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Paul on Women in the Church

by Traute Klein, AKA biogardener

To understand St. Paul's admonition to women in the church, we need to look at the educational system of his day.

Paul’s World

Paul has the distinction of having been born with dual citizenship. He was Jewish as well as Roman. He understood both worlds and could speak authoritatively to both. In the Jewish culture of his day, women received no schooling. Boys were taught to read the Scripture by rabbis from age 10 on. Jesus, of course, being considered the illegitimate son of Joseph, the carpenter, was not allowed to attend school until age 12. For some strange reason, Jews figured that illegitimate boys needed to pay for their parents’ sins for a couple of years. The Roman and Greek world of the day had other ideas about education, and Paul was well aware of them. He had grown up in Tarsus in what is now Turkey where women were not as repressed as they were in the purely Hebrew culture of Palestine.

Paul on Women Teachers

Paul had no objections to women teaching. Understandably, he talks about women teaching other women in Titus 2:3 & 4:
Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.
No one would have argued with these comments, but, unlike other Christians, Paul also approved of women teaching men. In Acts 18, Luke tells us the story of a Jewish couple, Aquila and Priscilla, brought up in Italy, settled in Greece where they, as a couple, instructed converts to become more powerful witnesses to the gospel. Evidently Paul got along very well with this couple. All three of them were tentmakers, which means that they made leather tents for the Roman army. Paul let both Aquila and Priscilla accompany him on one of his trips. I cannot imagine him doing that if he had a problem with a woman giving instruction to a man. Knowing Paul’s outspokenness, he would have been sure to voice his objections, and Luke would have reported his comments. Other Christian leaders were not that tolerant of women. The disciples were quite outspoken in their criticism of Jesus for treating women humanely, and they were inclined to arguing with women who had anything worthwhile to say or do.

Paul on Women in Church Services

So why is Paul telling women in Corinth that they should be quiet in church? Here is the controversial passage in 1 Corintians 14:34&35:
Women are to keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says. If they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home, for it is improper for a woman to speak in church.
Consider the targer audience of this letter. It is written to a church of Jewish Christians, a church full of women who had not been taught to read or write. They were dependent on their husbands to explain things to them. Unfortunately, just like in the Canadian Hutterian churches of today, the women sat separated from their educated husbands. When they did not understand what was going on, they were in the habit of shouting across the assembly, asking their husbands for explanations. Well, that simply was not the place or time to pose questions, because it caused chaos. Paul therefore suggests that they should save their discussions till they got home. Paul makes his reasoning clear when he concludes that part of his letter with "Let all things be done decently and in order (1 Corinthians 14:38)."

My Conclusion

Paul would probably have preferred for girls to receive a liberal un-Jewish education. As married women, they would then not have needed to ask their husbands for help in understanding what they were hearing. Eventually they would have been qualified to teach in the church just like the men. I am convinced that Paul would be pleased with the 21st century acceptance of women teachers in the church, considering that girls now get as thorough an education as boys.

Companion Article

Paul on Marriage and Children
Paul's views on marriage and children need to be understood in the light of the historical and cultural setting of his time.

Guest Author

This is a guest article which I wrote for Bob Hunter, editor of Pauline Studies. It contained the following biographical note:
Traute Klein is the contributing editor of Natural Health. She has taught Sunday school and integrated family Bible studies to Christians of every denomination and every age from 2 to 82. She has been active in church music as organist, pianist, choir director, composer, and singer.