What Feminism is about for me (7) What about the Apostle Paul?

So what about Paul? Why do so many people consider Paul a misogynist? As women we tend to cringe when they hear his name, but should we really? Maybe we should study the bulk of Paul’s writings and not just a few verses that have been used for women’s subordination. Could it be that those verses have been interpreted in a way Paul never intended?

The life of Paul is recorded in the New Testament and we can see how his encounter with Jesus on the way to Damascus changed him completely. He experienced a complete change of perspective that he would include in his testimony during the rest of his life. The strict follower of Jewish laws became a follower of Jesus. We see him working closely with Priscilla and Aquila not only in their tent-making business but also in proclaiming and teaching the gospel. In Philippi, his first converts were women he met at a women’s prayer meeting, who formed the first house church in Europe. This, to me, proves that Paul was by no way a misogynist. He followed in Christ’s footsteps as he said, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). We have already looked at how Jesus treated women.

Paul wrote to the Galatians about God’s perspective on inclusiveness: “You are all children of God by believing in Christ Jesus. All of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ as if he were your clothes. There is no Jew or Greek. There is no slave or free person. There is no male or female. Because you belong to Christ Jesus, you are all one. You who belong to Christ are Abraham's seed. You will receive what God has promised” (Galatians 3:26-29NIV).

The apostle Paul was not one of the original twelve disciples, but he considered himself called by Jesus to be an apostle. Just as Paul could say “But by the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Cor 15:10), he also considered many women with whom he worked to be called by God to proclaim the gospel. In Romans 16, Paul mentions many women whom he valued as his companions in the work, such as Priscilla, Phoebe, Mary, Junia, Tryphena, and Tryphosa, Persis, Julia, and the sister of Nereus, as well as the mother of Rufus.

Men and women worshipped together as equal participants in the early church. This was all part of God’s plan for humankind. With his example, Jesus had shown that women were created in God’s image just like their male counterparts. But then something went wrong again. After a period when women in the church ministered according to the calling of the Holy Spirit, the organized church began repressing women. Discrimination of women had long been the standard of society in general, but over time the egalitarian stance of the church faded, with men taking hold of the power, and they did this using Paul’s writings. But there is so much more that Paul wrote, where he showed his inclusive perspective of the church, where men and women – all – were called to hold fast to their freedom in Christ.

Paul lived in a world where women were not treated as equals. It was a Roman world with Roman laws with male guardianship for women. Beth Allison Barr writes, “Wives legally had to submit to the authority of their husbands; unmarried women had to submit to the authority of their fathers or nearest male relatives; women could not own property or run businesses in their own right; women could not conduct legal or financial transactions without a man acting on their behalf. From this historical perspective, it is not surprising to find discussions about wives in first-century Roman texts reflecting the reality of life for wives in the first-century Roman world.  Paul’s inclusion of a statement for women to be subject to their husbands is exactly what the Roman world would have expected“ (The Making of Biblical Womanhood, chapter 2).

However, Paul said, “Submit to one another in the fear of God“ (Ephesians 5:21 NIV). He also wrote a long passage in which he told husbands to love their wives (verses 25+28+ 33). This was something quite different from the oppressive Roman laws. Paul wasn’t imposing Roman patriarchy on Christians; Paul was using a Jesus remix to tell Christians how the gospel set them free. When Paul says, “Wives, submit to your own husbands“ (Verse 22), he is trying to say that Jesus set women free, but that they should act with respect because of their love for each other. We should not pick out one verse written by Paul from its context and interpret it in a way clearly not intended by Paul. In Verse 21 he calls for mutual submission of both men and women. He is not emphasizing the power and authority of the husband. The early church was trying to fit into the Roman world and at the same time live as Christians.

Some other passages seem to contradict Paul’s egalitarian stand. “Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church“ (1 Corinthians 14:34+35).  As Paul had already written “But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is the same as having her head shaved“ (1 Cor 11:5), he can’t mean that women should not speak at all. He seems to be referring to wives asking questions in church. Women had mostly been deprived of education, as they were not taught to recite the scriptures. Ancient culture considered it rude for uneducated persons to slow down lectures with questions that showed their lack of learning. That is why Paul told the men to help their wives catch up on their education at home in private. This thought is continued in Paul’s letter to Timothy. “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission“ (1 Timothy 2:11). This submission and quietness is something he also expects of all Christians so that they could live in peace. “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness“ (1 Tim 2:1+2). Paul was writing to Timothy in Ephesus where false teachers were influencing the believers, particularly the less educated ones. These were, of course, women. And just as today people easily pick up all kinds of conspiracy theories and tell others about their convictions, the women in Ephesus were at risk of believing and teaching false doctrines. To prevent this, Paul wrote, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet“ (1 Timothy 2:12). This verse should not be taken out of context, particularly as Paul greatly valued the teaching and preaching done by his female colleagues, as shown in his greetings to the church in Rome.

Paul’s writings have been used to exclude women from leadership, but that doesn’t mean that it is what Paul wanted to say. It is unfair to take a few words out of their context and to interpret them in a way that is not in accordance with the rest of his writings. Why not read again all that Paul wrote with a clear mind, free from preconceived opinions? It could be a very liberating experience.

 

 

By Rembrandt - National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37580930