for the Fall, especially including the New Testament. Take a look at a couple New Testament verses-

¹² Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— ¹³ for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. ¹⁴ Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. ~Romans 5:12-14 (ESV)

²¹ For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. ²² For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. ~1 Corinthians 15:22&23 (ESV)

Note how both Scriptures don’t say “the woman” or “Eve.” Notice how both passages don’t even say “the man and the woman” or “Adam and Eve.” Both Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15 merely put the blame of sin and death on the man, on Adam. The idea of woman solely bringing sin, death, sorrows and suffering into the world would make sense to either the Old Testament Jew or the New Testament Christian.

Before closing, let me briefly touch on some objections some may have, but please note that these 2 exceptions I will bring up deserve a close and thorough examination, each on their own.

³ But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God…⁷ For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. ⁸ For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. ⁹ Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. ¹⁰ That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. ¹¹ Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; ¹² for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God. ~1 Corinthians 11:3,7-12 (ESV)

Please recall that the epistles are highly contextualized. Paul writes to a certain people at a certain place at a certain time, to address occasions that may arise out of that historical, geographical and cultural. In 1 Corinthians 11:3, the Greek term κεφαλή (kephalē) literally means “head,” but figurately it means “authority” or “source.” I prefer the latter because then 1 Corinthians 11:3 points back to Genesis 2:21&22. 1 Corinthians 10:7 reminds the reader that Paul wants to address why he believes men should prayer and prophesy with heads uncovered, while women should pray and prophesy with their heads covered. A cult in Corinth allowed women to pray with their heads uncovered, which would sometimes come off as sexual. Paul did not want the new and budding church in Corinth to get mixed with the cult. Paul’s command here for women to cover their heads intended to distance the church from the cult, and also quite possibly prevent women from becoming a sexual distraction in the Christian church. The idea of woman becoming the glory of man does not put her is a submissive or servient role. To the contrary, the woman received glory by giving glory to her husband. If anything, Paul presents giving glory to the husband as another opportunity women could give glory to God. Paul recollects the creation of the woman in Genesis 2 to remind the Christian women in Corinth how God created the women to turn something not good to something good in the very good creation, and likewise, Paul calls on the women to serve God in the same exact way.

¹² I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. ¹³ For Adam was formed first, then Eve; ¹⁴ and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. ¹⁵ Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control. ~1 Timothy 2:12-15 (ESV)

Again, please recall that the epistles are highly contextualized. Paul writes to a certain people at a certain place at a certain time, to address occasions that may arise out of that historical, geographical and cultural. When Timothy takes over the church in Ephesus, a heresy known as Gnosticism became quite popular. Gnosticism loved combining Greek and Roman philosophy with Jewish, and sometimes Christian, religion. Mixed in with all the heresy, Gnosticism at this time proclaimed a liberation and empowering of women. Paul did not necessarily oppose the liberation and empowering of women. Rather, he feared that message would lure in good Christian women, who would buy into the heresy just to get a taste of the liberation and empowerment, and then these women would proclaim the heresies back at the church. In other words, Paul feared that Gnosticism would deceive the good Christian women of Ephesus, hence why Paul emphasizes how Eve got deceived. At the current time, as the best advice Paul could think up, he advised Timothy to put hiatus on women teaching, until the church could determine the women remain uninfluenced by any heresy. Likewise, a church should only hold back on a woman preaching or teaching if they fear she will preach or teach heresy from the pulpit. Otherwise, let her preach and teach!

To conclude, anybody who claims the Bible is misogynist lies. First, while so many creation myth lack a creation of woman story, and for those that do, a lot of them put the creation of the woman in a negative light. To the contrary, the Bible does have a creation of woman story, and it does put it in a positive light. Second, the Bible clearly announces the man and the woman equally made in the image of God. Third, the Lord makes the woman with the intention that woman will become “ a savior equal” to man. Fourth, by calling her “woman,” man identifies his sameness and equality to her. Fifth, because of the lack of “because you” or “cursed” in the woman’s penalty, Yahweh deflect putting all the blame on the woman for the fall. Sixth, not until after the Fall of humanity into sin does Adam assert his dominance by naming her Eve. On this Mother’s Day, women thank the Lord for creating you the way he did, and men, thank God for putting the women, whether mother, aunts, sisters, cousins, wives, sisters or friends, into your life to serve as your “savior.”

John 4: The Woman Who Met Mr. Right

I hope you liked my devotional commentary on John 3. I know I did. I wasn’t expecting it to go the evangelistic route, but it did, and I liked it. I know for sure this John 4 commentary will go that route. When I was in 8th grade, the 8th grade Bible curriculum at my middle school was the Gospel of John. I remember that when the class got to John, the teacher paused to do a whole unit of evangelism and witnessing. I would like to do the same because I clearly see evangelism in John 4, too. While John 3 was evangelistic because the chapter preached a Gospel message of salvation; John 4 will be evangelistic because it will disciple believers on how to evangelize to non-believers (although if a non-believer paid close attention to what Jesus is saying in John 4, I believe a non-believer could come to faith). In John 4, the reader learns how to evangelize by watching Jesus do it Himself. The person Jesus will evangelize to is not like Nicodemus in chapter 3. In fact, you’ll find out she is almost the quite opposite.

Before John dives into the “meat” of the story, even before John describes the setting of the story, John sets the scene for the setting. The first 3 verses in John 4 actually clarify something all the way back in John 1. John 4:1-3 clarifies why Jews in Jerusalem were sending priests and Levites to observe John the Baptist. They weren’t curious; they were keeping on eye on him. They were making sure John the Baptist didn’t start a revolution, either a religious one or a political one. Why? Because John the Baptist had earned quite the following. If so many people were following John the Baptist and becoming his disciple, he must be up to something. By the time John 4 rolls around, people are following John the Baptist less and following Jesus more. The only thing John the Baptist’s disciples are listening to is John the Baptist saying, “Go follow Jesus.” With less people around John the Baptist, the Jews from Jerusalem saw John the Baptist as a “fad” or a “phase,” but no longer a threat (the only one who saw John the Baptist as a threat was Herod, but that’s for later). But now Jesus has the large following, so now Jesus is seen as the possible threat. From now on, the Jews in Jerusalem are keeping a closer eye on Jesus. During John 4, Jesus does not feel comfortable or safe in Judea because of the Jews in Jerusalem, so He decides it is best to return to Galilee.

Onto the setting of the book. The land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, once known as Israel, has now been divided into 3 regions by the Roman Empire. Galilee is in the north, between the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Galilee. Judea is in south, between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea. Between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, between Galilee and Judea, right smack dab in the middle, is a region of land called Samaria. Its inhabitants are the Samaritans. The Jews and the Samaritans did not get along. They hated each other with racial prejudice.

Quick history lesson. To understand the racial hostility between Jews and Samaritans, we have to go back to the time of Divided Kingdom of Israel and Judah. God warned both Israel and Judah that if they did not follow the Law, they would be conquered and they would be exiled. Of course neither Israel nor Judah listened and instead both broke the law. God followed through with his warning. In 722 BC, Israel would be conquered and exiled by the Assyrians, and in 586 BC, Judah would be conquered and exiled by the Babylonians. The Assyrians and the Babylonians had different views on how to deal with conquered people. The Babylonians would take the upper class citizens of the conquered back to their main homeland and capital, leaving only the lower class conquered people back in their homeland (there was no middle class at this time period). The Assyrians, on the other hand, did the opposite. Instead of dragging people back to your homeland, you implant your people in the new land, and have them intermingle with the natives, keeping the conquerors at a higher status than the conquered. And so that’s what happened. The upper class of Judah was exiled to Babylon, while the lower class of Judah was left to fend for themselves with whatever was left over. The Assyrians moved into their new conquered land of Israel and settled there, intermingling with the people. Now the Jews, the people from Judah (the term “Jew” does technically come from “citizen of Judah”), realized that their exile was due to the sin, so they finally sincerely repented. All the years in exile, the Jews of Judah lived a life following the Law. The conquered Israelites didn’t exactly get the picture still. They kept up with their old sinful habits. As the Assyrians intermingled with the Israelites, the Israelites intermingled with the Assyrians. The Israelites took on the ethnical, cultural, political and spiritual identity of Assyrians. Some Israelites and Assyrians intermarried. I will note here that some of this intermarrying was willing and intentional, but sometimes Israelites were forced to marry Assyrians. After all, the Assyrians were the ones in change, and Israel had to submit to them. So the offspring of these intermarriages created a new race of people. They were the Samaritans.

So when the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were allowed back into their original lands, thanks to the Persian, Greek and Roman Empire, the reunion between the Jews and the Samaritans was not a happy one. The Jews found out that the Israelites had intermarried with a foreign people, a direct violation of God’s Law. The pious Jews would have nothing to do with a people who did not obey God’s Law. The Jews refused to consider the Samaritans as real Jews, even though the Samaritans believed they were. The Jews saw the Samaritans as “half-breeds” and they looked down upon them for it. Jews would not eat at the same table as Samaritans, nor would they even eat from the same dishes a Samaritan used. The Jews would not allow Samaritans to use their temple on Mount Zion or read from their scrolls. So in order for the Samaritans to continue their religion, they had to build their own temple on Mt. Gerizim, and they had to write their own Scriptures, in order to make sense of a temple on Mt. Gerizim. Yet when the Jews heard this, they criticized the Samaritans for not even being true Jews in religious worship. It would seem as if the Samaritans were stuck in a rut, with no way out. So the Jews and Samaritans became enemies, with racial hostility between them. The hostility got so bad, Jews traveling between Galilee and Judah would go around Samaria instead of going through. If they would have gone right through Samaria, the trip would only take 3-4 days, but they hated the Samaritans so much, they took a trip that lasted 7-10 days!

With that in mind, imagine the disciples’ reactions when Jesus tells them they have to go through Samaria. They might have thought He was out of His mind. I imagine that the racial hostility between the Jews and Samaritans got so bad, that at this point, it might have become unsafe for a Jew to travel through Samaria, like today it is unsafe for an Israeli to be in Palestine. Maybe Jesus stressed a need of urgency to get back to Galilee, so the disciples were willing to go along with the plan. Then imagine the reaction from the disciples when they get to Sychar, and Jesus tells the 12 disciples to go off without Him to find food. If some of the disciples were willing to walk in Samaria because they knew they had God the Son Incarnate literally walking beside them, they didn’t have that anymore. I bet as they walked through Sychar, they said to one another, “Alright, stay close together, watch each other’s back…” But as we begin our story, I have a feeling Jesus purposely sent the disciples away, for a bigger reason than to look for food because he was hungry. Jesus was about to encounter a Samaritan. He didn’t want his Jewish disciples giving neither Him nor the Samaritan hard time for having a conversation. After all, these were the disciples who rebuked children (see Matthew 19:13-15, Mark 10:13-16, Luke 18:15-17), so they probably would have no problem rebuking an adult.

One more time, let me summarize the setting. Jesus and His disciples are in the region of Samaria, a region hated by Jews. More specifically, Jesus and His disciples are in the town of Sychar. This town has some Old Testament history, as it is the land Jacob gave Joseph and Joseph’s sons. Some scholars believe that Sychar is the New Testament name for the Old Testament time of Shechem. Even more specifically, Jesus is sitting at Jacob’s well, which also has some Old Testament history (see Genesis 33:18-20). As for the time, it is the “6th hour,” which is believed to be around noon, about midday.

While Jesus is sitting at the well, waiting for his disciples to return with lunch, a Samaritan woman comes to the well to draw water. Jesus asks her for a drink. This might seem like a simple question to those reading this story in 21st century, but in the 1st century, this was a shocker. On top of racism between Jews and the Gentiles, sexism was very strong. Most women in the day lived in the shadow of men. They were not allowed to speak unless they were spoken to, and most of the time, it was culturally unacceptable for men and women to have conversation in public. So this person had two strikes against her: she was a Samaritan and she was a woman. Most Jewish rabbis would be so appalled by her, they would totally ignore her, as if she didn’t exist. If they were really thirsty, they would probably be more willing to dehydrate than have to ask her water. How shocked and surprised she must have been to see a Jewish man talking to her a Samaritan woman. She even tries to remind him of the social barrier between the two of them.

Christ’s move is genius, though. Jesus has got her attention, but not he needs to hook her curiosity. So Jesus says something along the lines of, “Oh, if you only knew who you were talking to, you’d be asking me for water, and not just any water, but living water.” Now the Samaritan woman’s curiosity is hooked, but it might hooked by a misconception. Just like Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman might have tried to understand Christ’s words in a literal, physical way. Back in Bible terms, wells, or cisterns, had tops that were open and exposed to nature. So the water wasn’t as clean as it is today. The dirt, bugs and other junk would be at the top of the water, and the cleanest of water would be at the bottom. People in the 1st century lacked the technology to get the clean water from the bottom without the dirty water on the top. The Samaritan woman might have thought Jesus was claiming He could do such a thing. The Samaritan woman pretty much replies, “Who do you think you are?” and then citing a famous patriarch, Jacob. She questions if Jesus is better than Jacob. While the Greek shows that she asked it in a way that expects a response of “no,” the irony of it all is Jesus is greater than their forefather Jacob.

Jesus tries to clarify what He meant. He explains that the water in this well will make people thirsty again, but then He offers Living Water, in which people will never thirst again and they will have eternal life. At this point, the Samaritan woman goes from a liberal understand of the physical laws to a supernatural understanding. She’s imagining a literal water she can drink so her body will never literally thirst again. It would be like she could drink one cup of this water and never have to worry about dehydration ever again. Now Jesus has her full, undivided attention. Of course she wants this water! If she had this water, she wouldn’t need to keep going back and forth to the well to get water so often. She’s all ears on how to get this water.

What Jesus does next is challenges the Samaritan women by asking her to bring her husband. I bet Jesus said it subtly and innocently, like, “Alright, bring your husband so I can tell him, too.” Now the Samaritan woman knows what kind of trouble she’s in. So she tries to also cunningly reply that she has no husband. Jesus replies, “You’re right, you don’t have a (1) husband. You have husbands. Five, to be precise, and maybe a possible 6th, because the man you are with now isn’t one of the 5…” Doesn’t this sound perfect for a Jerry Springer episode?

And now all of a sudden it makes sense why the Samaritan woman is at the well during the middle of the day. You were probably thinking, “Why would someone be doing chores like fetching water in the middle of the day when it’s the hottest out?” You’re right, something is wrong with that. But understanding this Samaritan woman’s situation, it makes sense. Indeed, most of the women would do all their outside chores, like fetching water, at sunrise and sunset, when the sun wasn’t shining down directly on them. But women around a well in Bible times are like office co-workers around the water cooler. Gossip is rampant, and this Samaritan woman was probably the talk of the town. You can’t sleep around with 5 different men and not get some nasty rumors circulated about you. It wouldn’t surprise me if the women of the town called this one Samaritan woman “slut,” “tramp,” “whore,” “ho,” or “prostitute.” The women probably pointed fingers at her, fingers of accusations, meant to put her down. Perhaps even if she went to the well with the rest of the women, the women would ignore, and they would pass her with chins up. So that’s probably half the reason this Samaritan woman came at noon: because the other women weren’t there. The other half of the reason is who IS there. At noon, it’s lunch break for the men who have been working hard out in the fields or with the flocks. They will gather around the well for a water break. It’s very probably that’s where this Samaritan woman got her 5 husbands. It’s very likely she goes there to pick up me. And may I even suggest a scary, odd thought: Maybe the Samaritan woman was trying to pick up Jesus.

Like any other person caught in sin, the Samaritan woman tries to change the subject. The Samaritan woman pretty much says, “Alright then, Mr. Smarty pants, if you are so smart, tell me which mountain is the right mountain to worship on: Mount Zion in Judea or Mount Gerazim in Samaria.” Remember the Jews would not allow Samaritans to worship at the temple on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. So the Samaritans had to result in building their temple. Rising hostilities between the 2 races led to religious arguments over the right place to worship. Between Jews and Samaritans, the right place of worship was a hot topic. Jesus gives a simple reply, saying it’s not where you worship that’s important, but rather how you worship. After all, it is made possible by Christ’s atoning death, in which we all become temples for the Holy Spirit.

The Samaritan woman isn’t fully satisfied with this answer. All she can reply is “Well, I know when the Messiah comes, He’ll tell us the right answer and straighten everything out.” To which Jesus raises his hand and says, “That would be me.” This is the first recorded time that Jesus declares Himself to be the Messiah. Jesus hadn’t told anyone this before, not any man, not any Jew, not His own family, not even His disciples. Up to this point, the disciples are just going on the assumption Jesus is the Messiah, and it’s true Jesus has done nothing to deny these claims, not stop these claims. The first person Jesus tells that He is the Messiah is a person with 3 strikes against: Samaritan, woman, adulterer.

Just as Jesus makes His confession, the disciples walk back to the well with lunch. They see Jesus say something to the Samaritan woman, and then see the Samaritan woman run into town all excited. The first thing on their mind is “What was that all about?” The second thing on their mind, being the stereotypical Jewish men they were was, “Why is Jesus talking to her?” But of course, no one is brave enough to call Jesus out on this, afraid of consequence, for good reason. They made the smart call by keeping quiet. Then Jesus and His disciples have a little conversation, something like this-

Disciples: “Jesus, eat something”
Jesus: “I have Living Food, so I never go hungry”
Disciples: “Wait, did someone else bring you food?”
Jesus: *sigh* “Not again… Didn’t I just get done with this?...”

Meanwhile, the Samaritan woman is going through the town of Sychar, urging everyone to go see Jesus. Her tagline: “He told me everything I ever did.” Well, who wouldn’t want to see the stranger that knows everyone’s life in and out? So many Samaritans come down to meet Jesus and listen to him. I wonder if this made the Jewish disciples uncomfortable. The Samaritan people are so impressed by Jesus, they urge Jesus to stay for a couple more days, and he does. During that time, because of the Samaritan woman’s testimony, many Samaritans come to believe in Jesus as the Messiah and the Savior of the world.

Before we move onto the direct application of the chapter, let’s quickly glance back at the overall application of the book with the book’s theme. How does John 4 portray Jesus as the Son of God, or God the Son? Well, the obvious answer is we see the omniscience (all-knowing) of God in Jesus because Jesus knows the Samaritan woman’s adulterous life without her telling him. The Samaritan woman can testify to that. The other proof is within Christ’s teachings. His words alone are bringing people to faith. But the strongest evidence that makes Jesus the Son of God is His love and compassion for a Samaritan woman, who was an outcast three times to Jewish men. Any other Jewish rabbi would have ignored her, but Jesus cared about her spiritual well-being and was out to save her from her sin and bring her into his family. This love can only be seen from God, who loves and cares for all His creation.

Alright, now onto the discipleship of evangelism. Clearly we see evangelism happen in John 4, as Jesus presents the gospel message to the Samaritan woman and she comes to salvation. Before I go further, let me add a disclaimer that there is no perfect “cookie-cutter” method to evangelism that will work perfectly for everyone every time. As one who has the gift of evangelism, I had heard many methods to evangelism, and I can see the pros and cons of each method. I believe that Christ’s evangelism to the Samaritan woman shows a method of evangelism, and it gives us good pointers. Did the evangelism of the perfect, sinless Jesus have its cons? In context, no. Jesus, being the all-knowing God, knew exactly what the Samaritan woman needed and was able use the method of evangelism that would best work with her. We, as humans, are finite and flawed beings who will not be able to figure out every little detail of a person’s life, so even if we used the exact same methods, we would still not have a perfect method to evangelism. Still, John 4 gives us a few good pointers for whatever method we use, so let’s look at those pointers.

1. Find a common ground to talk about to open conversation
A lot of times I think 20th and 21st Century American Christians are guilty of “ambush evangelism” in a few aspects of their evangelism. The definition of ambush, according to the Merriam-Website Collegiate Dictionary (11th Edition), is “a trap in which a concealed person lies in wait to attack by surprise.” Sometimes Christians do that to non-Christian. A non-Christian might be just walking down the road, mind his/her own business, when, all of a sudden, a Christian pops up out of nowhere and starts talking about Christianity. It can be positive and passive, like “Jesus loves you! He wants you to be part of His family in heaven!” It can be negative and aggressive, like “Repent of your wicked sins and be saved from the fires of hell!” Either way, it’s an interjection that catches one off guard and by surprise. Have you ever thought of what kind of message that is sending to whomever you are evangelizing to? They are getting the message all you want to do is talk about your faith, convert them to your faith, and whatever the results may be, when you are done, you are done with them. This can be a turn off right from the start because it shows little care about the person himself/herself.

Instead of starting by talking about your faith, open the conversation with some other topic you both have interest in and you can both openly converse on. I believe Jesus was doing this in John 4:7 when he simply asked for a drink. Most likely the Samaritan woman was at the well because she too was thirsty and needed water to drink. She was thirsty and needing a drink, and Jesus was thirsty and needing a drink. There’s your common ground. Common ground doesn’t have to be too complicated. If it’s at a restaurant, compare favorite dishes. For girls who like talking about clothing, comment on each other’s outfits. Speaking of clothing, look at their shirts. What people wear can tell you a lot about their personality. If you have a good knowledge about the subject they are advertising on their clothing, talk about it. Most people know what’s going in the world, so you can use current events to open conversation, like the news, the weather, or sports. On the same note, most people know about the media coming out of Hollywood, so movies, television and music can be a conversation starter, too. But I would really encourage you to evangelize to someone who shares a favorite hobby of yours, so you can talk about that. Why? All the other things I mentioned above would just be short and “shallow” conversations in order just to get conversation. But if it’s your favorite hobby, activity or interest, you probably know it front and back, left and right. If the person you are evangelizing to also shares that hobby, activity or interest as favorite, he/she will also be able to talk about as well as you can. Then you can go in-depth with the conversation. For the deeper you can do with the conversation start, the more it will display how much you genuinely care for the person, and that you are not just trying to add another one to the Christian number. Just remember, this initial common ground conversation cannot be about religion, beliefs or faith. For if you are a Christian, and he/she is a non-Christian, that is not common ground.

2. Make a smooth transition into talking about your faith
Once again, another way Christians do “ambush evangelism” is they might start a conversation other than Christianity, but then they will make a sharp turn into talking about the faith. One minute the non-Christian thinks he’s having a nice conversation with a Christian about something else than religion, so he let’s his shields down, then all a sudden the Christian says out of no where, “You need to believe in Jesus!” and the shields have to quickly spring up. Again, think about the message you are sending when you this. It does feel like you are entrapping the non-Christian. The only reason you had the nice conversation about whatever was just because you wanted to lure them in talking about faith. If the conversation before now seems fake, it, once again, will seem like you really don’t care for the person.

Notice the first thing Jesus says to the Samaritan woman in John 4:7 and then the second thing Jesus says to the Samaritan woman in John 4:10. Both lines are talking about water and about drinking water (although those words might not be used exactly). Jesus smoothly went from asking for a drink of water (talking about a physical need) to talking about drinking Living Water (a spiritual need). The smooth transition will make it seem less like an ambush to talk about faith, and more like a natural change of subject. There’s a couple ways to do this. The first method I call the 3 C’s: correlates, contradicts, or corrects. “Correlate” means it agrees with your Christian faith. “Contradict” means it doesn’t agree with your faith. “Corrects” means it agrees with your faith in some areas, but in other areas it does not, but after making the corrections with the areas it does not agree, it now fully agrees. Talk about if your faith correlates, contradicts or corrects with the subject you started talking about. A second transition you can use is comparing your opening subject to the simple, overall redemptive history God has written. If you are unaware of this simple, overall redemptive history, it simply states the history recorded in the Bible can be simplified into four stages: God created the world and man, man and the world fell into sin, Jesus redeemed man and the world, the Holy Spirit is re-creating man and the world. To shorten it to just one word each: Creation, Fall, Redemption, Re-Creation. See if any of those 4 stages can be seen in what you were talking about before. One stage, if not all 4, if you were talking about popular books, movies or TV shows. Compare what it says to what the Bible says. A third approach I would use is to take something from your earlier conversation and turn it into an analogy for something in Bible. Jesus used this in John 4, calling salvation “Living Water” because they were talking about drinking water. So do the same. Say, “You know, [previous subject] kind of reminds me of [something in the Bible]…” Those are 3 transitions I would believe would work. But may I add that transitions may not happen immediately. They may take time. After your first initial conversation about whatever may not lead into talking about your faith. You might need to have a couple common ground discussions before you can discuss your beliefs. Be patient, as God is patient, and it will all come in time.

3. Hook them and lure them in to an interest
Don’t make your evangelism a boring lecture about what you believe. Anyone listening to that will zone out and not care. Look how Jesus piqued her interest. He said he had a water in which the drinker will never thirst and have eternal life, and the Samaritan woman immediately wanted it. To put it in the words of the song “Shine” by the Newsboys, you got to “make them wonder what you got, make them wish that they were not on the outside looking bored.” For example, if you are talking about something materialistic, like the latest fashion or the more recent technological gadget, say, “It’s OK I don’t have one, I know have a greater treasure than that.” Show them that that you have something they don’t, and make them want it, or even better, need it.” Expose the need. If they are scared about what happens after they die, say to them you have comfort in your life after death. If they are afraid and worried about their future on earth, tell them you feel secure because you know God is watching over you. Many unsaved people out there feel like their life is incomplete, even if they have a life where they can do whatever they want and party hard. Many unsaved people have fallen for the lies of the world, that worldly ways will bring happiness. Demonstrate that even if you don’t have that life, you feel complete and joyful. If you can display joy without having a worldly life, it will blow their mind.

4. Expose the Problem and the Need
An answer is no good if there’s no question. A solution is no good if there is no problem. You need to expose the problem and the need. I already started talking about that in the last point. That “expose the need” was more along the lines of demonstrating you have something they don’t to draw them in. At this point, it could more of “expose the want” because, at this point, it’s just something the person might want. Now it’s time to turn the want into a need. This “expose the need” is showing them the problem in their lives. We Christians know the problem is sin.

Now there’s a right way and a wrong way to expose sin, and we have to be careful with how we expose sin. I’m going to reference back to John 3 for this. Remember how John 3 says that Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world? Since we are following in the path of Jesus, we are to be like Him, and this means our evangelism is not one that condemns, which means to judge guilty of sin, with no way out. Make sure in no way it appears as if you exposing their sin so you lift yourself above them morally, or so you can be right and they can be wrong. It’s a turn off. Display you are exposing their sin out of genuine concern for their life and their well-being. Remember we said that the word “perish” in John 3:16 is along the lines of “ruining.” So when exposing sin, show how their sin(s) is(are) ruining their life.

One more note on exposing sin, don’t touch “hot-button” subjects, like homosexuality or abortion. Yes, they are sins, but even if you witnessing to a gay man or a lesbian woman, or you are evangelizing to an abortion “doctor” or a woman who got an abortion, don’t bring them up. These hot topics can become just as much political as religious, so you could be mistaken for preaching political propaganda instead of evangelizing the gospel. But I also think it is a strong witness. What a strong witness it is to avoid these, but bring up other sins in their life which they truly see as a problem. My favorite sin (that sounds so wrong) to talk about is lying. My generation has gotten so use to lying, they see it as natural. It will really open their mind to how destructive it can be. On that note, try to nab a sin that really drives home to the person. Jesus was able to do that with the Samaritan woman when he exposed her for her adultery. The more closer and more harder you hit home, the more the person knows he/see needs a solution.

5. Be prepared to answer questions and objections
When the Samaritan woman was faced with her sin, she quickly changed the subject. You’ll face that too when evangelizing. She decided to change the subject with a question, possibly to throw Jesus off. You’ll face the same. People will ask you questions. Some questions are real questions because they don’t understand something, and they want answers. Other questions are fake questions, meant to throw you off, show contradictions in your faith, or to object to Christianity. Know you will face these questions and be prepared. Study up, and always be prepared to be to give an answer and give a defense (1 Peter 3:15). And if you don’t know, it’s OK that you don’t know. If you don’t know, don’t try to pass it off as if you do know. Be honest and admit you don’t know. But make sure you make clear a difference between “don’t know” and “don’t care.” Even if you don’t know, do care. If you have the time, tell the person you will look it up and find an answer. Just make sure that you demonstrate that even if you don’t know, you still have faith in your beliefs, not knowing doesn’t mean your faith is wrong.

6. Point out the Way to the Solution
The Samaritan woman knew the solution was the Messiah, for she knew that Messiah would come and fix everything. What the Samaritan woman didn’t know was Jesus was the Messiah. When Jesus revealed He was the Christ, the Samaritan woman believed and came to salvation. Your evangelism is no good if there is no solution. Even if you start the conversation on a non-related topic, smoothly go into the topic of faith, interest them in the topic, expose their need and answer all questions, it’s no good if you cannot give a solution to their problem. Now’s the time to give the solution. The solution can be shared in five steps. First, say that Jesus is God, is man, and is perfect. Second, tell them that Jesus willingly died on the cross to pay the payment for our sins. Third, say that Jesus rose 3 days later, defeating sin, evil and death. Fourth, tell them that they can be saved of their sins if they repent of their sins, believe in Jesus and follow Him. Fifth, say that God promises all who repent and believe will be forgiven of their sins, welcomed into God’s family, and have a room in heaven one day. It’s as simple as that. Have your Bible ready if the person you are evangelizing to needs proof.

One more note I need to make on sharing the solution. Be careful of the words you pick! Being Christian for so long, you may have picked up “Christian-ese” a foreign language to non-Christians. I have a funny story that shows this. One night I was having dinner with a non-Christian at a diner. She was checking Facebook on her phone, and while still looking at her phone, she said to me, “Graham, you’re a Christian, right?” I confirmed. She went on, “My friend is a Christian who goes to Liberty University.” I’ll admit, I thought in my head, “Oh no…” The young lady continued, “My friend’s Facebook status says, ‘Volunteered at the Campus Crusade and saw 9 people give their lives to Christ. So excited!’ What does she mean when she says ‘gave their life to Christ’? Are the Liberty students performing human sacrifices? Is there a ritual suicide happening down there? I’m pretty sure both are illegal.” I did my best to suppress breaking out in laughter because her question was a sincere one. She didn’t know about being a living sacrifice, so the term “giving your life to Christ” was totally foreign. I had to explain it was pretty much converting to Christianity. As much as Christians like to avoid the term “converting” because it’s “too religious,” it’s the only term she understood, so I had to use it. Use terms they will understand.

7. If the person receives Christ, encourage her to spread the good news!
Look at the Samaritan woman’s reaction when she found out Jesus was the Messiah. How did she act? When she realized Jesus was the Messiah, she ran back into town and told everyone that they needed to meet this man, who she was pretty sure was the Messiah. The gospel message is a contagious one. We want to tell everyone the good news because it changed our lives. Someone who sincerely comes to faith in Christ will also want to spread the good news. Do not hinder them to do so. Let them do it. Don’t worry about if the new Christian will know how to start or what to say. If their salvation is genuine, they know the transformation that has happened in their life and they will communicate that transformation. On top of evangelism, encourage them to spiritually grow in other places, like Bible reading, praying, confessing and fellowshipping. If they don’t have a Bible, give them one. If they don’t have a church, invite them to your church or set them up with a local church.

I’ll write down the 7 bullet points together you can see them together

7 Tips for Evangelism Learned in John 4
1. Find a common ground to talk about to open conversation
2. Make a smooth transition to talking about your faith
3. Hook them and lure them into an interest
4. Expose the Problem and the Need
5. Be prepared to answer questions and objects
6. Point out the way to the solution
7. If the person receives Christ, encourage them to share the good news!

So go out and try it. Start with people you already have connections with, such as family, relatives and friends. Remember, the only thing you can bring into heaven with you is family, relatives and friends, so make sure they are coming with you. Then branch out into you local community, and then the surrounding communities. If every Christian could start out by just doing this, they could easily spread the gospel to the ends of the earth. So go out and show the world that Jesus is the ultimate Mr. Right, for men and women of all tongues, all tribes and all nations!