What is Biblical Womanhood? Free Bible Study

If we want to understand God’s own heart, we must dig into His Word. Let’s explore biblical womanhood through this simple Bible study!

The religious landscape has undergone significant shifts over the past 100 years or so. And if Christians aren’t careful, they will shift right along with it.

What a battle to fight! Especially in the age of social media, when the comparison game is alive and well. Social media is dotted with highlight reels and rose-colored glasses. How hard it is to fight off the temptation to compare ourselves to what we see online!

Even if we log off of social media, we have social pressures around us. When we walk through the grocery store. When we catch up with friends from high school or college. The temptation to make our lives easier or seek greener pastures is always present.

Settling down with God’s word is the one, sure-fire way I can fight against comparison. It’s how I can get my mind right and know that while it feels like I’m serving my family, I’m serving God.

I hope that this bible study encourages you to lean into your role as a woman of God. I hope it answers questions like:

– Do I need to be a mother to pursue Biblical womanhood?

– What is my purpose as a woman of God?

– What are the different ways God describes women in the Bible?

I pray that you truly dive into God’s Word and understand what it means to be a woman of God!

This is the third post in a 3-part series on Biblical womanhood and the trad wife movement. Check out the first part of the series here and the second part of the series here. Scroll to the bottom of this blog post to download your Bible study!

How Trad Wives Refocused On Conservative Values

When trad wives blew up on social media, I was drawn to what they encouraged women to be. The conservative values that they encourage are the same values I live my life by.

I support women who want to stay at home with their children. It meant so much to me to get that time back with my children. It was a lifestyle change we made for our own family! I have been a stay-at-home mom with my children for 5 years now.

I support a more relaxed, less “stuff” lifestyle if it means I get to stay at home with my children. My family and I don’t take a vacation every year. And that’s okay!

I love finding other areas of my life that I can cut costs on in our little battle with inflation and comparison. Making food from scratch is one of those ways we can keep our costs low. Making things like coffee at home, decor, and thrifting are other ways I can keep costs low, too!

These “grandma hobbies” may harken back to practices from decades ago. But in reality, they are time-tested ways women can stay at home without their family succumbing to financial ruin.

Luckily, even though the ideals of the trad wife movement are considered “old school,” we can know that by studying Scripture, God’s Word transcends time. And therefore, transcends any cultural movement or societal expectation.

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Photo by Priscilla Du Preez via Unsplash.

Biblical Womanhood in the World Today

Growing and raising a family alongside my husband has been one of the best things I have ever done. So naturally, I encourage other women around me to do the same thing. But there have been some questions about what that looks like for each family.

Women’s roles, both in the family and in the church, are the question I hear about the most.

Where do single women, or younger women with no children, fit in the Biblical womanhood conversation? What about older women who decided not to have children? Or who couldn’t have children?

They fit right along with the rest of us, who either have children or stay at home with our children. God’s view of women doesn’t change based on your marital status or how many children you have. And I hope we can remember that.

Of course, there are different opinions among evangelical Christians about what a woman’s role is. However, we should remember that we should leave that to God and His commands for our lives.

A woman pursuing a career, or work, outside the home is the second most asked question I hear about. People today hear “trad wife” or “stay-at-home mom” and instantly assume there is no work going on.

I’m not talking about the work of laundry, cleaning, cooking, child development, or personal development. Everything stay-at-home spouses do is hard work. I’m talking about work that generates an income used by the home.

My counter to that is this – there is nothing in Scripture that prohibits a woman from working outside the home. Sure, there are specific things that wives are expected to do. But there is no Biblical command that a woman shouldn’t pursue an income.

Today’s Poor View of a Traditional Wife

God’s heart for women is the same for men. Don’t let culture tell you that climbing the corporate ladder and fighting for financial, medical, and political freedoms is what makes a woman equal to a man.

Jesus’ death on the cross is what makes a woman equal to a man. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” (John 3:16).

“Whoever” means each, every, any, all, everyone, everything.

Not some. Not women in the first century who heard Jesus preach. All. And we must get that right.

Because as a woman who stays at home with her children, that doesn’t make me any more worthy of Jesus’ sacrifice. The women who are preaching true self-worth, who are working like a dog, are just as deserving of the reward we get from Jesus’ death on the cross.

That’s what happens when we let cultural norms define what’s right and what’s wrong. We miss the point entirely.

There is nothing in Scripture that says a woman must not work outside the home. Thus, there is nothing in Scripture that elevates a woman who stays at home. The idea goes against how we are to treat each other! (1 Peter 5:5, Galatians 5:13, Matthew 22:39).

We should be careful about how we think about ourselves before we elevate homemaking over other professions (Micah 6:8).

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Photo by Kelly Sikkema via Unsplash.

My Encouragement to You (“Whoever” of You)

Christian women deserve a better reputation than the one that portrays them as senseless housewives who don’t seem to know how conception works.

As a Christian woman who is college-educated, award-winning in my field, and retired so I could stay at home with my children, I’m appalled that society would dare to tell me the career I left is more enriching than raising the next generation of the church.

The choice to embrace Biblical womanhood and invest your time and energy into your family will pay off in spades.

I know that as a young mother (my kiddos are 5 and 3 years old), it may sound like I don’t know what I’m talking about. But I’m already seeing the fruits of my labor.

My children think about each other. My children pause when they see a candy bar or a toy that reminds them of their sibling. And they make an effort to show it to them.

My children can carry on a conversation with adult strangers at a grocery store checkout line. My children can look someone in the eye and tell them to have a good day.

My children can clean up spilled water without being asked to do so. My children can set the kitchen table for dinner or open the door for someone without being asked to do so.

And as my children grow, imagine all of the other skills they will develop. Cooking meals, comforting mourning friends, visiting the sick, providing for the needy, spending their money wisely, investing – the list is endless.

These are all things that happen because my children are with me, and I’m the one teaching them. There are plenty of statistics that say school teachers and other adult mentors greatly impact a child’s life. But have we paused to think that that’s because they spend so much time with that adult? (Fathers, this blog post may be focused on mothers, but core family values start with what you model.)

We can lay a permanent foundation of civility, peace, kindness, and faith in our children. A foundation they can root themselves and their future families in. Why would we not be begging for the chance to do that?

Unfortunately, there are no metrics to measure things like kindness and faith, like there are to measure things like sales success and estimated company growth. So women will likely continue believing the lie that their skills are better used for corporations instead of their own homes.

Please hear me when I say – do not believe the lie.

It doesn’t take a lot of education, travel, or money to raise a family with God as the focus. And I can’t help but think that that’s by God’s design. Because remember – God had a plan, but man got involved.

Do we need letters after our name, ink in our passports, and distant relationships with our children to be “fulfilled”?

A Quick Note on Biblical Manhood

I hope it’s clear that the different roles a man and woman fulfill from the word of God are what should drive our expectations of gender roles.

That being said, there are key things a man is responsible for that a woman can’t fulfill.

On the less important side of things, if the woman isn’t making a financial income for the family, that responsibility may fall on the man.

On the more important side of things, spiritually leading the family is the husband’s primary role in the marriage (Deuteronomy 6:5-9, Proverbs 22:6, Ephesians 5:23-26, 1 Timothy 3:1-13).

From these verses, we can also see Biblical love and respect as a vital part of man’s spiritual responsibilities. Jesus was a servant leader. Not a dictator. When men grow into servant leadership and “love their wives as Christ loved the church,” (Ephesians 5:25), everything about a home will fall into place.

And we can rejoice in that, not because it will be easy, but because it will be how God designed homes to be.

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Photo by Sixteen Miles Out via Unsplash.

To Those Waiting for a Future Husband

You can save your marriage a lot of heartache if you discuss what your roles in marriage will be. Consider that in this season of singleness.

Perhaps you’re dating someone and you think they may be the man for you. Start comparing him to Scripture. Does he fit the mold of a Godly husband? Do you fit the mold of a Godly wife?

As you consider marriage, consider whether or not you will work after you get married. Will you embrace the role of a homemaker?

Reread the section about Biblical manhood above. As a single woman, are you seeking these qualities in a man? Are you relying on Biblical principles to guide your spouse selection? And more importantly, is your future spouse letting Biblical principles guide his life?

Cultural Norm vs. Christian Values – An Important Distinction

I am a firm believer that Christian values should influence cultural norms. This is almost the bedrock of the entire argument of this blog post. Because today’s culture is telling me the Bible is old, irrelevant, and full of oppressive ideology.

Is it? If we understand the difference between knowing God’s word and finding favor with cultural norms (in other words, “the world”), I think we can easily answer that question.

Trends come and go. Different parts of the world have different cues for things like tipping after a meal, helping someone across the street, and even saying, “Hello!”

These are cultural norms. They are the understood and accepted things people in a specific group do, say, and sometimes believe. Here in America, your cultural norms could come from what state you live in, what political party you’re a part of, or what friend group you are in.

Christian values are the understood pillars of Christian living that come from the Bible or the teachings of Jesus Christ. When to judge others’ actions and decisions, who you marry, how many children you have (if you have children), and how you worship God are all Christian values.

Even among today’s disciples, there’s an incredible amount of disagreement! According to the Pew Research Center there were 2.3 billion Christians in 2020. Of those 2.3 billion, there are an estimated 45,000 different denominations (a subgroup within a larger religious group that shares certain beliefs).

What I love about the Bible is its ability to transcend time. Both the Hebrew and the Greek languages in which the Bible was written are dead languages, meaning no one speaks them today. That means, so long as we interpret the languages properly, we can understand exactly what (and how) Christian values we should be practicing today.

So whether or not culture is telling me, “The Bible is old,” is in and of itself irrelevant. If I believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I have devoted my life to living the Christian values He taught, I give up the right to question whether or not God knew His principles would fit the 21st century. I simply have to believe and faithfully execute His principles. The fact that they transcend time will become apparent soon enough.

Human beings can be driven by emotion to either accept or deny the truth. I believe that’s why we have so many religious denominations and so much cultural turmoil in the United States.

But as Christians, that doesn’t mean we get to forsake God’s word and “go with the flow” simply because that’s how the world is currently turning. It does mean we need to be that much more vigilant to understand, defend, and teach God’s word (Matthew 28:19-20).

Everything we do should go through a Biblical lens. It all comes back to God’s word.

Strong women are Scriptural women. Let’s let God’s word “be a light to our paths,” (Psalm 119:105).

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Photo by Sixteen Miles Out via Unsplash.

Avoid Culture’s Idea of a Woman

I’m not saying that you have to be a pastor’s wife or bake sourdough bread to be a Biblical woman. But I am saying culture is missing the mark when it encourages women to forsake their domestic responsibilities so that women can elevate themselves.

Just like we should avoid cultural ideas of a woman, we should avoid unscriptural representations of womanhood. If you have a Bible and a phone (for crying out loud, you can download the Bible in an app!), you can understand what God expects of women.

Don’t get wrapped up in what your preacher says. Don’t get wrapped up in what your friends say. Find out what God says.