The dominance reaches beyond the number of texts or the order of writing into the content and the doctrine. Paul’s letters show internal contradictions that cannot be ignored, between the doctrine of one letter and another, and sometimes within the same letter. If a man claims to deliver the revelation of God, the consistency of his teaching is the sine qua non of the claim.
On justification, Paul writes to the Romans that the doers of the law shall be justified, and a chapter later that by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified. Both verses speak of the law itself, so the usual defence, that Paul sets the works of the law apart from good deeds in general, has nothing to hold on to here.
13οὐ γὰρ οἱ ἀκροαταὶ νόμου δίκαιοι παρὰ τῷ θεῷ, ἀλλʼ οἱ ποιηταὶ νόμου δικαιωθήσονται.
13(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.1
20διότι ἐξ ἔργων νόμου οὐ δικαιωθήσεται πᾶσα σὰρξ ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, διὰ γὰρ νόμου ἐπίγνωσις ἁμαρτίας.
20Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.2
That creates a theological tension between faith and works, and leaves open whether the law still applies. On another matter he states in 1 Corinthians 6:11 that Christians have been sanctified and justified, but in Romans 7:19–24 he admits that he goes on struggling with a sin he cannot leave.
19οὐ γὰρ ὃ θέλω ποιῶ ἀγαθόν, ἀλλὰ ὃ οὐ θέλω κακὸν τοῦτο πράσσω. 20εἰ δὲ ὃ οὐ θέλω τοῦτο ποιῶ, οὐκέτι ἐγὼ κατεργάζομαι αὐτὸ ἀλλὰ ἡ οἰκοῦσα ἐν ἐμοὶ ἁμαρτία. 21Εὑρίσκω ἄρα τὸν νόμον τῷ θέλοντι ἐμοὶ ποιεῖν τὸ καλὸν ὅτι ἐμοὶ τὸ κακὸν παράκειται· 22συνήδομαι γὰρ τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ θεοῦ κατὰ τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον, 23βλέπω δὲ ἕτερον νόμον ἐν τοῖς μέλεσίν μου ἀντιστρατευόμενον τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ νοός μου καὶ αἰχμαλωτίζοντά με ἐν τῷ νόμῳ τῆς ἁμαρτίας τῷ ὄντι ἐν τοῖς μέλεσίν μου. 24ταλαίπωρος ἐγὼ ἄνθρωπος· τίς με ῥύσεται ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου;
19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?3
On the law, Paul insists that believers stand free of it4 and that Christ is the end of the law.5 Yet in Romans 3:31 and 7:12 he says the law is good and must be upheld.
31νόμον οὖν καταργοῦμεν διὰ τῆς πίστεως; μὴ γένοιτο, ἀλλὰ νόμον ἱστάνομεν.
31Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.6
12ὥστε ὁ μὲν νόμος ἅγιος, καὶ ἡ ἐντολὴ ἁγία καὶ δικαία καὶ ἀγαθή.
12Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.7
The contradiction shows a basic uncertainty about the place of law in religious life.
The sharpest contradictions concern women. In 1 Corinthians 14:34–35 he states plainly that women must keep silent in the assembly and may say nothing.
In 1 Corinthians 11:5 he permits women to prophesy and pray openly, provided they cover their heads. That is a basic inconsistency about the public role of women in the Christian assembly.
34Αἱ γυναῖκες ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις σιγάτωσαν, οὐ γὰρ ἐπιτρέπεται αὐταῖς λαλεῖν· ἀλλὰ ὑποτασσέσθωσαν, καθὼς καὶ ὁ νόμος λέγει. 35εἰ δέ τι μαθεῖν θέλουσιν, ἐν οἴκῳ τοὺς ἰδίους ἄνδρας ἐπερωτάτωσαν, αἰσχρὸν γάρ ἐστιν γυναικὶ λαλεῖν ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ.
34Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. 35And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.8
5πᾶσα δὲ γυνὴ προσευχομένη ἢ προφητεύουσα ἀκατακαλύπτῳ τῇ κεφαλῇ καταισχύνει τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτῆς, ἓν γάρ ἐστιν καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ τῇ ἐξυρημένῃ.
5But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.9
In Galatians 3:28 Paul declares that there is “neither male nor female” in Christ, as if endorsing absolute equality. To the Corinthians he writes that “the head of the woman is the man,” and requires her to cover her head when she prays.10
The letters written in his name carry the rule further: in Ephesians 5:22–24 wives are ordered to submit to their husbands because the husband is the “head” of the wife. The principle of Galatians does not survive either text.
More confusing still, Paul praises women such as Phoebe as a διάκονος (diákonos, minister of the church)11 and calls Junia “of note among the apostles,”12 but the first letter to Timothy, written in his name, forbids women to teach or hold authority over men.13 Once again, actual practice conflicts with the doctrinal rule he wants to enforce.
These contradictions are more than editorial slips or matters of style. What we have inherited as “holy epistles” is, read in toto, a set of mutually contradictory letters from the pen of a man tossed between personal inspiration and the desire to master the message of tawḥīd (توحيد, “the oneness of God”) brought by the prophets.
- Romans 2:13 (SBLGNT; KJV). ↩
- Romans 3:20 (SBLGNT; KJV). ↩
- Romans 7:19–24 (SBLGNT; KJV). ↩
- Romans 6:14. ↩
- Romans 10:4. ↩
- Romans 3:31 (SBLGNT; KJV). ↩
- Romans 7:12 (SBLGNT; KJV). ↩
- 1 Corinthians 14:34–35 (SBLGNT; KJV). ↩
- 1 Corinthians 11:5 (SBLGNT; KJV). ↩
- 1 Corinthians 11:3–10. ↩
- Romans 16:1–2. ↩
- Romans 16:7. ↩
- 1 Timothy 2:12. ↩
