The apostle Paul wrote letters to churches to help reconcile their differences and use them as guidelines in the future. Many of his letters were recorded and can be found today in the bible. Among his many teachings, one of the most controversial is the submission of women to their husbands and in public in general. In 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, Paul wrote: “As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church”. Many people wonder whether Paul literally meant that women should not speak or participate in worship service or he meant something else. This paper will try to uncover the truth about this bible verse and establish if women should participate in church and other worship areas.
A good student of the scripture should always know never to take a scripture literally. If a reading makes little sense, people are advised to consult the previous scriptures. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul advices the Corinthian church on their disorganized worship service. From the texts in this chapter, it is evident that public speaking in the worship premises was very disorganized (Tkach 2013). In chapter 12, he defines the types of spiritual gifts and instructs how they should be used in the worship service. He also insists that all gifts are very important to the body of Christ and calls for respect and honor for them. Finally, he concludes that regardless of gender or social status, all who possess the gift should share them with the rest of the world.
In chapter 14, he cautions against using this gifts as a mark of spiritual superiority. Notably, he did not caution them against use of tongues completely, but gave them a guideline on their proper use. In verse 27, he instructs that if there to be two or three speakers, they should speak one at a time. Conclusively, Paul is giving guidelines to rather disorganized congregation. Therefore, when he asks the women to be quiet and that their questions should be directed to their husband at home, it was only in reference to keeping the congregation organized (Tkach 2013). In his letters to timothy, he had encouraged women to take on participative roles in the church and therefore taking it back in the Corinthians would have been contradicting. In addition, throughout the letter, Paul had asked several groups to remain silent including tongue speakers and later on women. Researchers also argue if he was prohibiting women to speak in the pulpit or in the congregation. Finally, Paul asks the women to be in submission instead of speaking. This in fact could be argued that he said this because the women were speaking in an insubordinate manner and is prohibiting less formal unconstructive stammer in the congregation (Tkach 2013).
In the second century, many reformations had taken place in the Christian community. During the first century, many Christians lived in a communal setting abstaining from marriage and other normal social activities. This is because they believed that the second coming of Christ was near and there would be a different kind of marriage. However, after so many years passed, their social setting was different and women had taken up very significant roles in the church. Later on, Paul pointed out that not everyone had the gift of celibacy like the one he had. Though he held a middle ground on this issue, in 1 Corinthians 5:1-11, he clearly states that husbands and wives should give each other conjugal rights. It shows women and men in a marriage are equally bound to their obligations and rebuking oppressive husbands (Kraemer and D’Angelo 227). This shows that he encouraged women to get into healthy marriages since celibacy is full of temptations.
The deutro-Pauline works help us understand better the social changes and the roles that women took up in the church. These reading better explain the role of women in the first church compared to Paul’s work. This is because Paul’s work was situational and was written to specific communities with very different cultures that might be very confusing for todays and other cultures (Kraemer and D’Angelo 223).
In Acts, the role of women is kept in the background rather than in the limelight. For example, in Acts 21:9, we are told of a visit of Paul to Philip who had four unmarried daughters with a gift of prophecy. Their significance must have been of great importance for them to be mentioned but nothing more is told of them (Kraemer and D’Angelo pg.239). Phoebe is another woman who is mentioned in Romans 16:1-2 and is called a deacon. This may be because her role was very important but since it was not customary for women to participate in spreading the ministry, her work was not discussed any further. In Acts 16:13, Paul addresses a group of women, which reflects that women had a crucial part in the ministry back in Philippi (Kraemer and D’Angelo 239).
Women like Thecla had so much independence in the second century compared to other women in the society at that time. This woman was one of Paul’s students but later on became an evangelist of her own right. Dubious stories were told of her escaping from potentially life-threatening situations and this made her gain support from women all over Rome (Kraemer and D’Angelo 249). Thecla was one of the women who threatened the traditional organization of the society and this made them and other Christians to be in violent confrontation with the public.
In conclusion, many Christians continue to look in Paul’s work for the role of women in the church, homes, and society as a whole. Though Paul was not very vocal about women, he tried to stress their involvement in the first church. This is because their involvement in religion, which was originally predominantly a man’s role, is very important. Since it brought a lot of tension, he tried to show how important they were then. This could be relevant even in today’s church and society to help people understand that women just as men have a role in church and sometimes even much more special than men have.
Works cited
Kraemer, Ross Shepard., & D’Angelo, Mary Rose. Women and Christian Origins. Oxford University Press, 1999: 221-251.
Tkach, Joseph. Women “Should Remain Silent” - A Study of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35: Grace Communion International, 2013. Retrieved from: http://www.gci.org/church/ministry/women9
