Springfield Church

Paul continues his letter writing to a church in one of the largest, richest and most multi-ethnic cities of the Roman Empire. It is a church with great gifts and talents and a church with many problems!We looked at the role of women in Greek and Roman society and how restrictive it was, especially in Greek society with women expected to be veiled and to stay at home. Greek thought believed that women were morally inferior and even in Roman society they were under a male protector who took all the major decisions. Into this restrictive scene explodes Christianity with Jesus and Paul focussing on the innate value of women (“no longer male and female; for you are all one in Christ”) and the role of women as deacons and even apostles (e.g. Ro 16:1,7). So, we looked at how Paul saw that sex within marriage was good. We saw that sexual intercourse is a key way that a couple expresses unity and mutuality. It requires a self giving of one to the other. In this Paul shows how radical he is by pointing out to both par