Yeh, I’ll agree that those pbumages are controversial.

Only SO MUCH change is allowed at a time though, without being too much to stomach. Even though by today’s standards Paul’s teachings on the subject of women seem harsh, back in 50-100 AD it was incredibly progressive.

Not only were there female priestesses and prophets, but they were allowed in church (even if silent, no other society allowed women in the worship places, apart from shrine prostitution.) Also, even back another 1000 years before Paul, during the period of the Judges, the entire nation of Israel was saved and then ruled by a female, named Deborah, for many decades.

So while it sounds cruel and unfair, it’s a step in the right direction.

We know God intended men and women to be equal from the start because of one of the first pbumages in Genesis, right after God created the world. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

So clearly, right from the start, both man and woman were made in God’s image.

Furthermore, a few verses later, Genesis lays out the foundation for how we should treat women in relationships; not as servants, but as equals. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”

Man and woman are meant to be equals in marriage and in society. It just took a while for the rest of the world to catch up, thusly why the pbumages in Corinthians can be mistaken.