Modern Bible scholarship and archeology on the role of women in the early church: A new light on the Pauline epistles
Yeshua’s teaching on women as equal to men is reflected in the early Christian communities, evidenced by Paul’s own writings.
As I wrote in my last post, Yeshua saw women as equal in dignity to men, as is evidenced by indicating the original order of creation. Therefore, it is not surprising that all four Gospels attest to the fact that it was women, foremost Myriam Magdalene, to whom He appeared first after His resurrection.
Myriam Magdalene (in the gospel of John, together with other women in Matthew and Mark), was charged with bringing the Good News to the rest of the disciples,. Hence she is being called “apostle to the apostles”. As women in Jewish society could not act as witnesses it becomes even more obvious that Yeshua re-introduced the original order of creation, with man and woman being equal as it was from the beginning.
But what about Paul? Wasn’t his view on women completely different, even completely omitting the women as first witnesses of the resurrection - very much in line with contemporary Jewish and Roman thinking?
Modern scholarship about Paul’s writings
Listen for example to 1 Timothy 2:11-15: “A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a wrongdoer. But women will be saved through childbirth—if they continue in faith, love, and sanctity, with moderation.”
Or in the same vein 1 Timothy 3:2: “An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife,…” In other words: “Overseers”, i.e. bishops, must be men.
Modern scholarship almost unanimously agrees that 1 Timothy was not written by Paul but rather after his death. Paul is the earliest of the New Testament authors. His authentic epistles are written around the late 40s and 50s CE, while 1Timothy was composed sometimes in the early 2nd century CE.
We know from Paul himself that women had leadership roles in the church of his time from his letter to the Romans chapter 16. The epistle to the Romans is, according to Bible scholars, indisputably an authentic letter written by Paul.
In Romans 16:1 he is greeting a female minister (Greek: “diaconos”) with the name of Phoebe.
In Romans 16:3 he is calling Prisca and Aquila “fellow workers in Christ Jesus”.
In Romans 16:7 Paul is greeting Andronicus and Junia, describing them as “being prominent among the apostles”. There are manuscripts which read “Junias” instead of Junia, turning the female into a male name. It is pretty obvious that this was due to a scribal addition of an “s” to the original female name in order to make it sound male. The name “Junias” was not known in antiquity (!) according to renowned Bible scholar Bart Ehrman.
There is a caveat to 1 Corinthians 14:34,35 as well.
“The 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.”
Obviously, these verses too are in discordance with the greetings in Romans 16, where women are being called “minister” or even “apostle”.
There are good reasons to assume that these two verses were added later by a scribe.
First of all, because those two verses appear at different positions in different manuscripts (some manuscripts have them after verse 40).
Secondly, because they contradict not only Romans 16, but also what Paul is writing a few chapters earlier. In 1 Cor 11:5 he is talking about women “prophesying” in church. How can this be reconciled with “women having to keep silent in the churches”?
Obviously, as we can learn also from Paul’s authentic letter to the Romans, women did hold leadership roles in the early church. Banning women from church offices is a later development. According to Bible scholar Bart Ehrman we know from writings around the start of the second century that one part in the church started to oppose women assuming leadership roles. According to professor of theology Martin Ebner this happened because this group, centred in Rome, wanted to adapt to Roman authority and the mainstream social code which was strictly patriarchal. “Gender equality from early days was abolished in order to better integrate into society …,” as professor Ebner explains.
This group finally got the upper hand and came also to select and redact the scriptures that would make it into the New Testament canon. (See on the topic: Bart D. Ehrman, “Lost Christianities”, Oxford University Press 2003)
1 Timothy was obviously composed in this context of adapting to the Roman social code, as well as the addition in 1 Cor 14:34, 35 . Both were not authored by Paul.
This is again highlighted by the fact that they stand at odds with yet another passage in an authentic and presumably the earliest letter written by Paul: The letter to the Galatians.
In chapter 3 verse 27-29 we find the following passage:
“For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.”
Another early Christian movement attesting that women were viewed as equal by followers of Christ
Another early Christian movement, Gnosticism, likewise viewed women as equal with men as evidenced by some of their texts. The Berlin Codex was unearthed in 1896 in Egypt, containing Gnostic texts, amongst others the “gospel of Mary”. In 1945, the Nag Hammadi library was discovered in Upper Egypt, a collection of Gnostic texts. They reveal a view on the role of women different from the mainstream Roman social code.
Gnosticism probably was the earliest form of Christianity in Egypt, as was first proposed by German scholar Walter Bauer in his book “Orthodoxy and heresy in earliest Christianity” (chapter 2). Obviously, these early Christians honoured the teaching of their Messiah, a teaching still evident in the gospels that made it into the New Testament canon.
Archeological evidence of women in leadership roles in the early church
Professor Dr. Martin Ebner explained that today we also have archeological evidence of women in leadership roles in the early Church. In a talk given in 2020 he points out that - in addition to Biblical exegesis - thanks to the study of literature, as well as inscriptions on papyrus roles, tomb stones, images on frescos and mosaics we know that women held leading roles in the early church.
Conclusion
Even in the gospels we use today, i.e. the texts used by the group centred in Rome which later became “orthodox” Christianity, Yeshua HaMoshiach’s teaching on women’s equality with men is obvious.
Therefore, let me repeat: Paul’s writings should be interpreted in the light of Yeshua HaMoshiach’s teaching, and not the other way around. As evidence shows, the early Church regarded men and women as equal. This corresponds to the original order of creation as reintroduced by the Messiah. There is no doubt in my mind that man and woman have equal dignity and an equal calling in Christ. To limit this calling means quenching the Holy Spirit.