“Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love [agape] your wives, and do not be harsh with them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. 22 Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing the Lord.” Colossians 3:18-23
Some commentators have felt that ‘be subject’ means ‘obey’. However, it seems that Paul chose ‘be subject’ in contrast with the ‘obey’ of slaves and children later on. Nowhere in the New Testament is a wife told to obey her husband and obedience is not necessarily the meaning of subjection. ‘As is fitting in the Lord’ might be, rather than an explanation or justification of their subjection, rather a limitation on subjection.
In Col 3:19 a husband is told to love his wife but “this is not only a matter of affectionate feeling or sexual attraction; it involves his active and unceasing care for her well-being.”J. The addition of ‘do not be harsh with them’ could have been because of a situation at Colossae. Paul addresses both husbands and wives, which was unusual. There is an implication of order in the man and wife relationship, but little indication of the meaning/ significance/consequences of that order.
“That women should adorn themselves modestly and sensibly in seemly apparel not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly attire but by good deeds, as befits women who profess religion. (1 Tim. 2:8-11) Braided hair may have been seen as immoral in that part of the world.
One quarter of active collaborators named in Paul’s letters are women. Junia and Andronicus were Christians before Paul, in prison with him and pre-eminent among the apostles. However, there is some debate over whether Junia (or Junias) was male or female. Mary, the ‘beloved’ Persis, Tryphoena and Tryphosa have worked hard “in [the service of] the Lord” and “given their utmost”. Euodia and Syntyche are both told to be “in harmony in the Lord” (i.e. they were at odds). Paul calls them fellow fighters in the Gospel (i.e. they were missionaries and respected among the leaders of the community.) They are not blamed however, and it is said that their names are in the “Book of Life” – they were proven and steadfast martyrs and had suffered persecution and were possibly fellow prisoners of Paul. All of this seems to show that women as well as men could play a strong part in the life of the Early Church and that Paul himself acknowledged that. Women would seem to have been leaders of Christian communities and to have been accorded respect in the same way as men. Nympha (who in some translations has been taken to be a man and given the name Nymphas) was the leader of her house community and there is also the possible example of Phoebe, who was commended by Paul in one of his letters and who held a defined position within the Christian Church.
There are many women mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. Mary the mother of John Mark is mentioned as head of a community in Jerusalem in Acts 12:12-13. Tabitha in Joppa is a disciple who makes clothes for widows and is restored to life by Peter in 9:36ff. Damaris in Athens was converted by Paul, the evangelist Philip has four virgin daughters who were prophets (21:9) and Mary the mother of Jesus is in the community in Jerusalem.
“Their [women’s] influence extended from Caesarea to Rome. Mothers, wives, sisters (in this case physical and not just Christian sisters) and young girls worked at spreading the new faith and building up the communities. Their functions ranged from the highest to the ‘lowest’. They worked as apostles, deacons, community leaders, teachers and prophets. They travelled as missionaries and did charitable work; they preached, taught, gathered the believers together and sewed clothes for women. There were well-to-do women among them who shared what they had and kept open house, and there were poor women and slaves. They worked hard, had their differences of opinion, and could be bewitched by heretical teachers. In all this they were no different from men and fellow Christians.” J HEINE
Acts says that the earliest Christian preachers offered women ‘salvation’ in the same way as men. The ministry of the home was an important one in the early Christian church (see 1 Corinthians) though it was not the only one. Women had other spiritual gifts (Acts 9:36ff, Luke 2:36ff, Romans 16:1, Phil 4:2ff, 2 John). For the most part the services named are private, but not all. “While there are ministries of the kingdom from which men are permanently barred, and some from which women are similarly excluded, there are others that both will ultimately share, but into which at any particular epoch it may be untimely that one or the other intrude. In other words, progress is gradual and not sudden.”J An example of this is that the daughters of Philip could prophesy in Palestine where it might be harmful or shameful to do so in Gentile churches. “The fundamental fact, however, is that women are persons and not tools. Are they not ‘joint heirs of the grace of life’ (1 Peter 3:7)?”J
Some women did make (financial) contributions to the Rabbis, but they preferred to shun even these women. However, the gospels point out that Jesus was accompanied in his ministry by the Twelve, and by several women. Luke 8:1-12 makes it clear that when the Twelve are mentioned, there are women there as well. Origen also makes mention that the women went with the apostles and Jesus into the wilderness. Blum notes that unlike the Twelve, the women who followed Jesus were not called, but came in response to help and healing. However, if some of the Seventy who were sent out were women (which Evans believes to be likely) then they must have been called. There is also the fact that the women at the tomb set out to proclaim the message of the resurrection.
The apostles were all male which may have been meant to have permanent significance for the leadership of the church, or just have been because the closest companions of Jesus in that time would have been male to satisfy tradition. However, Luke 22:30 draws a comparison between the apostles and the patriarchs.
Evans notes that women gave diakonein (“to serve”) which can also mean prophesy (1 Peter 1:10-12), preaching (Acts 19:22), collecting for the saints (2 Corinthians 8:19), financial support and probably also serving at table. In Luke 10:39 it becomes evident that they also shared teaching with the disciples. This was unusual as women were expected to go to synagogue to listen rather than to learn and Jesus taught women, believing them capable of learning and understanding as well as debate. Jesus wanted women not merely to accept religious beliefs, but to appreciate the significance of their acceptance. Jesus’ longest recorded conversations with women were with Gentile women like the Syro-Phoenican woman in Mt 15:21-8, Mk 7:24-39 rather than the Jewish women who might be expected to understand him better. While the disciples, who epitomise the reactions of the rabbis of this period beg Jesus to get rid of the woman, Jesus saw her as an individual and talked to her instead of sending her away. He tested her faith by telling her that his responsibility was to Israel, which she understood, but replied that she only wanted a crumb, which he could give. The woman’s intelligence and faith made Jesus heal her daughter – it is significant that Jesus sought to bring out her understanding. The case of Mary and Martha is also important in seeing how Jesus saw women. In Luke 10:38-42 Mary “sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching” – this was the normal scene of a Rabbi instructing his pupil, but here the pupil is female. Jesus gave teaching to a wider group than the twelve, and that group included women.
The anointing of Jesus featured in Mt 26:6-13 and Mk 14:3-9 has also been seen by some as an important part of the New Testament’s depiction of women. Some say that this was merely an expression of Mary’s love for Jesus (only the Gospel of John calls her this) which had more significance than she thought at the time. Others, however, think that she knew what she was doing and Matthew and Mark seem to imply that she understood more than the disciples that Jesus was soon to die. Perhaps she foresaw that she would not be able to use the ointment at his death? “Mary now realises that Jesus has quite a unique relationship to life and that therefore it is as natural to anoint his living body, for he is even now the resurrection, as it would be, later on to anoint his corpse.”J This may seem to be reading a little too much into it, but it is nonetheless possible. “In any case, it is clear that Jesus rebukes the disciples for assuming that their spiritual understanding was greater than that of the woman, and shows them that in this case, the opposite was, in fact, true.”J
Women in the Passion narratives: women were present both at the crucifixion and at the burial, and first to hear of the resurrection. Matthew, Mark and John have women being the first to see the risen Jesus and they, not the male apostles, are the first to spread the news of the resurrection. “One feature of all four gospels which goes a long way towards authenticating the story as a whole is the prominence of women; for this is a feature which the early Church would not be likely to invent.”J Women are presented in the accounts as witnesses. Jewish law meant that women’s testimony was only accepted where a Gentile slave’s was also because in Genesis 18:15 Sarah denied that she had laughed when she had, and this was interpreted as meaning that all women lied. Christianity could never hold this view, however, because of the crucifixion and resurrection. Some of the factual details of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus could only be known through the testimony of women
Women are presented as being receivers of the message. Cranfield has deemed it significant that women rather than men received the message first, although it may simply be that they were there first. “The very persons who in general held a rather despised position… were in this instance more persevering than the disciples [in their love]. This feature delineates the new position of women in the fellowship of Jesus.”J Hendriksen (writing on Jn 20:12) questions whether the angels appeared to the women as a reward for greater love, or to help weaker faith, but he concludes that we simply cannot know.J
Women are also called to pass on the message and are the “first announcers of the resurrection gospel”J. While in Mark 16:8 “they said nothing to anyone because they were afraid” Calvin wrote that “though they were resolved to obey the angel, still they had not the power to do so, if the Lord himself had not loosed their tongues”J however, Luke 23:9 says that the silence was only temporary – the women were the first proclaimers of the resurrection by order of the angels and by Christ himself. In Luke 24:10-11 it is written “it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told this to the apostles; but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” The disciples did not believe the women, and were later rebuked for their disbelief (Mk 16:14). Women were recognised as being able to bear witness and convey the Christian message. There is a possibility that the resurrection appearance in Luke 24:13-35 may be to a man and a woman, as the house that they go to was the home of both.
It is uncertain whether the gospel writers were making a point about women, or merely recording the events as they happened but “at that time, the women who followed Jesus showed a greater perseverance, a greater loyalty and possibly a greater faith than even the twelve apostles.”J