This passage, like Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians that “in the Lord” the man comes from a woman, might be taken as a general affirmation of “childbirth,” but in both passages the definite article is used with a rare noun that refers to the birth of a child.7 I am convinced this makes it more likely that the reference is to the birth of Jesus as the second Adam. The author of 1 Timothy is not discussing a woman’s general well-being, but how she can be saved, having become a transgressor, and having led all of humankind in that fallen direction.8 Christians came to believe that the reference in Genesis 3:15 to the “seed” of the woman crushing the head of the Serpent, or Satan, was a reference not to offspring in general but to Jesus Christ (Romans 16:20).
How, then, does Paul’s view that there is no longer “male nor female” for those baptized into Christ fit with his insistence that the old order of the physical creation, with its male and female roles, be respected and maintained? To answer that question we need to look at his earlier discussion, also in 1 Corinthians, about marriage and celibacy. If there is no longer male or female in Christ, then how are people to live with one another when sexual differences and desires, not to mention married and unmarried states of life, are an ever-present reality that has not passed away—outside of Christ?
Paul’s advice to the Corinthians on sex and marriage is about as complex and as convoluted as anything he ever wrote, but packed into the single chapter of 1 Corinthians 7, it is the key to understanding the dilemma he and his followers faced. The topic comes up because the Corinthians have written him a letter, apparently quoting back to him a teaching he had given them: “It is good for a man not to touch a woman” (verse 1).
Paul sticks by that general principle while at the same time allowing variation. He clearly would prefer that his followers live a nonsexual life, and cites his own choice of celibacy as an example—“as one who, by the Lord’s mercy, is faithful” (verses 7–8, 25). He advises those who are single or widowed, unless they are “aflame with passion,” to remain single and celibate (verses 8–9). Marriage is not the ideal, or even the best choice, but is preferable over sexual immorality for those who lack the “gift” to live the nonsexual life (verse 9).
If a couple is engaged, it is better not to marry if they have their sexual desires under control (verses 36–37). If a man and woman are already married, they are not to divorce, except in the case where an “unbeliever” refuses to stay with a Christian partner (verses 12–16). If both are Christians the marriage cannot be broken, though a temporary separation is allowed, either when there are problems or in the case of one or the other wanting to withdraw temporarily to experience the nonsexual life for spiritual reasons (verses 5, 10–12). Several times Paul emphasizes that he is not commanding or requiring celibacy, and just as many times he goes on to say it is nonetheless the better choice.
To support his contention that the nonsexual life is preferable, Paul stresses that people are living in an acute apocalyptic situation. He refers to the impending distress (verse 26) and tells the Corinthians that the appointed time has grown very short (verse 29). Paul and his followers expected to live to see Christ return in the clouds of heaven. He believed there was little time left to pursue a normal life: marrying, having children, or going into business. Paul expected society to begin to come unraveled, with social and economic uncertainties, persecutions, and natural disasters:
From now on let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form [schema] of this world is passing away (29–31).
And that is just the problem. The present world order is passing away but it is also still here. Men are men, and women are women, and sexual desires are real and powerful. Marriages have their normal stresses, and people are being born as well as getting sick and dying. In Paul’s ideal world of being in Christ, none of these things should be happening. Men and women should already have transcended their physical, sexual lives. No one should be getting sick or dying. Sexual immorality should be no temptation whatsoever. If Christ is in them, and they are in Christ, why should any realities of the old creation have any sway? Why should there be any struggle “against the flesh.” After all, the “outer nature” is fading while the “inner nature” is being renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16). Paul is profoundly disappointed in his followers, whom he chastises for still living “according to the flesh.” He suggests that the reason some are dying is that they have not properly participated in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:30). He knows he cannot command sexual abstinence but he had somehow hoped they would have already made their own decisions to take this higher path of spirituality.
For Paul, as a Jew, sexual immorality (porneia in Greek) refers to any sexual activity outside a marriage between a man and a woman. This means that he condemns a wide range of sexual practices within Greco-Roman society that were commonly accepted, including homosexuality and sexual intercourse with prostitutes (Romans 1:26–27; 1 Corinthians 6:9–19). He is clear and uncompromising—those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. He avows that the instructions he has given are “through the Lord Jesus,” that “the Lord is an avenger of all these things” as he had solemnly warned them, and that anyone who disregards these teachings is disregarding God (1 Thessalonians 4:6). Marriage is an available “remedy” but even better is a pure devotion to Christ.
Paul is giving the Corinthians practical advice. Though baptized into Christ, they are nonetheless part of the “old world” that is passing away. He tells them it is better not to marry “to spare them worldly troubles,” or so they can be “free from anxieties,” since the apocalyptic crisis is upon them (1 Corinthians 7:28, 32). Those women who have chosen to marry must be submissive to their husbands, as God decreed to Adam and Eve from the beginning. They have chosen the old world, so they must continue to live within it. He is particularly concerned that they behave in ways that promote what he calls “good order” (1 Corinthians 7:35; 14:40). The word he uses in Greek, euschemonos, means “a good arrangement.” It refers to a proper standard of ordered decency. But the problem, of course, is that he also says the present schema, or “order” of things, is passing away. In the end he can’t resist pointing out that those who like him cast aside their sexuality through the gift of the Spirit experience purer devotion to Christ. They are holy in body as well as in spirit. But even after saying that, he repeats once again that he wants to lay no necessity upon them (1 Corinthians 7:34–35). He is having difficulty balancing his instruction between the old order and the new one.
NEITHER SLAVE NOR FREE
Paul compounds his claim that there is neither male nor female “in Christ” with the equally startling claim that slavery and freedom no longer exist, either (Galatians 3:28). If the one is gender nonsense the other is surely socioeconomic naïveté, to say the least. After all, Paul admits that his gospel was “foolishness” (literally “moronic”) to those who are perishing, but contained a secret wisdom and power only those chosen could understand through the Spirit (1 Corinthians 1:18–24; 2:12–13).