Expert: Dr. Ronald E. Shultz - 6/11/2008

Question
1 Corinthians 14:34-35 (King James Version)
“Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.”


I asked my pastor about this verse in the bible and then he went on to tell me about how this section of Corinthians was regarding to proper conduct in church. This is Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church which at the time was experiencing many problems. My pastor said that the Corinthian church had problems with women standing up in the middle of service and shouting out or asking questions, being defiant. He said that Paul was referring to that particular instance, and agreed that to take that literally in modern day would be ridiculous. My first question is, how do we know that women were being defiant in the Corinthian church as my pastor said, and could that be a cover up to an otherwise unexplainable verse. And secondly, if that was referring to a particular place in a particular time period, why would it be included in the bible. If I read a passage from Paul in the New Testament regarding a circumstance, how am I supposed to know whether it is referring to me, or a specific group of people at a specific time in a specific geographical area?


Answer
The proper conduct is still to be followed and if the same circumstances exist in a church today this would be the passage to use. IF you note at your church there may be women who need to hear this.  Sometimes women do yell out of turn in a meeting.  Often they will disrupt their husbands by whispering to him during service or writing notes to ask a question or poking him with their elbow if they want to be sure he got some point the preacher just made.

Those women need to be taught this passage today as well as then.
It is to be taken literally in context. It doesn't say that cannot speak to people on the way in or out of the building.  They are to be quiet during the preaching or teaching.  Your pastor was partly correct as it was obviously an ongoing pattern of behavior in Corinth but it was not only their experience.  Other churches would read this epsistle and since human nature is the same everywhere they would use this passage to teach their ladies as well.  

A woman should not teach, preach or be disruptive but they can talk in the building at appropriate times.

2 Tim 3:16-17

16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. KJV

It is all for you and every Christian everywhere. We must keep it in context but it is all for us.  


Keep studying!!!