Silencing Women?
I Corinthians 14:26–40
What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God. Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people. 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. Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the LORD’s command. But if anyone ignores this, they will themselves be ignored. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.”
Context matters. In this case, both for exercising the gifts of the Spirit, particularly tongues and the freedom to speak and perhaps even to disrupt. The bookends of this set of verses are “everything must be done so that the church may be built up (v. 26)” and “everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way (v. 40).” The Living Life writer notes that a “casual and isolated reading of this passage might lead one to think that Paul seeks to confine all women and silence them within the church but he has already recognized the authority of women to pray and prophesy in chapter 11.” It should be recalled that Paul has already indicated in this letter—I Corinthians—that women did participate in prayer and prophecy with the authority in the church (I Cor 11:5, 10; 14:3–5). This fact alone shows that vv. 34–35 cannot be a general, absolute, and timeless prohibition on women speaking in church. An article in the Fuller Theological Seminary states that the view that seems best is to understand the speaking prohibited here to women to “refer only to disruptive questions that wives (usually uneducated in the culture of Paul’s time) were asking their husbands. This corresponds precisely with the resolution Paul offers, “if they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home… (I Cor 14:35)”. Such disruptive questioning was also considered a disgrace in Paul’s day in which it was widely believed that it was morally indiscreet for any wife to say anything on any subject in public.” This view of disruptive questioning also fits well the specific context (vv. 26–40) in which Paul is concerned about appropriateness and order, which permit genuine edification (note that I Cor 14:26 expects everyone to participate. Thus, there are actually three injunctions to silence found in vv. 28, 30, 34), although many Bible translations use “silent” only in v. 34. Also, in a few manuscripts v. 35 come after v. 40. Joseph Tkach of Grace Communion International (gci.org) writes, “Common sense, church custom, and good principles of biblical interpretation all say that we should not take these verses literally—and almost no one does. Paul is not making a blanket prohibition that says that women can never speak in church. Rather, he was addressing his comments to a certain situation, and his comments are limited in some way.” Eugene Peterson gives this paraphrase in The Message: “Wives must not disrupt worship, talking when they should be listening, asking questions that could more appropriately be asked of their husbands at home. God’s Book of the law guides our manners and customs here. Wives have no license to use the time of worship for unwarranted speaking” (v. 34) (note that others even suggest that “nomos” could refer to the patriarchal Roman Law at the time). There is much scholarly writing about this and different approaches. This tells me overall that God is a God of transcendent law, order, and peace and it is conducted into us, His daughters and sons. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the favoured children of God (Matt 5:9). The Apostle James reminds all of us, “for where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. Wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere (Jam 3:16–17).
What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God. Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people. 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. Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the LORD’s command. But if anyone ignores this, they will themselves be ignored. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.”
Context matters. In this case, both for exercising the gifts of the Spirit, particularly tongues and the freedom to speak and perhaps even to disrupt. The bookends of this set of verses are “everything must be done so that the church may be built up (v. 26)” and “everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way (v. 40).” The Living Life writer notes that a “casual and isolated reading of this passage might lead one to think that Paul seeks to confine all women and silence them within the church but he has already recognized the authority of women to pray and prophesy in chapter 11.” It should be recalled that Paul has already indicated in this letter—I Corinthians—that women did participate in prayer and prophecy with the authority in the church (I Cor 11:5, 10; 14:3–5). This fact alone shows that vv. 34–35 cannot be a general, absolute, and timeless prohibition on women speaking in church. An article in the Fuller Theological Seminary states that the view that seems best is to understand the speaking prohibited here to women to “refer only to disruptive questions that wives (usually uneducated in the culture of Paul’s time) were asking their husbands. This corresponds precisely with the resolution Paul offers, “if they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home… (I Cor 14:35)”. Such disruptive questioning was also considered a disgrace in Paul’s day in which it was widely believed that it was morally indiscreet for any wife to say anything on any subject in public.” This view of disruptive questioning also fits well the specific context (vv. 26–40) in which Paul is concerned about appropriateness and order, which permit genuine edification (note that I Cor 14:26 expects everyone to participate. Thus, there are actually three injunctions to silence found in vv. 28, 30, 34), although many Bible translations use “silent” only in v. 34. Also, in a few manuscripts v. 35 come after v. 40. Joseph Tkach of Grace Communion International (gci.org) writes, “Common sense, church custom, and good principles of biblical interpretation all say that we should not take these verses literally—and almost no one does. Paul is not making a blanket prohibition that says that women can never speak in church. Rather, he was addressing his comments to a certain situation, and his comments are limited in some way.” Eugene Peterson gives this paraphrase in The Message: “Wives must not disrupt worship, talking when they should be listening, asking questions that could more appropriately be asked of their husbands at home. God’s Book of the law guides our manners and customs here. Wives have no license to use the time of worship for unwarranted speaking” (v. 34) (note that others even suggest that “nomos” could refer to the patriarchal Roman Law at the time). There is much scholarly writing about this and different approaches. This tells me overall that God is a God of transcendent law, order, and peace and it is conducted into us, His daughters and sons. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the favoured children of God (Matt 5:9). The Apostle James reminds all of us, “for where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. Wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere (Jam 3:16–17).
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