The Social Teachings of Paul

Paul’s positions on social issues are well known and continue to have consequences within the Christian community. Some conservative churches refuse to ordain women as pastors because of passages like 1 Corinthians 14: 34-35, which claims that women should remain silent in church meetings. In addition, some Christians believe homosexuality to be a sin because of statements such as Romans 1: 26-27 which condemns homosexuality along with other “degrading sexual passions.”

These issues provide for interesting debate topics. I for one believe that Paul has been misunderstood with regard to the role of women within the church, that he in fact had a high regard for woman for a first century man. All are one in Christ. There are no distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female (Galatians 3: 28-29). There is also plenty of evidence in Paul’s letters that women played prominent roles in the churches he established. Finally, as I pointed out in my blog entitled “Mark’s Resurrection Story”, many textual scholars have argued that the anti-women statements in Paul were placed there by scribes and not part of his original letters.

But this is not the tact I want to take here. I do not want to debate these issues. The more important question for me is whether Paul speaks in his letters as a first century man or as an especially appointed apostle of God with the authority of God.

He claims the latter, to speak for God (1Corinthians 1:1 and Galatians 1: 13-15), which suggests that his teachings are not time bound and deserve special consideration for Christians living today. I am not convinced. If Paul speaks for God, how can he be so wrong about the most important part of his message which proclaims that the kingdom of God is imminent, that the events relating to the end of the world and the raising of Christians to heaven will take place within his lifetime? We are still waiting for these events to unfold.

Case closed. It is absolutely true that Paul wrote some of the most beautiful statements about love that have ever been written. It is also true that he was not a fan of democratic government (see Romans 13: 1-7). Why is this passage from Romans not considered to be “the word of God” among most American Christians?

The real point is that there is no such thing as “the word of God.” If you are interested in this topic, read my book on Evangelical Christianity. That is the central point of the book. There are so many historical misstatements in both the Old and New Testaments regarding “the word of God” that the idea that such a word exists is without meaning.

Paul’s teaching concerning women, homosexuality, and authoritarian government reflect the opinions of a first century human being. As a result, though some may find them to be interesting, they have no special authority for Christians living in the twenty-first century.