Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 38:1 (Winter 2024)
Article: Christian Baptism As The Gender-Inclusive Covenant Sign
Author: Jennifer Anne Cox

PP 38:1 (Winter 2024) p. 16

Christian Baptism As The Gender-Inclusive Covenant Sign

Jennifer Anne Cox

Jennifer Cox has two undergraduate degrees in theology and a PhD. She has taught theology and biblical languages, and currently works at a Bible college in Perth, Western Australia. Jennifer has written many theology books for ordinary people and some academic books and articles. Her theological interests include theology of disability, intersex, and the ministry of women. She is married with four adult children.

The OT sign of inclusion in the covenant community is circumcision. This is a male-only rite. This male-only covenant sign has consequences in the OT for women pertaining to how they are included within the privileges and responsibilities of the covenant. On the other hand, the NT sign of covenant community inclusion is baptism, which is administered to females and males alike. Circumcision is now, for Christians, a spiritual circumcision of the heart which is as applicable to females as it is to males. This circumcision is the result of the atoning work of Christ. The distinction between the covenant signs suggests that the new covenant provides greater participation for women in the covenant community than was the case for Israelite women in the OT. The contrast between male-only circumcision and female-inclusive baptism is not directly addressed in the NT. However, that is not to say that the pieces are not available to us. This article attempts to put the pieces together and to explore the significance of female-inclusive baptism for the body of Christ.

Old Testament Circumcision And Its Male-Only Nature

From the third millennium BC, circumcision was a common practice in the ancient Near East, of which Israel was a part. However, the way circumcision was practiced in Israel was different from the nations surrounding it, one distinction being the Israelite practice of circumcising eight-day-old male infants rather than at puberty or before marriage.1 The Jewish practice of circumcising male infants began with God’s command to Abraham in Gen 17.2 God said to Abraham:

As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, including the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money from any foreigner who is not ...