Turismo

Soon after Jesus’ return to heaven, the disciples were gathered together in an upper room praying when the Holy Spirit was poured out with power. Scripture is clear that both men and women were present, so it is not surprising that Peter would quote Joel’s prophecy in his Pentecostal sermon. “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will proph­ esy” (Acts 2:17, 18). The gifts of God’s Spirit are to be given not by status, race, or gender but by membership in His body. Those who are of no repute, God chooses as His witnesses (1 Cor. 1:27-29). For identity in Christ means, “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one” (Gal. 3:28). Through Christ, the Seed of the woman, humanity is restored to that Edenic oneness with God and each other promised so long ago to the fallen man and woman in the garden.

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Encountering: God in Life and Mission

The epistles of the New Testament clearly teach that the gifts and functions of the body of Christ are not given according to gender, rather that the Spirit .. gives them to each one, just as he determines” (1 Cor. 12:11). In the early church women were deacons (Rom. 16:1, 2), listed among the “prominent” apostles (Rom. 16:7), among those who prophesied (1 Cor. 11:5; Acts 21:9), as well as church leaders and missionaries (Acts 18:24-26; Rom. 16:3-5; Philem. 2; Col. 4:15). The priesthood of all believers demanded a removal of those distinctions that divide and demean, thus subverting the hierarchical structures endemic in society. Without resort to class warfare or explicit rejection of the status quo, social inequalities were trans­ formed by the gospel into a trajectory of change resulting in mutual reciprocity and interdependent equality of all people (Van Leeuwen et al. 1993:11).

What, then, are we to do with those passages in the New Testament that suggest a continued patriarchy in the family and hierarchy in society? Nowhere in the New Testament is it explicitly stated that slaves should be freed or oppressive govern­ ments rejected or that men and women are equal in being and function. In fact, some passages are often thought specifically to demand the subjection of women to men as Paul addresses rules of action to the early church. Four of those passages are discussed below.

1 Corinthians 11:3-16

In this passage Paul addresses the Corinthian church concerning worship prac­ tices. Unresolved disagreement revolves around the word “head” (kephale) in verse 3. Obviously “head” is used here metaphorically. Contemporary Greek sources in Paul’s time used kephale in several ways metaphorically but rarely to mean author­ ity or ruler (Mickleson 1986:100). The most common metaphorical use is “source” or “source of life” as in Ephesians 4:15 where Christ is described as the “source of life” (kephale) for all Christians (Prinz-McMillan 1995:201). 1 Corinthians 11:3 becomes a paean to the interconnectedness of life in God when rendered, “Now I want you to realize that the life source of every man is Christ, and the life source of the woman is man [from the rib], and the life source of Christ [in the incarnation] is God.” Then Paul in verse 12 reinforces verse 3 as rendered above. “For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.”

Other commentators believe Paul is here using the word kephale (head) in the Hebrew sense to mean authority but point out that the authority is being exercised to combat heresy (Richardson 1998:319). The passage is best understood as a refu­ tation of incipient Gnosticism in the church (Kroeger 8c Kroeger 1992:60). Gnostic

myths often perpetrated variations of pagan myths in which the female was the primal life source. Thus, Paul is refuting this heresy by reaffirming the biblical cre­ ation account that woman came from man not man from the woman (1 Cor. 11:8). Paul’s discussion about head coverings has received numerous interpretations (Evans 1983:90). Bilezikian sees Paul dealing with worship practices in which men stand bareheaded before God representing divine glory and human dignity, while women represent authentic humanity with covered heads (Bilezikian 1985:135). Sometimes such interpretations seem to strain the text, but again it becomes simple and clear when seen in terms of combating Gnostic heresy. Gnostics taught that the material world was evil and salvation required the elimination of female sexual­ ity (Kroeger & Kroeger 1992:173). Paul is, therefore, affirming women as women. They should worship as women, with the head coverings customary of women. A womans head covering (hair or veil) symbolized her identity/authority (exousia) as a woman before the watching angels and in relationship to her husband (Evans 1983:91).

Paul concludes his remarks by appealing to common sense and custom. Men and women stand in relationship to each other, to God, and to society. Following customary hair styles affirms the value of each gender as both distinct and inter­ related. Nature itself supports the importance of gender differentiation that origi­ nated in Eden. A womans physical gifts are for her benefit and need not be given up as Gnosticism demanded. Such doctrine brings contention, but in the churches of God these practices are not to be admitted.

1 Corinthians 14:33-35

Paul is dealing here with orderly worship, prophesying, and speaking in tongues in the Corinthian church. In 1 Corinthians 14:26-33, Paul exhorts the believers to speak only to strengthen the church, to remain quiet if there is no one to interpret, and to defer to others in an orderly manner because God is a God of order. Abrupt­ ly, he inserts a command for women to remain silent and in submission and to ask any questions they have to their husbands at home. Again numerous interpreta­ tions have been advanced to explain these verses (Evans 1983:96).

Traditionally it was supposed that Paul was simply forbidding women to speak in church, even though in 1 Corinthians 11:5 their praying and prophesying is taken for granted. A total prohibition would also mean the rest of chapter 14 does not apply to women either. Since this is unlikely, modern scholars have generally assumed that Paul is not requiring absolute silence but prohibiting a certain type of