Reading 1 Corinthians 14 as a Dialogue
Women's Roles Part 2
Please read this introduction and disclaimer first!
Next to my Granddaddy, the most knowledgeable people in my home congregation were most likely all women: Tina, Grandmommy, and my mom. When they asked questions in his class, you knew they would be good. When they critiqued some point or another, you knew you better listen.
But if my Granddaddy was not preaching, it was either a man visiting from another congregation or one of the other men filling in.
During worship, the same rotation of men and boys would read scriptures, say prayers, give communion talks, pass trays standing up, lead singing, and do the announcements.
Our congregation was filled with school teachers who had years of experience in crafting lessons, holding the attention of children for an entire day of school, leadership, and public speaking, but these women only used their voice in singing along with everyone else or in teaching the younger, unbaptized kids in Sunday school, which was a noble and necessary work.
Two Passages
Why did my home congregation along with most churches in our area, regardless of denomination, have a similar view of gender roles in worship on Sunday?
It ultimately comes down to two passages. One of those is 1 Timothy 2:12, which says, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent.” The other is 1 Corinthians 14:34-35:
Women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak but should be subordinate, as the law also says. If there is something they want to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.
It’s this second passage that I’ll be focusing on in this post.
I suggest that we should read this passage, not as the words of Paul, but as the words of certain opponents of his whom he is quoting. Before you click away, I want you to answer one question: were the sign of tongues for the believer or the unbeliever?
Is Speaking in Tongues for the Unbeliever?
First, read 1 Corinthians 14:21-22:
In the law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, yet even then they will not listen to me,” says the Lord. Tongues, then, are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers.
Who are the tongues for? According to this passage, tongues are a sign for unbelievers.
Who is prophecy for? Prophecy is for believers.
Now, read the next passage:
If, therefore, the entire church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if all prophesy, an unbeliever or outsider who enters is reproved by all and called to account by all. After the secrets of the unbeliever’s heart are disclosed, that person will bow down before God and worship, declaring, “God is really among you.” 1 Corinthians 14:23–25
Here Paul says that tongues are not profitable for the believer, but prophecy can cause someone to fall down and worship God.
So, which is it?
In 1 Corinthians 11-14, Paul is discussing orderly worship. When participating in the Lord’s Supper, others were becoming full and drunk while others were leaving hungry. In practicing spiritual gifts, tongues were being emphasized, and people were apparently climbing over each other to exercise their gifts. Paul wants their meetings to be orderly. He wants them to wait for each other to take communion, and he desires that they not speak in tongues unless there is someone to interpret.
Right before saying what he did beginning in verse 21, Paul wrote,
“…nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue. Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking; rather, be infants in evil, but in thinking be adults. 1 Corinthians 14:19–20
Paul obviously preferred prophesy, especially if there was no one to interpret.
It makes sense to me then, that Paul’s position is that tongues are for the believer while prophecy is for the believer.
What, then, is going on in verses 21-22?
Read it again.
In the law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, yet even then they will not listen to me,” says the Lord. Tongues, then, are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers.
Notice the pattern: (1) the law is cited, and (2) an incorrect conclusion is reached.
This isn’t the work of Paul; this is Paul quoting his opponents in Corinth.
The Role of Women in 1 Corinthians 11:2-14:32
Sit with this point about speaking in tongues for a minute as we quickly run back through 1 Corinthians 11 up to the passages about women being silent.
Like with the confusing text about speaking in tongues, knowing the context will help us determine what Paul’s position is and what his opponent’s position is.
1 Corinthians 11
In 1 Corinthians 11:2-16, there is a lengthy discussion on whether or not women should wear head coverings while praying and prophesying. Notice, that this is not a discussion of whether or not women can pray or prophesy, but the discussion is about what they need to wear (or not wear) while prophesying.
If you want to read an excellent short book on head coverings, I recommend Unveiling Paul’s Women by Lucy Peppiatt.
Regardless of one’s position on head coverings, though, the fact is that the women were both praying and prophesying.
This might seem odd to you if you read 1 Corinthians 14 first, but keep in mind that 11 typically precedes 14, unless you’re a big Dr. Who fan.
But there’s another passage that precedes 1 Corinthians 14 that is important in our discussion, and it’s Acts 2, which is really a quotation of an even older passage in Joel 2.
‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. Acts 2:17–18
These women in 1 Corinthians 11 were prophesying because the Spirit had been poured out equally upon them as Joel had promised.
And, as usual with the Bible, there is more.
Let’s jump to chapter 12.
1 Corinthians 12
The spiritual gifts were given for the benefit of everyone in the congregation, not just for the benefit of the person to whom they were given: “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7).
If a woman, such as one of Phillip’s daughters in Acts 21, had the gift of prophecy, it was for the common good. These gifts were not presumed by the person, but they were given to them specifically by God for the benefit of all (1 Corinthians 12:11).
1 Corinthians 14:1-33
In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul tells the whole church, not just the men, to purse spiritual gifts, specifically the gift of prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:1). The gift of prophesy wasn’t given to someone so they could speak to themselves or speak to God alone, but it was given to them so that they could build up, encourage, and console others (1 Corinthians 14:2-4). As Paul says, they would build up the church.
In addressing the Corinthian church, Paul uses the inclusive word adelphos which modern translations translate “brothers and sisters.” Like Spanish, when addressing a group made up of both sexes, the masculine gender is used.
He encourages this group again, “So with yourselves: since you are striving after spiritual gifts, seek to excel in them for building up the church” (1 Corinthians 14:12).
Then, Paul says, in the section we have already quoted, that “if the entire church come together and all speak in tongues…” and “if all prophesy…”
Who is speaking in tongues in these examples? Who is prophesying?
The entire church—all the brothers and sisters.
But Paul doesn’t want everyone speaking at once, even if they are prophesying. Instead, he writes,
What should be done then, my brothers and sisters? 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. 1 Corinthians 14:26
Each person, man or woman/ brother or sister, has a hymn. Each person has a lesson.
Does this sound like our modern churches?
And, while we’re at it, is there any indication in any inspired work up to this point that would suggest that women are to remain silent in the assembly?
Consider this: if 1 Corinthians was written in the late 50s, then the church could have had access to at least the following teachings (even if they didn’t have the books themselves yet; Acts, for example, wasn’t written, but the letter to the Gentiles in Acts 15 had been, so I’ll include it and the teachings of Jesus): Matthew-Acts, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Galatians, and James.
Does anything in any of these books suggest that women should not speak in the Sunday assembly?
Finally, in this section, Paul says, “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 the prophets, for God is a God not of disorder but of peace), as in all the churches of the saints” (1 Corinthians 14:31–33).
And it is in response to this comment about everyone prophesying one by one that Paul’s opponents give their response.
1 Corinthians 14:34-40
Women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak but should be subordinate, as the law also says. If there is something they want to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. 1 Corinthians 14:34–35
Where did this come from? In 1 Corinthians 11, women praying and prophesying was presumed. In 1 Corinthians 12-14, the entire congregation were given gifts that were meant to benefit all. This passage stands out to me as inconsistent with what we have read so far.
But so did the passage about tongues being for the unbeliever!
Remember the pattern there: (1) the law is cited, and (2) an incorrect conclusion is reached.
When reading the Hebrew Scriptures, where would one get the idea that women should be silent in the church or even totally subordinate? With examples like Miriam and Diana, Hannah, Huldah and Anna, and even Judith in the apocrypha, how could anyone think that a woman should’t audibly pray or speak in the assembly?
Like Peter in Acts 10:28, I think the opponents here are referring to either their understanding of the law or a greater body of tradition and cultural norms.
Knowing this, Paul responded, “Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only ones it has reached? Anyone who claims to be a prophet or spiritual must acknowledge that what I am writing to you is a command of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 14:36–37).
A paraphrase of this might be, “Who put you in charge? Who gave you the authority to make rules for worship? I told you how to have an orderly service.”
Some of the men, and possibly some of the women, had an objection to the wives asking questions in the assembly. Their solution was to tell them to be quiet until they got home. Paul’s solution was for everyone to go one at a time and to maintain order. To these others who wished to impose their own views, he said,
Anyone who does not recognize this is not to be recognized. So, my brothers and sisters, strive to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues, but all things should be done decently and in order. 1 Corinthians 14:38–40
Notice that Paul has to preemptively fix an overcorrection: “do not forbid speaking in tongues.” Sometimes, we read something from the Bible and take it to the extreme so as to avoid sin. This seems noble, but it usually ends up impeding our ability to spread the good news, and it can even restrict the liberty of others.
Another example of this is found earlier in 1 Corinthians:
I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral persons, not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since you would then need to go out of the world. 1 Corinthians 5:9–10
Paul had told the church to not associate with sexually immoral persons, and the church, wanting to follow Paul faithfully, took it to the extreme, and he had to offer a correction.
I think this same thing has happened with women’s roles in the church.
We read passages like 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Timothy 2, which, at the most, were specific commands given to address particular churches at a particular time, and we, striving to follow God in all that we do, universally apply them and take them to their extremes: women can’t preach, but they also can’t pray, pass communion trays standing up, read scripture, or even make an announcement.
I think it’s time for us to rethink how we approach gender roles in the church. The Spirit was poured out on all flesh, but we’ve only allowed half of our churches to use their gifts in the assembly which were given to them to help build up, encourage, and console the whole church, not just a ladies’ day or women’s class or children’s class (THOUGH THESE ARE ALL GREAT AND NECESSARY!).
Every person in Christ is a priest. Every person bears the image of God. Our churches should be reflections of these truths.