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PETER

Was the apostle Peter a male chauvinist who viewed women as inferior?

The Da Vinci Code asserts that the apostle Peter had a low and perhaps antagonistic view of women. This view is hinted at more than once in the book, but nowhere more pointedly than at the climactic point in the story where the author, Dan Brown, is about to uncover the so-called "greatest coverup in human history." According to Brown's novel, Jesus was not only married, but He fathered a child with Mary Magdalene. It's near this place in the narrative that one of Brown's characters, Leigh Teabing, tells of a supposed conversation between Peter and Levi (also called Matthew):

"Peter said, 'Did the Savior really speak with a woman without our knowledge? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer her to us?' And Levi answered, 'Peter, you have always been hot-tempered. Now I see you contending against the woman like an adversary'" (Brown, p.247).

This alleged exchange between two of the men closest to Jesus was taken from the "Gospel of Mary Magdalene"—one of the supposed "lost gospels" that tell the "real" story of Jesus.

Brown's character goes on to suggest that Peter was unhappy with "playing second fiddle to a woman" (p. 248). And the accusations get even stronger. Robert Langdon, the main character in the book, floats the idea that Leonardo Da Vinci, one of the protectors of the secret "truth" about Jesus and Mary Magdalene, sought to communicate Peter's strong disregard for women in his famous painting, The Last Supper.

"In the painting, Peter was leaning menacingly toward Mary Magdalene and slicing his blade-like hand across her neck" (Brown, p.248).

While the basis for such a tenuous claim about Da Vinci's painting is questionable at best, the claim speaks symbolically to a real issue: male oppression of women. No one can deny that the pages of history are filled with examples of male oppression. God Himself predicted (not sanctioned) that this would happen after Adam and Eve ate fruit from the forbidden tree. Before banishing them from Eden, God stated that one of the natural consequences of the Fall would be that husbands would misuse their strength to dominate their wives (Genesis 3:16).

Throughout history, culture after culture has allowed husbands to treat their wives as slaves. Many men viewed women as nothing more than property or sexual objects. In many ways, women could do little more than bear children, cook, and clean. Over time, women slowly started to have more of a place in the world, but it was still far below the place of men. It has not been until recent years that parts of the world, namely the industrialized West, have granted women the rights and privileges that for centuries belonged only to men.

Some believe that the Bible approves of male domination. It's true that God permitted some unhealthy forms of patriarchalism. Out of a desire for mankind to freely love Him, God has allowed many harmful things to occur as mankind freely chose to reject Him. But that doesn't mean that God approves of male domination any more than He approves of murder or rape. What we find in the pages of the Bible is not an approval of male domination, but an attempt by God to lessen its painful effects.

For example, Old Testament law said that the most socially disadvantaged Jewish women (a daughter sold into economic servitude), was to be cared for "according to the customs of daughters" (Exodus 20:9). If her husband neglected to provide her food, clothing, and conjugal rights, she was to be granted a divorce without penalty (Exodus 21:10-11).The law even provided protection to a non-Jewish woman captured in war. If she was taken in marriage by a Jewish man, he was legally responsible to provide for her food, clothing, and marital rights. If he failed to provide for her, the law ordered him to set her free from the marriage (Deuteronomy 21:11-14). This kind of consideration for women was unheard of in the surrounding cultures of that day, where women held virtually no rights.¹

When Jesus arrived on the scene, women were still not highly regarded. And yet time and time again He broke social taboos and showed women great respect. He surprised even His own disciples when He initiated a serious conversation with a woman who had been married five times and was living with yet another man (John 4:1-42). Jesus allowed many women to travel with Him and support Him in His ministry (Luke 8:1-3). It was a woman, Mary Magdalene, to whom He first appeared after His resurrection (John 20:10-18).

Male domination is a dark stain on the history of humanity. There is no doubt it has caused women to suffer greatly, and encouraged generation after generation of men to misuse their God-given strength. But there is no credible evidence to suggest that the apostle Peter thought less of women. In fact, what we see in the pages of the Bible is a man who encouraged husbands to be "considerate" of their wives and to "treat them with respect" (1 Peter 3:7). Peter, as does the rest of the Bible, recognized that men and women are different in some significant ways, but in no way does being different mean that one gender is inferior or superior to the other.

1 William J. Webb, Slaves, Women, and Homosexuals, pp. 76-81