St Paul played a prominent role in the spread of Christianity during the first century. Despite not being a direct disciple of Christ, he was a witness to the resurrection of our Lord (1 Corinthians 15:8). In fact, it is Paul who gives the first written account on the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 (AD 57). However, in his epistles where women are asked to veil (1 Corinthians 11:2-16), where women are asked to keep silent in the assembly (1 Corinthians 14:34-35), where the wife is asked to submit to her husband (Ephesians 5:22), Paul faced a lot of criticism. Often he is thought to have discriminated against women, especially in feminist circles. Unfortunately, many today tend to buy a lot of feminist ideas and hence Paul is infamous among them. This article is a humble attempt to analyse Paul’s teachings concerning women and the objective side of the above-mentioned teachings.
There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28). Paul asserts that all of us have equal dignity before Christ. This is one of the most vigorous texts in the New Testament on the fundamental equality of men and women, as children of God in Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 11:12-16, women are asked to veil their heads while praying and prophesying. Paul doesn’t prohibit women from praying or prophesying, but asks them to follow their tradition of veiling during the service. Ancient Corinth served as a transhipment hub for the Roman Empire. The city hence had a lot of urban ways. It is in this context that Paul urges them to hold fast to their identity as male and female (1 Corinthians 11:2-16). This was to be considered a disciplinary practice of minor importance. Such requirements do not have a normative value today. Paul in this passage points to the creation order established by God when calling the husband as the head of the wife. The husband, being the head of the wife, is called to serve and not to rule. Christ, the head of His bride the Church, served and laid down His life for her.Similarly, the husband is called to love his wife with a sacrificial love as mentioned in Ephesians 5.
In 1 Corinthians 14, we read: As in all the churches of the saints, women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. We see here that Paul forbids women from speaking. But this has a cultural context. Since Jewish women back then did not have access to education, elementary questions were raised by some of them which interrupted the assembly. It is to them that Paul instructs. There is also a popular opinion that 1 Corinthians 14:33b-35 is interpolated. In 1 Timothy 2:12, we see Paul forbidding women from teaching. The declaration Inter Insigniorescomments that this prohibition is solely for the official function of teaching in the Christian assembly. For St Paul, this prescription is bound up with the divine plan of creation.
In Ephesians 5, Paul writes: Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Saviour. Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands. (5:22-24) Paul is often mistaken as using male dominant language and pictured as a male chauvinist based on this. While analysing the passage in detail, we see that it speaks about the great mystery of marriage. While Paul advises the wife about submission, a greater duty is assigned to the husbands – to love their wives as Christ loved His bride, the Church. The passage gives more emphasis on how a husband should love his wife than the wife’s submission. It is interesting to note that through the very previous verse (verse 21), Paul encourages spouses to be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. Altogether, this passage can’t be considered as treating women as inferior to men. We also see this submission in the Holy Trinity. The Son submits to the Father, but is never inferior. They are one in essence.
There is one major aspect of Paul that is quite overlooked when he is criticised for being ‘anti-woman’. There were a number of women Paul worked with and who are named in the Acts of the Apostles (attributed to St Luke the Evangelist, a disciple of Paul), and in the Pauline letters! Prisca, Phoebe, Mary, Junia, Julia, Tryphaena, Tryphosa, Euodia, Syntyche, Chloe are women mentioned in these books. And he treated them with dignity and honour.
Paul meets Prisca (Priscilla, in some translations) along with her husband Aquila (Acts 18) during his first trip to Corinth. Paul greets them in his first letter to the Corinthians, and in Romans. He mentions them as his ‘co-workers’. From Romans 16:3-4, we understand that their home was a house-church – a place of worship and ministry. In Acts 18:26, we see that this couple play the role of teachers as well. It is interesting to note that they ministered as a couple.
Phoebe is another woman mentioned by Paul. I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the Church in Cenchreae. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me. (Romans 16:1-2). Deacon here is a translation from the Greek word diakonos which can be translated as helper, protector or patron. It can be understood that the title involved official function of some kind, but not the present day understanding of a deacon. Paul appeals to the Roman community to welcome Phoebe with hospitality. In Romans 16, we see many other women whom Paul mentions – Mary (16:6), Junia (16:7), Tryphaena, Tryphosa and Persis (16:12), mother of Rufus (16:13), Julia and sister of Nereus (16:15).
Paul also mentions Chloe (‘Chloe’s people’ – 1 Corinthians 1:11), Euodia and Syntyche (Philippians 4) – who struggled beside him in the work of the Gospel, and Apphia as ‘our sister’ (letter to Philemon). From all these it can be concluded that there were women in active ministry along with Paul.
Through all the thirteen letters attributed to Paul, it is very evident that Paul upholds the dignity of women by speaking the truth that adheres to divine order. There is always a danger in interpreting the Scripture out of context of the entire divine revelation. In a fallen world, we often tend to compartmentalise the teachings of Paul to fit our narrative. Let us seek the intercession of St Paul to treat both men and women with equal dignity in Christ.
