Should Women Remain Silent?

I am continuing my series of looking at verses that address a woman’s role within the church. In the post “Can Women Preach?”, I covered the passage in 1 Timothy 2:9-15 in which Paul wrote to the Ephesian church directly correcting some cultural issues that had bled into their congregation.

Today, let’s look at the passage in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35

“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.”

I was a Calvinist for years. I grew up in a “Reformed-Charismatic” network of churches. Then, I married a man from a more “Pentecostal” background. We became Youth Pastors a couple of years after we were married, and because of my influence (probably), my husband swung more to the “Reformed” camp. However, after about ten years, the Reformed camp had too many areas of beliefs that clashed with his rich heritage of “living by faith”, so the pendulum swung back into a middle ground for us while we ventured into many other areas of ministry. It wasn’t until we both faced ministry burn-out that things changed drastically for us (I received such profound healing and revelation of righteousness at that time that I have never been the same again). We now embrace a Complete/ Grace-Gospel- a “finished work” belief.

But I digress. I guess I’ll have to share that story another time.

So, let me go back.

I grew up in a Reformed church, where theology was highly valued (‘everyone a theologian” was the catchphrase), and complementarianism engraved in stone. Male-headship was never questioned and sin-conscious doctrine kept us humble. The verse in 1 Corinthians was taught from the pulpit to help us all understand our lane. It was all taught very respectfully and left no room for doubt for those who were humble and godly, so I never once thought of actually studying it for myself.

Here are some links in which you may want to see some of the teaching  for yourself: https://www.9marks.org/article/must-women-be-silent-in-churches/, https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/manhood-womanhood-and-the-freedom-to-minister, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/men-and-women-in-the-church/

The role of males and females in the church is a hot topic in some circles. It is a hot topic within the church- period. Our church feels it deeply. Often, we have families who attend for weeks and disappear after the week I preach. A woman preacher is offensive. So, how can I, a woman and a teacher of the Word, be okay teaching the Word when Paul taught that women should remain silent and not teach men? How, can I knowing people are offended by my gender preaching the Word, keep preaching? I’ll explain in a minute.

First, I want to interject by addressing some accusations I have heard or you may be thinking about. Perhaps this will help you read further if you are reading this out of curiosity yet cautious about allowing a woman to influence you.

Am I a feminist?

Not even a little. Not in the way the world defines feminism. I believe in God’s value and role of women.

Do I value men?

Absolutely! Most of the Pastors I go back and listen to are men- including my husband. He and I have a very harmonious marriage in which we work as a team. I love and value every man at our church- if you ask any of them, they will defend and protect me to the death (their words). Not a single man within our church has ever complained of me being strong or dominant- and we have some pretty big and tough men. Yet, every one of those men loves, respects, and applauds me when I teach. That is humility and grace. In addition, I honor and respect our LifeShare men, mainly because they speak life over the women of our church.

So, let’s talk about Paul’s command. (One thing I have learned is that the Holy Spirit truly is our teacher. The gospel is simple, and if there is a verse in which you need a male scholar to theologize it for you, something is off. Scripture WILL answer itself! )

To whom was 1 Corinthians written? The Corinthian Church in Greece

Author: Paul

Context: The Greeks were very intellectual. Their belief systems sprang from the teachings of their great pagan philosophers. For example, those philosophers taught that the ideal wife should remain silent and subservient. This view, called Hellenization, was transported worldwide and was labeled “traditional” regarding opinions on the family.

Socrates and Plato, to name a few Greek philosophers, all taught that men are superior to women. Aristotle said, “The male is by nature superior and the female inferior; the male ruler and the female subject.” The Greeks (including Greek-speaking Jews) taught that women should remain silent, their place is in the home, they cannot speak in the assemblies, and women cannot lead.  Even the Talmud taught, “It is a shame for a woman to let her voice be heard among men.”

I stopped counting at twenty-four male leaders who have used this philosophy to teach that women are inferior to men. Men such as Martin Luther, Leo Tolstoy, John Calvin, and Adolf Hitler, to name a few of our modern thinkers, agreed with the Greek philosophers and influenced the world.

Explanation:

Let’s go back to Paul. Did Paul agree with the Greeks or did he agree with grace? Of course, he was, after all, the great grace preacher.

The Bible must agree with itself, and if there seems to be a rogue verse, we have to see what the rest of the scripture says.

Let’s take a detour to see what else Paul had to say about a woman’s role in a church:

“Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;” Romans 12:6

“I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea,” Romans 16:1

“Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,” Romans 16:3

“Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, who have labored in the Lord. Greet the beloved Persis, who labored much in the Lord.” Romans 16:12 (These were three women who co-labored with Paul)

I’ll stop right there because there are over twenty-five verses indicating women can, in fact, speak in a church mentioned by Paul alone.

There are only two verses which say they can’t.

The one I mentioned in 1 Corinthians and one other is mentioned in 1 Timothy 2:11-12. “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission.  I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.”

In fact, there are many women Paul put in place as pastors, leaders, and women he honored as co-laborers, pastors, and preachers.

Here are a few:

Pheobe the preacher (Romans 16:1-2), Junia the apostle (Romans 16:7)- she also spent time in prison with Paul- women were only imprisoned for their outspoken preaching, Pastor Priscilla (Romans 16:3-5), Pastor Nympha(Col 12:14), Pastor Chloe (1 Cor 1:11). I wish I could go on- the list is impressive and inspiring!

So, what could Paul mean when the evidence seems contrary to what he wrote?

Paul honored women, but he also knew that when there is an imbalance of genders, the temptation is for one gender to rule over the other. In the Jewish and Greek cultures, the men dominated the women (study how Jesus elevated women to their God-given, rightful place. Every time Jesus interacted with women, it contradicted how the Jewish culture suppressed them).  In the Roman culture, women dominated. This idea of one gender dominating created oppression and disunity and kept the gospel from thriving.

Back to Corinth- The Corinthian church asked Paul lots of questions. Paul would say things such as “ Now concerning the things in which you wrote…” etc. I Corinthians is Paul’s response to the questions the Corinthians had asked. Paul was repeating the question the Corinthians asked concerning the women (as the Jewish and Greek law says) and then he gave this reply “What? Was it from you that the Word of God went out? Or did it come to you alone?” (1 Cor 14:36)

In other words, Paul is horrified that they would ask such a question. His response would sound like this today: “Are you out of your mind? Is a woman’s silence reflecting Jesus? Does it reflect the Father? Did God himself tell you this?”

Paul was a grace preacher through and through. When he mentioned the law, it was always in direct response to the law being quoted. If you live by the law, live by the whole law. If you quote me the law, I will quote you the WHOLE LAW.

Paul then gave them God’s command: “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.” Paul told the women to sing, prophecy, speak in tongues, and do whatever was proper and fitting to build up the church. His response silenced the voices which held on to the traditional view that women should be silent.

Paul’s honoring of women leaders clearly proves that he highly praised the women of his day and applauded their boldness and bravery, especially as they contradicted the philosophy of the day.

As the church has largely held on to the same traditional views of the Greeks, many women’s voices have been silenced. It takes the courage of the Lion of Judah to empower a woman to preach and teach in such hostile thinking. However, I believe the church will begin to have their hearts unveiled to the truth when they ask the Holy Spirit to help them understand the heart of the Father concerning women.

As Charles Finney once said, “Every part of the body of Christ, whether male or female, young or old, is needed. Since no believer is excluded from the priesthood of all believers, all should be encouraged to participate in a way that is edifying to the church.”