Introduction
We now close up the section about worship. Our passage leads us to consider the role of women in worship and the church.
Text
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.
What is meant by keeping silent? From the context, we know that it is connected with the worship service, and does not apply to simply being silent inside the church building. Are women, then, to be silent throughout the worship service? That would an overstretch, since singing or speaking as a congregation has always been permissible in Jewish worship. It is evident that Paul is referring to worship activities in which individuals speak. Then, is it impermissible for an individual woman to speak in a service?
The big stickler in reaching an answer is the passage back in chapter 11, verses 2-16, which regulate women praying and prophesying individually. How could Paul regulate women speaking and then, just three chapters later, command they be silent? There are three basic positions taken.
One is that, in chapter 11, Paul is regulating a practice that he does not approve. Do you remember the Pharisees asking Jesus why Moses regulated divorce, if, indeed, God did not approve of it? Jesus answered that the regulation was due to their hardness of heart. If men were going to persist in divorce, Moses at least regulated it to prevent abuse. In like manner, Paul could be saying that if the Corinthians are going to persist in having women pray and prophesy in worship, then at least they should wear the appropriate signs of authority. I don’t think this interpretation is correct. If Paul really does think the practice is wrong, he at the very least would have indicated so in the chapter 11 passage. Furthermore, he goes out of his way to explain the reason for the regulation. Why would he not devote such effort to explaining why the practice should not occur at all?
The second interpretation is that the chapter 11 teaching does not refer to prayer and prophesying in a church-wide worship service. After the teaching on women prophesying with head coverings, the next passage about the Lord’s Supper begins with the phrase, “when you come together,” i.e. for worship. Verses 23 and 26 also have that same phrase to denote the gathering for worship. Thus, the chapter 11 passage refers to a context outside church worship, such as at a women’s gathering or a small group in a home. In such contexts women may prophesy, but they are to remain silent in formal church-wide services. That, I think, has more merit to it. There are distinctions between a formal church-wide service and other activities that may have elements of worship. The problem, of course, is that Paul does not speak clearly of one context and then another. It is possible that he and the Corinth Church already know the different contexts, but again, we have to make assumptions that we can’t prove.
The third interpretation considers the discussion that is taking place about prophesying and weighing the prophecy: Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. “Weighing the prophecy” can include judging what is of the Lord and what is not. Perhaps there is even conflicting prophecies; a judgment must be rendered as to which is valid. Weighing may involve deciding how much authoritative weight each prophecy has to enforce what is to be believed or practiced. Thus, a statement of prophecy could be regarded either as a command or as a concession. Back in chapter 7:6-9, Paul notes that he prefers widows and the unmarried to remain single, but he concedes that each has their own gift and thus does not command them to remain so. And then, weighing may include application of the prophecies. Someone in authority instructs the congregation as to what they are to do in light of the prophecy.
It is to this that Paul is speaking. When the time comes for weighing the prophecies, women should remain silent. If there is anything they desire to learn through discussion, let them do so at home with their husbands. And, I would think, that if they are single, then with their fathers, or with whomever outside the service.
For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. This is, for us, the most startling statement in the passage, as it seems Paul is going overboard in his objection to women’s participation in this portion of the service. But it actually provides a helpful insight into the issue. This is the same language he used in chapter 11 to describe the practice of a woman cutting her hair. Think back to that discussion. Paul was building a case for why a women must wear a sign of authority when she prays or prophesies. He appealed to a custom that the people of his day would accept as a matter of fact – women wear long hear and men short hair. For either to do otherwise would be shameful. In Paul’s day, another shameful occurrence would be for women to speak up in public assemblies. When it came to participation in public dialogue, they were to be quiet and out of sight. Is it shameful for a woman’s voice to be heard in the public assembly of a church? In Paul’s day it would have been as shameful in Roman/Greek society as a woman walking in with short hair.
Application
So what do we do with these verses for our church? Our denomination recognizes the ordination of elders and deacons only for men. It does so based on the understanding that the Bible presents by instruction and model an order of authority that includes gender as a determining factor. Thus, all examples of elders in both the Old and New Testaments are male. This is also true of the priests. The Bible specifically states that the husband is the head of the wife. In the only passages in the New Testament that speak of the woman’s role in worship (1 Corinthians 11:1-16; 14:33-35; 1 Timothy 2:11-15) a clear restriction is made about the authority a woman may take on in worship. The last passage, 1 Timothy 2:11-15, is the primary passage referred to for this position. It includes the statement, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man.” This, obviously, is a light overview of the biblical argument. If you are interested in more in-depth study, I can recommend readings for you.
What I want to move on to is the practical application in the church, which is debated even within our denomination. There is no debate over who may be ordained an elder or over who may preach. There are some who believe that women may be ordained as deaconesses, since the role of deacon is one of service rather than authority. But presently, that is not a major issue.
What is more at issue is the public role of women in a church, particularly in the context of worship. Let’s consider, first of all, worship. Though you will not find women preaching in a PCA church, you may find them leading in prayer or giving the scripture reading. In some churches, women will be taking up the offering and handling usher duties. In churches with “worship teams,” women may be leading the worship by speaking before the songs and sharing scripture. In other churches, probably the majority, few or none of these activities would be allowed. Ultimately, the working out of details should be left to each church.
This is one issue in which, once the biblical principle has been established, the actual practice of the church will be determined in large part to culture – the culture of the church and of the society in which it resides. Let me go back to an illustration I gave from the chapter 11 sermon. Do you think women should wear pants in worship? We might find varying opinions, but one thing is for sure. Should nonChristians walk into our church and find women wearing pants, they will not be scandalized. If the year was 1804, they would have been. No doubt, if Paul were writing to a church then, he would have said it is shameful for a woman to wear pants. Thus, this is a case where the church takes into consideration its culture.
Each church needs to consider what promotes peace, enhances worship, and removes stumbling blocks to hearing the Word. In my previous church, I administered the Lord’s Supper weekly in an early Sunday morning service. I often did not have enough elders to call on and so would select men, who were not elders, to help serve as they came in before the service. In that church women served as deaconesses (not ordained) and as ushers and offering collectors. But because, as in most Presbyterian churches, the elders serve communion, they were not seen doing that. (There is no rule, by the way, that only elders can serve communion, though some would make a case for it.) Personally, I would have been just as pleased to ask women to serve communion, but I did not because of the culture of the church. What matters during communion is that the attention of the worshippers is kept on Christ, and it would have been irresponsible as the minister to create an unnecessary distraction.
Here is another example taking a different approach. In this same church we would have the director of the local crisis pregnancy center come give a report in the worship service. One year she requested that she speak from the floor rather than from the pulpit, the reason being that she believed a woman ought not to speak from the spot that signifies authority. We refused. For one thing, allowing each person to determine which area is appropriate or not, actually undermined the authority of the elders. They should be the ones deciding what is appropriate for the church. Furthermore, it would raise needless questions for the worshippers. Why is this woman not speaking where every other person speaks? Is she being singled out? And, then, there is the matter of furniture. To forbid a woman from standing behind the pulpit because the pulpit signified spiritual authority, would be to give furniture more significance than called for. We certainly did not want worshippers thinking that whoever stood behind the pulpit were automatically accorded spiritual authority, male or female.
Now, both of these decisions are judgment calls. And each church, especially the session of the church, must decide what is best for that church, being careful not to go astray in one of two directions.
One direction is to stray from the biblical teaching in order to appease society. This issue of the role of women in the church is one that, quite frankly, makes the church a laughingstock to our society, or else a place of revulsion. The idea of restricting a person from certain responsibilities based on gender is infuriating to the world and no doubt has kept many from even considering orthodox Christianity. It is tempting, then, to be as appeasing as possible and compromise biblical teaching. Society is moving towards a “transgendered” culture in which the distinctions between men and women are growing increasingly blurred. It is becoming increasingly difficult to identify what belongs to male and to female. The church adds to this by also removing as much as possible any distinction in their roles.
The other error is to become more restrictive than scripture calls for and thus hampering the work of the Spirit in the church body. In the above example I gave of the woman wanting to speak from the floor, her husband provided us with articles on the subject of women’s roles. In one article, the author recommended that congregations not sing hymns by women writers such as Fanny Crosby (“Blessed Assurance,” “To God be the Glory”). Why? Because hymns teach doctrine, and a woman ought not to teach a man. What then do we do with the “Magnificat” of Mary in Luke 1:46-55? This husband’s intention is to safeguard the admonition of 1 Timothy 2 and of our present passage. But “safeguarding” can easily pass into squelching giftedness and usefulness. Why may we have songs written by women? Because there are elders who have the responsibility to determine what is of the Lord and what is not. The Bible does not say that women are incapable of teaching or that they are incapable of insightful and useful thoughts. Chapter 11, regulates – it does not forbid – their prophesying and praying in public. The restriction involves who bears the authority to determine what is to be believed and practiced.
Just as a church may err by trying to appease society, it can also err by overreacting. In its efforts not to “be like the world,” it can restrict too much and place stumbling blocks before unbelievers that ought not to be there, and hurt the church body by preventing spiritual gifts from being exercised as they ought. The church can easily relegate women to second class citizens of the church under the pretense of protecting biblical principles. For all the fears we might have of feminism and a transgender culture, we must examine our old attitudes of wanting to “keep women in their place.” Let’s be honest. Women have been looked down upon throughout the generations. They have been regarded as less capable intellectually, and who knows how much progress in the sciences and arts there could have been if women had the same opportunity and encouragement as they do today in academics and society.
But in the end, the church will never be highly regarded by society because of the underlying principle that makes sense of what the Bible teaches about women’s roles and about other roles as well. What will always be a stumbling block for the world is the concept of submission. The world, as represented by our American society, bristles at the idea of one person having to submit to another. It is one thing for me to willingly grant you some authority over me provided I perceive it is helpful to me for a time or that I discern that you are good enough. It is another to be informed that I must submit to you by virtue of you having one standing and I another.
One bumper sticker I’ve seen says, “Question authority.” That conveys well the present culture in which we want to place everyone under our own scrutiny. The bottom line is that each of us wants to control our own lives. We do not submit because we believe we ought, but because we believe it will be to our advantage.
Imagine then hearing a gospel message that says, “Repent. Admit you are prideful and that you must turn over your life to God, every bit of it. You exist for God, not God for you. What right do you have to withhold from God full submission of your will?” That really is what the gospel is saying. To share the good news that Christ provides forgiveness of sin is to tell a person he does not have the right to live whatever way he chooses is best for him. It is to tell a person that by virtue of being a creature and not the Creator, he must submit to God who is the Creator.
Listen to Jesus’ presentation of what it means to be a disciple of his: If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it (Mark 8:34-35). To be a disciple of Jesus, to be a Christian, you must live a life of submission before your Lord. And if he says that you must submit to this person or that person, you do it. If he says you must take responsibility for this person or that one, you do it. He gives the commands and we follow. We submit.
The world does not understand such submission. But those who know Jesus Christ as Lord delight in it. Their Lord himself knows the delight of submission. For it is said of him in Hebrews 10:7: “Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.” Indeed, he is our model for submission. As we are taught in Philippians 2:5-8:
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
That obedience won our salvation, for it is upon the cross that Christ made atonement for our sins. This is the paradox of the Christian faith, that those who submit gladly find themselves empowered to fulfill their purpose in life. Those who are humbled will, in the end, find themselves exalted. I did not complete the sentence of Jesus’ comment about discipleship. It is this: “but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” We never place God in our debt. Even when we submit to him, he pours out upon us ever more blessing through his grace.
