1 Corinthians 14:33–35
For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.
As in yall the churches of the saints, women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.
What do you think of this passage of scripture?
This is in regards to women teaching men. Women can teach other women and children. Men can definitely learn from women. However women should not hold a place of authority in the church.
From the days where women were not highly educated.things have certainly changed.
It has some truth to this. When you look at the current insanity with Metoo movement and feminist right demanding things to be equal, everyone just give in to their demand. Unfortunately it isn’t equal and we are seeing more and more people getting their career destroy simply speaking up. I’ve seen people who are falsely accused and can’t work in their field while woman who accused them get away without consequences. If these were done in Church, who knows what will happen.
May partly be Paul’s opinion. Apostles have opinions. Also Gods doctrine does not change. But polices do. That why we need (and have) modern apostles.
It was written to the Corinth Church. If you dig deeper you would find the specific issues within their culture and church at that time. However it basically represented authority and covering which connects to 1 Cor 11:3.
Context is king. What were the women in Corinth doing in their congregations for Paul to say this in his epistle?
We don’t live under the law anymore. Jesus came to FULFILL the law!
It’s a very simple text, it’s self explanatory!
We just have to obey!
I think any attempt to diminish what it plainly says is an attempt to view Gods Word through the lens of “social justice”.
I believe Paul was following custom and traditions of that place in corinthians not to offened the pagans in preaching the kingdom of God. Paul knew his way around to get the Gospel through to them. Digressing, why would jesus say to study the way of the serpent? We have to be smart and cunning as well in order to spread the Gospel of the kingdom to all the earth not to offend but to draw them in.
In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.
People “JUST OBEY” is never a good response from a Christian. Before reading a book search for the Author and who it is being written towards. While there are principles to be learnt that don’t mean it’s instruction is a command to all.
I did some digging around. Bear with me of I have different replies.
Due to past eras when women were treated as second-class citizens in every arena, many assume that the biblical restrictions on the role of women in the church are part of that sexist mentality. Others assert that, since culture has erased most gender distinctions, the church should as well. Others point out that a woman may be just as gifted as—or better than—a man in public speaking and biblical insight, so she should be able to preach in the same way that men do. It is a divisive issue, and we need to look at what the Bible says.
The Bible contains God’s guidelines for gender roles within His ordered world. Those roles are different, not greater or lesser. Red and green are different colors. One is not greater than the other, but they are used for different purposes. Together, they complement each other, filling our world with brilliant color. If everything was red or everything was green, we would not appreciate the beauty of either. So it is with gender complementarianism. When men and women work together within their God-designated assignments, God’s kingdom flourishes.
Women are called to many areas of service, and they receive gifts from the Holy Spirit just as men do. They should fulfill those callings and use those gifts just as men should. Women with a gift for teaching should use that gift, but within scriptural guidelines. Those guidelines can be found in 1 Timothy 2:12. The emphasis is clear: God designated male leadership in the church with women serving in supporting roles. This does not necessarily mean that men cannot or should not learn from women; it means that women should not have spiritual authority over men. The position of pastor or elder is a role reserved for men—who must also meet certain qualifications (see Titus 1:5–9).
A woman who is gifted in teaching or evangelizing has many avenues for using her gift in the church, as long as she is not usurping the God-given spiritual authority of men. In most complementarian churches, women teach other women and children while mixed adult classes are led by men. A woman may be an excellent communicator and a terrific preacher, but her skill does not negate the Bible’s pattern. She should not be preaching to men, as if she were their spiritual leader, regardless of her giftedness. The biblical prohibition against a woman usurping spiritual authority in the church means, at the very least, that women should not be the definers of doctrine within the church. The authoritative interpreters of Scripture—the setters of the spiritual course—are to be men.
Acts 18:24–26 relates the story of Apollos being taught by a husband-and-wife team named Priscilla and Aquila. Apollos received that teaching, learned the fullness of the gospel message, and became a more dynamic evangelist. Was Priscilla a prototype of modern “woman preachers”? No, the passage is clear that the instruction Apollos received was informal, private, and conducted by both Priscilla and her husband: “They invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately” (verse 26). Priscilla helped share the gospel with Apollos; she was never seen as his spiritual authority in a church setting. Paul later calls Priscilla and her husband “co-workers” with him (Romans 16:3).
Some women who are gifted communicators feel called to preach, and in many cases they could do a better job than men in the pulpit. But it is important that they approach the issue biblically and voluntarily limit themselves to those avenues God has designated. Taking on a pastoral role, deciding a church’s spiritual direction, and other ways of exercising authority over men in the church go beyond God’s plan.
What can we learn from what the Bible says about Jesus and women?
In a day when women were considered second-class, Jesus shattered prejudices and elevated the status of women to unprecedented heights. That value equalization continued with His apostles. Peter warned husbands that, unless they treated their wives with respect, recognizing that women are co-heirs with them in all God promised, their prayers would be hindered (1 Peter 3:7). Paul wrote, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). The apostles did not learn the value of women from their culture. They learned it from their Master, Jesus. And Jesus treated women with the same love and respect with which He treated men.
Jesus’ elevation of women began before He was even born. In God’s divine plan, He had chosen a woman to begin His process of redeeming mankind. God sent His angel Gabriel to a young woman in the town of Nazareth with the good news that she would be the mother of God’s Son (Luke 1:26–38). Gabriel’s first words to Mary were, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” God first entrusted a woman with the most important message the world has ever received: the long-awaited Messiah was on His way.
When Jesus was only eight days old, the Holy Spirit revealed His identity to a woman, Anna (Luke 2:36–38). So before Jesus was even old enough to declare anyone’s value, God the Father was already at work revealing His heart to His faithful daughters. When Jesus began His earthly ministry, women flocked to hear Him teach, and some even supported Him financially (Matthew 27:55; Mark 15:41; Luke 8:2–3).
What was it about this Teacher that drew both men and women? Jesus was completely without prejudice. He loved every human being regardless of race, ethnicity, occupation, background, or gender. He treated them equally and included several women among His closest friends (Luke 10:38–39; 24:10; John 11:5). The fact that women are called by name in the Bible is significant. In a culture where women could not own property or testify in court, a woman’s opinion or her presence at an event was not even worth mentioning. The New Testament shatters those social norms by including the names of many women and the specific roles they played in furthering God’s kingdom.
Jesus broke down more cultural barriers when He took a detour through Samaria. There, He had an encounter with an immoral woman (John 4:4–26). The fact that she was a Samaritan was enough to bar her from any conversation with a self-respecting Jew, but, to make matters worse in the disciples’ eyes, she was a woman (verse 27). As they watched, their Master transformed that woman and through her impacted an entire city with His message of hope and redemption (verses 39–41).
Another time, an immoral woman was paraded before Jesus by Jewish leaders hoping to entrap Him (John 8:2–11). They demanded that Jesus give His opinion on the punishment she should receive for her adultery. They considered this an easy win since the law required the death penalty (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22). If Jesus took the woman’s side, He was negating the law. If He took her accusers’ side, He was negating all He had ever taught about forgiveness (see Mark 2:15–17). Either way, they figured, they had Jesus cornered. Jesus turned the tables on them and dealt with their self-righteousness, forcing them to inspect their own lives first: “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone,” He said (John 8:7). Again in this case, Jesus used the example of a woman to teach an important lesson about equality in God’s eyes. We are all sinners, men and women. None of us have the right to pass final judgment on another while hiding our own similar actions (see Romans 2:1–3).
Women were last to leave the place of Jesus’ crucifixion and first at the empty tomb (Matthew 27:61; 28:1), indicating that the transforming power of Jesus had given the women courage and boldness to follow Him openly. In a marvelous display of the women’s faith and God’s approval, those women became the world’s first witnesses of the resurrection (Matthew 28:8).
In all His interactions with women, Jesus treated them with dignity, compassion, and respect. In so doing, He countered the prevailing notions of the day concerning women and their place in society. When Jesus calls a man or a woman to follow Him, He transforms them into new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17). Old prejudices and stereotypes no longer define us. Christians are united by one Spirit (Ephesians 4:5), and we are to view each other as brothers and sisters in the family of God. God never pretends that men and women are the same, but Jesus’ life indicated that He valued both equally. Both sexes make unique contributions to the family and to the church, and both should work together for the advancement of all.
What does the Bible say about women’s rights?
The term women’s rights gained popularity in America beginning in 1848, in Seneca, New York, when 300 people signed a declaration calling for an end to discrimination against women. However, in 1866 the 14th Amendment, which was to guarantee the basic rights of all citizens, designated the word citizen to mean “male voter,” thus eliminating women from such protection. But by 1900 every state had passed legislation that allowed married women to own property and keep their own wages. Despite those advancements, history has not been kind to women. In the face of the freedoms women enjoy in modern America, the unfair laws and practices of the past still haunt us, and there are many countries that continue to treat women as lesser human beings. Some people claim that the Bible is one reason women have been treated unfairly. Others point to the Bible as planting the seeds of liberation for women. Let’s consider women’s rights in light of the Bible.
Before looking at what the Bible has to say about social issues, we must always understand the context of a particular passage and the audience to whom it was addressed. The Bible is a collection of books, each inspired by God but written by different authors, in different eras, for different purposes (2 Peter 1:21; 2 Timothy 3:16). For example, God’s command to the Israelites to “utterly destroy the Hittites and the Canaanites” (Deuteronomy 10:17) was not written to 21st-century Christians. We cannot act on that command; it was not intended for us. Instead, we learn from it and seek to understand God’s purposes in it. Likewise, some Old Testament elements that sound to our Western ears as though God disrespects women need to be considered in light of the culture of the Near East in 4000 BC.
What we know from Scripture is that God created woman as a complement and a gift to man (Genesis 2:18, 22). She is to be treasured, protected, and selflessly served the way Christ loves and serves His church (Ephesians 5:25–30; 1 Peter 3:7). But fallen man, acting according to his sinful flesh, perverts what God creates. Over time, God’s ideal for the woman was shattered, and she became little more than a sexual object, baby-bearer, and slave to the man. This was not God’s plan, just as war, disease, and suffering were not His plan. But God allows humankind free will to choose whether to honor His commands or defy them; however, consequences come with either choice. One consequence that resulted from man’s misuse of the woman God gave him is that one-half of His image (Genesis 1:27) has been abused, subjugated, disrespected, and violated throughout history.
When God gave the Law to the Israelites (Exodus 24:12), He worked within the social structure they already knew. Ancient civilizations were often violent, idolatrous, superstitious, and evil (Genesis 6:5–6). God called out a people and began to teach them about Himself, help them separate themselves from the pagan nations around them, and show them a better way to live (Jeremiah 32:38–39). One aspect of His Law elevated the status of women and children to new heights. God worked within their social structure to ensure “women’s rights”; that is, in the Law women were protected, given fair treatment, and provided for so that no woman could be used and then discarded as was the practice in the pagan nations. God implemented specific laws to protect widows, orphans, and single women without male providers (Exodus 22:22; Deuteronomy 27:19; Joshua 17:3–4).
The problem with the term women’s rights is that it implies that certain groups can demand “rights” that God did not give them. Less noble inclusions usually piggyback on the benign phrase. For example, demand for “women’s rights” is usually equated with the pro-choice agenda. Activists maintain that part of a woman’s “right” is sovereignty over her own body, even if that body is housing a separate human being. But we cannot create our own “rights.” We have the right to life because God gave it to us. We have the right to avoid danger and abuse whenever possible because our bodies are God’s temple (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). We have the right to choose whether or not to obey God—and the right to receive the consequences of that choice. But we do not have the “right” to infringe upon any rights belonging to someone else.
The following is a list of rights God gave women:
1. A woman has the right to be treated as a woman the way God designed her. In other words, no one has the “right” to force a woman to behave as a man and defy her God-given gender. God placed beauty and grace in the female soul different from the characteristics He gave men (Deuteronomy 22:5). A woman who cannot accept her design as a female needs to be loved, counseled, and shown what it truly means to be a woman. Lesbianism and gender-reassignment surgeries are not solutions God endorses.
2. A woman has the right to nurture and protect her own baby growing inside her body. No one has the right to force a woman to abort her child, and, by the same token, no woman has the right to force her baby’s death (Psalm 139:13).
3. A woman has the right to flourish and grow within the boundaries God created for her, just as men do. Men do not have the right to inhibit that growth and freedom, as has been done in the past and is still practiced in many parts of the world (Colossians 3:19).
4. A woman has the right to fair treatment because women are “joint heirs of the grace of life” (1 Peter 3:7). This includes equal opportunities to own property (Proverbs 31:16), receive an education, make personal decisions for herself, receive equal pay for equal work (Deuteronomy 24:17), and marry or not marry as she chooses (Numbers 36:6).
5. A woman has the right to serve the Lord according to her gifts and within the boundaries God set for His church (Titus 2:3–5; 1 Timothy 3:11).
6. A woman has the right to compete on an equal level with a man for opportunities not related to gender. However, to expect business and institutions to alter their standards so that women have a better chance is not equality at all. (For example, gender may prohibit a 4’6,” 110-lb. woman from being hired for a heavy construction job.) Gender should never be a consideration for college admissions, medical school, or the business world because a woman’s feminine qualities in no way affect her performance.
7. A woman has a right to everything a man claims as his right, while honoring the God-given distinctions between the sexes (Galatians 3:28). Neither gender nor race should ever be used as an excuse to oppress or exclude a person from anything God allows.
When the phrase women’s rights agrees with the rights God instituted when He designed the woman, then the Bible fully supports those rights. When that term is hijacked to include evil that God never endorsed, then those so-called “rights” are not rights at all.
As my final reply, I hope this information is helpful.
CONTEXT!!!
“1 Timothy 2:12. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.”
This is not grounds for any woman-bashing whatsoever in TODAY’s world. Know your history or find yourself in the error of repeating that history. It is sad how easy it is for people to be led astray by the twisted meanings of words that were intended to say something quite the opposite. Sad. Very sad.
This verse refers to a letter supposedly written from Paul to Timothy to go to Ephesus where there was a huge problem with pagan fertility worship…HUGE PROBLEM. Women ruled the temples, not bad in itself, but, the problem was the rampant methods of “worship.” Other women were commanded to attend these pagan temples at least once in their lifetime to submit to sexual slavery for a day, required by local law. Men went to the pagan temples to pay money to support the women who were in charge of the pagan temples. Men paid money and “worshiped” by having sex with a random woman, thereby funding the temple of the fertility gods. Picture government-sponsored brothels and legalized prostitution and legalized sexual slavery and police-enforced participation. Timothy was to go into this kind of world and teach the WORD OF GOD to remedy this problem. In doing so, in his time period and in Ephesus, in a place of pagan fertility worshiping (not now, and not in the civilized world of today), Paul advised Timothy to not let any women OF EPHESUS to have any pagan influences in the church. The women ruled the pagan fertility temples; to let women OF EPHESUS to have a voice would be to allow them to hinder Timothy in spreading THE WORD OF GOD. Therefore, only in this place where Timothy was, and only for the reason of the fertility temples at that time when Timothy was there, he was to prohibit women, as the verse states. That does not apply to the world of today. To apply those words to the world of today is to do a grave disservice against THE WORD OF GOD. Know your history or sadly, you will be repeating it.
Wives should be subject to their husbands, true. AND, husbands should be subject to their wives; don’t leave that part out. This is between husbands and wives, not men in general and women in general. Husbands and wives are one unit. It isn’t about how every woman should obey any man. Husbands are to love their wives just as Christ loved the church. JUST AS CHRIST LOVED THE CHURCH. Christ was the ultimate servant. As such, this is how husbands should be, a servant as Christ was a servant. Christ gave himself up for the church, the body of believers. Husbands serving wives, wives serving husbands, each subject to each other. That’s what it says in the bible. “Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord.” “In the same way, husbands should love their wives.” “BE SUBJECT TO ONE ANOTHER out of reverence for Christ.”
Ephesians 5:
21 Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. 24 Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, 27 so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, 30 because we are members of his body.31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church. 33 Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband.
More words about women from Paul, in Romans 16:1-16…
1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a DEACON [As in servant. That’s what deacons do. The word is deacon.] of the church in Cenchreae.
2 I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.
3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus.
4 They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.
5 Greet also the church that meets at their house.
Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.
6 Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you.
7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.
8 Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord.
9 Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys.
10 Greet Apelles, whose fidelity to Christ has stood the test.
Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus.
11 Greet Herodion, my fellow Jew.
Greet those in the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.
12 Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord.
Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.
13 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too.
14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the other brothers and sisters with them.
15 Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the Lord’s people who are with them.
16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings.
I recommend Jon Zens’ book, “what’s with Paul and Women?” Many people, having read the book, will be illuminated and changed. I’ll leave it at that.
I asked two faith-filled friends their thoughts on this and they shared their own questions: what was the context in which this was written? The time period should definitely be taken into consideration. Women back then were indeed given fewer rights. Was this written with a specific conflict in the church in mind? I do believe the Lord can place women in authority at times when He sees fit, to serve His purpose. In the Book of Judges, Deborah was a Prophetess and Judge of the Lord and led his armies. Led. The Song of Deborah, found in Judges 5, claims her victory in the Lord. The Lord stays the same yesterday, today, and forever. If He saw fit to put a woman in that role, who are we to argue? I think the main point of the scripture you shared was for women to show due respect to those in authority in the church and our family lives. The husband has a natural authority over the woman in a marriage and God often reveals things to the wife through him.
I’ve answered this question about women and leadership in the church before when a friend asked me.
Here is my answer based on the Scripture and the time it was written.
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In order to fully understand the Scriptures, we have to consider the culture and time it was written even though it may still apply to us today.
God’s entire Word must be in harmony. Women are to prophesy in the church so women keeping silent in the church contradicts this Scripture.
During that time it is believed that women and men were segregated in the synagogue which in Judaism and Islam is still practised and so as in Iglesia ni Cristo.
And since women are seated at the back with no mics and amplifier speakers, it was a bit of a challenged hearing what’s being said at the front. So wives called out questions to their husbands at the front that created the noise in the synagogue.
Reason this was said:
1 Corinthians 14:35
“If they have any questions, they should ask their husbands at home, for it is improper for women to speak in church meetings.”
With regards to leadership in the church and in family, we must follow the Scriptural teaching on leadership.
In my opinion and I believe it is Scripturally sound, that godly women can lead in the absence of godly men.
We are all equally created in the sight of God but each of us has a God ordained role that we must abide to in order to fulfil the will of God.
We are all equally called and commanded to evangelise both men and women but with specific God ordained roles.
Why did Satan tempt Eve and not Adam?
Have you worked under a female boss before?
there is a proverb that a woman’s ways is past finding out. meaning that mean she is unstable in her ways. saton looked for the weaker of the two. have you ever went shoping with a woman? most of them want everything they can afford and then some.
Luke 14:26 is far worse
It was the custom of the times in Israel.
It’s true!
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