About Women in the Assembly

Q: How do you deal with Paul’s comments about women remaining silent in the assembly? Should women be allowed to speak in church today?

TRW: First, let’s look at what Paul said. He clearly commanded women to be silent: “As in all the churches of the saints, the women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says. If they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church.” (1 Cor. 14:34-35; see also 1 Tim. 2:9-15) Since much has been written about these verses, I will focus on some points that are often overlooked.

Something is amiss in 1 Cor. 14:34-35. When Paul speaks of “the law” in Corinthians, he is remarkably consistent in referring to “the law of Moses” (cf. 1 Cor. 9:8-9, 20; 14:21, 34; 15:56). So, it’s unlikely that Paul is speaking of some other “law.” Yet, “the Law”—even the entire Old Testament—nowhere commands women to be silent.

NT Women Who Were Not Silent

In addition to “the law” problem, other verses in the New Testament openly affirm that women can speak in gatherings.

• Only three chapters earlier, Paul speaks favorably of women praying or prophesying: “Every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head” (1 Cor. 11:5). It seems likely that this “prophesying” took place in an assembly context. Who prophesies in front of no one?

• On the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:17-18, Peter quotes Joel’s prophecy, which says that “your sons and your daughters will prophesy” and “on My male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.” These words were described as “The word of the Lord that came to Joel.” (Joel 1:1) Who are we to silence women into whom God has poured His Spirit?

• In Acts 21:8-9, Paul stays several days at a house where Philip the evangelist had four daughters who were “prophetesses.” What is the use of a “prophetess” if she can’t speak in a gathering of Christians? While staying at Philip’s house, did Paul refuse to let these prophetesses speak in that gathering in their own home?

• In 1 Thess. 5:19-20, Paul commands, “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies.” Why would God fill women with the Holy Spirit and then “quench the Spirit” by requiring them to be silenced?

• In Romans 16, Paul favorably mentions several women who had ministry roles in the church, such as Phoebe, Mary, Junia, Tryphaena, Prisca (cf. Acts 18:26), etc. Did Paul also require all these women to be silent in their assemblies?

The Inconsistent Creation Argument

The core issue is whether Paul’s restriction against women speaking was “cultural” or “universal.” If the restriction is cultural, Paul’s command was motivated by a local (temporary) cultural rule that only applied in specific cultures at a specific time. If the restriction is universal, it was intended for all churches in all cultures for all time.

The complementarian argument often notes that, when Paul requires women’s silence, he appeals to the creation as the reason. Paul says, “I do not allow a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve.” (1 Tim. 2:12-13) Since the creation is a universal truth for all time, they claim, the issue is not a cultural one, and women must be silent today.

But they overlook the fact that Paul cites the “creation argument” when he commands that women wear the veil (1 Cor. 11:2-16). When Paul defends his rule that women cover their heads, he says, “For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man; for indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake.” (1 Cor. 11:8-9)

In my experience, extremely few complementarians require the wearing of the veil. They seem to have no problem viewing the veil as a culturally driven command that can be ignored today.

So, I think that they are being inconsistent. They ignore the creation argument about the veil, but they embrace the creation argument about women speaking. If you’re going to enforce the restriction against women speaking, you need to enforce the requirement of the veil. But if you’re going to allow one of these practices, you need to allow both of them.

Is It Disgraceful?

I’m inclined to think that Paul’s restrictions against women speaking must have been driven by some local cultural rules that viewed women speaking in assembly as “disgraceful” or “improper” (αἰσχρός). When Paul describes unveiled women, he says it is “disgraceful” or “improper” (καταισχύνω and αἰσχρός, 1 Cor. 11:4, 5, 6). Paul uses the same word when he says that women speaking in assembly is “disgraceful” (αἰσχρός, 1 Cor. 14:35).

Throughout Paul’s writings, especially in the Pastorals, he demonstrates a strong desire for the church to be respectable to the watching world. He urges Christians to be “blameless” (1 Tim. 3:10; Titus 1:6, 7), “respectable” (1 Tim. 3:2; 6:1), “above reproach” (1 Tim. 3:2; 5:7), and “well thought of by outsiders” (1 Tim. 3:7). Or, to speak in negative terms, he wants Christians “to give the adversary no occasion for slander” (1 Tim. 5:14; Titus 2:8), not to “fall into disgrace” (1 Tim. 3:7), and to avoid doing things that are “improper” or “disgraceful.” All these words naturally refer to social rules that even “outsiders” would recognize. In other words, such behaviors were then socially unacceptable to the general public as well.

In Paul’s culture of the Greco-Roman world, when women spoke out in an assembly, it must have been viewed as improper and disgraceful. So, Paul strongly urges the women to not flaunt their freedom in Christ in a way that would bring disgrace to Christians before the watching world.

What Is Disgraceful Today?

However, much of our culture today—certainly in America—views it as “disgraceful” and “improper” to silence women and limit their leadership. If indeed Paul is motivated by a desire to keep the church from acting in ways that are disgraceful, would he not embrace women speaking today?

So, for me, when I lead a Christian gathering, I personally encourage the women to speak. I think that the body suffers when it only hears from men. The silencing of women implies that only men’s words are important. However, in Christ, “there is neither male nor female” (Gal. 3:28). When God gave his Spirit, he freely gave it to women as well as men (Acts 2:17-18; 21:8-9).

Women are blessed with as many insights as men. Why silence the spiritual insights in half of our people?

Paul insisted that we build up one another in the assembly (1 Cor. 14;3, 4, 5, 12, 15, 17, 26; 1 Thess. 5:11) and that we “teach and admonish one another in songs, hymns, and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). Do these verses only apply to men?

Other Inconsistencies

If it seems abhorrent to disregard Paul’s statements about the silence of women, remember that other similar statements have been disregarded for generations. Both Paul and Peter commanded Christians to "Greet one another with a holy kiss" (1 Cor 16:22; Rom 16:16; 2 Cor 13:12; 1 Thess 5:26; 1 Pet 5:14). Paul and Peter also expressly taught against women wearing “braided hair and gold or pearls or expensive apparel” (1 Tim 2:9; 1 Pet 3:3). Yet, I know of extremely few churches that follow these commands.

My point: We are being inconsistent in how we apply these scriptures. If we're going to demand that women refrain from speaking, we need to demand that they wear the veil, never come to the assembly with braided hair or any gold jewelry, and that we continue the kiss. But if we look deeper into Paul’s motivations, we’ll see that these traditions applied to a culture much different than our own.

Seek for Peace

Yet, I know that this issue is hotly contested in various circles. In Romans 14, Paul gives some profound advice to Christians who come to differing views on hot issues. First, he urges everyone “to be fully convinced in their own mind” (Rom. 14:5). Study the issue. Be fully convinced of your conclusion.

But Paul’s second admonition is equally important: stop condemning one another. “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld for the Lord is able to make him stand” (Rom. 14:4).

Maintaining unity is a huge mandate that is often forgotten. We must “pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding” (Rom. 14:19). In other words, I must embrace my fellow Christians who take a different view of this topic, and I would hope that they would embrace me. 

Q: Our church elders say that women must be silent in church, but it's okay for women to speak in Sunday School or in a home gathering. Does that make sense?

TRW: I have also been in a church culture that led itself to believe that “church” is only what happens in the formal “worship service” in a church building. As soon as “the worship service” begins at 10:30, new rules magically apply when they didn’t apply 10 minutes earlier. 

But as my research revealed, there was no such thing as a “worship service” in the first-century gatherings in the New Testament. And, as is widely recognized, “church buildings” have no significance in the Christian scriptures. Unlike the Jewish temple, church buildings are not God-ordained institutions that are subject to God-directed requirements.

Our modern way of separating the "worship service" from any other Christian gatherings is an arbitrary distinction that is not supported by the New Testament text. Regardless of where Christians met, their meeting was an ἐκκλησία; it was an assembly.

The "church," the ἐκκλησία, is the "gathering." In the New Testament, the "church" is not brick & mortar, it's not carpeting & drywall, and it's not pews & pulpits. It is the people gathered together.

In the New Testament, Christian meetings usually took place in a home. This is clear from a long list of scriptures: Rom. 16:5; 1 Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:15; Phlm. 1:2; 2 John 1:10; cf. Acts 9:17; 10:17; 12:12; 17:5; 20:20; 21:8; 21:16.

NT Christianity had no sacred buildings. Rather, Jesus spoke extensively about the utter destruction of the temple (Mark 13; Matthew 24), and he considered its destruction to be “days of punishment, so that all things which have been written will be fulfilled” (Luke 21:22). 

Modern churches—of all denominations—have inherited a building-based religion that evolved over time (see video #6). In our contrived building-based religion, we have invented a host of institutional rules and expectations that originate with humans, not with God. You could say, as Jesus said, that we are “teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt. 15:9).

One of those man-made rules is that women can speak in a "Sunday School class," but not "in church." To me, it makes no sense to allow women to speak in one room, but then to silence them in another room of the same building. To be consistent in applying the “women silence” issue, women should be silent in all Christian assemblies in all locations. But as I describe in the previous question, I think Paul’s “women must be silent” directive was a cultural rule that no longer applies to our culture.