GETTING THE BALANCE RIGHT

With this passage we approach “the deep end”! There can be no disguising the difficulties we face in understanding both the pastoral problems Paul addresses in Corinth and the solutions he proposes. That being so, we must approach this section with humility and caution, recognizing both the limits of our knowledge and the fact that some statements in this chapter have been used to subordinate women in western Christian culture.

The problem is illustrated by the fact that scholars disagree about whether the issue regarding women’s attire in public worship concerns the wearing of veils, or the length and style of their hair. Either way, the pastoral issue arises from cultural demands of the attire, the appearance of both males and females in the Corinthian assemblies, and the message which they communicate to onlookers at large. Within Roman society, married women were normally veiled in public, and some female disciples of Jesus in Corinth possibly want to break free from more conventional roles or constraints on the basis of the Gospel “freedom” and gender equality.

Paul walks a tightrope on this issue: he unequivocally affirms the freedom of women to pray and prophesy in public and underscores the fundamental equality of the sexes (12). He also insists that Christian freedom cannot be expressed in ways that might be misunderstood, thereby dishonoring the name of Christ. Difficult though this section may be, it is far from irrelevant to the issues of gender equality resurfacing today in a world in which western assumptions are increasingly challenged by migrants whose values appear in distinctive traditions of dress, including head-coverings.

Take a moment to pray that where differences exist over the kind of issues discussed in this passage they might be handled with love and mutual respect.