By Gilles Donada
The women in Paul’s inner circle
In his letters to early Christian communities, Paul mentions about 40 names, nearly half of whom are women. These women held various roles; disciples, missionaries, and supporters. His closest female collaborators included Phoebe, Prisca, Junia, and Lydia.
Paul referred to Phoebe as both a prostatis (a patroness who hosted and led Christian gatherings in her home) and a diakonos (a servant of the Word, a title given to both men and women). He entrusted her with delivering his Letter to the Romans, expecting her to read and interpret it for the communities.
Prisca and her husband Aquila provided Paul with lodging and work in their tent-making business. Paul called them his “co-workers in Christ” and tasked them with further educating Apollos, who later became a successful preacher.
Paul recognized Junia as an “apostle,” and she was imprisoned alongside him. Lydia, a merchant selling purple cloth, welcomed Paul into her home in Philippi and played a key role in the spread of Christianity there.
Paul’s attitude toward women
“Paul treated women as equals, just as Jesus did. He believed they had the same dignity and rights as men and were fully legitimate in leading congregations, preaching, and carrying out missions, an utterly revolutionary stance for his time,” said biblical scholar Roselyne Dupont-Roc.
Unlike prevailing customs, Paul sometimes listed women’s names before men’s in his letters. He acknowledged that women could “pray” and “prophesy”, the latter being a highly valued role in his view, ranking second among spiritual gifts.
His belief in gender equality was deeply rooted in faith, as reflected in his letter to the Galatians (3:28): “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
However, when disturbances arose in certain communities, Paul occasionally called for order. For instance, in his letter to the Corinthians, he instructed some women to remain silent in assemblies (1 Cor. 14:34-35). “When disciples went too far, Paul sometimes lost patience and reverted to traditional arguments about women’s roles,” Dupont-Roc explained. “But these comments were meant for specific situations, not as universal rules. Paul’s core teaching remained one of equality before God.”
Why do some letters seem to reverse Paul’s stance?
Of the 14 letters attributed to Paul, scholars agree that only seven were authentically written by him between 49 and 59 A.D. The others were penned after his death (around 62–67 A.D.) by later followers using his name, a common practice at the time.
The Letters to the Colossians, Ephesians, and 2 Thessalonians were written by a second generation of Christians around 90 A.D., while the Letters to Titus, Timothy, and the Hebrews emerged in the late first century.
By then, Christianity had grown beyond its Jewish roots, and the church was becoming more institutionalized, bringing new challenges in governance and power dynamics. “As Christianity became more visible and public, men increasingly took control,” Dupont-Roc noted. “Paul’s radical message of equality between men and women, and even between slaves and masters, alarmed authorities who saw it as a threat to social order. Inside the church, there was a return to the prevailing patriarchal norms, restricting women’s leadership roles.”
How was Paul’s message distorted?
The later letters sometimes misrepresented Paul’s views. In 1 Timothy, for example, he is made to say: “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.” (1 Tim. 2:12).
Theologian Sylvaine Landrivon points out various ways Paul’s words were altered. One example is a mistranslation in 1 Corinthians 11:10, which is often rendered as: “It is for this reason that a woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels.” But the Greek word exousia actually means “authority.” Paul was saying women should wear a veil as a sign of their own authority, not submission likely to distinguish Christian practice from pagan rituals.
Another tactic was the masculinization of Junia’s name to “Junias” to obscure her status as a female apostle. Misinterpretations also skewed Paul’s words in Ephesians 5:22, where he wrote that wives should submit to their husbands as the church submits to Christ. “Paul was actually saying: ‘Women, do not accept being treated any differently than Christ treats the Church with absolute love and respect,’” Landrivon explained.
Far from being misogynistic, Paul’s original teachings dismantled gender hierarchies in the name of faith though history would later rewrite them. – La Croix International
