Brian’s Perspective - Old Blog

I hate being uncomfortable. Here I sit in front of my computer, in a comfy chair looking outside at a comfy day. I am not out in the sunshine because 1) I am working and 2) it might be a little cool. After all, my home is a perfect 71 degrees (perfect for me), I have a beverage close by and everything is as it should be. I have noticed a problem with comfort when it comes to studying the scripture. When we are sitting in class and the teacher reaches a conclusion with which we are uncomfortable, and we cannot immediately see any hole in his argumentation with the present passage, we jump to some other passage in the Bible to defend ourselves. We do our best to protect our understanding from new information by building up barriers around the text with what we “know” from other passages.

The example I am going to use is just that, an example. It is not my intention to bash or defame another brother in Christ. I am not calling anyone out. His article just happens to be the one I was reading when I decided “enough was enough.” As an example, Wayne Jackson, in the Christian Courier wrote an article on what the word σιγαω (sigao) means in 1 Cor. 14:34. This is the word that is translated as silence. 1 Cor. 14:34 says,

Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. (1 Cor. 14:34 -KJV)

As Jackson, points out, the word is used two other times in 1 Corinthians 14. It is used in vss. 28 and 30 to limit what the men can do in the assembly. First, if someone cannot interpret the tongue being spoken, they are to remain silent. Secondly, if someone else starts a prophecy, the first is to remain silent until after the person is finished. Jackson argues that since the word only limits what the men do in a particular context, “forbid these men to otherwise speak consistent with their divine obligations.”¹ But when it comes to determining what a woman is to do, Jackson ignores the context and immediately jumps to another book in the Bible! He writes,

This does not demand that a woman be absolutely silent at church. Rather, in harmony with what the apostle taught elsewhere (1 Tim. 2:12), the woman is not to speak or teach in any way that violates her gender role. She is not to occupy the position of a public teacher, in such a capacity as to stand before the church and function as the teacher (or co-teacher) of a group containing adult men. In assuming this official capacity, she has stepped beyond her authorized sphere, and she violates scripture. (Emphasis mine)

Where did this passage in 1 Corinthians ever mention a woman teaching or having authority? In his haste to come up with a reason why women are to remain silent, he has gone fishing elsewhere for that meaning and done a large disservice to the meaning of the passage. Moreover, he has done a larger disservice to the Church because he is practicing bad, bad, bad study habits and presenting them as the way to do things. By going to another passage, he has robbed himself and his readers of any ability to understand exactly what Paul intended to say in his letter to the Corinthians.

Wouldn’t it be better if we first understood the passage, restricted to its local context, before we let some other passage of the Bible hammer on it in order to protect our precious beliefs? What if we should be beating the other passage on the head with the one we are studying now? What if we have missed the point all of these years and God is trying to teach us the truth, and in our uncomfortable state, we reject it? There is a better way. First, understand the passage. Then, let the larger context enlighten us further. If the Corinthian church would have required 1 Timothy in order to understand what was written to them, they would have had to wait 20 years to get an understanding.

So let’s first understand our passage. To do so, we will first reexamine our word for silence and then look at the passage in context. Let’s re-examine our word, σιγαω (sigao). According to several modern lexicons, the word does not mean absolute silence, but to remain silent or to keep a secret about something in particular. Thus, it means to remain silent and “to stop speaking.”² So whatever it means to keep a secret, it does mean to keep that secret in silence and not speak about it.³ With this point Jackson agrees. However, it is only from the context of our passage that we can determine what Paul intended for women to remain silent about when he wrote the letter to the Corinthians.

By looking at our passage in its own context, we see that Paul is limiting woman’s ability to speak in church, but he is doing so in a specific way for a specific reason. The passage says,

(As in all the churches of the saints, women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only ones it has reached?) (1 Corinthians 14:33-36) (Emphasis mine)

First, Paul is restricting women from asking questions of the people in speaking during the assembly time. That is, if they want to know something let them ask there husbands at home. Don’t ask in church. However, the reason he gives is that “it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.” It seems that Paul is restricting questions being asked because there is a larger restriction on a woman speaking in the assembly. Thus, it seems very clear from this passage that, during the assembly time, a woman in the 1^st Century Corinthian Church was not permitted to speak at all. It would be quite difficult to argue that a woman could not sing since speaking is clearly what Paul has in mind.⁴ Paul restricts a woman’s speaking in the assembly during the time when others are giving their testimonies and prophecies. There was no need for Jackson to exit the context of this passage to make his point. This passage still allows a woman to sing and a woman to teach a bible class if she chooses to do so. It is as if he did not see the answer in the passage because he was too busy trying to get to 1 Timothy.

Maybe we preachers and teachers need to explain what the text means in its context as much as is possible. Maybe in this way we will be prevented from proof-texting meaning back into a passage from others we deem as easier to understand.

1. Jackson’s whole point is to argue that the command for women to remain silent cannot be absolute for how could they teach classes for children or participate in corporate worship via singing.[↩]
2. See BDAG and Louw-Nida 33.121[↩]
3. To get a better idea of its usage you could examine the following passages: Lk. 9:36; 18:39; 20:26; Acts 12:17; 15:12f; Rom. 16:25; 1 Co. 14:28, 30, 34[↩]
4. He uses the Greek word λαλεω (laleo) which simply means speak.[↩]