"Was Paul a Chauvinist?"

Pastor Laura Guy

November 16, 2008

Here's an instant replay of what happened in worship:

We acknowledged that Paul has written some of the primary passages Christians have fought over for centuries. Some women have decided that Paul's writings on women's role in the church are chauvinistic, and they have wondered if there is any point in reading anything he wrote.
We looked at the most troubling passage that Paul wrote about women in the church, found in 1 Tim. 2:11-15. How do people of faith deal with this passage? One way is to take it as Paul's teaching for all women in all times. There are still many churches that do not allow women to speak in worship, teach men or have any kind of ministry other than one with children or other women.
We saw how some other people of faith dismiss this passage because they say it is likely not written by Paul at all. It is one of the disputed letters, with grammar inconsistent with the seven undisputed letters Paul wrote. But to dismiss this book, or any other, from the Bible is to ignore the faithfulness and prayers of our ancestors in faith who handed it down to us. They trusted the Holy Spirit to guide them in the selection of the canon for the Bible, and they believed 1 Tim and other books had value for us in our own Christian walk. They also believed God wanted to say something to us from these books. So what do we do with a troubling passage like this one?
We heard how noted biblical scholar N.T. Wright suggested an alternate reading for this passage. He reminded us that Paul was writing to Timothy in Ephesus, where the Temple of Artemis is located. This goddess-worshipping city had many women in leadership roles in the Temple community. Women were used to having authority in spiritual matters. But the Jewish community had barred women from even learning Torah. These two cultures were clashing in the church at Ephesus.
We thought about how Paul was really saying something revolutionary in verse 11 - that women should learn! He asked, however, that they learn in quietness and submission to their teachers, not trying to take over like they did in Artemis' Temple. Paul wants to make sure that the Christian church is not modeled on what the Artemis cult does. Perhaps his point about Adam and Eve is that, if Eve had been educated in theological matters, she might not have been tempted by the serpent. And perhaps, instead of women being "saved" through childbirth, another meaning could be that women will be protected through childbirth.
We tested this new understanding against other writings of Paul's - his praise of women in ministry in Romans 16 and his universal statement of unity in Christ in Galatians 3:26-28.
We prayed that God would forgive us for denying anyone else the chance to follow the call God gives them, and we asked forgiveness for denying ourselves that chance, too.
We celebrated that forgiveness, and our unity in Christ, at the communion table.