While these two passages are not the only ones used to claim that Paul hated women, they are the two most commonly appealed to. However, it turns out that the evidence shows that in both cases, Paul was responding to opponents.

Let’s start with the passage in 1 Cor. 14:34-6. The part that is Paul responding is in italics. For God is not a God of disorder but of peace. As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.Did the word of God originate with you?

We should first note that some versions, like this one, attach the phrase “as in all the congregations of the saints” to the beginning of “women should remain silent.” There was no punctuation in Greek at the time, so this is simply a guess. Moreover, when Paul uses a similar phrase in 1 Cor. 11:16, it concludes an argument. So the reference should be at the end of the prior sentence: “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace. As in all the congregations of the saints.”

Second, if this was Paul speaking, he openly contradicts himself as opposed to what he says elsewhere in 1 Corinthains (14:26, 31) where he refers to all people speaking and doesn’t restrict women.

Third, Paul was a student of Gamaliel and would never make the mistake of saying that the law says that women must be in submission.

Fourth, though this version does not show it, there is a small word in Greek before “Did the word…” which is commonly translated “Or” or “What!” When used elsewhere by Paul, he is asking a question of his readers and hearers in which he is challenging them, as he would be if he was quoting their views back to them. Without the words in 34-5, there’s nothing Paul is saying that reflects something he would be challenging.

Fifth, there is paleographic (document) evidence that Paul is quoting someone else here. Usually when Paul quotes or refers to someone, he does say so (like in 1 Cor. 7:1), but in this case, the evidence shows that he originally wrote 1 Corinthians without 34-5, and then wrote in those words as a margin note, and they were later incorporated into the main text (this is called a “gloss”). The evidence for this is that several copies of 1 Corinthians have the words of 34-5 in a different place, after our verse 40. This makes perfect sense if Paul wrote these words in the margin and later scribes were not sure where it was supposed to go.

Now for 1 Timothy 2. We’ll look at this one a verse at a time.

A woman should learn in quietness and full submission.

There’s a context modern readers miss here, and that is that in Paul’s day, everyone – men and women – were supposed to learn in silence and submission when a teacher was talking. The only reason Paul would single out women here is if someone was claiming women should be exceptions to the rule that everyone else followed. And as it turns out, the rest of what we know fits this.

I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.

This verse has to be taken in context of the previous one – “she must be silent” refers back to the prior verse, and why women are singled out. Then there is the “have authority” phrase. The word used in Greek is very unusual but it has a very strong meaning like “domineer” or “usurp authority”. What must be happening here is that women are trying to dominate and usurp male teachers in Ephesus, where Timothy is.

For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.

These comments, and the point that women will be “saved through childbearing,” are where we can make a specific connection to a cult in Ephesus that regarded women as superior to men. This cult would have argued that:

• Eve was created before Adam (or the same time)
• Adam was deceived but Eve was not.
• Having children is wrong and will cost you salvation.

As it happens, Ephesus was a city with a major emphasis on goddess worship. There were also elements of mystical teaching around that we now call Gnosticism, which believed that matter was evil.

In this light, we can see how a teaching like this one could emerge:

• A cult which said women were superior would argue that Eve was created first and was not deceived, but knew what she was doing.
• Gnostic beliefs also existed that Eve’s eating of the fruit gave humans wisdom and was not a mistake.
• Gnostic beliefs considered it evil to bring children into the world because it trapped their spirits in bodies of matter.

Here are some more advanced articles on these subjects.

• The Textual Problem of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 by Daniel Wallace, a leading scholar of texts
• Paul and women -- discusses both passages in detail
• A comparison of the view of the second article with that of another writer who thinks the verses in 1 Corinthians were Paul’s own words
• Another comparison on the passage in 1 Timothy

You can discuss this more here.