Introduction
As we close
out our study of Romans, chapter 16 includes a long list of greetings (read 16:1-16).
While at first glance this may appear superfluous for us, it gives us an up-close-and-personal
glimpse into Paul's view of women.
Today, many so-called scholars have
characterized Paul as the architect of male chauvinism and misogyny in western
civilization. The truth is that Paul, following in the foot-steps of Jesus, was
a revolutionary liberator of women. In order to appreciate this fact, we need
to compare Paul's view of women to that of his own culture and other major world
religions. So before we examine this passage more closely, let's survey . . .
Paul's
world
Paul was raised in a conservative Jewish home in a Greco-Roman city
(Tarsus). Both of these cultures had a low view of women.
GRECO-ROMAN
SOCIETY:
Three reasons for gratitude, to be repeated by Greek
men: “ . . . that I was born a human being and not a
beast, next a man and not a woman, thirdly, a Greek and not a barbarian.”
Epictetus,
a first-century AD philosopher, asserted that "Woman's world is one thing;
men's another."
He also spoke of women with such adjectives as "worthless," "weeping,"
and "silly."
The
noble Roman philosopher Seneca (4 BC-65 AD) classified women as innately inferior
to men.
Charles
Carlston sums up the Greco-Roman world’s view of women: “ . . . on
balance . . . the picture drawn is a grim one. Women . . . are
basically ineducable and empty-headed; vengeful, dangerous, and responsible for
men’s sins; mendacious, treacherous, and unreliable; fickle; valuable
only through their relationships with men; incapable of moderation or spontaneous
goodness; at their best in the dark; interested only in sex--unless they are with
their husbands, in which case (apparently) they would rather talk. In short, women
are one and all ‘a set of vultures,’ the ‘most beastly’ of
all the beasts on land or sea, and marriage is at best a necessary evil.”
JEWISH
SOCIETY: In spite of its Old Testament heritage, the Judaism of Paul's day was
scarcely better in its view of women than the Greco-Roman culture.
Although
the Old Testament narrates and praises many female heroes (Deborah, Esther, Ruth,
Rahab, etc.), the Apocrypha (1 Macc. 2:51-60; 4 Macc. 16:20-23) praises
only Old Testament male heroes without any mention of women. The Apocryphal book
Ecclesiasticus also contains these misogynous statements:
Ecclesiasticus
25:19 Any iniquity is insignificant compared to a wife's iniquity.
Ecclesiasticus
22:3 It is a disgrace to be the father of an undisciplined, and the birth of a
daughter is a loss.
In the first-century Jewish world, things
weren’t much better. Consider these two contemporaries:
Philo,
a famous philosopher, held that the proper relationship of a wife to her husband
was to “serve as a slave,” and that the only purpose of marriage was
procreation.
Josephus,
a historian, reflects the Jewish consensus when he says, "A woman is inferior
to her husband in all things. Let her, therefore, be obedient to him . . . "
The
Talmud, the record of rabbinic teaching from this period (and Paul's specific
religious background), deprecates women in a number of places:
Like
the Apocrypha, it praises male Old Testament heroes without any mention of women
(Sirach 44-50).
Jewish rabbis prayed, "Blessed be He that He
did not make me a Gentile; blessed be He that He did not make me a boor (slave);
blessed be He that He did not make me a woman."
“He that talks much with women brings evil upon himself and neglects
the study of the Law and will at last inherit Gehenna.” (Mish Aboth 1:5)
“Every
man who teaches his daughter Torah is as if he taught her promiscuity.” (Mish
Sota 3:4)
“Let the words of Torah be burned up, but do not let
them be delivered to women.” (Jer Sota 19a)
“All we can
expect from them is that they bring up our children and keep us from sin.”
(Bab Yebamoth 63a)
Longenecker summarizes the role of women in synagogue
life: “In the synagogues . . . women were separated from
the men by a screen and allowed to take no part in the service, except, at most,
on one occasion yearly, to read one of the lessons (Tos Megilla 4:11; Bab Megilla
23a).”
Other
religious perspectives on women
If you think that other religious perspectives
provide a higher view of women, you will be disappointed. When we turn from Paul's
cultural milieu to other religious perspectives on women, we find that the same
view dominates. Apart from the Bible, the religions of the world (with few exceptions)
have a rich legacy of justifying the oppression of women.
EARLY
GNOSTIC TEACHING:
Gnosticism was the first major counterfeit
form of Christianity to infiltrate the church beginning in the late first century
AD. It was a reworking of Christianity into salvation by spiritual insight and
self-knowledge, very similar to New Age thinking today. The most popular ancient
Gnostic work is The Gospel of Thomas, which the Jesus Seminar includes in its
"Bible" as the "fifth gospel." Besides the fact that it a
second-century work falsely attributed to the disciple Thomas, it also reflects
the misogyny of Greco-Roman culture:
"Simon Peter said
to them, 'Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of Life.' Jesus said, 'I
myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a
living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male
will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.'" (114)
How different this is from
the Jesus of the New Testament, who included women among his disciples (Lk. 8:2,3),
defended women against injustice (Jn. 8:1-11), taught and ministered to women,
and chose women to be the first witnesses of his resurrection (Mk. 16:1-9)!
HINDUISM:
Consider this summary from the Carmody's--world religion scholars who have no
Christian bias.
“Even if she had been a child bride or
had never consummated her marriage, the widow was not to violate her duty to her
deceased husband and remarry. If she did, she would bring disgrace on herself
in the present life and enter the womb of a jackal for her next rebirth . . . In
such a social position, many widows felt they had little to lose by throwing themselves
on their husbands funeral pyre (suttee). (Even suttee, though, was
not simple. If the widow did not burn herself out of pure conjugal love, her act
was without merit.) . . . the Tantrist interest in tapping
shakti energies often led to the exploitation of women by men. Thus, the
males sometimes tried to gain powers of liberation (moksha) by symbolic
or actual sexual intercourse, with the result that the females became instruments
rather than equal partners . . . In Hindu society, women were
not generally eligible for moksha; the best that a woman could hope for
was to be reborn as a man . . . the overall status of women
in Hinduism was that of wards . . . Worse than the ward status,
however, was the strain of misogyny (hatred of women) running through Hindu culture.
The birth of a girl was not an occasion for joy. Hindus attributed it to bad karma
and frequently announced the event by saying, ‘Nothing was born.’ . . . Hindu
religious texts frequently imagine a woman as a snake, hell’s entrance, death,
a prostitute, or an adulteress. In Manu’s code, slaying a woman was one of
the minor offenses.”
ISLAM:
Recent reports of FGM and wife-burning are unfortunately consistent with the misogyny
that is indigenous to Islam.
“ . . . women’s
rights were not equal to those that the Quran gave males in either divorce or
inheritance. Moreover, the Quran does not even consider the possibility that women
might assume leadership roles in the community, receive an education equal to
that of males, teach law or theology, or engage in polygamy (as males could) . . . The
Muslim woman was considered erotic and empty-headed. Thus she was subject to purdah
(seclusion and veiling) . . . concubinage, and the harem.
Women were not to be taught to read and write (‘a great calamity’),
they were morally ‘bent’ because they came from Adam’s bent rib . . . 'It
were best for a girl not to come into existence, but being born she had better
be married or buried.' Recent Muslims, especially Africans, have defended clitorectomy
and kindred operations, frequently with the following sort of rationale: 'Circumcision
of women releases them from their bondage to sex, and enables them to fulfill
their real destiny as mother.' . . . Another revealing view
of women in Islamic society comes from the imagery of the Garden. For many men,
the best part of the heavenly Garden was the hur: dark-eyed, buxom virgins.
In addition to his earthly wife, each male in heaven could expect to have seventy
hur. They would never be sick, menstruating, pregnant (unless he wished),
bad-tempered, or jealous. He would be able to deflower a thousand each month and
find them all intact when he returned to them.”
This
is one of the most tragic features of our fallen world--men using their superior
physical strength to follow in Lamech's foot-steps.
"But the Church
is also guilty of this kind of misogyny!" Yes, it is. By the early second
century, we have evidence of church leaders like Tertullian blaming all women
for humanity's fall and calling women the 'gateway to hell.'"
But there is a crucial difference. These religions' misogynous views come directly
from their founders and scriptures; the Church's misogynous views developed
in spite of its founder and scripture. Jesus' treatment of women was in
stark contrast to other rabbis of his day (see above), and Paul reflects the same
attitude, as we see in these greetings . . .
Paul's
greetings in Romans 16
16:1,2 - Phoebe is a deaconess (diakonos)
in the church of Cenchrea, a “helper (prostatis) of many” including
Paul. She is the likely courier of this letter, and is heading up arrangements
for Paul’s visit to Rome (15:32).
16:3 - Prisca (short for Priscilla)
is listed before her husband, which is unusual and probably denotes that she played
a more visible role. She is a “fellow-worker” who took the lead in completing
the theological training of Apollos (Acts 18:28).
16:6 - Mary has worked
hard (kopiaw) for them. This is the same word used to describe good leaders
in 1 Thess. 5:12.
16:7 - Junia is probably feminine. She is probably married
to Andronicus, and they are “apostles”--probably missionaries--who have
done outstanding work.
16:12 - Tryphaena and Tryphosa are probably sisters,
and Christian workers (kopiaw). Persis ("Persian lady") has worked
hard (kopiaw) and is beloved by Paul.
16:13 - Rufus’ mother
has a warm relationship with Paul.
16:15 - Julia and Nereus’ sister
are greeted as saints.
10 references to women (out of 27)--with regard as
high as any of the men greeted. Does this really sound like a man who was threatened
by women, or who hated them, or who believed they were incapable of spiritual
ministry or leadership? No, this is consistent with the same man who wrote the
Magna Carta of the New Testament--Gal. 3:28 (read).
Oneness
in Christ between men & women
Paul isn’t saying that there are
no legitimate distinctions between men and women (androgyny). In other passages
that go beyond the scope of this teaching, he upholds certain distinctions in
marital and church roles. What he is saying is that men and women are fundamentally
equal in the eyes of God, and he swam against the tide of his culture by forming
churches that expressed this truth.
Men and women are created
equally in God's image (Gen. 1:27). Although Adam was created first, God
is neither male nor female. Somehow, male and female humans together demonstrate
God's Person.
Men and women are equally sinners saved by grace (Rom. 3:23,24).
Neither is uniquely responsible for the others' sins, and both receive the same
standing before God (including the promise of eternal life) through faith in Christ.
Christian
men and women are equally indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who transforms us into the
same image of Christ (Col. 3:10,11). Men are not more inclined to be godly,
and the profile of spiritual maturity is the same character qualities.
Christian
men and women are equally gifted by God and called into significant ministry in
the church (Rom. 16:1-16; 1 Cor. 12:13ff.).
This
is not just abstract theology. This is truth that can change your life by bringing
you into a relationship with the living God, and by changing the way you relate
to men and women. Let's listen to Amanda's story of how this happened in her life . . . (VIDEO).
Footnotes
Copyright
2000 Gary DeLashmutt