It Is A Shame For Women To Speak In The Church

I Corinthians 14:34-35 reads "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." The purpose of this article is to deal with two misunderstandings of this passage that exist among some members of God’s church.

The first misunderstanding is the idea that this passage teaches women are not to speak even in the separated Bible classes at the church building. First of all, this passage says nothing about a church building; if women cannot speak at classes at the building, then they cannot speak at classes that are in homes either. The truth is this passage is not dealing with separated classes either at the building or at a member’s home. It is dealing with a situation Paul calls "in the church" (verse 35), a time when "the whole church be come together into one place" (verse 23). When separated Bible classes are going on, the whole church is not together in one place, they are not in what James 2:2 calls the “assembly.” The church assembly and what many call Sunday School classes are not the same thing – by any means. If Christians are in the assembly when they are in the separated classes, then they are violating I Cor 14:27,30-31, which teaches there is to be only one "speaker" at a time "in the church," because during the separated Bible classes there is more than one person speaking at a time, there is one speaker per class. The conclusion is that it is not wrong for a woman to speak in a "class" situation (Priscilla in Acts 18:26 is an approved example of such), it is only "a shame for women to speak in the church."

On the other hand, many denominations have "woman preachers" in direct opposition to I Corinthians 14:34-35. Many Christians can understand it is wrong for a woman to do the sermon, but they fail to see this passage condemns any speaking done by a woman, even when not "leading the assembly," for example, announcements, asking a question, etc. Mr. Thayer defines the word "silence" in verse 34 as "to keep silence, hold one’s peace." This is not the same word as that found in I Timothy 2:11,12, Acts 22:2, and II Thessalonians 3:12 ("that with ‘quietness’ they work"), which Mr. Thayer defines as "quietness." I Corinthians 14:34-35 teaches a woman cannot speak in the assembly, period. The passage doesn’t say a woman can speak "as long as she is ‘under obedience.’" It teaches she is not to speak at all, she is to be in silence, and if she does speak, she is not being obedient. The word here for silence is the same Greek word as in verses 28 (translated "silence") and 30 (translated "hold his peace"). Does verse 28 mean if there is no interpreter, that the man could speak in the tongue as long as he did it in a way that would not be leading the assembly? Does verse 30 mean two prophets could speak at the same time as long as only one was speaking in a way that led the assembly? If the answer to both these questions is no (and it is), why would verse 34 be any different? The participants of verses 28 and 30 could not speak at all under "the circumstances under consideration." Neither can the participants of verses 34-35 (any woman) speak at all under the circumstances under consideration there, the circumstances being, the assembly, that is, when "the whole church be come together into one place" (verse 23). To drive this point home, notice that a woman is forbidden even to ask a question in the assembly. Certainly, if it were so that she could speak as long as she didn’t take the lead, she could ask a question. Asking a question to learn (as in this case) is taking the submissive role of follower, not leader. The conclusion is that a woman cannot speak at all in the assembly (BTW singing and speaking are two different things – I have material I can send showing that), even when she is only speaking to make an announcement or to ask a question.

I Corinthians 14:34-35 means exactly what it says. A woman is not to speak "in the church" or assembly. This doesn’t mean she cannot speak outside the assembly like in the age divided Bible classes; neither does it mean she can speak in the assembly as long as she doesn’t preach the "sermon" or "lead the assembly." The Bible says "Let your women keep silence in the churches."

Nov 17, 1988

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