Are Women Prohibited From Speaking in the Church?

I was in a home meeting recently where my wife began to point out how women had been oppressed by the misuse of scripture.  As she continued to share it was obvious that the men in the room became more and more uncomfortable.  Finally one of the younger men in the group announced he was going to open a can of worms but really had to leave after he did it. He opened his Bible and read the first half of 1 Corinthians 14: 34, which says, “Let the women keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak…” It was certain he didn’t appreciate my wife sharing and supposed he had scriptural basis to validate his feelings. And he wasn’t the only man in the room that felt the same way. Since this is a prime example of how scripture is misrepresented to keep women quiet, let me share an abbreviated comment on the cultural context and scriptural context of this verse to show what was happening and why Paul made such a statement.

Corinth was a major city on a major trade route. It was a city with two harbors and a thriving economy. It served as a crossroad between the East and West, bringing together Jews, Greeks, Romans and a mixed multitude of sailors and merchants. Only Rome, Alexandria, and Athens had a greater population. This melting pot brought together both the best and the worst you might expect in any cosmopolitan center, and Corinth had built a reputation as one of the most wicked cities of its time. Immorality and heathen customs were rampant.  Paul bypassed Athens and chose Corinth to establish a church during his second missionary journey because of its strategic location and influence. He spent about 18 months there before moving on.

Later while Paul ministered in Ephesus, he received word that there were major problems in the church at Corinth. It seemed the negative influences that pervaded the local culture had crept into the church as well.  Although he commended the church for the positive things it possessed, Paul was also compelled to address issues that were detrimental to its survival and positive influence. There were many issues of practical Christian living Paul had to address. There was immorality in the church, believers suing each other in sight of unbelievers, abuses in taking the Lord’s Supper, order in the public worship service, marriage problems, questions concerning women’s roles in the church, and heresies concerning the afterlife.

Some of these issues were very specific to cultural influences at Corinth. The scripture in question, verse 34, is right in the middle of a passage beginning in verse 20 and ending in verse 40, the end of the chapter, where Paul is dealing with lack of order in public worship in the church of Corinth.

The Corinthians church had been gloriously filled with the Holy Spirit and manifestation of

gifts was in abundance. Exuberance in the manifestation of gifts was beginning to disrupt the public worship services, especially it seems the gift of prophesy and tongues and interpretation, along with the misuse of tongues in prayer as if they were a prophetic tongue.

Paul sites several problems related to the church’s close proximity to Delphi. Delphi was across the bay from Corinth and the Delphic oracle was the most famous of the Greek oracles. It was run by three priestesses. Men who wished to consult the oracle would first sacrifice a sheep, goat, boar, or other animal. (We see Paul’s injunction in chapter 8 against eating meat sacrificed to idols, probably referring to this practice at Delphi.) If the omens were favorable, the man was admitted to a waiting area inside the shrine to await his turn which was decided by casting lots.  No women were allowed, except the priestesses. The man would ask a question by writing it on leaden tablets and when his turn came, a priestess would cleanse herself and position herself on a tripod placed over a chasm which emitted intoxicating fumes. As she sat there becoming more and more inebriated, the priestess, a peasant woman over 50 years of age,  would begin to utter incoherent sounds that were interpreted in hexameter verse by a waiting poet. The answers that came forth were always unclear, leaving the recipient more confused than satisfied.

If we go back one verse to verse 33, Paul says, “For God is not a God of confusion but as peace as in all the churches of the saints.” Confusion here means commotion, unsettledness.  The fact that women were being filled with the spirit to the same extent as men was something new and exciting to them. They had been so persecuted under Jewish custom and practice that they were overenthusiastic about this gift of tongues and had not learned what it was all about yet. Therefore they were apt to speak out at an inopportune time in their prayer language, thus interrupting the service. This resembled, in Paul’s mind, something too much akin to the women giving the Doric oracles, for him to be comfortable. Again, what might unbelievers think in observing this? In verse 35, he instructs wives to learn at home by asking their husbands so that the confusion, especially of the unbeliever who might join them in a service, would be minimized. He was admonishing them for restraint while they were learning more of the gifts and the proper operation of them.

Paul had the same concerns over men who spoke out in a tongue publicly without an interpretation. If you go back to verse 20 and begin reading it is clear to see that this wasn’t a man versus woman thing, but an order versus disorder thing. Paul put a premium on words of prophesy as opposed to tongues and interpretation. He saw prophesy as the better gift.  He also wanted to distinguish between the tongues of personal prayer and the prophetic tongue partnered with interpretation. Thus in verse 39-40 in this section Paul says, “Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak in tongues, but let all things be done properly, and in an orderly manner.” Paul was not issuing a decree against any woman speaking in any church. He was calling for a time of quiet observation and restraint on their part while learning about spiritual gifts and their operation, specifically at Corinth.

In conclusion, my own experience has been in seeing much more interruption by male leadership in the church than by women. Anytime the spirit is hindered by the need to maintain an order of worship or time schedule, I see that as a problem.  I’ve heard anointed prophesies come forth and no time given the Holy Spirit to establish that word in the hearts of God’s people. Unfortunately it seems to happen most often when a woman is the one who prophesied.