I was reading an interesting article about Reverend Robert Schuller, the founding pastor of the Crystal Cathedral in Southern California on Ethics Daily. The article pointed out that he was going to be turning over the administrative duties of the ministry to his daughter Shelia Schuller Coleman. As I was reading this it reminded me of the old debate that has ripped apart many congregations as well as a few conventions as it relates to whether or not women should preach in church.
I remember attending the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship convention a couple of years ago and as I was walking around, I saw a lot of shirts that women were wearing that said; this is what a pastor looks like. It makes me wonder why this has been such an issue of debate to the point of becoming a civil war in the midst of the church. The Bible is filled with examples of women who have done great things on behalf of God and even talks about some who founded some churches too. Yet thousands of years later we are still dealing with this issue today.
The interesting part is that I have talked to a lot of people and most of them come down on one side of the fence, and it is about 50/50 in terms of people I talk to. I do not know why that surprises me but it does. I guess I had hoped that we had move on in the world of squashing women in ministry. But alas we have not.
The classic text that is always brought up is the text-segment in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35. So how would you help someone understand this particular text-segment?
When addressing this passage, I think that it is important to understand the issues that surround the text. First, there is the thought that this is a later addition into the letter. There are manuscripts that indicate that 34-35 was actually after verse 40 in some cases and was written into the margin of some of these writings. Given this, it is possible that Paul did not even write this in his original letter. However, this could be a difficult discussion to broach with a member of the church who may not understand the implications of how the Bible came together and that there could be variances in the Holy Word.
However, taking a closer look at what is written can also provide some basis to discuss the concept further. We have to take the original meaning to heart when we look at this passage. It seems that Paul is addressing a specific issue and unless we examine that issue we cannot truly understand what Paul was addressing. We already know that there are conditions to think about with this passage. As a matter of fact in 1 Corinthians 11:5, Paul clearly indicates that it is okay for women to prophesize as long as their head is covered, which is another issue to talk about.
One of issues in our passage is that verse 35 presumes that all women have husbands to go to ask questions. Obviously, we know that not all women would, so it would seem that this is meant to address a specific issue as it relates to something going on in the community faith as it relates to women who do have husbands.
After considering this, we have to look at part of the issues facing the church at Corinth. Paul is arguing to the Corinthians about their abuse of the gift of tongues and their views about spirituality. In other words, the church has been abusing their gifts and using them more as an example of their religiousness versus for the reason God intended them to. Given this, it is possible that Paul could have been admonishing some of those women who were abusing their gifts rather than making an edict that no woman should speak.
So in this way, it seems that Paul may have been actually encouraging women in speaking and prophesying in church, but perhaps they are not to speak out for merely show. This would also fit in with the cultural context of the situation at hand.
It would not be very subversive for a woman to speak and prophesize, but it may have been very controversial for them to interpret or evaluation someone else’s prophesies. There may have been a faction of women, who were married, that were taking their gift and making a scene with them and Paul may have been advising them not to disrupt the service and seek guidance from their husbands in this case.
In any case, it is clear that it is difficult to really understand the passage, without really looking into it and making sure you understand the context surrounding it. Given this, it would be wise for us to consider what it means in the passage and reconsider the role in women in the church. After all, if it were not for the women of the world, we would not have half as many churches we do today. But that is this person’s humble opinion.
God bless.
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