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.
- 1 Corinthians 14:34-40
Paul has been talking about worship in the first-century church in Corinth (see last week’s post for more on that), and the passage we are looking at today has caused controversy in the modern Church.
At first glance, verses 34-35 seem like their meaning is very clear – women should remain silent and are not allowed to speak. But it is always important to look at any piece of Scripture in its overall context. In this chapter of 1 Corinthians 14, Paul has discussed prophecy, speaking in tongues, making sure the worship service is understood by all present, and orderly conduct in worship. In the sections on prophecy and speaking in tongues, he has made no distinction between the genders. Paul has not said that these gifts are only for men.
So, why does Paul now suddenly call out women and make it sound like they should not speak in a worship service? If women were not only allowed but even encouraged to prophesy during a service, that would require them to speak. Some of the scholarly debate on this passage revolves around whether the content of verses 34-35 is Paul’s words or if he’s quoting another source. Some believe that Paul is quoting what the Corinthian church first wrote to him before addressing their comments in the next few verses.
Under that line of reasoning, Paul then goes on in verse 36 to counter what they said by bringing up the fact that they did not write the Scriptures. Paul often uses rhetorical questions to make his point, and his point here is that they didn’t write God’s Word and it’s not meant only for them. If verses 34-35 are Paul quoting what they wrote to him, then he’s basically saying that their line of thinking may be incorrect because they were not the ones to write the Scriptures. God is all-knowing, and they are not.
In the NIV as quoted above, verse 36 starts a new paragraph. However, the Greek manuscripts did not include paragraph breaks, nor did they have chapter or verse numbers. Greek also does not use quotation marks, so it would only have been by the context that the Corinthians would have known that Paul was quoting something else in verses 34-35. Translators throughout the centuries have added paragraph breaks where they thought they should go, which may or may not be how the original author intended.
Moving on to verse 37, Paul comes back to the ideas of prophecy and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Paul has given the first-century Corinthian church several commands in this section about how their time worshiping together should look, and he encourages them to verify these commands with the Lord. Don’t just take Paul’s word for it, but use those gifts of prophecy and ask God to reveal whether Paul has commanded them correctly.
Paul sounds a bit harsh in verse 38, basically telling them that if they ignore his commands, then they will be ignored. Scholars are uncertain of the specific meaning of this verse; who will they be ignored by? Paul? Other churches? God? Either way, it is a warning to them that they should heed the commands that Paul has given them.
Verses 39-40 summarize the key points in this chapter: they should engage in prophecy and speaking in tongues, but it is essential that everything is done in an orderly manner. Paul has spent this whole chapter discussing these topics so that the Corinthians can implement these gifts in a way that builds up the church, rather than causing chaos through disorderly worship services.
While much attention has been given to verses 34-35 and their implication on the role of women in ministry in the modern church, that is clearly not Paul’s main point in this passage. That is the only time in this chapter where he singles out the genders. If Paul were going to state important gender-based doctrine for the Church as a whole, then one would expect him to spend a lot more time writing about it and making things very clear to his readers, rather than what almost looks like a side comment here in the midst of the discussion on prophesy and tongues. Paul did elaborate a bit more on gender roles back in chapter 11, but even there, he did not lay his points out clearly as he does with other theological arguments elsewhere in Corinthians and in his other letters.
As with the rest of this chapter, order in worship is the key. If women were causing worship services to be disorderly and chaotic because they were speaking out of turn, then yes, they should refrain from that sort of speaking. Paul is commanding all the believers in the Corinthian church to use the gifts that God has given them to worship God and draw others into a saving faith in Jesus Christ, as that was Paul’s mission in all that he did.
That is our mission in the modern Church as well – use the gifts that God has given us to worship God and draw others to saving faith in Jesus Christ. The time period and geography are different between us and Paul, but that key point remains the same for all believers in all times and in all places.
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