Instructions for wifely submission and holy kisses are given in the NT five times each, but one concept is often emphasised while the other is usually ignored.
Does Paul refer to wives of apostles or female coworkers of apostles in 1 Cor. 9:5? Was their role companionship or teaching Christian doctrine?
Gal. 3:28 isn’t only referring to our identity/ status before God. It’s also about our identity/ status in the Christian community (the church).
Ignoring or highlighting the word “likewise” makes a big difference in how we understand certain New Testament passages that affect women.
What does “she will be saved through childbearing” in 1 Timothy 2:15 mean? Is being a faithful follower of Jesus not enough? What does Jesus say about this?
What are the timeless principles in Paul’s instruction in Titus 2:4-5? Why did he want the young wives at Crete to be workers (or keepers) at home?
Here are over 40 women in the Bible who exercised social or political authority. In most of these women’s stories, no question is raised about the propriety of their authority.
This 5-part series takes a close look at 1 Timothy 2:12, at what it does and doesn’t say, as well as providing some cultural context. Part 1 looks at the pitfalls of using 1 Timothy 2:12 as a proof text.
This article looks at the goddess Artemis and her magnificent temple in ancient Ephesus. Artemis had a huge influence on the Ephesians!
Paul’s main purpose for writing First Timothy was to address the heresy in the Ephesian Church, possibly a precursor to Gnosticism.
In Part 4 we begin looking at 1 Timothy 2:11-15, verse by verse, phrase by phrase.
Why are Adam and Eve mentioned immediately after Paul’s prohibition in 1 Timothy 2:12? What does Paul mean by salvation and childbirth in 1 Timothy 2:15?
In this article, I look at Paul’s statements of equality and unity in ministry from 1 Corinthians chapter 12, including his instruction to give more honour to those lacking it.
Michael Bird notes discrepancies between the ideology and the practice of some complementarians regarding women teaching men.
1 Corinthians 11:2-16 is a difficult passage to understand, but it makes more sense when read as a chiasm. What are Paul’s concerns and instructions here?
While reading Plutarch’s “Advice to the Bride and Groom,” it struck me that some Christians sound like Plutarch (a 1st-century pagan author), rather than like Paul, in what they say about men and women and marriage.
Some Christians think the prohibition in 1 Timothy 2:12 is straightforward in meaning. The various ways this verse is understood and implemented indicates otherwise.
Are women more easily deceived than men? What does the Bible, including 1 Timothy 2:14, say about Eve and women and deception?
In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul deals with the subjects of sex, marriage, divorce, and singleness. Paul’s instructions here reveal an egalitarian ethos.
This article looks at the women Paul greeted in his letters, including 10 women mentioned in Romans 16. His greetings show that Paul did not have a problem with women ministers.
Paul described his ministry in maternal and paternal terms. It seems God does not want his people led only in a masculine manner.
Ephesians 5:22-33 is written as a chiasm with a highlighted point at the centre of the passage. We misinterpret this passage if we miss this main point.
Here are some of my older articles on the apostle Paul’s teachings that especially apply to women. I love Paul!
Here are links to over a dozen articles on women church leaders mentioned in the New Testament, women such as Prisca, Phoebe, Junia, Nympha, and more.
Christians shouldn’t dress in a sexually provocative way, but this wasn’t Paul’s meaning in his instructions for modest dress in 1 Timothy 2:9.
The gender of Junia, Nympha and Euodia has sometimes been obscured, and some speculate that Stephanas (1 Cor. 1:16; 16:15ff) was also a woman minister whose gender has been obscured.
Paul wanted equality for all Christians and he wrote about this in his letters. In some verses, he even uses the word “equality.”
What does the Bible say about working women? Does God want women to stay out of the workforce and stay at home?
Does Paul’s statement in Ephesians 5:23, “the husband is the head of the wife,” mean that the husband has leadership or authority over his wife? And what about 1 Corinthians 11:3?
Who were Euodia and Syntyche (Philippians 4:2-3)? Were they leaders of the Philippian church? Early Church Father John Chrysostom seemed to think so.
Here are summaries of a range of interpretations of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 proposed by well-known New Testament scholars. How do these verses apply today?
Is it logical to prohibit women from teaching grown men? What was the reason for Paul’s prohibition in 1 Timothy 2:12? Was it because Eve was deceived?
This article looks at Priscilla and Aquila and explores Luke’s use of the Greek verb ektithēmi (“explain”) in Acts. Did Priscilla teach a man?
Do the qualifications for church leaders (i.e. overseers) in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:6-9 apply only to men? Do these verses exclude women from church leadership?
In this article, I show that some women in the New Testament functioned in Ephesians 4:11 ministries: apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor-teacher.
What was Paul like as a person? How do love and knowledge go together? What did Paul mean by “defence and confirmation”?
This article is about Junia—a minister mentioned by Paul in Romans 16:7—using and critiquing the ESV as a reference. Was Junia really a female apostle?
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© 2022 Marg Mowczko