Read Part One HERE
In this post I will continue to focus on popular blogger Michelle Lesley.
Some of her statements on 1 Corinthians 14:34 - 35 are as follows
Women should remain silent in the churches. 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.
1 Corinthians 14:34-35
Michelle Lesley:"The most important thing to remember about rightly handling and understanding God's word is that we must study it in context..... Paul is trying to establish a structure for worship service, and a hierarchy of church leadership, and one of the main ways he can quickly and neatly cut a lot of the chaos is to tell the women to be quiet and hang on to their questions until they get home and can talk freely, in more depth, and at greater length, with their husbands. So taking this passage and other passages about God's design for worship and men's and women's roles in the church hand in hand, it doesn't seem what Paul is saying in this particular passage is that no woman can ever say a word out loud in the church meeting simply because she has two X chromosomes. There are occasions when women can speak- in an orderly way - in church, as long as they are not doing it in a way that violates any other Scriptures (e.g instructing men in the Bible or holding improper authority over men, as prohibited by 1 Timothy 2:12).
Michelle Lesley:"For example: if you go to a church where people are prone to say the occasional "Amen" when the pastor says something especially important in the sermon, it would not be a violation of 1 Corinthians 14:34 for women to say "Amen" along with the men."
Michelle Lesley: "Neither would a women be disobeying this verse if she stood up to make a general announcement if the church has a designated time of the service for that. Saying something like, "Just a reminder - we're having a potluck on the 23rd. We could really use some guys to help move tables." would be fine."
Michelle Lesley: "There are probably many instances in which it would be fine for a woman to say something in church, assuming she is not being disruptive or violating any of the other Scriptures that define God's plan for women in the church. But if there is any question about the biblical appropriateness of the situation, it is best to have a godly man handle things instead."
My Comment
It is interesting to me that, though it seems Paul does not allow women to speak in church and seems to say that it is in fact shameful for a woman to speak in church, Michelle Lesley tries to find loopholes so that, according to her, Paul does not mean it when he says women cannot speak in church as long as they do it appropriately. Her view on this passage is, therefore, not helpful but confusing.
The reason her approach to this text is confusing is because she does not understand that the words in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 are, in fact, not Paul's words. Let me repeat that statement: The words in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 are NOT PAUL'S WORDS but is a quotation from a letter he had received from some of the Jewish religious leaders in Corinth as we know from 1 Corinthians 1:11
My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.
. Paul's answer in the form of a rebuke can be found in 1 Corinthians 14:36-37
What!! Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command. If he ignores this, he himself will be ignored.
These religious leaders were trying to silence women in the church and Paul told them off for doing so. Please don't forget that the overseer of the church in Corinth was a woman named Chloe as we know from 1 Corinthians 1:11
My brothers, some from Chloe's household.....
He would, therefore, not have silenced women as we know not just from this verse but from many other passages such as
Romans 16:1-2; Romans 16:3-5a; Romans 16:6; Romans 16:7; Romans 16:12; Philippians 4:2-3; Colossians 4:15.
Read Part Five HERE
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