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In the previous study in this series, we encountered a seeming contradiction between Paul’s words about women being silent in church, and what the rest of scripture, (including Paul’s words in other scriptures,) teaches on the subject.
Last study we learned about the 3 basic keys of Hermeneutics.
We followed the first 2 steps in proper hermeneutics, and it only seemed to make the contradiction more confusing. We analyzed the context of the words used, the context of the surrounding scriptures, the context of the book those scriptures were written in, and finally the entire Bible, and that’s where things got a little confusing.
Then we cross referenced the words and the topic of “silent women” and it just got messier, leading us to these 2 Scriptures. And then we looked at other verses where Paul seemed to contradict what he said in these two Scriptures. Very confusing, but God is not the author of confusion or contradiction, so somewhere we’re missing something. In this study, we’ll complete our final hermeneutical step and hopefully untangle this mess.
That final step is understanding the cultural context that the scripture was written in and then viewing what is written in Scripture through the lens of that culture. Remember from the last study, that the steps of proper hermeneutics flow into each other. We’re about to see a great example of that fact and it’s the reason I was led to use this topic for this series.
The O.T. was written from and to the culture of ancient Israel. That doesn’t mean it’s irrelevant or not beneficial to our culture, it just means that when we read and study the O.T. we need to view it through the lens of that culture, which also means we need to have at least a basic understanding of that culture. That helps us really grasp what’s being communicated.
The N.T. was written from the culture of a broken and lost Israel, and to the culture of a broken and lost world. That specific culture existed over 2000 years ago. The brokenness hasn’t changed, but the face of the culture has. The same principalities and powers are still in operation today, just under a different disguise. If we desire to fully understand the message written to us, we need to understand the culture that it came from.
When we put in the effort to familiarize ourselves with the cultures that either the O.T or N.T were written from and to, it opens up Scripture and makes it come alive. Small things that we may have overlooked, suddenly become huge. And having some knowledge of the culture often makes verses and passages that seem strange, seem a little less strange. Does that make sense?
With that being said, we’ll be viewing these 2 examples of scripture from the broken culture that they were written from and written to.
These two scriptures share more in common than just the phrases Paul uses and the subject he’s addressing. The real common denominator is the motive behind Paul’s words. WHY did he say this to these 2 churches? From our last study we learned that the words for woman and man, also mean “wife” and “husband”. If we consider that definition for 1 Timothy, it connects to 1 Cor even more. It also sheds just a little more light on the subject, narrowing it down to the dynamic between husbands and wives and not just random women and men. So, keeping that definition in mind, let’s start with 1 Timothy.
Timothy was the bishop of the church in Ephesus, and he was having some problems. We don’t know exactly what he wrote to Paul, but we can have a good idea based on what Paul wrote back. Especially if we have some knowledge of the culture of ancient Ephesus.
Ancient Ephesus was the home of the Temple of Diana. From our past studies, you may remember that Diana was a goddess connected to other ancient deities, from Ishtar to Isis to Artemis. Ironically, the fallen angel that hides behind all these false female gods is where we get the idea of “mother nature” from. It’s ironic because this principality attempts to distort nature into its own image, rather than the image YHWH created. In Ephesus, that demon was a BIG deal. Keep that cultural point in mind as we move forward.
This is a reproduction of a statuette of Diana. There are other reproductions of the actual Ephesian statue, but they’re very obscene, so I chose this little statuette to show. (I added a booger because I don’t like the statue) Notice the moon symbols on the necklace. We’ve seen that before in another study. These moon symbols represent the 3 aspects of the goddess: Maiden, Mother, Crone
One of the titles for this fallen angel is “queen of heaven”, emphasis on the “queen”. Because of this, the priestesses that served it would adorn themselves in fine clothes and jewelry and wear their hair in sacred braids, representing their status as virgins. At the specific temple of Diana in Ephesus, there were male priests also, but these men were voluntarily castrated. While Diana was celebrated as a virgin goddess, she was also celebrated as a fertility goddess and mother goddess. Can you see the hypocrisy and twisting of nature?
Across cultures and times and under the guise of different names, this principality taught humans things like, the divine feminine existed before the masculine. That all of creation was birthed from the mother goddess, and that women were created before men, therefore they had dominion.
With all that in mind, put yourself in Timothy’s shoes. You’ve been given this huge responsibility of leading this Christian church in the territory of this demonic power. Most of your members are recently converted and grew up surrounded by the pagan influence and beliefs of this dark power.
You have certain women, (maybe ex-priestesses or family of ex-priestesses), that are joining the Body and dressed exactly like a priestess of Diana. Attempting to teach people contrary to God’s natural order. Things like husbands must submit to wives because Eve was created before Adam. Maybe they’re mixing in other Diana doctrines into Christianity, like crone myths.
Putting yourself in Timothy’s shoes, being young and not knowing the correct way to handle it, you write to your mentor Paul and ask him for advice. What Paul writes back is what we call the book of 1 Timothy. Paul is telling Timothy to be stern when addressing these particular women, because he is actually addressing the spiritual power that’s influenced these women. Paul wasn’t making a blanket statement that applies to all women in all churches. He was advising Timothy to not allow doctrines of demons to infiltrate the church of Ephesus through these women. That shines a new light on 1 Timothy Chapter 2, now let’s move to 1 Corinthians 14…
The culture of Corinth was very similar to Ephesus. They were both rich and prosperous trade centers. They were both prestigious port cities for the Roman Empire. And they were both under the influence of demonic power. The only difference for Corinth was that instead of being influenced by the demon in the Temple of Diana, they were influenced by the demon at the Oracle of Delphi.
The Oracle of Delphi was about 25 miles across the Gulf of Corinth. A journey that took around 3-4 hours by boat back then. The “Oracle” was always a woman called the PYTHIA. When the woman died, another would take her place, kind of like the Pope. For almost 1000 years before Christ, kings and rulers and rich elites would seek her council and prophecies from all corners of the known world. That means that at least back to the time of King David, this religious figure existed.
When a visitor came to ask of the Oracle, she would pray to Apollo and then inhale fumes that rose up from crevices in the mountain that the temple of Apollo was built on. Mount Parnassus. The ancients believed these fumes were the breath of a giant serpent called PYTHON. These fumes (or breath of the serpent) would cause her to go into a trance and utter strange, unintelligible words and sounds. Then the priests of Apollo would interpret her strange utterance and give the prophecies or advice that her visitors requested. The Oracle of Delphi was super famous and highly respected by the ancient world and because of how close it was, she was even more revered in Corinth.
With all that cultural context in mind, let’s read those verses in 1 Cor 14 again and this time, we’ll read them in the context of the surrounding verses.
These verses are right at the end of Paul giving a lot of corrections about the gifts of tongues and prophecy. In fact, basically the entire chapter is Paul telling the Corinthians what is and isn’t proper when operating in these gifts. Then he specifically mentions the women of the Corinthian church.
*Let’s paint the big picture here: These women were coming in and attempting to bring attention to themselves and portray themselves as “holy” and touched by God by mimicking what was done by the PYTHIA. They would speak in babbling tongues and utter strange words without interpretation. They would prophesy things contrary to God’s Word.
They would replicate the Oracle of Delphi when she was under the influence of the breath of the serpent. If you read the entire chapter of 1 Cor 14, through this cultural lens, suddenly things will make a lot more sense, including why Paul told these women to be silent and to learn from their husbands. Certain verses will have more relevance.
Verses like 1 Corinthians 14:9, which says: So likewise you, unless you utter by the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air.
And verses like 1 Cor 14:19 will become part of the bigger picture, when it says: yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue
Here’s a question. What law is Paul referring to in verse 34? We aren’t under the law, right? So what law is Paul talking about?...
I did some digging, and this is what I found…
Paul reached all the way back to Genesis to make his case. Now hopefully, we can not only explain WHAT we believe when it comes to this topic, but through proper hermeneutics we can explain WHY we believe it. Through the lens of culture, we can see that Paul wasn’t contradicting his own words and he wasn’t contradicting God’s Word, he was contending against the words and traditions of the serpent that were present IN THE CHURCH. We are called to do the same. We are also called to reconcile any perceived contradiction in the Bible. Amen.