Understanding Paul the Apostle's Letters

The following shows how not understanding the scriptures can cause false doctrines and divisions in the Church of God.

The Apostle Paul was without a doubt chosen by the Lord to take the gospel message to the Gentiles. While delivering this message, he not only visited many cities and countries setting up churches, but he also wrote letters to several churches in order to instruct them in the way of the Lord, to chastise them because of wrongs they were committing, and to answer some questions they had written to him. Most of Paul’s letters were very straightforward and it was clear what he was explaining to the people. The major part of his writing was used to explain his ministry and his position on a number of subjects and to give specific instruction on church order and doctrine.

But in his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul also re­sponded to some questions that the Corinthians had written to him about, as he stated in chapter 7, verse 1. “Now concerning the things whereof you wrote to me.” As anyone would know, who has corresponded to others in a letter, there are times when you repeat a question that you have received in a previous let­ter before answering it. If another person reads your letter, not knowing exactly what the question was, they may not quite understand what the answer means, or what it is referring to. There are also cases when the person answering the question might repeat all or part of the question before giving the answer, which would make it appear to a third party reading the letter, that what they were reading, was the receiving person’s position on the subject instead of it being a repeat of the question by the person who was going to answer it.

I firmly believe this is what has happened on a few occa­sions in the letters that Paul wrote and has caused some misleading doctrines to be formed in today’s churches. Too many times we have a tendency to take statements out of context and accept literally what is said, instead of trying to understand what message is being conveyed by the whole document or the com­plete passage.

It is important to remember that the Word of God is consis­tent from Genesis to Revelations. God does not change his mind about anything He says. What He says the first time is per­fect and cannot be improved upon. So if we read something in His Word that we think contradicts something else we have read, we must keep in mind that we might not understand what we have read because there are no contradictions in God’s Word.

Keeping these things in mind let us examine some of the passages that I have been referring to and see if we can better understand the position Paul really took on certain issues.

The first passage to be examined is in First Corinthians chap­ter 11, verses 1 through 16. These verses deal with the subject of a person having their head covered while praying or prophesying in the church. Many modern day churches, using this passage for reference, teach their followers that women should not cut their hair, since their hair was given to them as a covering and if they do, it is dishonorable.

Let us start out by looking at the 5th and 6th verses. The 5th verse says that if a woman prays or prophesies with her head uncovered, she might as well have her head shaved. And the first part of the 6th says the same thing, and then adds if it is a shame for a woman to be shaven, let her be covered. It seems obvi­ous here that Paul was asked if women shouldn’t wear a head cov­ering or some kind of veil over her head in church, because the questioner believed it was not proper for her to be uncovered. He goes on to say that if she isn’t covered, she might as well have her head shaven. Now there is no way these two verses could be speaking of anything except a woman wearing a covering over her head in church and the person must have wrote Paul to see if he agreed with them.

Paul tells them, as is recorded in the 13th verse, “Judge in yourselves” or “You be the judge.” Then he asks them “is it come­ly (proper) that a woman prays unto God uncovered?” Then he as­sumes their answer will be “no it is not proper in our judgment.” Then Paul goes on to tell them, as is in verse 15, “a wo­man’s hair is given to her for a covering”. Saying, to them, I’m sure that it is not necessary for a woman to wear anything on her head, for her hair serves the purpose. I do not see anything here where Paul agrees with them that a woman should wear a covering on her head, but he tells them to decide for themselves, and if they decide she should, they should consider her hair to be the covering.

Paul continues in the 16th verse to tell them, if any man wants to be contentious or quarrelsome, there exists no such customs in the churches that he is associated with for a woman to wear a head covering.

Nowhere in these passages do I see Paul saying that it is wrong for a woman to cut her hair. He does say in the 15th verse that it is a glory for a woman to have long hair, but says nothing about it being wrong to cut it. I do not believe that all the words you read in this passage are those of Paul. The statements in verses 5 and 6 sound like the words of the questioner and not Paul, saying that if a woman’s head is not covered, she might as well be shaven.

Now does this sound reasonable? Does this sound like some­thing our Lord would require? If it is, then another scripture should back it up for “by two or three witnesses, every word should be established.” But there are no other scrip­tures in the Bible that say a woman should not cut her hair and this doc­trine is obviously a misunderstanding of the meaning of this passage in 1st Corinthians chapter 11.

The second issue to be discussed is the passage of 1st Co­rinthians chapter 14, verses 34 through 36, where it speaks about women speaking in the church. The basic theme for the whole of this chapter is the speaking in tongues in the church. Paul speaks to them about church order and how the services should be conducted to avoid so much confusion when they gather to­­­gether.

If it wasn’t for the 36th verse being there, it would be obvious that Paul was against women engaging in any part of the worship service with their voices. In verse 34 the writer also spells out a part of the Law of Moses to reinforce his case, something that Paul would not do because he taught that those who are in Christ are not subject to the Law.

It is obvious that what is written in verses 34 and 35 is Paul repeating what someone wrote to him, that they believed women should not speak in the church, but be silent. Paul’s re­sponse is in the 36th verse, where he says “What? Came the word of God out from you? Or came it unto you only?”  Paul is saying here that God does not just anoint “only men” to prophesy or speak in tongues. He continues in the 39th verse saying to them; “do not forbid anyone from prophesying or speaking in tongues, but keep order in the church.”

Notice also in the 35th verse where the statement is made: “if the women would learn anything; let them ask their hus­bands when they get home.” It is obvious from other passages in the Bible that part of their worship service was an open discus­sion in which questions would be asked and answered by the el­ders. On this occasion apparently the men did not like for the women to ask questions and did not want to be bothered answering them, it took up too much of the service. Remember they did not have individual Bibles at that time to go home and study, so many people had to rely on the opportunity available during the gath­erings to learn what they needed to know.

So under this scenario, Paul was not opposed to women speak­ing in the church. Each person in the church, which is the body of Christ, is one in Him. In Christ there is no difference be­tween Jew and Gentile, bond and free, male and female. All have the God given right to worship him without being discriminated against.

The third and final passage to be discussed is in 1st Timothy chapter 2, verses 11 through 15. In this passage Paul ex­plains to Timothy why women are not to be teachers or to usurp or assume any position of authority over men.

I do not question Paul’s stand on this issue, but wanted to address the 11th verse and the part of the 12th verse that speaks to women being silent. One might say that this supports 1st Corinthians chapter 14, verses 34 and 35, where it speaks on women being silent in the church. But let us be certain to con­sider the context of these two passages separately.

The passage in 1st Corinthians 14 is talking about women prophesying and speaking in tongues in the church and plainly shows Paul’s position on that subject as indicated by the 36th verse. But the passage in 1st Timothy chapter 2 is talking about women teaching or holding a position of authority over a man. These are two entirely different subjects. If Paul would have plainly stated his position in 1st Corinthians 14, as being against women speak­ing in the church, that would have reinforced this same statement in 1st Timothy 2. But since he did not, this statement in 1st Timothy 2:11 & 12 is only describing his position taken in verse 12. That position being, that in lieu of women teaching, or hold­ing a position of authority and thereby voicing their  interpretation of church doctrine, they should remain silent in the church.

Paul obviously was opposed to allowing a woman to teach or maintain a position of authority in the church, but made no stand about a woman preaching the gospel. This obviously was Paul’s stand on the subject, but nowhere did Paul say that it was the Lord’s as he has said in other situations.

I do want to insert this statement here as I have in other writings. To preach the Gospel and to teach for church doctrine are two entirely different things. This difference is not observed in today’s churches where all preachers combine the preaching of the gospel with the teaching of church doctrine. If a person is called to preach, they should stay with the gospel of salvation and not teach for doctrine unless God has sent them to do that. Most preachers of today believe they are called to do both, but are doing it in error.

Any person, who has not been sent by God and given the spiritual gift of Wisdom in order to teach for doctrine, is teaching in error. To teach that women should remain silent in the church; that women should not cut their hair; that women should not wear pants; that women should wear a covering over their head in the church;  and many other things is creating false doctrine, not based upon scriptural understanding and is teaching out of their calling, if they have one.

This concludes the examination of three controversial pas­sages in Paul’s letters. I call them controversial because many churches have based their doctrine on them and have caused divi­sions and confusion among the people. The position I have taken is not one from a legalistic stand on the issues, but from a posi­tion of trying to understand the meaning and the reasoning behind the passages, understanding them in the whole context they are written in.

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