Paul’s reputation among Christian women has taken quite a nose-dive in recent decades. Scriptures in the Pauline epistles, such as I Timothy 2:12 and Ephesians 5:22, have been used to demonstrate his dislike of the opposite sex. But, I would venture to say that the women in the early church 2000 years ago would have taken issue with that view of Paul. Not only would they reject the idea that Paul was a woman hater, they would venerate him as a champion of women’s rights, divinely inspired by the Almighty.
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Misreading Paul: A Modern Misstep
This recent, progressive view of Paul results from inappropriate biblical interpretation. Interpretation that fails to look at the cultural, historical, and biblical context of a passage in scripture will most likely result in an erroneous understanding. That is what has happened with a few verses used out of context to make the case that the New Testament created a draconian world for women.
What makes this progressive view of Paul even more ironic is that it is often being made by women who owe their rights to the Epistles. Because Paul was not only NOT a woman hater, but like Jesus before him, he revolutionized women’s rights. His love for women becomes abundantly clear when the scriptures are read in the cultural and historical context in which they were written.
Paul’s Revolutionary Respect for Women
Paul is rarely given credit for having a significant impact on the lives of women, but his divinely inspired Epistles and his ministry as related in the books of Acts did so in four major ways.
Breaking Barriers: Women in Public Life
Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, the rights of Afghan women have been stripped away rather quickly. One of their most recent measures forbids women from speaking in public. Even if a woman is in her own home, she must whisper lest anyone outside her window hears her feminine voice. While first-century life for Jewish women was not as draconian, women still were not allowed to speak to men in public. Men wouldn’t even speak to their own sisters within earshot of others.
This cultural norm explains why the disciples were shocked when Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well. And Jesus made it a habit of conversing with women in public. Paul follows Jesus’ lead in this regard during his ministry.
Acts 16:11-15 recounts the conversion of Lydia. Her conversion was only possible because Paul and Luke chose to approach a group of women gathered in an area used for prayer. These Jewish men, of whom Paul came from a pharisaical background, a Jew of Jews, chose to approach these women in public and share the Gospel with them. If we read this passage from a 21st-century American viewpoint, we will miss the revolutionary nature of Paul and Luke’s behavior. They were following in the footsteps that Christ had set for them many years earlier and started to normalize interactions between men and women in public. In doing so, they played a role in helping women come out of the shadows and take part in co-ed public spaces.
Empowering Women: Roles Redefined
In 1 Timothy 5:14, Paul uses a very unusual word to refer to the role of women in the home as he addresses young widows who remarry. The word is so unusual that it is used in the Bible only once and in the classical Greek texts very rarely. He uses a word, oikodespoteō, that implies management instead of using the more common Greek word that refers to the role of a housewife. By looking at how oikodespoteō and similar words are used in the Bible, we are able to infer that the meaning of the word relates to the management of the houses’ finances and contractual obligations. (For an extensive look at how this word is used in the Bible and in Greco-Roman Literature, please see my article, “The Surprising Greek Word in 1 Timothy 5:14.“)
Even in Greek and Roman circles, that kind of role was almost exclusively left to the head of the household, aka the male. But in this little verse, Paul is sending the message that women are intelligent enough to handle the more “complicated” aspects of house management.
Paul also referred to women as co-laborers, not as subordinates, even though from a positional standpoint, he held the higher authority. By mentioning their work alongside men, he was elevating them to a higher social standing than they would have ever had within Jewish religious circles.
Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Philippians 4:3 (ESV)For women who were co-laborers, he was willing to give credit where credit was due. On two out of the three times that Paul mentions Aquila and Priscilla (Prisca), he mentions her name first (Romans 16:3, I Corinthians 16:19, and II Timothy 4:19). A woman’s name would never have been mentioned first unless she played a more significant role than her male counterpart. In doing so, not just once, but twice, he is acknowledging the greater role that she played in the church.
Equal in Christ: A Spiritual Revolution
One of the most significant verses in the New Testament for women’s rights is Galatians 3:28.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Galations 3:28 (ESV)That one verse demonstrates the spiritual equality between men and women, but his statement is even more significant because of what he says only two verses prior, in Galatians 3:26, “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God.” By using the word sons, he is not excluding women, he is elevating the position of women to that of a son, the primary inheritors for most of history and most of cultures and people up to that time. In case the reader is left confused about his meaning, he reiterates that we are all heirs in verse 29.
Peter agrees with Paul in I Peter 3:7 when he uses the spiritual equality between men and women to remind men of why they should honor their wives. Like Paul, Peter uses inheritance language that was usually reserved for men.
An Advocate of Women’s Care
Many love to use chapter five of Ephesians as an example of how Paul subjugated women, but that interpretation is careless because it ignores historical and cultural contexts. However, when you read that section of scripture in context, it is striking how much of the opposite is true. Paul is advocating for the care of women.
Ephesians 5 and other similar verses draw from existing household codes common in Greco-Roman culture and literature. For most women in the 1st Century, the idea of submitting to a husband would not have been surprising at all. It was reality within the Roman Empire, both in Jewish and Gentile culture. However, the limitations Paul places on the husband in the epistles, along with the command to honor, love, and sacrifice himself for his wife, would have been surprising because Greco-Roman literature, in most cases, described the man as the higher being. And as the higher being, rarely were these kinds of limitations placed on men, much less a call to treat women with such a level of respect and honor.
He advocates strongly for the care of women in Ephesians 5, but also in Colossians 3:19.
Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Colossians 3:19 In other areas of scripture, we also see Paul looking out for the best interests of women in ministry. We already saw in Philippians 4:3 (above) how he asks the church to help his female co-laborers. And in Romans 16:1-2, he instructs the church to help Phoebe in whatever she may need and speaks highly of her. This is hardly the makings of a man who dislikes women.
Why the Backlash Against Paul?
The complaint modern, progressive scholars and Bible-thumpers have with Paul is that his epistles place limitations on the role of the woman in the home and in the church. They come from a worldview that believes that if limitations are placed on women, then it must be because the author sees their intellectual capabilities as limited. And to be honest, many ultra-conservative men have the same worldview.
Neither is biblically accurate, but it is a common worldview that has existed in most cultures for most of history. A brief quote from a Stoic philosopher in the Roman Empire who lived several decades before Paul makes that case.
The man has the rule (archē) of this house by nature. For the deliberative faculty in a woman is inferior, in children it does not yet exist, and it is completely foreign to slaves. Rational household management, which is the controlling of a house and of those things related to the house, is fitting for a man. Belonging to this are fatherhood, the art of marriage, being a master (to despotikon), and moneymaking. Arius Didymus Epitome II 149,5-10However, as I discuss in “Biblical Authority, Glorifying God, Not Man,” God doesn’t pick who he puts in positions of authority because He believes they are better qualified. Oftentimes, he picks people we would consider “unqualified” so that He, God, can be glorified. He didn’t pick men to be in higher positions of authority in some circumstances because He believes they are a higher being than women, or more capable, or smarter—He did so to achieve His own purposes.
Paul’s words can sometimes feel harsh in our modern context, but when you take the entirety of the verses where Paul mentions women, you will see a world of difference between him and Arius. Far from being a misogynist, Paul was a revolutionary advocate for women, following in Jesus’ footsteps. Through his ministry and divinely inspired writings, he brought women out of the shadows, elevated their roles in the home and church, and affirmed their spiritual equality. In truth, Paul’s teachings laid a foundation for the dignity and rights of Christian women, a legacy that continues to resonate when viewed through the lens of his era.
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