1 Corinthians 14:34-35

Paul’s View of Women in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 14:33-38

33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.

As in all the churches of the saints, 34 the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. 35 If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

36 Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? 37 If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. 38 If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized.

Main Point: I believe Paul was addressing a specific issue that the Corinthian church was experiencing; mainly that uneducated women were constantly interrupting the exposition of scripture and prophecies with questions they can ask their educated husbands at home.

Solution: The solution is not to bar women from speaking in churches, but rather to educate them and develop a culture where both genders are polite in services.

Hint: It is helpful to see this situation through a different lens. Imagine that we are not speaking of women here but rather small children. If a local congregation kept experiencing interruptions with menial questions from a group of small children, the leadership would rightly instruct the parents to quiet down their kids and answer their questions at home.

When Paul suggests that husbands should teach their wives at home, his point is not to belittle women’s ability to learn. To the contrary, Paul is advocating the most progressive view of his day: despite the possibility that she is less educated than himself, the husband should recognize his wife’s intellectual capability and therefore make himself responsible for her education, so they can discuss intellectual issues together (Keener; 145).

Other Views:

View #1: This passage is not originally Pauline and was added later.

This interpretation stems from the fact that some early manuscripts of 1 Corinthians differ on where they place these few verses, with a few placing it at the end of verse 40.

Although there is an argument for the placement of these verses, there is no manuscripts that omit them entirely.

View #2: Paul was quoting the Corinthians and not commanding these things himself.

This interpretation is intriguing, as Paul does do this on several occasions in 1 Corinthians (1 Cor. 6:12-14, 7:1-5). Proponents of this view argue that these commands do not seem to line up with the rest of Paul’s teaching in the book. Elsewhere he speaks of women praying and prophesying during public meetings, so why would he now command all of them to remain silent?

Also, Craig Keener writes, “Paul’s use of the Greek particle ἢ (ē) in verse 36 has led some scholars to see a disjunction in thought in verse 36; they point to the fact that Paul elsewhere begins with this particle when he wishes to challenge the Corinthian Christians’ behavior. In 11:20–21, for instance, he states the situation in Corinth and then goes on to challenge their behavior in 11:22. But Liefeld is right when he responds: “What Paul negates by his use of the adversative Greek particle ἢ is not the command in verses 34–35 but the assumed disobedience of it, just as in the structurally similar passage 6:18–19.” (Keener, 130).

In light of this, I agree with Keener and many others and believe this passage was a genuine command given by Paul to the church at Corinth for these reasons:

Paul often quotes the Law, gives a teaching, and then follows it with these “or (Gr.ἢ)” statements that have an obvious answer; either yes or no.

When Paul does quote the Corinthians, he usually follows the quotation with teaching. No teaching follows this supposed quotation, which leads me to believe the teaching in the quotation is genuinely Pauline.

Healthy order in public gatherings is the context of the passage, as stated in V.26. Seeing verses 34-35 as a command is the natural reading of the text.

Paul often quotes the Law, gives a teaching, and then follows it with these “or (Gr.ἢ)” statements that have an obvious answer; either yes or no.

1 Corinthians 6:18–20 ESV

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 9:6–10 ESV

Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk? Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop.

1 Corinthians 14:21–23 ESV

In the Law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.” Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers. If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds?

2 Corinthians 6:14–15 ESV

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?

2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

Galatians 1:8–10 ESV

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

2. When Paul does quote the Corinthians, he usually follows the quotation with teaching. No teaching follows this supposed quotation, which leads me to believe the teaching in the quotation is genuinely Pauline.

1 Corinthians 1:10–14 ESV

I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,

1 Corinthians 3:4–8 ESV

For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.

1 Corinthians 6:12–17 ESV

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

1 Corinthians 7:1–5 ESV

Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

3. Healthy order in public gatherings is the context of the passage, as stated in V.26. Seeing verses 34-35 as a command is the natural reading of the text.

1 Corinthians 14:26–38 ESV

What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized.

We see from V.26 that Paul is addressing what the nature of the Corinthian church should be “…when they come together…” Everything should be done for building up.

The first category that is addressed is public speaking in tongues with interpretation. It seems as though the Corinthian church had much chaos and pride in how they publically spoke in tongues. Several people would go at once, often without any interpretation. Paul instead instructs 2 or 3 to go in turn and only when there is an interpretation that follows. Those who do not follow this order should remain silent, though not totally silent as they are permitted to speak to themselves and to God.

The second category that is addressed is public prophecy. It is apparent that the church at Corinth would have several prophets speak without any consideration or allocated time to judge the words that were being given. When one person was prophesying, another would suddenly burst out overtaking them and pandemonium would result. Paul charges them to exercise self-control and do it orderly.

The third category that is addressed is public interruption of the service by uneducated women. In Corinth, it seems as though many women were interrupting the teaching of the word with trivial questions which could be answered at home. This was also the cause of chaos, which Paul called shameful, and he charged them to remain silent. Not a total silence, but rather a silence in regards to these disruptive interruptions.

It is presumed that the men did not interrupt as much as they probably were educated enough to know what was being spoken and would also therefore remain silent. Notice, Paul was not commanding the women to be utterly silent and the men to talk all they want, but what is implied is a respectful mutual silence as the prophet or teacher speaks.

Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached?

The obvious answer was “no”. The Corinthian church has been very proud, where there public gatherings were full of sin and chaos, differing from all the other churches that Paul planted and fathered. They acted like they were the center of attention, the ultimate authority, where the word of God came from and the only ones it had reached. Paul was shunning them for their proud hearts and blatant disobedience.

If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized.

Apparently there were “spiritual people, prophets” that would disagree with Paul’s commands listed earlier. They seemingly thought that they had more wisdom or authority than this choice apostle, but they were mistaken. These commands (including v.34-35) are of the Lord. If anyone doesn’t recognize or teach this, they themselves should not be recognized.

Why Were the Women Questioning?

Questions were widely used in learning. They needed to be asked in an orderly way, as a Jewish source (probably second century) indicates:

A sage who enters—they do not ask his opinion immediately, [but wait] until he has settled down. And so too a disciple who came in—he has not got the right to ask a question until he has settled down. [If] he came in and found them engaged in discussion of a law, he should not jump into their discussion until he has settled down and knows what they are talking about.

Perhaps more relevant to the context of the Corinthian church is the way public lectures were conducted by teachers in the broader Greco-Roman world. Plutarch says that it is important to ask lecturers questions only in their field of expertise; to ask them questions irrelevant to their discipline is rude. Worse yet are those who challenge the speaker without yet understanding his point:

But those who instandy interrupt with contradictions, neither hearing nor being heard, but talking while others talk, behave in an unseemly manner; whereas the man who has the habit of listening with restraint and respect, takes in and masters a useful discourse, and more readily sees through and detects a useless or a false one, showing himself thus to be a lover of truth and not a lover of disputation, nor froward and contentious.

This principle is particularly applicable to uneducated questioners who waste everyone’s time with their questions they have not bothered to first research for themselves:

For when they are by themselves they are not willing to give themselves any trouble, but they give trouble to the speaker by repeatedly asking questions about the same things, like unfledged nestlings always agape toward the mouth of another, and desirous of receiving everything ready prepared and predigested.

So also those who nitpick too much, questioning extraneous points not relevant to the argument.It was rude even to whisper to one another during a lecture, so asking questions of one another would also have been considered out of place and disrespectful to the speaker.

Were Women Less Educated Than Men?

Women must have heard some Torah teaching regularly in the synagogues (Acts 17:4; 18:26), probably often learned some Bible teaching from their parents, and were presumably sometimes expected to join the father in teaching the children, especially when they were young. It was not unnatural for a wife or daughter of a rabbi to be able to cite Scripture accurately and effectively.

But the rabbis did not normally feel that women needed Torah as much as men did. A comment on a rabbi’s view charges that it is better for the words of Torah to be burned than for them to be given to a woman. This became the prevailing view among the later rabbis, and all our Jewish sources point in the direction that girls, unlike boys, did not receive much Torah training.

Like minors and slaves, women were excluded from some obligations of the law, such as the obligation to wear tefdlin (phylacteries) or to dwell in sukkoth (“booths” or “tents”) during the Feast of Tabernacles. They were exempt from study of the Torah, perhaps, as Wegner suggests, because the rabbis feared that too much education would liberate their women.

Although occasionally a woman mastered the Scriptures (e.g., Beruriah, wife of R. Meir), women who sought to expound Torah as authorities on it were usually not received by their male colleagues. The sages ruled that women were not to be appointed as officials, and we never read of rabbis ordaining women disciples to be rabbis. We know of one rabbi who followed a different practice: Jesus had women among his disciples (Luke 10:39; cf. 8:1–3; Mark 15:41) and chose them as witnesses of his resurrection (Matt. 28:1–10; Luke 24:1–11; John 20:10–18). But we may suspect that most first-century Jewish men in Palestine agreed with what became the rabbinic consensus: as one first-century Jewish writer, Josephus, puts it, even the testimony of a woman is unacceptable, “because of the levity and temerity of their sex.”

Dr. Kenneth Bailey’s Take

Multiple factors must be considered. Attention-span problems, limited knowledge of Greek, accent issues, language levels of Greek in use, lack of amplification for the speakers, along with chatting as a methodology for learning are all involved. The women slip into the list along with the tongues speakers and prophets. All three categories, when worship is disrupted, are asked by Paul to "keep silent in church." Paul is saying, "Women, please stop chatting so you can listen to the women (and men) who are trying to bring you a prophetic word but cannot do so when no one can hear them."

Paul is very polite. Unlike Chrysostom, he does not say, "You women chat more in church during the sermon than you do in the marketplace or at the baths!" Some of the women (probably seated in linguistic groups) are no doubt asking their neighbors about the meaning of this or that word in Greek. Paul picks up on these legitimate questions and in effect says,

I know your Greek is limited. But your husbands have learned a bit more Greek than you have managed to absorb. They have to in order to function on the job. You have not had this chance and it is not your fault. But things have gotten out of hand on a number of levels. Please be helpful and put your questions to your husbands after you return home. I have just told the speakers when to be quiet. This is a situation in which you also need to listen quietly even if you can't follow what is said.

Summary

The apostle Paul was addressing the disorder in the public gatherings of the church of Corinth. Tongues were being given without interpretation, prophets were speaking chaotically, and women were rudely chatting during times of teaching and prophecy. Paul commanded the women to do exactly what he commanded the chaotic tongue-talkers and prophets to do when they were out of line; be silent!

What principle can we take from this? Our public gatherings should be orderly and respectful. Both men and women should honor whoever is prophesying or teaching the scriptures.