Gifts of the Spirit 13 “Women should remain silent?!”.
1Cor 14:33-40 WBC 28/11/04 am
Well- guess who drew the short straw this week?
- but it got you all here, eh?
- What a way to finish a series on the Gifts of the Spirit!
Actually- it IS a good way to finish, as I hope, this morning, you will learn some of the tools of handling the Word of God, well
- rather than jumping to conclusions
- or letting our prejudices speak
- Illustr: just awful in the way this becames a text for a) not speaking b)not speaking against the leadership (“witchcraft!”)
- Almost oppressive, ‘abusive’!
Of course, I come with my prejudices! So you must test what I have to say
- and handle the Bible rightly
- not everything is clear at first glance! There is a place for study!
SO- is this passage about the role of women? And is it telling women that they shouldn’t speak in church?
CLUES FROM THE CONTEXT
Aha! Here’s a revelation!
- this passage isn’t talking about the role of women
- Paul isn’t suddenly changing the theme and thinking ‘right- let’s give the women a hard time for a while!’
What is the context about? (ask) (the conTEXT)
- it’s about corporate worship
- it’s about order in that worship
- it’s about doing things in a way that builds up others and is for the common good
So- that’s the main point of this whole passage and this bit
- anything we may learn about the role of women (IF we do) is by inference and secondary
In fact- this bit, v33 -40 has ‘brackets’ around it to clarify exactly what IT is clarifying. To give you the biggest clue to the context
- v33 “for God is not a God of disorder but peace”
- v 40 “everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way”
The context of the TEXT is that
- stacks of people had been converted from the Jewish and Corinthian, Greek mystery religion culture
o for them it had been an absolute liberation
(particularly the women. More in a min)
o they were going a bit wild. Not least those who were from the mystery religion background
noisy gongs and clanging cymbals and all that!
And it’s into that: order. Wellbeing of all…. That Paul is speaking
CHECK FOR APPARENT CONTRADICTIONS
Those who know the Bible well also feel, when they approach this passage, that Paul can’t be telling the women to ‘simply keep stuhm’ because
- it would seem out of kilter with the rest of the Bible
o and God doesn’t contradict Himself!
In fact- you don’t have to look far to be saying
- surely Paul isn’t contradicting what he said only 7 verses earlier:
o v26 “when you all come together everyone has a word, hymn etc”
- why doesn’t he just add, there “except for the women!”
And a few chapters earlier, 11:5, he has just said women can pray and prophesy.
- And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head--it is just as though her head were shaved
- Now, there is the issue of headcoverings, there. And we can so easily misunderstand them, as people do this passage
… but stick to the dominant theme: there is no way this can mean ‘keep silent’ in that absolute sense.
- we have to dig and find out what it DOES MEAN
- John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, encouraged his preachers to take the meaning of the Bible at face value except where you find what seems to be a contradiction. When there appears to be an inconsistency then it’s time to start digging deeper. (Joel Smith on www.sermoncentral.com)
Another thing you have to do in trying to find out what is being said, if it’s not immediately clear is
WEIGH THE KEY WORDS
You’ll be aware that the NT was written in Greek- and so what we have is a translation of that
- sometimes their words convey a richness we can’t quite capture in English
Ie- v34 ‘women should remain silent’
It’s not really ‘shut up’ it’s ‘quieten themselves down’
- the emphasis is on the individual voluntarily calming themselves down
o in the way you might ask a boisterous crowd to do so so they can hear your sermon
- it’s the kind of thing you might ask for to bring order out of clamour
Perhaps a truer picture of what was really going on is developing, now?
And then there’s the command ‘not to speak ’ in v34
- this word has many meanings- but it can mean ‘chatter’, ‘natter’
- it’s certainly not the word for preach, teach, prophesy, proclaim etc
Picture getting clearer?
And then there’s the word ‘submit’. They must be ‘in submission’ v34b
- none of us like this one!
- But it’s not ‘submit to domination’ thrall to king. Chattel to man
o It’s not subservience.
o It’s the willing giving up of something for the benefit of others. Like Jesus WILLINGLY laid aside His majesty and life for our sake
- Do you see how this word can be misused by those who want to dominate? But it’s not what Paul means of the word
Paul is asking them to not think of themselves, but the needs of others… to willingly give up something for the benefit of others.
- what is that something?
… their questioning, calling out and disrupting of the flow of worship
He’s not telling them they can’t speak or pray or prophesy
HEED THE HISTORY
So- here’s what was happening… and for this you need a tad of history
For women from a Jewish background- all their birthdays had come at once!
- God had brought women a long way through Judaism! (have to imagine how the culture of the day undervalued them!)
- But there was still a long way to go
o Jesus was SUCH a radical! Talking with women, having them as disciples
- In the temple or synagogue- they attended but couldn’t participate. All in a separate section. Maybe they remained silent.. maybe it was a chance to catch up on some ‘goss’
Now- they are meeting in homes (large & small homes)
- their territory!
- Liberated. They pray with the men, join in in every way
o At some point Jewish men began to wear head coverings (Kippah) as a sign of their authority and submission to God (certainly grew after 70ad). Mimicking Aaron
o Here- the women are doing it AHEAD of what became trad for the men. Maybe it was a sign of their newfound status?
o >> Newfound freedom and it had gone to their tongues!
- We don’t know if the men & women were separate at this time- probably not- but if there was a strong Jewish influence maybe
o Asking questions across the room
o Chatting
- A need for a bit of decorum and ‘men’s lib’, really!
For women from the Greek culture and background all their birthdays AND Christmases had come at once!
- Greek women almost never left the home
- uneducated and isolated
- they SAY- the only liberated and educated ones were the prostitutes!
Now: you know what it’s like for anyone who’s been stuck indoors for years… or a while (because of a child, for example)
- TALK TO ME!
And- I’m not wanting to be sexist, here, but (predominantly) we ARE different aren’t we?
- (there are exceptions of course)
- but I sense, with my huge discernment, that women like to talk a bit more than most men. Am I right?
- (Buzby advert: ‘make someone happy- use the phone’ ‘make someone happy- stop using the blinking phone!
o ¾ hour chat. What did you talk about? Oh, nothing
o then talking about ‘nothing’ again, 2 days later
o with me I catch up with my bestest mate in7 minutes once a month!)
So- imagine what it’s like for anyone who is verbally caged and then released?!
John Temple Bristow, What Paul Really Said About Women: An Apostle’s Liberating Views on Equality in Marriage, Leadership, and Love (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1988), 64:
My mother used to compare the situation in Corinth to the one she and my father faced in northern China. Back in the 1920s when they were first to bring God’s message to that forgotten area, they found women with bound feet who seldom left their homes and who, unlike the men, had never in their whole lives attended a public meeting or a class. They had never been told as little girls, “Now you must sit still and listen to the teacher.” Their only concept of an assembly was a family feast where everyone talked at once.
When these women came to my parents’ church and gathered on the women’s side of the sanctuary, they thought this was a chance to catch up on the news with their neighbours and to ask questions about the story of Jesus they were hearing. Needless to say, along with babies crying and toddlers running about, the women’s section got rather noisy! Add to that the temptation for the women to shout questions to their husbands across the aisle, and you can imagine the chaos. As my mother patiently tried to tell the women that they should listen first and chitchat or ask questions later, she would mutter under her breath, “Just like Corinth; it just couldn’t be more like Corinth.”
from a sermon by Joel Smith on www.sermoncentral.com
But what about when Paul says ‘they should be in submission, as the law says’
- “surely that settles it! It’s there in ‘the law’ the OT”
o no it’s not. Nowhere does it say women should be silent and subdued. What IS it talking about? What DOES he mean? What is this law?
This law:
- Love does no harm to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilment of the law. Romans 13:10
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Galatians 5:14
If you really fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” you do well; James 2:8
The ‘law’ (…of love)… says that you should look not only to your own needs… wants… benefit… edification
- but to the needs of others
- “ladies- your interrupting is not good for others. It’s stopping THEIR needs from being met. “
o and THAT’S what this passage… the gifts of the Holy Spirit are all about
“For the common good”
With many thanks to and recognition of Joel Smith for the ideas and structure of his excellent sermon on Silence and Submission: The Role of Women? 1 Corinthians 14:33-14:35 on www.sermoncentral.com
