Philip B. Payne

Susanna Krizo wrote comments based on thinking that 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 addresses women in the church in Corinth who were cutting their hair off and men who were growing long hair, both of which Paul opposes. I explained that if Paul were trying to keep women from cutting their hair off, it does not make sense that he would give the command in 11:6 “If a woman will not cover herself, then she should cut off her hair.” I believe our correspondence may be helpful to others since it sheds light both on various [mis]readings of 1 Cor 11:2-16 and how my interpretation answers these questions.

The key insight of this discussion is that Paul gives the proper answer to the question of 1 Cor 11:13, “Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God uncovered?”  in verses 14-15, “Does not the very nature of things teach you that it is degrading for a man to wear long hair, but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory, for her hair is given to her as a covering.” By conjoining these questions, Paul associates “uncovered” with hair and explicitly states that “hair is given to her as a covering.” Consequently, Paul here defines hair as a woman’s covering and explains that if she wears it “as a wraparound,” it is her glory. Since verses 14-15 identify long hair as degrading to a man but the glory of a woman, they also answer the question raised by 11:4 regarding men’s head covering: “What ‘hanging down from a man’s head’ is disgraceful?” Long effeminate hair is disgraceful. Read the complete post…

Philip B. Payne and Paul Canart, “Distigmai Matching the Original Ink of Codex Vaticanus: Do they Mark the Location of Textual Variants?” pages 199-226 in Patrick Andrist, ed., Le manuscrit B de la Bible (Vaticanus graecus 1209): Introduction au fac-similé, Actes du Colloque de Genève (11 juin 2001), Contributions supplémentaires. Lausanne, Switzerland: éditions du Zèbre, 2009, has been published and is available for free download at the above link or under this web site’s Publications : Articles page. This is probably the most important collection of essays on Codex Vaticanus B ever published. For a full description of this volume and a complete list of its essays see Le manuscrit B de la Bible (Vaticanus graecus 1209). It can be purchased at the discounted price of $49 from our secure on-line Order Form.

Daniel Buck read my book as a result of interacting with me in another forum. We have had an ongoing communication regarding the implications of “man of one-woman” in 1 Timothy 3:2, and he gave me permission to share our interaction with all of you.

Daniel Buck asked, “You make a big deal of the fact that 1 Timothy 3:1-13 has no masculine pronouns. But there aren’t any feminine pronouns in 1 Timothy 5:3-14, a passage discussing the role of widows. So what’s to keep men who have lost their wives from serving as widows?” Read the complete post…

On January 14, 2010 I posted a critique of the paper Peter Head presented at the New Testament Textual Criticism Seminar of the Society of Biblical Literature meeting November 21, 2009 entitled, “The Marginalia of Codex Vaticanus: Putting the Distigmai in their Place.” Head’s paper argued that all of the Vaticanus Distigmai should be dated to the sixteenth century and were penned by Juan Gines de Sepulveda. The famous aphorism derived from H. L. Mencken aptly describes Head’s thesis: “For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.”

Update: On March 22 I revised my Jan. 14 response to Peter Head, giving proof of the antiquity of distigmai. Thanks to Timothy A. E. Brown for recommending these revisions.

Update: I have again revised this critique on March 27, 2010, correcting an error. Thanks to Brendan Payne  for this observation.

Update: I have again revised this critique on March 30, 2010, standardizing the spelling of obelus, metobelus, and hexaplaric. Thanks to Professor Keith Elliott for this recommendation.

Update: I have again revised this Critique on March 31, 2010, including reference to Amphoux. Thanks to Professor Keith Elliott for this recommendation.

Update: I have again revised this Critique on April 15, 2010, adding images of the marginalia and making it much more concise.

Some people try to restrict Paul’s affirmation of women prophesying in 1 Cor 11:2-16 to prophesying  done only outside of assemblies of believers. Six factors demonstrate that 1 Cor 11:2-16 refers to practices in gatherings of believers, namely in the church. Read the complete post…

Paul Adams continues his insightful reviews of Man and Woman, One in Christ, which you can read in full at http://inchristus.wordpress.com/. Following are highlights from his reviews of chapters 6-15:

“Readers are highly encouraged to spend time with this masterpiece. (Note: Those who choose to ignore the footnotes do so to their loss. Payne has painstakingly annotated all of his sources and provided considerable comments showing where some have either misrepresented or under-represented the data to support their alternative interpretations.)”

Chapter 7 “1 Corinthians 11:2-3: Head/Source Relationships” is worth the price of the book many times over. Read the complete post…

David R. Booth from Balcatta, Western Australia, asked for help in assessing what he has been taught about “Adam’s Federal Headship” in Romans 5. Read the complete post…

I was greatly encouraged to receive emails from David R. Booth from Balcatta, Western Australia, sharing how my book helped to change his views from his previous complementarian position:

“Thank you so much for your book, Man and Woman, One in Christ. I have found it a most challenging and edifying read. From the purely exegetical perspective I think your book is the best I have read to date and certainly places the onus on  the ‘complementarian’ camp to refute.” Read the complete post…

I found the following reviews of Man and Woman, One in Christ in respected blogs. Scot McKnight, Jesus Creed, writes, “Simply put, this is the most technically proficient study ever published on women in the Pauline texts.” Read the complete post…

At the New Testament Textual Criticism Seminar of the Society of Biblical Literature meeting November 21, 2009 Peter Head presented a paper entitled, “The Marginalia of Codex Vaticanus: Putting the Distigmai in their Place.” This paper argued that all of the Vaticanus Distigmai should be dated to the sixteenth century and were penned by Juan Gines de Sepulveda. The famous aphorism derived from H. L. Mencken aptly describes Head’s thesis: “For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.”

I have written a response to Peter Head and updated it several times.

The latest update is available in the March 17, 2010 post.

So you don’t have to just imagine what the distigme-obelus symbol looks like just before 1 Cor 14:34-35, I have provided photographs of it and another distigme-obelus at the end of Luke 14:24 just before the interpolation that likewise would have occurred immediately after the end of the line marked by the distigme-obelus or at the very beginning of the following line, namely the interpolation between Luke 14:24 and Luke 14:25, “many are called but few are chosen,”which is not in the RSV, nor is it mentioned in an RSV footnote). Below both of these distigme-obelus photographs are photographs of other shorter horizontal bars called paragraphoi from that same page. To see these photographs, click here. Read the complete post…

I received this question from Don Johnson, who is reading my book.

Question: I am enjoying your book. I love your exposition of Eph 5. I have a question on 1 Cor 14. Before reading your book, I favored the idea that 1 Cor 14:34-35 is a quote from legalists at Corinth. The way I taught this is “the law/Torah says” is a ref. to the so-called Oral Torah of the Pharisees, which does limit women; and the 2 eta’s (sometimes translated as “or” but which I translate as “Bunk!”) in v. 36 which can be expletives of repudiation, per Nyland’s The Source New Testament (which she translates as “Utter Rubbish”) and others likewise.

Answer:  Thanks for your thoughtful question. The repudiation of a false prophecy interpretation of 1 Cor 14:34-35 is, I believe, the most credible of the many attempted interpretations of these two verses viewed as a part of Paul’s original letter delivered to the church in Corinth. For a while I was a proponent of this view after I realized the anachronism of trying to interpret in a narrow sense the thrice-repeated unqualified prohibition of speech by women in 1 Cor 14:34-35. That was before I looked closely at the text critical question and realized how powerful the arguments for interpolation are. Read the complete post…

Nancy and I had many happy reunions with good friends at the annual meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society and the Society of Biblical Literature in New Orleans Nov. 17-23. Scores of people were absolutely delighted to be able at last to buy Man and Woman, One in Christ at the Linguist’s Software exhibits.‘

Phil with his Zondervan editor Verlyn Verbrugge

Zondervan had a huge eight foot tall banner/poster of my book where they sold many more of my book at their exhibits. Christians for Biblical Equality also sold many and displayed a poster of the book at their booth.

 A highlight at ETS was my presentation of a paper: “The Codex Vaticanus Distigmai as Evidence that 1 Cor 14:34-35 is an Interpolation.” The feedback was universally positive.

 I enjoyed seeing old friends at the Tyndale House (Cambridge, England) breakfast, the Gordon-Conwell breakfast and Sunday worship, the Zondervan author breakfast and lunch. I also had fascinating discussions at the Linguist’s Software booth, and enjoyed dinners with special friends.

The first two are crucial studies for understanding Paul’s teaching regarding slavery.

The first gives twelve reasons to understand 1 Corinthians 7:21-23 as an encouragement for slaves to gain freedom if they can. These factors are crucial because some people have interpreted Paul as discouraging slaves from gaining their freedom and has been used to support slavery.

The second shows how Paul applies maximum social pressure on Philemon to free his slave Onesimus.

These two articles support the understanding of Galatians 3:28 argued in my book that in Christ there is no special privilege given to slave over free or to male over female. These studies show that Paul in practice undermines the slave/free dichotomy.

The third is a critique of Preston T. Massey’s article in New Testament Studies 53 (2007): 502-523. Massey states five conclusions regarding the meaning of “covered” in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16. His article cites passages that contradict each of his five conclusions. He is unwarranted in concluding that “covering” implies a garment.

To see or download these studies, in the red box at the top of this page click on Publications, then click on Supplemental Studies.

840 copies of Man and Woman, One in Christ were delivered to our office November 9, and we have already supplied over 70 to people who ordered them. Your signed copy is awaiting your order ($17.75 instead of the Zondervan price of $29.99) at our secure order form. Just fill in the order form and click on either Windows Products or Macintosh Products and select Man and Woman Book from the alphabetically-ordered list. Under “Choose one of the Following Shipping Options” select from the bottom of the list either Media Mail or Airmail.

My book has arrived from Zondervan!

My book just arrived from Zondervan! This is only the publisher’s courtesy copy, but I should be receiving books in quantity within a week.

I just uploaded a revised preliminary bibliography for my book Man and Woman, One in Christ. I am still revising it, and changes will be uploaded within a week.

I will be at the ETS and SBL annual meetings in New Orleans in November. The Evangelical Theological Society Annual Meeting is Nov 18-20, and the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting is Nov 21-24. At the ETS Annual Meeting I will read a paper on “Codex Vaticanus Distigmai as Evidence that 1 Cor 14:34-35 is an Interpolation” Thursday at 8:30 AM in the Waterbury Ballroom (2nd floor, Sheraton).

At both meetings I will be selling signed copies of my new book Man and Woman, One in Christ: An Exegetical and Theological Study of Paul’s Letters, for only $14.99 (retail is $29.99).

At ETS I will be at booth 617, and at SBL I will be at booth 440. Please drop by and see me.

I received this question from someone who read about my book on the Zondervan Koinonia blog.

Question: Why would 1 Cor 14:34-35 be an interpolation?

Answer: 1 Cor 14:34-35 would be an interpolation if it was not originally in the text of 1 Corinthians but was added later in the margin. Read the complete post…