Don

Cheryl,

Yes in 1st century culture a wife needed to cover her head when out in public (like a required wedding ring) and could not bare her arms or let down her hair.  If she did any of those things it could be considered adultery and I agree this was not right.

Jesus and Paul corrected all these asymmetries that were unfair to a wife, assuming she was married to a believer.  In every culture there are some things that are considered very risque’ for a woman to do, it is just that in 1st century culture what was considered risque’ is very tame for today.  We think nothing of a woman walking outside without a hat or with bare arms or talking to a male that is not a relative.

Lin,

My point is that the Hebrew and Greek for what is usually translated as sons can include females and also in some cases the singular form can be a female.  It is like 1950s English, where a woman might be called a man (inclusive, but understood and not specified).

So my understanding ends up in the same place as Cheryl, but gets there slightly differently.  For me, Christ is THE seed of the woman, Abraham, etc. and all IN Christ inherit, gender does not matter, neither does ethnicity, nor economics, etc.