Paul wrote to the church and gave them instructions on their need to provide the good life to everyone in the church. The Apostle Paul wanted the church members to be equal. This included “culturally proper ladies” and those who had left a life of prostitution and traded it for life with Christ, within a Church community. The problem of the Church was equalizing all of its members, giving everyone every opportunity to experience equality among the members. One problem was integrating prostitutes who left had their practice and joined the Church. Paul didn’t want the former prostitutes who had become Christians to continue to be identified as prostitutes. Their short hair marked them as prostitutes. Paul wanted them safeguarded from misidentification and equalized with the proper ladies of the church who had long hair.
But Paul also wanted the proper ladies of the church to be protected. He didn’t want the action of the proper ladies to identify them as prostitutes. Here’s their problem:
In ancient times (and even into the 20th century), proper ladies avoided addressing men, or even making eye contact with them. This practice was rooted in the cultural and religious traditions that had been transmitted from generation to generation since antiquity. And women were often seen as second-class human beings. But, the Apostle Paul, however, introduced a radical idea in the first century AD, stating that women are not second-class citizens but are equal to men, albeit with different roles in life and society. This notion was radical at that time. He aimed to equalize men and women in society. Paul wrote to the Church and said, “Look, women are not second-class human beings. They are equal to men with a different role in life and society.”
But in that society, there were some ladies with whom he did not want the women of the Church to be identified. These women were emancipated, they shared some of qualities with men in that society and they used men to become richer ladies and to enable them to do what they liked to do. These women hired other girls and engaged in activities traditionally reserved for men, such as studying mathematics and music. This was a societal rebellion. And they also did one more thing: they opened their houses to men who became their clients. Their acts of prostitution increased the wealth of these women, enabling them to do what they wanted to do. They hosted philosophical debates and gatherings in their homes, offering intellectual stimulation but also provided fleshly pleasure to their male clients. Their meetings included amusement with flutes, music and discussion in the pleasant environment of their homes, or perhaps in a garden. The woman had enough money to rent a facility and their rich life was supported through their prostitution.
In contrast, a proper lady never went alone to places where men frequented, like the Agora. The Agora was a place for men, so if a proper lady went there, she was always escorted by a man or a servant. This was a societal norm. However, when Paul wrote that women in the church were equalized with men, the women of the Church of Corinth began speaking with men in the same manner as the emancipated woman spoke to men – openly. But developing such behavior could give the wrong impression of their status. Thus, the Apostle Paul addressed this issue in a letter to the Church of Corinth, advising women to be cautious about their behavior in church to avoid giving the wrong impression. He emphasized that while women are equal to men, they should be mindful of societal norms. Paul gave instructions to the Church, writing that women could pray and prophesy in the Church (prophecy here means to announce the coming of the Messiah, a role similar to teaching.)
However, there was a problem that needed to be solved. The women didn’t have a place to ask their questions. Within societal norms, as proper ladies, they couldn’t speak openly with men. So, what did they do with their questions? They didn’t have a resource for answering their questions, as they didn’t have the New Testament at that time. Paul addressed the problem. Women would ask their own men questions at home so that the man could raise questions on their behalf in the public setting. This would avoid any misunderstanding of the woman’s status. Paul wanted a women to ask her man to make the question on her behalf in the public setting. This would avoid any misunderstanding of the woman’s status. Paul wanted women to ask their men to pose the questions on their behalf because the church was a public place. Paul’s statement, “I don’t forgive them to speak,” means that public speech at that time indicated a lifestyle that was common to women who dealt with clients, men, like colleagues.
Paul’s letter in the New Testament was not about silencing women but about ensuring that their actions did not conflict with societal expectations and give the women of the church a wrongful identification. He emphasized the importance of being sensitive to time and place and cultural practice. The Apostle wanted the church to be a place where everyone experienced the good life of the church, a place where women were equalized with men but differentiated from the women who were offering their bodies to men.
Other equalization problems that Paul addressed in his letters included the wearing of scarves. This was for the equalization of appearance between a prostitute and the proper lady. Another problem was whether people in the church were allowed to eat meat offered to idols. And yet another was this act of having husbands ask questions in a public setting in order to avoid the misidentification of a woman as a prostitute. Paul wanted people to live within cultural norms if possible, and this included the norms of how men and women spoke to one another.
The Church of Corinth provided equalization and assured that the women did not appear as prostitutes. In this same line of reasoning, women in the Church of Corinth were told to either all cut off their hair or all wear scarves. They did not want to cut their hair, so they all wore scarves. This way, none of the women were identifiable by their short hair as prostitutes (prostitutes all had short hair and after leaving that lifestyle, it would take a long time for their hair to grow.)
Paul wrote to the church and gave them instructions on how to provide the good life to everyone in the church. The Apostle Paul wanted the church members to be equal.
Not to give the wrong impressions, but to transmit the message accurately. There is something beyond the way women are treated in the Church. It is the importance of Christianity. Christianity is precious. It’s not the speaking among men or the wearing, or not wearing of a scarf that is important, but the love for others, to the degree that it even covers these ladies. You need to identify yourself with this language.
But proselytizing a minor in Greece, even today, is equivalent to molesting the mind. Talking to a minor and if you are Orthodox, you could face many years in prison. Minors today become adults at 18. Back then, you became an adult at 21. Speak to kids with written permission from the parents or a parent’s signature. Without that, the next day, they could prosecute and cause trouble.