Gender and Marriage in the Bible: Paul, Women, and Sexuality

Paul's Apocalyptic Context and the Counsel to Marry

According to Saint Paul, it is better to marry than to burn with desire. This apparently unequivocal statement has caused many to view the Bible as taking a generally negative view of human sexuality while still endorsing marriage. However, Paul's comment must be contextualized: Paul viewed the end of the world as imminent and was giving counsel to Christians on how to govern their lives with this in mind. "The time is short," Paul wrote when addressing the Christian community at Corinth. "This world in its present form is passing away" (1 Corinthians 7:29–31). Paul believed it was better for Christians not to be distracted by worldly and physical concerns, although he did not believe that sexual activity within marriage was inherently immoral. Sexual activity was a distraction when contemplating higher matters, but marriage at least provided some containment for that distraction. Specifically, Paul stated:

It is good for a man not to marry. But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command. I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that (1 Corinthians 7:2–7).

Thus, according to Paul, chastity was in theory a superior state — one which he practiced himself. However, given that sexual desire was part of the human condition, it was better to marry than to burn: better to wed than to be distracted by desire, or to act immorally with many people. Marriage could contain human passion while still allowing Christians to turn their attention to God for most of the day.

Paul was also dealing with the phenomenon of Christians who were married to pagans. Sometimes one partner in a marriage wished to be celibate while the other did not. Paul provides marital advice to these Christians, stressing that since a married couple "belongs" to one another, both partners must fulfill their marital duties — unless by mutual consent they have decided to focus on spiritual matters alone. Even then, Paul suggests they reunite in sexual intercourse occasionally to ensure they do not engage in immoral behavior with others. Paul gives similar counsel to the divorced and to widows in 1 Corinthians: sexual intercourse is not necessary, but those who cannot control themselves should seek the release of marriage rather than indiscriminate action. The overall emphasis in Paul is that people should "keep as they are" rather than seek to alter their state of being, given the shortness of the time remaining.

Marriage, Divorce, and Protecting Women

Paul's advice may reflect Jesus' statement that divorce was unacceptable under most circumstances: "It has been said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.' But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery" (Matthew 5:31–32). There is an implication in Jesus' language that he was protecting the woman in question, not merely guarding against sexual immorality. Jesus may have wished to ensure that women were not thrown out of their homes without any recourse or support, rather than simply guarding against sexual transgressions. Similarly, Paul's language does not constitute an outright ban on marriage; rather, it attempts to clarify the behaviors expected within the Christian community.

Paul writes:

To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.

To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

But if the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? (1 Corinthians 7:11–16).

A spouse's lack of belief in Christ is not sufficient grounds for leaving the marriage, as some new converts apparently wished to do. So long as the partners were respectful to one another, and so long as the Christian was not cast out by the non-Christian, Paul advised the marriage to continue, reasoning that this would increase the chances of sanctification for both partners and their children. Paul advocated a degree of social harmony to ensure that marriages were not broken up by the new faith, but rather sustained by it.

Hebrew Scripture Versus New Testament Views on Sexuality

The New Testament's language is thus not as condemnatory of marriage as might initially be expected, and some of Paul's writings contain relatively equitable language, while Jesus' chastisement of the practice of casting wives out of marriage carries a protective tone. Nevertheless, the New Testament is considerably less enthusiastic about sexuality than the Hebrew Scriptures, in which the children of Israel are commanded to "be fruitful and multiply." Eve's sin brings knowledge and the pain of childbirth upon her and her daughters. But after God destroys the earth in the Great Flood — sparing only Noah, his family, and the animals Noah saves — God resolves to allow the human race to continue and makes procreation his wish rather than abstinence (Genesis 9:1). Sexuality and God's favor are intertwined throughout the Hebrew Scriptures: Sarah's ability to conceive late in life is seen as a divine blessing, and even Job is shown to be favored by God before his trials, in part because of his many children. Children are thus presented as evidence of God's blessing in the Hebrew Scriptures — a notion that Christianity largely rejected.

Gender Hierarchy in Paul's Epistles

One aspect of the Hebrew Scriptures that Paul retains in his counsel is its emphasis on gender distinctions in accepted behavior — for example, Leviticus contains specific injunctions regarding female cleanliness and menstruation. Paul's advice regarding marriage appears fairly equitable in some respects, since he states that it is better for both men and women to take a partner rather than to burn. But within a worship context he clarifies the relationship between the sexes, suggesting that woman is subordinate to man, while man answers to God alone:

A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. It is for this reason that a woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God (1 Corinthians 11:7–12).

According to Paul, women "come from" males, based upon the Genesis account of the Garden of Eden and the creation of humanity. Recalling the sin of Eve serves to place women in a subordinate role. However, Paul also acknowledges the mutual humility of both genders before God, reminding both that everything ultimately comes from God. Still, most of the early church fathers emphasized the unique fallibility of Eve: "The woman therefore is the originator of the man's wrongdoing, not the man of the woman's. Hence Paul also says, 'Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and committed sin'" (1 Timothy 2:14).

Conclusion: No Singular Biblical View

Within the Bible, there is no singular interpretation of the relationships between women and men, nor of the nature of marriage, given that the text is a snapshot of attitudes drawn from multiple sources and multiple eras of history. Some books stress the positive benefits of marriage in a God-created world capable of giving birth to a new nation. Other books emphasize the sinful nature of humanity and the ways in which procreation can damage spiritual focus for both men and women. Church fathers and female radicals alike could reinterpret scripture to serve very different ends. As one scholar observes, "When a text is regarded as absolutely cut off from its original situation, the 'world of the text' becomes, if it was not so already, multivalent."