Awkward #1 Shhhhh!

Women staying silent in churches is considered an awkward passage.  It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever if we lift this out of its context.  Paul was speaking to the Corinthian Church and in Chapter 14 says women should be silent in church.  Remember, every scholar of note will acknowledge that the first century church met in smaller groups, in homes around the Lord's Supper, a full meal.  There were leaders but not ranked and they had open and equal sharing.  In that setting we see Paul working on some fine detail.

 This has been leveled at me a few times:

"If you are going to be 'Biblical' then what do you do with 1 Corinthians Chapter 14?"

Submit to each other!
I will deal with the 'awkward' issue of women being silent.  To tackle this we must first go to Ephesians 5. Read the whole chapter but note verses 21/22.  Paul tells us that everyone should submit to each other!  We miss this in the clamor to work out verse 22.  The opposite of submitting is to resist each other.  Paul says all should be in submission to one another with a clause for wives.  Paul is explaining that the man is the head of the wife and in view of this, when everyone is submitting to one another her submission is first to her husband.

Simply... Don't form a sub-group
When we reach 1 Corinthians 14 and especially verse 34 / 35 the subject matter is women remaining silent in churches. If in the course of the gathering a teaching, gift or prophecy is not understood, the wife who is under submission to her husband may begin to pursue the answer with the husband in the gathering.  She would be doing the right thing in firstly being in submission to her husband but Paul is saying to not do this in ekklesia.  They must wait until they get home to pursue the issues.  Remember Paul is correcting a church here and we must allow for some over-statement to hit home this message to a particular church who was in chaos!

Submission means non-resistant!
Single women, as in those unmarried, have no husband to be in submission to so they are in submission to each other.   Scripture points out in 1 Timothy 2:11-15 that women should not usurp the authority of men in ekklesia. With 1 Corinthians 11:5 clearly portraying women as taking part in the gathering it is the observation pertaining to certain clauses not a blanket SHHHHH! .  Women take part normally but would give in to (submit) to the men dealing with interpretation.  This extends to Teaching.  Don't forget that ekklesia was NOT primarily for a monologue of Bible Teaching.  We only ever see dialogue in ekklesia as in Paul's dialogue in Acts 20.  Note the dialogue (see the Greek) and then the fellowship meal.

 In a nutshell:

• Women can take part in the open and equal sharing as in 1 Cor 14:26
• When interpreting gifts or needing clarity in an issue, which would implicate wives asking her husband... wait until you get home
• Women can lead abut not undermine men
• Eldership is male.  Unless the woman is a 'husband of one wife.' (1Tim 3:2) (Titus 1:6)

Leadership v leadership

To lead in the first century would have been a different story than in today's churches. Because it meant a lot more suffering and the dealings of the Lord most would be relieved to not be ushered into a leadership role.  Paul clearly underlines that his Apostleship is the low-life.  That women feel inferior or pushed aside by Paul's Epistles is a modern day phenomena.  Today's leadership offers status, profile, rank, rewards, applause, adoration and attention... who WOULDN'T want to lead?  But herein lies the problem.  I think everyone wants to sit in that convenient public position and being supposedly denied it by Paul makes a lot of women question the context, culture etc. 

The real problem is what lies within all our hearts.  Ministry today is opportunity to be exalted.  Our hearts are predisposed to exaltation because we are sinners.  We will go to extraordinary lengths to protect out status and profile among others. So to be denied even the opportunity sets female teeth on edge.  But the problem isn't Paul.  The mantle of first century leadership was not envied or hankered after.  It was danger, obscurity, beatings, unheralded, pain and persecuted.  The problem is modern-day church and a Western culture of equality.  In Paul's ekklesia you wouldn't want equality!  With the promise of being respected, valued and esteemed leadership in the church is something men and women will crawl over broken glass to attain and maintain  

There is nothing more needed than men to be men and women to be women in biblical ekklesia.   

Gary Ward