27. PAUL’S SILENCING AND SUBORDINATING WOMEN
1 Cor. 14:33-36, 1 Tim. 2:2-12
Priscilla Reuben
Introduction:
A young woman came to me one day and started sharing
her experiences in ministry with me. She said, "I am a very
talented young woman, who was very much involved in the activities of
the church. When I heard the call for full time ministry, I
joined the theological college to do my B.D. After successfully
completing my B.D., I joined the ministry. It was only then I
realized that I was different because I am a woman. The leaders
kept telling me, `Remember you are a woman and not a man; there are
certain limitations for women.’ I was frustrated because I know
that in the secular field in nearly every field men and women are
treated as equals. We have women who are managers and executive
officers.”
“I didn't know what to do. While I was
studying theology I was given a lot of opportunities, but once I
completed my B.D. I was not given any opportunity to preach in the
church. I was very popular with the youth and the Sunday school
children. I tried the new skills that I had learned in
theological college, and the young people started coming to the church
in large numbers. I was winning the hearts of everybody.
Meanwhile the pastor was feeling insecure, probably afraid that his
position in the church was threatened. He started re-educating
the church elders and the congregation members by explaining to them
from the Pauline text, `Women should remain silent in the
church.’ He used to quote the scriptures and to a great extent
changed the minds of the congregation members. His teachings did
have an impact, and I was never given the opportunity to preach to this
day. Many church members came and told me that the pastor told
them that according to the Bible it is wrong for women to preach.”
This woman's experience is not unique. Many
women are discouraged or even prevented from preaching and from
studying in theological colleges on this basis. 1 Cor. 14:33-36,
and 1 Tim. are often used by those who want to suppress women and stop
them from exercising leadership and their God given gifts.
Let us look into the scripture passage and try to
understand what Paul meant, and how it has been misunderstood.
Bible Study (1 Cor. 14:33-36; 1 Tim. 2: 9-12)
In Cor. 14:33-36, Paul says "It is shameful for a
woman to speak in the church." Here we see that Paul was speaking
as a person from a given culture to a people living at a specific
period of history. Corinth was the capital of the Roman province
of Achaia, a thriving commercial city in which people from many nations
lived. They came from all parts of the Roman Empire and brought
with them all the vices of the empire. At the center of the city
stood the temple of Aphrodite, with a thousand women priests attached
to it. And in the city there prevailed all manner of sects,
religious cults and mystery religions which taught self-gratification
and sexual exploits as ways to spiritual liberation. Women were
being enticed away from the bonds of the family, believing that selling
their bodies into ritual prostitution would bring both self-fulfillment
and spiritual release. The local culture was threatening the life
of the Christian community. On the one hand, Christians were
watched by the Jews who opposed them and were ever ready to challenge
their way of life and the truth of their allegiance to the Lord, and on
the other hand they were pressed by the local culture to exercise their
freedom to live in any way that pleased them.
Paul did prohibit some women from speaking in the
church, because of who they were (character). He also criticized
those whose chattering during the worship disturbed its orderly conduct
and those women who brought dissension through their gossip.
These admonitions and prohibitions in Paul's letter relate to immediate
disciplinary problems within the congregation to which he wrote.
Paul's admonitions and prohibitions make no sense apart from the
context to which they were addressed.
In Paul's first letter to Timothy, in responding to
reports that the very same women who were adorning themselves with gold
and pearls and fine clothing to impress others were also attempting to
take over the leadership and teaching ministry, Paul came down hard
with the general rule that, "I permit no woman to teach or to have
authority over a man, she is to keep silent." (1 Tim 2:12). Here
Paul prohibited some women in Timothy's church who cared only for their
own glory and self importance. This instruction was given in a
particular situation in which certain women were acting in ways which
were not appropriate for teachers of the gospel, especially in a
congregation struggling hard to overcome false teachings.
Paul gave advice in a specific situation so as to
bring order into the life of one congregation in a given culture.
It is inappropriate or even wrong to use it to discriminate against
women in our present day. We cannot infer that Paul banned all
women from speaking in the church forever. On issues with regard
to women Paul gave his own opinions, shaped as they might have been by
his own upbringing and the times in which he lived. He was of the
Jewish culture, a Hebrew born of Hebrews.
Many people harp on the point that Paul has laid
down the rule that women should not open their mouths in church.
Thereby they are excluded from many aspects of its
ministry. But we need to recall the event of Pentecost, when
Peter quoted the promise of Joel, the prophet, that in the last days
God would pour his spirit on all flesh and their "sons and daughters"
would prophesy (Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17). If the Lord poured the
spirit on his daughters so that they might prophesy, how can Paul stand
in God's way? Moreover how can Paul contradict himself, for he
himself says in Gal. 3:28, "In Christ there is neither male nor female;
if anyone is in Christ there is a new creation, the old has passed away
and the new has come."
In a culture where men were in the leadership in
many aspects of society and public life, it is no wonder that most of
the preachers and leaders of the church were also men. But some
of the questions one needs to ponder upon are - How could Paul admonish
some women not to speak if there were no women speakers in the
church? How would Paul make an almost general prohibition against
women in leadership in Timothy's church if there were no women leaders
within the church? And if Paul prohibited some women from
preaching, does it mean that all women were unsuited to proclaim the
message? Have all of them behaved in ways that injured the
fellowship?
Many people say women cannot be in leadership of the
church because Paul has prohibited it, when we know that it was Paul
who commended to the church in Rome sister Phoebe, who was the deacon
of the church of Cenchreae, asking them to welcome her in the Lord as
is fitting for the saints (Rom 16: 1-3). Paul called Priscilla
and Aquilla, who ministered with him, co-workers in Christ Jesus, who
risked their lives for Paul's sake (Rom 16: 3,4). He also sends
greetings to Mary, who worked very hard (Rom 16:6) and several other
women, ten in all. Do you suppose that these women who were
deacons, leaders and co-workers with Paul worked in silence, that they
never proclaimed the gospel and that they supported Paul at the risk of
their lives without being in leadership? A whole congregation met
regularly at Lydia's home (Acts 16: 13-15, 40). Did this happen
without her leading their life? When Paul went to Caesarea where
he stayed with Philip, one of the evangelists, he found that four of
his daughters had the gift of prophecy (Act 21:9). In his letter
to the Corinthians Paul says that a woman must cover her head when she
prays or prophesies in the church, which clearly shows that women were
in fact praying and prophesying in public worship (I Cor. 11:5).
If the Lord gave women the gift of prophecy how can anyone prevent
them? When Paul wrote in I Cor. 12: 4-7 that different gifts are
given to different persons, nowhere has he said that the Spirit endows
men with one set of gifts and women with another, for God shows no
partiality. Let me reemphasize what Paul wrote to the Galatians
3: 27-28. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male
nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
Jesus’ Attitude Toward Women:
The attitude of Jesus towards women constituted a
challenge to the society of his day. Every incident recorded in
the Bible in which our Lord encountered women illustrates his concern
for them and his attempt to take them beyond the confines of Jewish
male dominated patriarchal society. He broke the rules
deliberately when he discussed theology with a Samaritan woman.
He broke Jewish taboos which debased women (John 4: 1-42).
He allowed women to be the witnesses of the resurrection, even
though under Jewish law women could not testify in court. Jesus
had no double standards. He related to and treated women as
intelligent human beings. He commended Mary for wanting to hear
him teach (Lk 10:42). He commissioned women to "go and tell" the
good news (Mt 28:10 and Jn 20:17). He showed equal concern for
both women and men. Jesus did not rebuke the woman with a
hemorrhage for having touched him in her "unclean" state. He was
not polluted by her touch, but rather healed her and restored her to
community, thereby breaking this taboo forever (Mt 9: 20-22, Mk.
5:25-34; Lk. 8: 43-48).
Jesus' attitude and behavior, his teachings and
example, provide us with the reliable guide to understand the place of
women in the Bible and in the Church.
Questions for Discussions:
1. Discuss the case study together. How should
the author counsel her friends?
2. What is your church's stand with regard to women
in ministry?
3. What is the difference between the status of women
in your church and in society? What can your church
learn from secular society? What can your
church teach secular society?
4. How can women in the Bible, like Miriam, Deborah,
Phoebe, Priscilla, and Lydia be a source of
inspiration for the leadership and ministry of women
in the church today?
5. What is the significance of the ministries in the
New Testament, for the understanding of ministry and
for the debate on the ordination of women in the
ministry?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ariarajah, S. Wesley, Did I Betray the Gospel? Geneva:
WCC, 1996.
Hewitt, Emily C and Suzanne R. Hiatt, Women Priests: Yes
or No? New York: The Seabury Press, 1973.
Parvey, Constance F., ed. Ordination of Women in
Ecumenical Perspective, Bangalore: Asian
Trading Corporation, 1978.
Faria, Stella, et.al., eds, The Emerging Christian Woman,
Satprakashan Sanchar Kendra/Indore, 1984.
Wijngaards, J.N.M. Did Christ Rule Out Women Priests?
Bangalore: Asian Trading Corporation, 1978.