There has been much said about Paul’s instructions in 1 Corinthians that a woman not speak in church, a passage that has given way too much controversy. It is a particularly puzzling passage, especially when taken with other verses that portray women sometimes sharing in public settings. When Paul tells women in this passage to “keep silent,” he is not prohibiting them from making a verbal contribution to the meeting, whether in the form of worship or praying or prophesying or reading Scripture or sharing a testimony or similar activities. The view held by most is that Paul is saying that no woman is permitted to speak responsively in judgment of a man’s prophetic utterance. However, some have argued that Paul is prohibiting women from engaging in a public interrogation of another woman’s husband. Two reasons are cited for this.
The first reason is found in verse 35. There Paul says that their speaking was motivated by a desire to “learn.” The “speaking” that Paul silences was their asking of questions in an attempt to gain knowledge and insight. If they want to learn, and it is perfectly right and good that they should, they must wait and ask their husbands at home. Note well: Paul does not say, “If they have something to contribute they should tell their husbands later at home,” but rather, “If they wish to learn something they should ask their husbands later at home.”
But why would it be inappropriate for women, in the church meeting, to ask questions in their pursuit of knowledge? The answer is found in the second possible key to understanding this passage. It is the word translated “shameful” (ESV) in verse 35 or “improper” (NASB).
Why would it be “shameful” or “improper” for women to publicly interrogate or ask probing questions of men other than their husbands in the public assembly of the church? Christopher Forbes says, “There existed in the Graeco-Roman world in [the first century] . . . a strong prejudice against women speaking in public, and especially against their speaking to other women’s husbands. In a society with strictly defined gender and social roles, and a strong view of the rights of the man over his wife, such behaviour was treated as totally inappropriate.”1
Therefore, according to this view, women are free to pray and prophesy within the assembly. But when issues arise that they don’t understand, they must refrain from making probing inquiry. Why? For one thing, there is a limited time in any one meeting, and Paul does not want anyone or any group to dominate the gathering (which seems to be at least part of the reason for his instruction in verses 27–31 where he puts limits on how many can speak in tongues and prophesy). But more important, “To ask questions of the husbands of other women (especially as this might lead to extended discussions) would be grossly improper, and as such is not to be permitted.”2
One could reasonably argue that, if this view is correct (and I’m not entirely confident it is), Paul’s prohibition in verse 34 on women speaking is no longer applicable. For all will acknowledge, at least in Western society, that today there is no shame or impropriety in a woman asking a question in public of another woman’s husband. At the same time, if this interpretation proves to be correct, the restriction Paul places on women teaching and exercising authority over men would remain unaffected (1 Timothy 2:12–15).
1 Christopher Forbes, Prophecy and Inspired Speech: In Early Christianity and Its Hellenistic Environment (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997), 274–75.
2 Ibid., 276.