2. Women Speaking in the Church: 1 Corinthians 14:33-36

In 1 Corinthians 14:33b-36 Paul gives brief instruction regarding the role of women in church somewhat similar to the advice found in 1 Timothy 2:9-15. The passage reads as follows: "As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silence in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. What! Did the Word of God originate with you, or are you the only ones it has reached?" (1 Cor 14:33b-36).

This passage occurs in the context of the discussion of how to maintain order in the worship assemblies. Beginning with verse 26, Paul gives specific instructions on how speaking in tongues and prophesying should be regulated in the church, so that good order might prevail. It is in this context that Paul gives his instruction regarding the silence of women in the assembly. This instruction has been the subject of considerable controversy, especially because it appears to stand in stark contrast to 1 Corinthians 11:5, where Paul assumes that women may pray and prophesy in the church.

Does 1 Corinthians 14:34 Contradict 1 Corinthians 11:5? The apparent contradiction between the two passages can be resolved by recognizing that Paul’s concern in both situations is for women to respect their submissive role. In 1 Corinthians 11:5 respect for male headship entailed that women comply with the head-covering custom of the time when they prayed and prophesied in the church. In 1 Corinthians 14:34 respect for male headship entailed that women comply with the custom of the time by refraining from asking questions publicly of their husbands or church leaders.⁶⁷

To appreciate the consistency of Paul’s teaching about women’s speaking and being silent in the church, it is important to distinguish between the permanent headship-submission principle and its cultural, time-bound application. Wearing a head covering and refraining from asking questions in the assembly were customary ways in Paul’s time for women to show submission to their husbands and church leaders. Thus, "not asking questions in the assembly" was a custom subservient to the principle that "[women] should be subordinate" (1 Cor 14:34). While the principle is permanent, its application is culturally conditioned. Yet in every culture the principle is to be expressed in the home and in the church through appropriate customs.

Paul seeks to maintain an authority structure in the home and in the church, where men are called to exercise responsible and sacrificial leadership, and where women respond supportively. Repeatedly the apostle emphasizes the importance of respecting the headship-submission principle. "The head of a woman is her husband" (1 Cor 11:3). "Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord" (Eph 5:22; cf. Col 3:18). "Let a woman learn in silence with all submissiveness. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men" (1 Tim 2:11-12). "Train the young women . . . to be submissive to their husbands" (Titus 2:4-5).

In light of the headship-submission principle, it is understandable why Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:33b-34 would deny to women an authoritative speech function, such as questioning their husbands or church leaders in the church. To allow these things would have undermined the above principle. On the other hand, in 1 Corinthians 11:5, Paul readily allowed women who had proper demeanor to pray and prophesy in the church, because these activities did not involve assuming a position of authority over men.

Wives or Women? To defend his thesis that the principles of headship and submission apply only to the home and not to the church, our author endeavors to prove again that "Paul is not addressing women in general in these verses, but certain Corinthian wives, since the same Greek word gyne can mean either ‘woman’ or ‘wife,’ depending upon the context. This becomes obvious in light of verse 35, in which reference is made to the husbands of these women: ‘And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home.’"⁶⁸ This restrictive interpretation overlooks some major considerations.

First, we already noted in our discussion of 1 Corinthians 11:3 that for Paul the husband-wife relationship is the paradigm for the man-woman relationship in general. Married women, who made up the majority of women in the congregation, served as a model for women in general. Stephen B. Clark illustrates this point with a fitting analogy: "If Paul had forbidden children to speak in public as an expression of their subordination to their parents, no one would hesitate to apply the rule to orphans as well as to children with parents. The parent-child relationship would be the normal case, but the rule would also apply to children with surrogate parents. Similarly, unmarried women would be expected to adhere to a rule for married women."⁶⁹

Second, it is difficult to see why only married women would be singled out and required to be silent, especially since in 1 Corinthians 11 married women with a proper demeanor are permitted to speak. In much of the ancient world marriage meant an improvement in the freedom and status of women. Thus we have reason to believe that Paul and his readers would reason that if married women were enjoined to be silent, how much more the single ones?

Third, in 1 Corinthians 12 to 14 Paul assumes that all the members of the church, men and women, participate in worship. "When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all these things be done for edification" (1 Cor 14:26). If each member is encouraged to participate in worship, why would married women be excluded?

Fourth, we should note that Paul’s ruling concerning women in the church in 1 Corinthians 14 is given in the context of a chapter dealing with spiritual gifts which are given to all, irrespective of marital status. This makes it hard to believe that Paul would exclude married women from exercising their spiritual gifts. Paul’s concern is not to exclude the participation of married women from the worship service, but to ensure that all women exercise their spiritual gifts in accordance with God’s law. "They should be subordinate, as even the law says" (1 Cor 14:34). The "law" to which Paul refers is presumably the headship-submission principle which he grounds in the order of creation (1 Cor 11:79; 1 Tim 2:13-14). This principle, as we have seen, applies to the behaviors of men and women in the church and not exclusively to the relationship between husbands and wives.

Fifth, are we really supposed to think, to use the words of Donald A. Carson, a highly respected Evangelical scholar, "that Christian women enjoyed full freedom and perfect egalitarianism in function in the church as long as they were single, and then from the day of their marriage onward became silent for fear of offending the husband to whom they were to submit? These considerations effectively dismiss those interpretations that admit that Paul insists on certain role distinctions between the sexes but limit such distinctions to the home, denying that they have any bearing on the church."⁷⁰