1 Corinthians 14

V. 34-35, Women in church

A highly debate issue among the church still to this day is the role that woman plays within the church and ministry. Many denominations still suppress women in ministry and refuse to all them to participate in any form of teach due to the scriptures we are discussing today. In verse, 34 Paul tells the church of Corinth that women should remain silent in the churches. This was most likely because the culture of that time in the Middle East was that women did not speak in public at all. He then references the law which most commentators believe is referring to Genesis 3:16 where the woman was commanded to be subject to their husband and his authority. Paul also commanded that if a woman had a question, they should ask their husband in the home, implying that Bible study and home discipleship was to be a normal part of their daily lives. So, did mean that a woman should never speak in a church service? One thing that you always do is interpret scripture by other scripture. Are there any places in the Bible that contradict or confirm what Paul has said?

I Timothy 2:11 is another passage in scripture where Paul makes a similar statement about women staying in subjection to their husbands and being silent but there are also several other portions of scripture that seems to allow and promote women speaking to the church. In the Old Testament, Exodus 15:20 it says that Moses sister Miriam prophesied to the people and if you study the whole book you see that she certainly had a leadership role among the Israelite people. In 2 Chronicles 34:22 the wife of Shallum, Huldah was referred to as a prophet who lived in Jerusalem whom they sought for God’s direction. We also know that Deborah in the book of Judges was Judge over all of Israel and Barak refused to go to battle unless she accompanied the Lords army. We also find scriptures in the New Testament with women speaking in the church such as Luke 2:38 where Anna is mentioned as a prophetess in the temple of God. Acts 21:9 says that Phillip the evangelist had 4 daughters who all had the gift of prophesy. Paul mentions Phoebe as someone who labored in the church in Romans 16:1-2.

We could go on and name even more accounts of women used of God in the Bible, but the key point is that God has used women in a mighty way through out history. Most scholars believe that when Paul addresses this issue with the Corinthians and with Timothy that he was dealing with specific issues in those bodies that required him to place things in order. Women had possibly began to usurp the authority of their husbands as heads of the home and Paul needed to address the issue. I know we took some time to address this topic, but we felt it important that we viewed it in context with other scripture in the Bible.