Paul and Gender: Chapter 7

a Book Summary

This is a summary of the seventh chapter of Cynthia Long Westfall's book: Paul and Gender. This chapter is about a believer's Calling, and boy, is it fascinating. If you are a recent subscriber and are interested in reading the previous chapter summaries, click on the link above to return to the table of contents.

In this chapter, Westfall explains Paul's writings on the gifts of the spirit, the inconsistent application churches have used to determine women's gifts, and the context of 1 Corinthians 14:34 where Paul asks women to be quiet and learn from their husbands. 

Westfall explains that Paul lays out a template for believers to determine their function in the church in Romans 12:1-2, 1 Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4:11-15. Romans gives the best explanation for us because Paul wrote these instructions to a group of people he had never visited. Paul doesn't have a history with them, nor has he previously explained procedures to them. If Paul thought it was really important to have men only in leadership, Romans would've been the place we would find it. 

On the other hand, 1 Timothy was written from Paul to one individual to correct very specific problems in Ephesus, however, people still use 1 Timothy 2:12—"I do not permit a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man"—to trump the other verses where Paul talks about people's spiritual gifts. It's the one verse to rule them all. (Insert evil laugh here)

Childbearing as a Spiritual Gift

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Warning! Some bits here seem slightly off to me (Abby).

When Westfall mentions one's calling, she doesn't mean one's vocation or special body functions. Someone might be a painter or a great high jumper, but that is not one of the Spirit's gifts to edify the church body nor does Paul mention such things in his list of spiritual gifts. Likewise, she states that childbearing is not women's special spiritual gift any more than men's ejaculation is. 

Paul does not name childbearing in his lists of spiritual gifts. She argues that it isn't something women can bring to a worship service to edify the body. Westfall spends some time on this point because some have interpreted 1 Timothy 2:15—"but she will be saved through childbearing"—as evidence that all men demonstrate the validity of their salvation through the exercise of authority, and all women demonstrate the validity of their salvation through childbearing.

Westfall states that in 1 Corinthians 7, Paul makes it clear that he thinks the unmarried (without children) and widows are better able to tend to the "affairs of the Lord" than those who are married and are interested in the "affairs of this world" (1 Corinthians 7:33-34). Thus, Paul makes it very clear that a woman's ultimate calling isn't to become a mother and wife, but rather wives and mothers are more anxious about the things of the world. Paul in no way glamorized or prioritized the vocation of being a wife and mother as some kind of feminine gift to complement men's authority and rule (Westfall, 227). 

Abby Commentary

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I (Abby) think this is an important point, especially among Christian women. If motherhood is glorified as the God-given ultimate calling for all women, then those who can't have children or are too terrified of the pain involved or are never asked to marry can never fulfill God's ultimate calling for them. This is a very sad and hurtful message to teach young women.

However, I disagree with some of what Westfall is saying here. While Paul didn't say our vocation and special body functions are our spiritual calling, I think our vocation and special body functions can be linked to our spiritual calling and how we serve our church body. I say "can be" not "have to be." Paul doesn't list writing or being really buff or having a mind for languages as spiritual gifts, but if someone is gifted at writing or has a mind for languages or is really buff, and that person presents their body as a living sacrifice like Romans 12 says, then their skills may be gifts for the edification of the church.

Likewise, some women love having babies. Their bodies seem to enjoy being pregnant; some are even willing to offer their bodies to gestate other people's babies! That is a gift. And if presented to God as a sacrifice, it could be their spiritual form of worship. Likewise, if a man is really good at Kung-fu, this could be presented to God to edify others as well. He could run a ministry at the church that teaches Kung-fu.

I realize Westfall's argument is limited to what Paul wrote, and Paul didn't mention Kung-fu as a spiritual gift, but I don't think Paul's lists of spiritual gifts were exhaustive. I think Westfall is trying to warn against saying that our spiritual gifts have to be linked to the body's natural functions. Statements like "men's primary spiritual gifts are related to testosterone" or "women can't have spiritual gifts unrelated to estrogen" just aren't sound. History and the Holy Spirit have proven such generalizations false.

The Risks of Childbearing

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Moving on, Westfall states that Paul would not have called childbearing, which was so entwined with the consequences of the fall, a spiritual gift. The risk of death and physical injury attached to childbearing at that time made the whole ordeal of childbearing a sensitive topic for women. 

I (Abby) have to jump in here again because I think childbearing is still is a sensitive topic. Even though technical advances have reduced the risks of death, I am appalled that people would still consider childbearing a spiritual gift that if possible, women ought to participate in. Childbearing is still greatly entwined with the effects of the fall and can have a drastic and permanent damaging effect on a woman's body and mind. To name a few: pelvic pain, urine or stool leakage, pelvic organ prolapse, pain during sexual intercourse, vaginal ripping, mastitis, low back pain, nerve damage, postpartum depression, gestational diabetes, anxiety, stretch marks, saggy-body parts, anemia, Preeclampsia, miscarriage, stillbirth, etc. And I'm not even getting into the effects of C-sections or the trials of caring for an infant. Children are a gift from God, yes. But childbearing is still marked by the curse. (End of Abby rant.)

Westfall argues that 1 Timothy 2:15—"she shall be saved through childbearing"—refers to women surviving childbirth, not childbearing as a woman's unique gift that demonstrates her salvation.

Gift Distribution

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According to Paul, gifts are distributed by the Holy Spirit to serve the church body. In Romans 12, Paul writes about "a responsibility to determine ministry through the experience of the recipient via observation and careful consideration" (Westfall, 213). That is, we present our bodies to God as a holy sacrifice, discern what the will of God is, and consider ourselves with sober judgment according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 

Westfall argues that the above Romans 12 language, which precedes "For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function...," is how we discern within ourselves what the Holy Spirit has given to us to contribute to the church body. By the way, Paul's instructions here are addressed to both men and women. Paul addresses the Romans as άδελφοί, meaning brethren or siblings, and refers to them with the plural form of you, ύμείς. Both words can include women. Paul is thus saying that both men and women may serve in all the capacities listed in Romans 12 without distinction.

Westfall then cites John Piper's experience of a Roman's-12-type calling where he felt an irresistible call to preach and that his heart was almost bursting with longing. "When a man negotiates his call to ministry, he utilizes emotions and experience in accordance with his faith and the grace that he is given" (Westfall, 214). 

However, and this is very sad, "a woman is often told that it is invalid for her to utilize experience and emotions in discovering her call, since she may come up with the 'wrong' conclusion" (Westfall, 214). "Men are free to consider any gift as a possibility and are particularly commended if they serve in the nursery or wash the dishes after the church potluck," on the other hand women have been historically denied using their gifts if they involve authority, speaking or passing judgment (Westfall, 217).

Westfall argues that just like in Matthew 25 in the Parable of the Talents, women are under a sacred obligation to use the gifts that God has given them (Westfall, 212). However, if religious tradition bars them from using their gifts and talents to edify the body, it's like men are saying to gifted women, "I don't need you." Paul warned about this attitude in 1 Cor. 12:21-26. (Westfall, 217).

Interesting Side Note About Priests

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Paul's language in Romans 12—"present your bodies as a living sacrifice"—likens believers to both priests and the sacrifice given to the Lord. This is interesting because people often cite the fact that OT priests were only men as evidence that God only wants men to serve as "priests" in the church today. However, this ignores Paul's addressing the brethren here, both men and women, as priests, and that Paul never reinforces OT ritual cleansing rules, which had previously made women unclean and unfit to be priests. It seems that Paul sees women's cleansing rites as he does circumcision: rules that no longer exclude one group of people from being part of the priesthood.

Women Who Served

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Westfall brings up the list of people in Romans 16 that Paul commends to the Romans. "Paul is countercultural because he commends women in the same way as men and for the same things for which he commends men" (Westfall, 223). Westfall says back in that day, it was proper to commend women only for stereotypical women's functions. However, Paul commends women by name as "a deacon (v.7), a patron (v. 2), a fellow prisoner (v. 7), and an apostle (v. 7), but also a number of them are commended as fellow workers" (Westfall, 223-4). 

In her footnote, she mentions how people have challenged the titles and names Paul gives here, but that is working off the assumption that no woman could rank in some of these positions. More on this later.

Westfall notes how Paul mentions many women as working hard. Paul asks the Corinthians to be subject to those who work hard among you (1 Cor. 16:15-16 and 1 Thess. 5:12-13). This means Paul is asking men to respect, highly esteem, and be subject to women. The word is ὑποτάσσησθε in 1 Corinthians 16:16 and it means to be in submission or subjection to. It's the same word that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 14 when saying women need to be in submission. Interesting, isn't it? Paul is asking both men and women to be in subject to those who work hard among them.

1 Corinthians 14

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Westfall next attempts to explain the context of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 (ESV) "the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church."

I believe Westfall is inferring here, although she doesn't link the concepts clearly, that the "law" mentioned here is most likely referring to codes of conduct in public meetings, which is what this section in 1 Corinthians is about. She cites the Qumram, later rabbinic practice, and similar Greco-Roman contexts as having similar rules. In a footnote, she refutes some of what Wayne Grudem says about this passage. A scrimmage in the footnote!

Westfall next focuses on the command for the women to not speak and how this relates to women's calling. Does this admonishment from Paul nullify his previous explanation of spiritual gifts, and in particular, those involving speaking in church for women: prophesy, teaching, admonishing, etc?

Westfall argues that Paul is not talking about the exercise of women's spiritual gifts here but rather the orderly conduct in the house church. She says that the command here to women parallels the previous verses where Paul addresses both men and women: vs 28 "let each of them keep silent" and vs 30 "let the first be silent." This is to ensure that people aren't talking over one another or interrupting one another as they prophesy or speak in tongues or whatever.

Paul even states the nature of the disruptive talk here in verse 35, which is "they (the women) desire to learn," in verse 35. The nature of their talking was not teaching, prophesying, or exercising authority over men but rather talking to learn.

Westfall proposes that Paul most likely addresses women in particular here because of the nature of women's education and their work in the house church. Women were in and out of the room to serve the food in the meal-prep areas and in the gathering room. Women were also not used to formal, educational classroom-type settings where group etiquette, long attention spans, and self-control were required. Having women in a church service was something like having inner-city kids in a really long lecture. They weren't used to it (Westfall, 240). 

In conclusion, our spiritual gifts are given to edify the entire church, and no one should say to another, "I have no need of you," or "That can't be your spiritual gift!" 

"If God sends the church women who are apostles, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip it and the church refuses to accept them, they will all pragmatically function as prophets against the church and the theological system that refuses the gifts—actually, according to Romans 12:16, such behavior is literally refusing God's 'grace given to us'” (Westfall, 242).

Westfall has mentioned this bit about prophets several times. I don't really understand it as my church culture is rather too cerebral to encourage or train up prophets, but I thought I better include it as she keeps saying it.

Only 2 more chapters to go! Woohoo! Click the link below after April 5 to read the next Chapter summary.

Westfall, Cynthia Long. Paul and Gender: Reclaiming the Apostle's Vision for Men and Women in Christ. Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, Michigan. 2016)