ST.

PAUL ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN

Author(s): Eugenie Andruss Leonard
Source: The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 3 (July, 1950), pp. 311-320
Published by: Catholic Biblical Association
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 ST. PAUL ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN

Eugenie Andruss Leonard

Probably no writer in the Christian era has been more frequently quoted
on the status of women than St. Paul. Further, it has been customary
for authors, particularly those writing from a feministic point of view, to
limit their study of St. Paul's attitude to two of his statements: 1 Corin-
thians 14:34 and 1 Timothy 2:11, 12, in which he recommends the silence
of women in the Churches of Corinth and Ephesus. From this narrow
base many writers have drawn the conclusion that St. Paul retained the
Jewish view on the inferiority of women and through his writings greatly
influenced the early Church in the suppression of women.
Since there can be no question but what St. Paul had a profound influ-
ence on the thinking not only of the early Christian Churches but of all
students of Christianity, both Catholic and Protestant, since his time, it
seems worth while to review his actions and writings carefully in order
to gather a more comprehensive picture of his attitude toward the women
with whom he worked and prayed.

I. Current Attitudes toward Women During St. Paul's Life

St. Paul, born in the Greek city of Tarsus, and raised as a Jewish boy
in a Roman world, grew up in a cultural environment which had its roots,
broadly speaking, in four ancient civilizations, that of Egypt, Greece,
Rome, and Judaea. The status of women in the cultural patterns of these
nations was reflected in the laws, customs, and attitudes toward the women
in Tarsus and in the other cities in which St. Paul lived during his adult
life. They were a part of his daily living and as such no doubt had a
definite effect on his thinking regarding women and are therefore of in-
terest to the present study.
While Egyptian women had known considerable freedom and equality
with men during the early dynasties and were still a marvel to Herodotus
when he visited Egypt (c. 464-447 ),* they actually had lost most of their
legal rights during the reign of Amasis II, (570-526 B.C.) and had few
freedoms not enjoyed by women of the other Mediterranean countries
by the beginning of the Christian Era.2

1 Herodotus Bk. II, p. 35, English translation by A. D. Godley. Vol. 1, p. 317

(New York: Putnam's, 1921-1924).
2 See Alex Moret, The Nile and Egyptian Civilisation (New York: Knopf, 1927).
H. R. Hall, The Ancient History of The Near East (New York. Macmillan, 1935).
And Janet R. Buttles, Queens of Egypt (London: Constable, 1908).
311

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 312 St. Paul on the Status of Women

In Greece the status of women had varied both as to t

under most conditions it was inferior to that of men. She was sold
practically as a slave to her husband, although she retained partial control
of her dowry. She was generally uneducated except in her home responsi-
bilities, took no part in political life and was considered as property whether
she was a wife, hetaira or slave.3
Roman women had more freedom than the Greek women but under
early laws women had no independent status. According to the Mancipia,
a girl was under the hand of her father, until she was married, at which
time the authority over her was passed to her husband. However, after
195 B.C., Roman women began to acquire property by employing legal
fictions to evade the law and came to have considerable economic freedom.
They were given some educational opportunities and occasionally became
interested in political life. During the first centuries of the Christian era
Roman women acquired practical equality with men in most phases of
living. At the time of Paul's visits to Rome they had already gained
many of these freedoms and were able to assist him in the establishment of
the first Christian church in the city.4
The Jewish woman of the same period enjoyed few of these privileges.
Her marriage was a matter of barter between her father and her future
husband. She had no right to divorce, while her husband could divorce
at his pleasure. Her property rights were so limited that the Talmud often
asks: "How can a woman have anything (even her own earnings) ; what-
ever is hers belongs to her husband?" She could inherit property from
her father only if there were no sons and, as a widow, her share in the
family property was very limited. Girls were not allowed to go to school
and were forbidden to know the Torah. The law gave the husband the
right to beat or starve his wife for neglecting any of her household duties.
The neglect was a matter of the husband's judgment, since a Jewish
woman was not considered competent to give evidence in the civil and
criminal courts and so could not have defended herself even if she had
tried to obtain justice. Only through her motherhood did the Jewish
woman receive any significant status and there only, as the mother of sons.

3 J. P. Mahaffy, The Greek World Under Roman Sway (New York: Macmillan,
1890).
Alice Zimmern, The Home Life of Ancient Greeks (London: Cassel, 1893).
4 See John E. Sandys, A Companion to Latin Studies (Cambridge: Cambridge
Univ. Press, 1915).
Guglielmo Ferrero, The Women of the Caesars (New York: Century, 1911).
Ludwig Friedlander, Roman Life and Manners Under the Early Empire (London:
Routledge, 1928-36).

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 St. Paul on the Status of Women 313

No doubt the love that existed between husbands and wives and between
parents and children softened the rigors of these laws but there is conclu-
sive evidence that women were considered inferior to men in all periods
of early Jewish history.5
St. Paul's own mother lived in the midst of the current pagan attitudes
toward women and, as an orthodox Jewish woman, she came under their
laws and customs. As a child, St. Paul probably accepted the inferior po-
sition she held without any thought of injustice. As an ardent Pharisee,
he studied the Jewish laws and was their eager champion. So it may be
assumed that until the time of his conversion he had accepted, and even
become an enthusiastic advocate of the inferiority of women.
It was against this background of suppression and inequality regard-
ing women that Christ delivered his momentous principle of the equality
of all men and women before God. No wonder the Apostles were amazed
when they found Him talking to the woman of Samaria on spiritual things
with as much directness and insight as he had used in addressing them.
He healed women's minds and bodies with the same understanding care
that He gave to the men who came to Him. Mary and Martha of Bethany
had been his friends as truly as their brother Lazarus; Joanna and
Suzanna had "ministered unto Him of their substance". In His teachings
He made it plain that the salvation of a woman's soul was as important
as that of a man.
His disciples accepted the idea of equality between men and women with
considerable hesitation as might be expected. His teachings in this, as in
many other things, was at variance with their customary thinking. Pre-
served in the "Cánones apostalarum ecclesiastici" (c. xxiv to xxviii)
is a fragment of a conversation dealing with the problem of the service
that women should render in the new Church, which gives us a vivid pic-
ture of the varying points of view among the disciples.

24. Andrew said: "It is useful, brethren to assign a ministry to women."

25. Peter said: "Now we have determined; concerning the offering of the
Body and Blood let us come to an accurate agreement."
26. John said : "You have forgotten, brethren, that the Master when He asked
for bread and the chalice, and blessed them saying : This is My Body and
Blood/ He did not permit them to stand with us." Martha said: "On ac-
count of Mary, because He saw her smiling." Mary said: "I didn't laugh

5 See Joseph W. Gaspar, Social Ideas in the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testa-
ment (Washington, D. C, Catholic Univ. Press, 1947).
Louis M. Epstein, The Jewish Marriage Contract (New York: Jewish Theological
Seminary, 1927) and Jewish Encyclopedia (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1906).

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314 St. Paul on the Status of Women

any more; for He foretold to us when He taught, that

be saved through the strong."
2/. Cephas said: "But you remember that it is not fitting f
standing, but sitting upon the ground."
28. James said: "How, then, can we decide about the minis
cept that ministry in which they are able to take care
now."6

Thus, in sharp contrast to the orthodox Jewish women

permitted within the temple proper we find the women o
tian Church discussing the most sacred problems of the ea
ly with the disciples. How much of this new respect for
to the Blessed Mother can only be conjectured. We kn
Mother of the little boy Jesus, she had sat on the groun
the outer court of the temple, submissive to the law as ot
day. But as the Mother of the Christ, the Redeemer, w
place in the plan of redemption she was lifted to a place
even the Apostles.7 They knew that her faith had b
theirs and that her knowledge of her Son and His Mi
than theirs. Little wonder then that they gathered about
to learn of Him, or that other women of the early Ch
her reflected glory. So far as we know, St. Paul neve
Mother nor mentioned her place in the plan of redem
however, have known of the reverence paid her by th
and of the work of the other women in the formation of
Jerusalem.

II. St. Paul's Attitude toward Women as Seen in the

Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles

After his conversion and visit to Jerusalem Paul returned to Tarsu

where he lived for ten years in obscurity so far as the records go.8 In
those ten years Paul had time to organize his thinking along Christian
principles. Although he remained proud of his Jewish heritage, "in new-
ness of spirit" (Romans 7:6) he accepted the principles of Christ and
applied them to the problems he faced in his later years. A study of his
missionary work as recorded by Luke in the Acts of the Apostles and of

6 Josephine Mayer, Monumenta de Viduis Diaconissis Virginibusque Tractantia

(Bonn: University of Bonn, 1938).
* Franz M. Wiliam, Mary the Mother of Jesus (St. Louis: Herder, 1941),
p. 294ff.
8 W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons,
1898), pp. 44-46.

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 St. Paul on the Status of Women 315

St. Paul's own Epistles gives one a clear picture of his ch

view. This is particularly true in regard to his attitude t
Perhaps the most significant evidence of his changed at
women is to be found in the fact that he accepted women-c
the Christian Churches, with which he was associated, with the same
eagerness that he accepted men. Thecla of Iconium was taught by him
while he was in prison.9 On his first missionary journey into Europe he
went with Luke to Philippi, where on the Sabbath they "went forth with-
out the gate by the riverside where there was wont to be held a meeting
for prayer and sat down, and spake unto the women that came together"
(Acts 16:13). Thus as Cony beare points out, St. Paul's first sermon in
Europe was addressed to women10 and his first recorded convert in Europe
was "a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple in the city of Thya-
tira" (Acts 16:14). She and all her household were baptized and later
"constrained" the missionaries to stay at her home while they were in the
city.
At Thessalonica "there were, in addition, gathered to Paul and Silas,
many of the God-fearing and a great multitude of the Greeks, and of the
leading women not a few" (Acts 17:4). Holzner suggests that these
women became the principal support of the Church that St. Paul and
Silas founded in Thessalonica.11 Again, in Acts 17 :12 Luke reports that
at Beroea, "Many, therefore, believed as did also not a few of the high-
born Greek ladies and the male population." At Athens Damaris (Acts
17 :34) is the only woman convert named and she as, Ramsay points out,
was probably an educated hetaira who had enough freedom of action to
attend the meetings. High born Athenian women were still held in such
close seclusion that they would not have been able to hear Paul's message.12
It is to be noted that in each of the instances given above women are
referred to with respect, the sermons are addressed to them equally with
the men and they are accepted as converts, without regard to their sex.
When we turn to St. Paul's own Epistles we find evidence of the same
attitude. The letters show clearly that they have been written to the
women as well as the men of the Churches. He exhorts both to live up
to the Christian ideals but reserves his most scathing criticism for the
men. He warmly commends both men and women for their good works.

9 Joseph Holzner, Paul of Tarsus (St. Louis: Herder Book Co., 1945), pp. 127, 128.
10 W. J. Conybeare and J. S. Howson, The Life and Epistles of St . Paul (Hart-
ford: Bliss Co., 1869), p. 270.
11 Joseph Holzner, Paul of Tarsus (St. Louis: Herder Book Co., 1945), p. 239.
12 W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1898),
pp. 227, 252.

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316 St. Paul on the Status of Women

For instance in his letter to the Romans he sends gr

be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints" (R
closing refers to eleven women and eighteen men
16:1-15).
The warmth of Paul's greetings is indicative of his
his women co-workers. He speaks of "Mary who bes
on us", "Narcissus' household who are in the Lord", "
phosa, who labored in the Lord" and "beloved Persis,
in the Lord." In a number of instances he sends gree
his mother, wife, or sister with the same freedom t
today.13 In the Roman letter and in his second lette
puts Priscilla's name before that of her husband in h
planation Ramsay14 suggests that Priscilla may have com
family of higher rank than that of her husband. W
suggests that she may have been the "more energet
two."15 In either event, it is evident that St. Paul admired them both
and wrote of them as "my helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for my
life laid down their own necks; unto who not only I give thanks but
also all the churches of the Gentiles" (Romans 16:3, 4). His appreciation
of Lois and Eunice (2 Tim. 1 :5), of "those women that have labored with
me in the Gospel" in Philippi (Philippians 4:3) and of Chloe of Corinth
( 1 Cor. 1 : 11) should also be mentioned.
St. Paul's reference to Phoebe as a "deaconess of the Church which
is at Cenchrea" has raised a number of questions regarding the status
of women in the early Churches. This is the only time the title is given
to a woman in the Scriptures and is obviously intended as a title of respect
and commendation. St. Paul may have called her a "deaconess" be-
cause she distributed relief to the sick and the poor as he and Barnabus
had done when they, as deacons, distributed the relief money to the
famine sufferers in Jerusalem (Acts 11: 29; 12: 25).
He entrusted Phoebe with his letter to the Roman Church and
he urged that they "receive her in the Lord, as the saints should re-
ceive one another, and aid her in any business wherein she needs your
help; for she has herself aided many, and me also among the rest".
(Romans 16:1, 2) Prat suggests that she was a patroness of the Christians

18 See Romans 16:3, 13, 15; Philemon 1:2; 2 Tim. 4:19.

14 W. M. Ramsay, St . Paul the Traveller (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons,
1898), pp. 267, 268.
15 W. J. Conybeare and J. S. Howson, The Life and Epistles of St. Paul (Hart-
ford: Bliss & Co., 1869), footnotes, pp. 349, 614.

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 St. Paul on the Status of Women 317

and that the language of St. Paul in referring to her

had consecrated herself to the service of the Church and received the
"charismata of the deaconry" from the Holy Spirit.16 Most scholars
agree, however, that the term "deaconess" as used by St. Paul had no
hierarchical significance.17
Holzner points out that St. Paul was the first person who saw the
value of women as workers in the Church and used them extensively in
the development of the missions.18 Phoebe was a case in point, she
not only ministered to the sick and needy but also carried important
papers and transacted business for the churches. Priscilla also seems to
have taken an active part in the Church both in Rome, where the Church
was housed in her home19, and during the years she spent in exile. In
Ephesus, when Apollo, the Alexandrian Jew, who had learned the
message of the Gospel from John the Baptist, preached the Gospel in-
accurately she and her husband explained Chrisťs teaching to him.
Luke, in recording the incident, also gives her name before that of her
husband implying that she at least participated in the teaching (Acts
18:24-26). It is also significant to the discussion that St. Paul so highly
regarded the information he received from Chloe's household that he
gave it as the reason for writing a letter to the Church at Corinth ( 1 Cor.
1:11).
It was in this first letter to the Church at Corinth and in his first letter
to Timothy, who was in Ephesus, that St. Paul made his strongest state-
ments regarding the restrictions that should be placed upon the women
members of the Christian Churches. In 1 Corinthians 14:34, 35, and
in Timothy 2:11, 12, he states very definitely that the women should not
speak, or teach, in the Churches and defends his statements by referring
to "the law" and the Old Testament story of Adam and Eve, both of
which are from the Old Dispensation.
To understand these statements of St. Paul one needs to remember
that only in these two instances does he say, or do, anything restricting
the activity of women in the Churches. We have thirteen of his letters
and a fairly comprehensive story of his missionary life yet only in two

16 Fernand Prat, The Theology of St. Paul (New York: Benziger Bros., 1926),
Vol. I, pp. 349, 350.
17 See also W. J. Conybeare and J. S. Howson, Life and Epistles of St. Paul,
p. 398; Philip Schaff, The History of the Christian Church (New York: Scribner's
Sons, 1904), pp. 500, 501.
18 Joseph Holzner, Paul of Tarsus, p. 183.
19 R. Lanciani, Pagan and Christian Rome (New York: Houghton Mifflin & Co.,
1893), pp. 110-112.

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318 St. Paul on the Status of Women

instances do we have any evidence of his opposition to t

of women in the work of the Churches. Since these statements are
therefore unusual, it is well to inquire into the situation in the two cities
in which the Churches were located.
At Corinth there were dissensions in the Church on many points and
undoubtedly one of these concerned the participation of the women in the
public gatherings. Corinth was a Greek city where high-born women
for many generations had lived in seclusion. Chloe was such a lady and
might very well have been so shocked at the loud-voiced rantings of the
women of lower stations in life as to have reported the matter to St.
Paul and asked for some type of regulation that would improve the situa-
tion. All types of women were welcomed in the Churches and it is in-
evitable that among the converts there would have been some women
who had been hetairai, harlots of the pagan temples, or priestesses of the
orgiastic rituals of Dionysus, Diana, and other pagan Gods.
These undisciplined women, rejoicing in their new-found faith, could
very well have presented a serious problem to the Churches at Corinth
and Ephesus. Farnell in his five- volume study of the Cults of the Greek
States , draws a detailed picture of the voluptuous atmosphere of these
cities and of the wild, orgiastic rituals that were part of the worship of
the Gods. Corinth was known throughout the ancient world for her
wealth, profligacy, and ritualistic orgies, and Ephesus became renowned for
the practice of magic and the worship of Diana and Dionysus in which
women took a prominent part.20
It is not surprising, therefore, to find St. Paul recommending definite
restrictions regarding the women members of the Churches in these two
centers of the pagan cults. His purpose was undoubtedly to differentiate
the conduct of the Christian women from that of the pagan worshippers.
St. Paul had preached of a new profound concept of the equality of
women before God but with this new liberty came also the responsibilities
of self discipline, not only for personal salvation, but also that each new
convert might bear evidence of Christ's teachings to the world by the
manner in which she conducted herself in every phase of her life, for the
Gospel must not be brought into disrepute.
Thus we have a number of admonitions regarding the details of
living in St. Paul's letters. In his first Corinthian letter he discusses the
propriety of Christian women wearing veils (1 Cor. 11 :4-7, 13-16), which
is an excellent instance of his desire that Christian women should align
themselves with the best customs of the day and set example to the rest

20 L. R. Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1909),
Vol. 5, pp. 151-163.

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 St. Paul on the Status of Women 319

of the world. High-born Greek women had followed the

Aenea's wife, who wore her veil even during the burning
the Assyrian cities the regulations regarding the wearing
jealously guarded by the free women who were always vei
cubines and second-rank wives were allowed to wear veils when not
in the presence of the first wife. Prostitutes and slaves were forbidden to
wear veils on pain of torture21. St. Paul was aware of these customs
and laws and recognized the danger to the women, and to the churches
if they were disregarded. In his argument, he points out, not the legal
aspects of the custom, but the propriety of their conduct in view of the
age-old mores.
He makes no mention of veils in his letter to the Roman Church be-
cause the women did not so habitually wear veils and in Rome the women
had been given much more freedom of action than in the Eastern
provinces. Also the Vestal Virgins in Rome added to the dignity of
women by their chaste lives, in contrast to the devotees of the Greek Gods.
Thus, St. Paul's admonition regarding women wearing veils was given
to meet a specific problem, rather than as a sweeping denunciation of
women.

In a number of instances St. Paul parallels his teachings to

womeii. In 1 Timothy 3:11 he refers with equal care to the
deacons and deaconesses (generally translated women). In Tit
and 1 Timothy 5 :1, 2, he urges men and women alike to be sober
and holy. In his letter to the Romans (1:26-32) he condem
and women equally for their wickedness. This paralleling of r
to the men and women is a further evidence of St. Paul's res
women since it was at variance with current attitude concerning
outside Christianity.
When he wrote on marriage St. Paul showed high regard f
integrity of the family. He recognized the Jewish and Roman law
in force regarding the position of the wife (1 Cor. 7:39 and
7 : 2, 3) and in several places spoke of the husband as the head of t
or the family, as she bore the children.22
In presenting his admonitions to the wives he showed a rem
sense of equality as between husband and wife. Again he para
advice to the women with similar advice to the men as in 1 Corinthians
11:11, 12. "Nevertheless in their fellowship with the Lord, man and

21 L. Delaporte, Mesopotamia (1925), p. 283.

Igino Giordani, The Social Message of Jesus (Paterson, N. J.: St. Anthony Guild
Press, 1943) p. 186.
22 See Ephesians 5:23; 1 Corinthians 3:7-11.

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320 St. Paul on the Status of Women

woman may not be separated the one from the oth

was made from man, so is man also borne by woman ; an
from God."23 Even the acceptance of Christianity w
in his opinion for shattering the union thus formed. He
Christian man or woman remain with the unbelievi
implied hope of later conversion.
Further, in his discussion of celibacy (1 Corinthians
Paul makes no discrimination on the grounds of sex
clearly that both men and women may become c
there is great need for both consecrated men and wo
of spreading the Gospel. However, the management of t
of unattached women, whether virgins or widows, who
Christian Churches soon presented very serious problem
of the Church. Paul lived to see only the beginnings of
to the problem of the maintenance of widows which
and advised that as many as possible be cared for by the
5:4-8, 16) and that the younger widows marry agai
advise Timothy in decadent Ephesus to send the yo
into the city to do the necessary work of the Church
advised that no widows under sixty years of age "should
the books of the church."24 His advice was not inte
women, but rather to meet a difficult situation as wisely
centuries were to pass before the implications of Christ
equality of men and women were to result in organized,
groups of women that were, in turn to be the forerunne
orders of women as we know them today.
It was from the seeds of Paul's interpretation of Ch
equality that the present religious, social and political eq
grew. Paul repeated his interpretation on this fundamen
times. In Romans 2:11 he wrote "There are no huma
with God",25 and in Romans 3:22 "God's way of justi
faith in Jesus Christ, meant for everybody and sent do
body without distinction" and again in Romans 10:1
calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved." St.
thesis on equality in Galations 3 :2 7, 28, "All yo
baptized in Christ's name have put on the Person of
Jew or Gentile, no more slave or freeman, no more mal
are all one person in Jesus Christ."
23 See also 1 Corinthians 7:2-6; Ephesians 5:21-23; and Colos
24 Fernand Prat, The Theology of St. Paul , Vol. I, pp. 349-251.
25 This and the following quotations have been taken from
Ronald A. Knox, The New Testament in English (New York
1944). All other biblical quotations were taken from Conybear

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