“For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silence in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. What! Did the word of God originate with you, or are you the only ones it has reached?” RSV
How many of us, as women, have read this passage and cringed? So many people use this passage to force women to refrain from participating in church, particularly as teachers or pastors. But we need to go back and look at the context again.
First, Paul is telling us that church is interactive, with each attendee bringing something to the table:
“When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.” (v. 26)
And then, Paul lists the qualifications of that “bringing:”
• What one brings must edify those who are in attendance
• If one speaks in tongues, there must be interpretation, otherwise the one speaking in tongues must be silent
• There can only be at most three “tongues” and those tongues given one at a time (in order)
• If one prophet is speaking and another wants to speak, the first must be silent.
• Everyone can prophesy if they wish, but it must be in turn
• Those coming can bring a hymn, a lesson, a revelation (prophesy), a tongue, or an interpretation
What we have here is two things: (1) That church is supposed to be interactive, with all participating (not a division of performers and audience); and (2) That what is done is done civilly, courteously, and in order; not with one roughshodding over another in order to dominate the service.
Well, that would make sense. Paul just got done telling us that love doesn’t demand it’s own way. In church, there should be no time frames, no looking at watches, but rather a coming together in love. What can we learn? What can we share? What can we take away from this so that we are better Christians?
And, in the middle of all this, Paul drops what seems like, to contemporary folks, a bombshell: “Women should keep silence.” The problem is, this passage is interpreted out of context. For see what it actually says:
“Women should be silent during the church meetings. It is not proper for them to speak. They should be submissive, just as the law says. If they have any questions to ask, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is improper for women to speak in church meetings.”
The sense here isn’t women coming with something to share, but rather coming with questions and refusing to submit to the order of the service. Most women in Corinth couldn’t write, so they couldn’t jot down their questions. And, because of the cultural restrictions (women weren’t allowed to talk to men not in their own families), the women felt they didn’t have the freedom to get their questions answered. So they talked to their husbands. Paul says: “Let them ask their husbands at home.” That is the context.
This is the third time in this passage that Paul has asked for someone in the congregation to be silent:
• If someone is speaking in tongues and there is no interpretation, that person must be silent.
• If someone is prophesying and another wishes to prophesy, the first prophet must be silent.
• If women have questions of their husbands, they must be silent (and ask their husbands at home).
This isn’t a restriction against women, but rather a description of the order and courtesy to be allowed in a service where everyone is allowed to have input. Earlier in chapter 11, Paul talks about women praying and prophesying publically. And since there were no gender-specific (no women-only or men-only) services in the early Church, Paul was clearly talking, in this passage (chapter 14) about order, not about restrictions.
In fact, it’s interesting that near the end of this entire discourse (several chapters), Paul seems to throw in this small paragraph. Obviously, the women talking in the service wasn’t nearly as important in his mind as the disorder coming from people jostling each other (during the Lord’s supper; chapter 11), people speaking in tongues without interpretation, and those prophesy dominating the service.
Paul begins this paragraph with “God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” We need to remember that God brings order to chaos, forgiveness to sin, freedom to oppression. As women—as believers—our focus shouldn’t be on whether or not we gain our rights, but whether or not we please the Father. If there are others who wish to oppress us, He Himself is our advocate and He will make a way.
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