Let's read 1 Corinthians chapter 14. Paul is giving lengthy instructions about speaking in tongues and proper decorum in the assembly. Notice how often he mentions speaking in this passage: "Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no-one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit. But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified. "Now, brothers, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction? ... So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air. "Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning. If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and he is a foreigner to me. So it is with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church. For this reason anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. ... "I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue. Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults. ... "So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, 'God is really among you!' "What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. 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 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 saints, 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 enquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. "Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command. If he ignores this, he himself will be ignored. Therefore, my brothers, 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, NIV). To Talk or To Speak? The words emphasized above have something in common: They are all translated from the Greek word laleo (Strong's Concordance Number #2980). This word does not mean getting up to deliver a prepared message. Rather, laleo means primarily to utter sounds with the voice, to use the faculty of speech. "Talk" would be a better translation than "speak." Have you ever been in an audience somewhere before a program begins, and on all sides of you is the sound of talking from the people around you, but you can't really tell what anyone is saying? All you hear is the hum of people talking. That's a good way of describing laleo. It's not necessarily intelligible speech -- it's just the sound of the human voice. That's what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 14. If you have received the gift of speaking in another language, but it's a language no one else in the room understands, trying to address the group in that language is pointless -- no one will understand what you are saying! All they will hear is the sound of your voice! That's the "speaking" (laleo) in tongues (glossa, languages) Paul is referring to in this chapter. What many people have missed is that Paul is not speaking about tongues, and then about women. The Greek shows us the unifying factor: Paul is discussing the subject of laleo, of useless or non-edifying application of the human voice during services! What Paul said was that women are not allowed to laleo, and it is disgraceful for a woman to laleo in the church. In this passage, Paul is not addressing women preachers at all! In fact, Paul's instructions in 1 Corinthians 11:4-5, regarding men and women praying and prophesying with their heads covered or uncovered, strongly implies that the women were able to take part in worship, in praying, and perhaps even in teaching (one of the definitions of prophesying) in the assembly. Notice this footnote to 1 Corinthians 14:33-40 in the Key Study Bible: "... it was not an instruction to all the men in general not to permit any woman to speak in church, but to husbands to guide and teach their own wives lest they produce confusion and disturbance in a meeting. ... The word 'speak' should be taken to mean 'uttering sounds that are incoherent and not understood by others.' Paul says that instead it is better to have silence. Paul uses the same word 'keep silent' to admonish a man [any person, actually] who speaks in an unknown tongue without an interpreter (vv. 28, 30). What Paul is saying is that only one man [person] must speak at a time, for if two speak at once, there will be confusion. ... The issue is not men versus women, but it is confusion versus order. In God's sight, it makes no difference who causes the confusion. It is a shame for any woman to bring confusion into the local church (v. 35), even as it is for any man to do so." And again, as mentioned previously, the word gunaikes (Strong's Concordance Number #1135, a derivative of gune) in verse 34 should not be translated "women," but as "wives." Once again, the point of the verse is that wives should submit to their husbands. Paul isn't teaching the subjection of women to men in general, but rather that husbands and wives fit into the family unit ordained by God. Zodhiates writes that: "the duty of the husbands is to restrain their own wives from outbursts during the worship service. Whenever Paul speaks of submissiveness by a woman, it is always on the part of a wife to her own husband." A Different Set-Up in those days But why should there be any extraneous talking such as this? In our modern congregations, families sit together, and we all sit respectfully and listen to what is taking place. In ancient times, however, the seating arrangement with which we are familiar was probably not what people were using. Note this passage from the Jewish New Testament Commentary in reference to 1 Corinthians 14: "Sha'ul [Paul] is answering a question (7:1) the Corinthians asked about wives discussing with their husbands what is being said while it is being said. This would disturb decorum even if the wife were sitting next to her husband; but if the universal Jewish practice of the time (and of Orthodox congregations today) was followed, wherein women and men are seated separately in the synagogue, it would obviously be intolerable to have wives and husbands yelling at each other across the m'chitzah (dividing wall)." Educational Differences
Another possible explanation for Paul's instructions to husbands about their wives "speaking out" in the assembly is this: During Paul's time most women were not very well educated. Men were the ones that delved deeply into the issues of the day, especially the issues relating to theology. Imagine a doctrinal message being given in Corinth that requires a foundational understanding of the topic. In order for individuals to contribute to the edification of the assembly, they would need a deeper understanding of the topic. There may well have been great differences in the educational levels among the men and women of the Corinthian congregation, which led to confusion at times. As it was written on another occasion, "We have much to say, and it is difficult to explain, for you have become sluggish in hearing. Although you should be teachers by this time, you need to have someone teach you again the basic elements of the utterances of God. You need milk, (and) not solid food" (Hebrews 5:11-12, The New American Bible). Imagine that we are the Corinthian congregation. Someone's wife abruptly interrupts the meeting, on a fairly regular basis, by asking a question in the middle of the discussion. It may be a very good question. Yet, it would require such a digression back into the fundamental levels of the topic that it takes away from the edification intended for the whole group. To answer and explain her question would not allow the topic to move forward. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that, and occasional review is good for everyone. The problem arises when this happens week after week. Some of the members have expressed feelings of frustration over this situation. Because we, in Corinth, wish to resolve this problem, and a number of other problems we are currently experiencing in our local fellowship, one of the leaders of the congregation sends a letter to Paul in order to see how he would want us to handle these situations. Paul sends us the letter that would later be known as the book of 1 Corinthians. In the section of his letter giving instructions about how our assemblies should be conducted, he addresses the problem of handling interruptions by wives asking questions of their husbands during the meeting, a process that slows down the learning in the assembly. He tells us, "Let your wives be at peace and in control of themselves in the assembly, for it is not permitted for them to be continuously speaking out and causing a disturbance. They are to be subordinate to their husbands as we are instructed in the scriptures. If they want to learn more about what is being discussed, they should ask their husbands later, for it is totally inappropriate for wives to speak out and disturb the edification process in the assembly" (authors' paraphrase). This way, husbands and wives can prepare together, ahead of time, and discuss the background of a discussion topic, so they can both be prepared to contribute and learn. This discussion, and the instructions about husbands and wives given in 1 Timothy, should help us better to understand the group dynamics that were taking place at Corinth in the middle of the first century and how Paul instructed them to properly conduct their meetings. What Law is referrred to? Next we need to consider the enigmatic phrase, "as the Law says" (verse 34). What law does Paul mean? The King James Version really gives womanhood a connotation of slavery in its translation of verse 34: "Let your women [gune, wife] keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law." Notice how the KJV translators have added the italicized phrase, "they are commanded." In the KJV there is definitely a strong, domineering bias showing through in this verse by the translators. Then, adding the phrase about "the law" to back up what Paul was saying could make it sound like the law, Paul, and churchmen in general were down on women. But what we are reading is the result of men translating these verses while harboring the mental concept toward women that we saw earlier! Yet, what this verse appears to say (in the KJV) is not fully consistent with what we know of the love of God that created these relationships. Let's understand what "the law" means. "Law" is translated from the Greek word nomos (Strong's Concordance Number #3551), which is always translated "law" in the KJV. However, nomos can refer to any number of things: the Ten Commandments, the Torah, Jewish customs and traditions, or even an agreed-upon procedure. There is, in reality, no clear-cut law in scripture authorizing men to subjugate women and treat them like children! Paul may have been thinking of Genesis 3:16: "To the woman he said, 'I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.'" There is another translation of this verse, which also needs to be given consideration. It is found in a footnote of Genesis 3:16 in The New Living Translation: "Then he said to the woman, "You will bear children with intense pain and suffering. And though you may desire to control your husband, he will be your master." [Or, "he will have dominion over you."] According to this footnote, the thrust of the verse implies that the wife may have a desire to be in control of her husband, and thus the family. But, the instruction from our Father is that the husband would have the dominant role in the God-ordained family. This is more in line with the instructions from a loving Father of how the marital relationship should be -- the husband and father of the family having dominion and lovingly guiding and leading the family. This lends a much better understanding of this verse than the master/slave connotation the KJV gives. Why would a wife "desire to control [her] husband"? The reason is that she has rejected God's revealed knowledge of proper marital relations. Was Paul referring to Genesis 3:16 when he said, "as the law says" in 1 Corinthians 14:34? Perhaps. However, it's also quite likely that Paul was actually making a non-specific reference to the God-ordained set of family dynamics, as if to say, "You are well aware of how the family should be run, so please apply that knowledge in this situation." "In the Church"? As we saw above, Paul wrote: "Let your women keep silence in the churches." What did he mean by this? Turning to Paul's letter to Titus, we read this: "Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no-one will malign the word of God" (Titus 2:3-5, NIV). Paul is instructing Titus to teach the older women to teach the younger women! Women are to teach! "Yes," some will say, "but this means at home, not during services." Remember, though, that the scripture quoted earlier doesn't say that a woman isn't to "speak during church services," but rather that it is disgraceful for a woman to laleo in the church. Yet, here we see that Titus is to instruct older women in the church to instruct younger women in the church! While the first instance may be construed to mean that people should not laleo "during church services," or "during the assembly," this passage in Titus is clearly talking about women "in the church" -- members of the Body of Christ -- teaching other women who are also "in the church"! Here is a classic example of a phrase that may have more than one meaning. The only way to really understand what is meant by "in the church" (Greek: en ekklesia) is to look at the context and the sentence structure, and note other occurrences of the phrase. Notice these other examples of en ekklesia: Acts 7:38: "He [Moses] was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us." 1 Corinthians 6:4: "Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, appoint as judges even men of little account in the church!" 1 Corinthians 11:18: "In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it." 1 Corinthians 12:28: "And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues." 1 Corinthians 14:19: "But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue." 1 Corinthians 14:28: "If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God." 1 Corinthians 14:35: "If they want to enquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church." Ephesians 3:21: "to him [God] be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." Colossians 4:16: "After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea." As you can see, it's sometimes clear what is meant by this phrase, but at other times you can't really be sure if it's referring to the church people or the church gathering -- or both! Paul's Female Assistants One thing we can know for certain, though: Paul did not look on women as inferior creatures, as did so many men of that day, and even some today. Notice his instructions to a fellow servant: "Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow-workers, whose names are in the book of life" (Philippians 4:3). Paul is asking a male, a loyal yoke-fellow, to aid and assist the women who fought at his side. He didn't tell the man to take the women's jobs from them and make them go sit down. Paul asked the man to help them! Does "Silent" mean Silent? Let's return to 1 Corinthians 14 for a moment, and consider another aspect of this passage: "Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says" (verse 34). What about remaining silent? What exactly does that mean? "Remain silent" (NIV), or "keep silence" (KJV) is translated from the Greek word sigao (Strong's Concordance Number #4601), which means to keep silent by holding one's peace. It suggests silence as a result of a sense of fearing God (out of respect, not out of terror), or of awe. There is another word, siopao (Strong's Concordance Number #4623), which has the more traditional meaning of physically abstaining from speech. That's what we usually tend to think this passage means -- women should just shut their mouths and be silent (siopao). But that's not the word Paul used here. It isn't a matter of saying to the women, "Shaddup!", as much as it means "Peace, and be still." Two More Things Wives must also "be in submission" to their husbands. This phrase is translated from the Greek hupotasso (Strong's Concordance Number #5293), which means to arrange under, to submit to someone's control, or to yield to someone's admonition or advice. Militarily, the word was used in reference to arranging troop divisions. The non-military application of this word referred to giving in, cooperating, and assuming a responsibility. Finally, remember that we learned, in our study of 1 Timothy 2:12, about the infinitive mood of the verb. When Paul used the terms "teach" and "have authority," these were written in the infinitive mood, showing a continuous or repeated action. We find the same infinitive mood being used here in the verb "speak" in verses 34 and 35. A Better Translation Shall we put it all together? Let's see how these verses might be better translated, knowing what we now know about the Greek. The following is a suggested translation of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35: "Your wives must be at peace in the assembly. It isn't permitted for them to be continuously talking or chatting, but rather be responsible and yield themselves to whatever is taking place, as it shows throughout the scriptures. And if there is something they want to question their husbands about, let them ask their husbands later: for it is disgraceful for wives to be continuously making a disturbance which distracts the assembly" (1 Corinthians 14:34-35, authors' paraphrase). We can see that Paul is not referring to women addressing the congregation in this passage, but rather to wives asking their husbands a question -- not at all the same thing! Edification Remember that 1 Corinthians 14 is speaking about doing those things that edify the assembly. "Let all things be done unto edifying" (verse 26). Paul's purpose in writing was to see that the congregation was edified. (See, for example, verses 5, 12, and 26.) The word "edify" comes from the Greek oikodome (Strong's Concordance Number #3619), and means to build up or improve others, to aid in their growth as Christians. Let's consider verse 26 for a moment. We might consider this verse to be a description of how services might be run. Paul wrote: "How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying" (verse 26, KJV). Notice how Paul spoke of "you" and "every one of you." This verse doesn't separate the congregation into male and female! Even in the KJV, women or wives are not excluded in this verse! All of the members had a contribution to make! Throughout time, and in many places today, many wives, with their husbands' permission, have had many edifying things to say in the assembly based on their own personal Bible studies, and others have appreciated their contributions. Actual edification took place, the very thing that Paul was the most concerned about in this chapter. This is why Paul said at the end of his discourse on decorum in the assembly, "Let all things be done decently and in order." God intended wives, from the days of creation, to be partners with their husbands, and to contribute to the edification process that leads to salvation in the Kingdom of God. If Paul had been "trashing" women in this chapter, as many have thought he was doing, then the "order" of a male-dominated society was indeed being reinforced. However, the "decently" seems to have fallen by the wayside in that scenario. But we have come to understand that Paul was concerned with true edification of all the members of the ekklesia, male and female. When we stop to realize that even women who have not had the educational opportunities others have had can still make valuable contributions to the benefit and edification of the ekklesia, within the context of the Christian family, then we can begin to proceed decently, and in order, with each member of the assembly taking his or her rightful place, in Sabbath services and at home, as a member of the Family of God. Part Four: Putting It Together "Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed on Him, 'If you continue in My word, you are My disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31-32). We have learned some "new truth" in this study. Of course, it isn't the truth that's new, but our understanding of it that has been made new. Perhaps we can now realize that we had been reading something into these scriptures, rather than truly getting all we could out of them. It had always seemed a shame that women were prevented from bringing us the benefits of their Bible study, merely because they were women. It was also a shame, on many occasions, for some men to hold forth from the pulpit, not because they had anything of value to say, but because they were men! There have been some men who should never have been in a position to teach others, while many women, who are natural teachers and self-made scholars, have had to sit idly by and have their time wasted because a man had to do the speaking. Is it time for a Change? This article may have brought some of our readers to a crossroads in their lives. We should all evaluate how we have fit women in general, and our wives in particular, into the model we have had for Sabbath services and worshipping our Creator. Perhaps some of us have needed to view our wives in a different light. Perhaps now we can. If any wives who have been unduly subjugated by overbearing husbands can come to a fuller understanding of what God expects in a marriage relationship, then the truth can indeed set them free. If there are husbands who have held to a wrong belief, who can now see a need to treat their wives with greater respect and admiration for what they can bring to the worship of God, in and out of services, then the truth can set these men free, as well. This was not intended to be an article about marriage. However, it would be difficult for some couples to change how they both participate in worship without finding it necessary to first re-evaluate their relationship with each other in light of new scriptural understanding. As it is with any "new wine skins" situation, where something new doesn't fit easily within something old (Matthew 9:17), there will need to be some adjustments made, some re-thinking, and perhaps some changes in direction. We need to examine our old ways, and husbands and wives will need to have earnest discussions to sort it all out and fit the pieces into place. How to approach new understanding For those who have been taught that the Bible forbade women from making any contributions to worship services or Bible studies, this new understanding may represent a radical departure from orthodoxy. Because it is such a great shift away from what many of us have believed in the past, some of our readers may feel uncomfortable about changing the way they do things. We certainly can't fault someone for not wishing to make rapid changes in their understanding until they "prove it for themselves." If some readers personally feel that women should not participate in worship, yet see that the scriptures really don't support that belief, they may wish to ask themselves why they believe what they believe. If the subjugating of women was biblical, then it could be justified. But if we now see that the concept is not biblical after all, why would there be any reluctance to make a correction in our lives? Many times, we believe what we believe out of habit, because that's what we learned many years ago. If this is the case, then breaking the habit will take time, and concerted effort, to erase the old habit and install a new one. If the reader now sees from the Bible that it is permissible for a woman to participate in worship, but still believes women are to be subjugated, perhaps the reader should examine his or her deepest thoughts and motivations to see where those feelings originate. And, of course, if anyone continues to feel that the Bible does teach that women are to sit silently through services, then others must respect this sincere belief. It seems evident that we have not fully understood these and other verses regarding a woman's role in the ekklesia. As we grow and progress, some people are not as far along in their understanding as we might be, while others are ahead of where we are at this time! What should we do? We shouldn't be impatient for others to catch up to us immediately, and we hope that those who are ahead of us in knowledge will wait patiently for us to catch up to them! Each one of us is at his or her own place along the path that leads to eternal life. Paul taught a great many principles of human relations. One time he wrote that, even if doing something was perfectly all right, not against any law of God, and totally innocent, he would refrain from doing it if it offended a brother or sister in the ekklesia. (See 1 Corinthians chapters 8 and 10.) We should consider practicing this kind of love toward one another, so as not to cause offense. How can we apply this principle in our own groups? If there is a group of people meeting together for worship services, and no one objects to women taking a leadership role in the meeting, or giving a message, or leading a Bible study, as long as she is not exerting dominance or authority over her husband, there is no scripture which condemns this action, as we have seen. The woman should be able to make her presentation. If another group meets for worship services, but the people in that group object to women speaking or leading a discussion, the women should not try to force themselves on the group. We should all remember not to think negatively about a member of the ekklesia who may have a different outlook on this issue than we might have. We should not be afraid to discuss our beliefs with others, but we must not come from the position that "I'm right and you're wrong, no matter what!" Rather, our approach should be gentle and loving: "I used to feel that way, too. But here's what I've found, and here's what I believe." Local culture may play a large part in the decision whether or not to have women speak at services or share their thoughts in open forum. In the larger cities of the United States, where most men find themselves working alongside or under college educated women in the workplace, the idea of a woman presenting a message at services might be more acceptable. In other parts of the world, having a woman address the assembly might go against the strong male-dominant social mold in that area. Each area is unique, as is each assembly. Wise guidance is required in order to steer the assembly toward all truth and away from potential problems. This is a very emotional issue for a great many people. If you read this article and don't agree with everything we have said on first reading, that's fine. You might try a second reading later on. As we pointed out, neither of the extreme viewpoints is totally correct, but rather there is a high road down the middle. If we continue on the high road, with the difficult path that leads to the narrow gate, and if we manage to stay out of the ditch, and avoid those who would lead us into either ditch, our voyage along this Way of life will end where we want it to end -- at the doorstep of eternity! It takes all of us -- male and female, young and old -- to make up the Body of Christ. We each have our part to play in the function of the Body. What we have explained here may help the entire Body to function better! |
