Lessons #511 and 512
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New American Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
+ 4. Text is based on 1984 edition of the NIV +
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Silence of women in church (1 Cor 14:33b-35)
. ... 34 women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.
Recall that the message of this section that we started to consider in our last study is women should be silent in church meetings. This message is based on the instruction of verse 34 women should remain silent in the churches. We interpreted this to mean that women should not teach in local churches and should not participate in the discussions of church affairs especially since teaching is an activity that involves exercise of authority by a teacher. We also indicated that the apostle explained what he meant in the instruction in the sentence of verse 34 They are not allowed to speak. His explanation is simply that a woman should not teach in a local church and should not say anything during any discussion of church affairs. To be sure the readers understand that the apostle meant that women should not speak in terms of teaching and participating in public discussions regarding church affairs during church meeting, the apostle indicates no action is to be expected from the women in the conditions he specified so he wrote next in 1 Corinthians 14:34 but must be in submission. Literally, the Greek reads but let them be subjected, as the law also says. We stopped our last study with this expression. It is with it we begin our study today.
The expression “be in submission” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (hypotassō) that literally means “to order oneself under a leader” and so means “to submit” although such a meaning is not always communicative in many contexts of the Scripture. The Greek word has a range of meanings that fit a given context. For example, the word may mean “to obey” when there is the concept of authority involved. In other words, the meaning “to obey” can be used in all passages where our Greek word appears that involve authority figure. Let me give you some examples to substantiate this statement. The word is used in describing the relationship of Jesus to His parents in Luke 2:51:
Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
The verbal phrase was obedient to them is more literally was submitting to them. The translators of the NIV captured correctly the meaning of our Greek word as meaning “to obey” since that is the way to understand a child being submissive to the parents. The Greek word is used to describe what is expected of believers in response to the instructions of those in authority that are not in conflict with God’s word as we read in Romans 13:5:
Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.
Here, to submit to governing authorities certainly means to obey them. The word is used to describe the relationship that should exist between the Corinthians and Stephanas, the first convert to Christ in Achaia, who is presumed to be a spiritual leader in 1 Corinthians 16:16:
to submit to such as these and to everyone who joins in the work, and labors at it.
Apostle Paul meant that believers in Corinth should obey him and other spiritual leaders as they are those described in the clause such as these and to everyone who joins in the work. We find our Greek word used to enjoin believers to submit to God the Father in Hebrews 12:9:
Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!
The requirement of submitting to the Father of our spirits is one that demands obedience to God the Father. This means that in this passage “to submit” is the same as “to obey.” The Greek word is also used in describing the relationship between slaves and their masters in 1 Peter 2:18:
Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.
The examples we have cited where our Greek word is used to describe the relationship of a subject to an authority figure reveals that whenever that is the case, the meaning of our Greek word that is translated “to submit” should be understood to mean “to obey.” In our passage of 1 Corinthians 14:34, the word has the sense of “to be submissive,” that is, “to be or become inclined or willing to submit to orders.”
There is a problem with how to understand the instruction of 1 Corinthians 14:34 must be in submission or literally but let them be subjected. The problem is understanding what the target of the submission is in the passage of our study. The Greek form Apostle Paul used in the instruction of 1 Corinthians 14:34 is used only one other time in his epistles where the command is in the singular. I am referring to the command in Romans 13:1:
Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
The command Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities is literally Let every soul be subject to (the) governing authorities. It is clear that the object of submission in Romans 13:1 is authority of rulers, but we do not have a clearly identified object that women in the church should be submissive. Consequently, some take the object of submission as the women’s husbands or men in generally. However, because of the context of 1 Corinthians 14 is meeting in a local church, the apostle probably meant that women are to submit to the rulings of the church regarding matters discussed. This submission will, of course, extend to what men with the gift of teaching expound in the local church.
In any case, the apostle states the authority behind his instruction regarding women remaining silent in the local church or being submissive in the clause of 1 Corinthians 14:34 as the Law says. This clause presents two problems: what the apostle meant by the word Law and what he was referring in the clause. The first problem of what the apostle meant by Law is primarily due to the fact that the clause does not fit the manner in which Apostle Paul cites the OT Scripture. He would normally use the formula “it is written” used by NT writers to cite a passage from the OT and the quotation of the passage he had in mind in a specific book of the OT Scripture. Take for example, when the apostle wanted to emphasize that believers should not boast wrongly, he supported his point by quoting the OT Scripture as we read in 1 Corinthians 1:31:
Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
Here we know that he quoted from Jeremiah 9:24:
but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.
In addition, the apostle would sometimes use the word “law” in citing his quotation in such a way to help us know if he meant the entire OT Scripture or the Torah, that is, the first five books of the OT Scripture. This was the case when he supported his teaching that gospel workers should be supported by believers by quoting from the OT Scripture as we read in 1 Corinthians 9:9:
For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned?
The phrase the Law of Moses enables us to know that the apostle quoted from Deuteronomy 25:4:
Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.
On another occasion, he simply used the word “law” to enable us to know he was quoting from the OT Scripture without meaning the Mosaic law. This we see when he was teaching on speaking in tongues as we read in 1 Corinthians 14:21:
In the Law it is written: “Through men of strange tongues and through the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me,” says the Lord.
The absence of the word “Moses” in this passage enables us to know he was not concerned with the Torah but the OT Scripture since he cited a passage in Isaiah 28:11-12. These helps in understanding the apostle’s use or quotation from the OT Scripture are not present in the clause of 1 Corinthians 14:34 as the Law says. The implication is that we should consider the word “law” as used in the NT to decide how the apostle would have used it in the passage we are studying.
The word “law” is translated from a Greek word (nomos) that is used in three ways in the Scripture. It is used for a procedure or practice that has taken hold and so means “a custom, rule, principle, norm, law.” It is in the sense of “principle” that Apostle Paul used it in Romans 7:21:
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
The context of Romans 7:21 indicates that the word “law” refers to “principle” as reflected in the translation of many English versions, such as the NASB and the Revised edition of the NAB. The translators of the CEB and the NJB used the word “rule” in place of “law” in their rendering of this passage in Romans. Another usage of the Greek word translated “law” is for describing the first five book of Moses (i.e., Genesis to Deuteronomy) often known as the Torah, as that is the sense of the word when Apostle Paul cited Deuteronomy 25:4 in the passage we cited previously, that is, 1 Corinthians 9:9:
For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned?
Still another usage of the Greek word translated “law” is as a reference to the entire OT Scriptures. It is in this sense that the word is used in John 12:34:
The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”
There are at least two passages that the crowd could have referred from which they heard about Christ ruling forever. A first passage is Isaiah 9:7:
Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.
A second passage is Daniel 7:14:
He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 14:34, since the apostle did not quote any specific passage from the OT Scripture and since he did not make specific reference to the Torah, we believe that apostle used the word “Law” in the sense of a reference to the entire OT Scriptures. That this interpretation is correct will become clearer as we consider the second problem of what the apostle was referring to in the clause of 1 Corinthians 14:34 as the Law says.
The problem of understanding what the apostle meant in the clause we are studying reduces to identifying what it is that the apostle was supporting in the clause as the Law says. There are two possibilities. He could be supporting the idea of women keeping silent in the local church or the concept of women’s submission. However, there is no passage in the OT Scripture that has the concept of women being silent in temple worship although that was the case based on Jewish practice and so it is unlikely here that the apostle was supporting the concept of keeping silent by women during meeting of the church. This being the case, we contend that the apostle was supporting the concept of women’s submission as part of his justification for the instruction for women to be silent in the church meetings.
It is our interpretation that when the apostle wrote the clause of 1 Corinthians 14:34 as the Law says he was thinking of the passages of the OT Scripture that support the concept of a wife submitting to the husband. A passage that the apostle could have had in mind is Genesis 3:16:
To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
The concept of submission is conveyed in the sentence he will rule over you. This verse in Genesis is part of the judgment brought on the woman because of the fall. The judgment on the woman that conveys the concept of her submission, specifically to her husband, is given in the second sentence of Genesis 3: 16 Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. Scholars are not in agreement as to the interpretation of this sentence since some view it as a negative statement while others take it as conveying that which is positive. Those who take a positive view interpret it either as a woman’s sexual desire for the husband or the attraction that a woman experiences for man which cannot be rooted from her nature. None of these interpretations seems to be what God meant; for, it is difficult to conceive of how sexual desire or attraction to one’s husband would be a punishment to the woman. In effect, the positive interpretation, in my judgment, ignores the context of punishment that God doled out to the woman. Those who take the negative view interpret the sentence as reference to a woman’s desire to be independent and so to dominate her husband.
The difficulty of the interpretation of this sentence is due in part to the influence of women liberation movement and in part because the Hebrew word (tešûqāh) rendered “desire” is given the lexical meaning of “desire, urges, longing, i.e., a very strong emotion or feeling to have or do something.” The word appears three times in the Hebrew Scripture. It is used positively in a romantic manner of describing the feeling of possibly mutual attraction between two lovers in Song of Solomon 7:10:
I belong to my lover, and his desire is for me.
It is probably because of this usage in Song of Solomon that some commentators give it a positive meaning in Genesis 3:16. However, this is unlikely because it is the context that determines the meaning of a word. The meaning of the Hebrew word in Genesis 3:16 is better interpreted by considering the second use of the Hebrew word in a passage where God warns Cain about sin in Genesis 4:7:
If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”
The sentence it desires to have you, but you must master it is more literally and its desire is for you, but you must rule over it. The sense of the word here as it is used in connection to sin is that sin waits for the moment to dominate Cain, but he should resist it. It is this negative sense that is used in Genesis 3:16 since there is also the instruction for the man to rule the wife. So, the punishment pronounced on the woman is really a desire to be independent and so to dominate the husband; a desire that she would not really attain if her husband were truly a man. Such failure will lead to frustrations that will create tension between the woman and the husband. Even when the woman succeeds in ruling her husband, that does not keep her from being frustrated because she feels the husband is not strong enough to protect her. There are several reasons to accept that the sentence Your desire will be for your husband means a wife would desire to dominate and to be independent of her husband. First, it is the interpretation that gives meaning to the clause and he will rule over you. There would not be any need for this clause if the woman’s desire does not have to do with her desire to dominate the husband. Second, it is the interpretation that makes sense in the context of punishment since there is the implication that such desire would hardly be fulfilled. Third, the woman acted independent of her husband during the temptation by Satan. The woman did not consult the husband regarding the serpent’s suggestion and so by acting independent of her husband she succumb to temptation. It will make sense that the Lord would, in pronouncing judgment on the woman, conveyed to her that it was not right for her to act independent of her husband. Fourth, it is the interpretation that fits the context of God’s judgment on the woman after the fall. This aside, the concept of submission is implied in the word “rule” used in Genesis 3:16. Hence, this passage in Genesis would be one of the passages that the apostle had in mind when he penned the clause of 1 Corinthians 14:34 as the Law says.
Another passage, the apostle would have meant that conveys the concept of submission, especially that of wives to their husbands involves the events that led to Esther becoming a queen. King Xerxes had invited his wife, the queen, Vashti, to come to him but she refused. In other words, she did not submit to the authority of the husband. This led to the advice to replace her to ensure women are submissive to their husbands as we read in Esther 1:17–20:
17 For the queen’s conduct will become known to all the women, and so they will despise their husbands and say, ‘King Xerxes commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she would not come.’ 18 This very day the Persian and Median women of the nobility who have heard about the queen’s conduct will respond to all the king’s nobles in the same way. There will be no end of disrespect and discord. 19 “Therefore, if it pleases the king, let him issue a royal decree and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media, which cannot be repealed, that Vashti is never again to enter the presence of King Xerxes. Also let the king give her royal position to someone else who is better than she. 20 Then when the king’s edict is proclaimed throughout all his vast realm, all the women will respect their husbands, from the least to the greatest.”
This passage indicates that ancient people understood that wives were to be submissive to their husbands for the wellbeing of families and so of society or for ordered life in any given society.
The two examples we have cited as the possible passages Apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote the clause of 1 Corinthians 14:34 as the Law says involve married women but there is also an instruction in the OT Scripture that conveys that unmarried ladies living with their parents were also to be submissive to their fathers. This involved the event of making vows that we cited in a previous study but for completeness, we cite that passage again, that is, Numbers 30:3–5:
3 “When a young woman still living in her father’s house makes a vow to the LORD or obligates herself by a pledge 4 and her father hears about her vow or pledge but says nothing to her, then all her vows and every pledge by which she obligated herself will stand. 5 But if her father forbids her when he hears about it, none of her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand; the LORD will release her because her father has forbidden her.
This event of making a vow also implies that wives are to be submissive to their husbands because they were allowed to negate any vows their wives made as we read in Numbers 30:10–15:
10 “If a woman living with her husband makes a vow or obligates herself by a pledge under oath 11 and her husband hears about it but says nothing to her and does not forbid her, then all her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand. 12 But if her husband nullifies them when he hears about them, then none of the vows or pledges that came from her lips will stand. Her husband has nullified them, and the LORD will release her. 13 Her husband may confirm or nullify any vow she makes or any sworn pledge to deny herself. 14 But if her husband says nothing to her about it from day to day, then he confirms all her vows or the pledges binding on her. He confirms them by saying nothing to her when he hears about them. 15 If, however, he nullifies them some time after he hears about them, then he is responsible for her guilt.”
In any event, the apostle supports his assertion that women are to be submissive to authority whether that of their husbands or fathers or the order set up in a local church for worship. With this comment we complete the first instruction of the apostle in the passage that we are considering that requires women to be silent in not participating in any form of teaching or even discussions of the affairs of the church as we have considered. This brings us to the second instruction.
The second instruction requires wives to ask their questions to their husbands at home. This instruction is premised on the wives having questions from what transpired in the church meetings as introduced in the conditional clause of 1 Corinthians 14:35 If they want to inquire about something. A literal translation is And if they desire to learn anything. This, in part, is due to the Greek particle (de) that may be used to connect one clause to another, either to express contrast or simple continuation but in certain occurrences the marker may be left untranslated. Although it is often translated “but” in the English when there is a perceived contrast between two clauses, but it has other meanings such as “now,” “then,” “and,” “so” when it is used to link segments of a narrative. It can also be used to indicate transition to something new or to resume a discourse after an interruption. In the verse we are considering, it can be interpreted in one of two ways. It could be interpreted as a marker of an additional instruction to the preceding one in which case it may be translated “and” or left untranslated as done in most of our English versions. Another interpretation is to consider it as a marker of contrast meaning that what follows contrasts what preceded. This makes sense in the sense that verse 35 contrasts speaking by a woman to being silent of verse 34 and so may be translated “but” as done in a handful of our English versions such as the Revised edition of the NAB or the AMP version. Either interpretation makes sense but because we believe that verse 35 contains the second instruction of the apostle to women, the Greek particle is used to add to the first instruction of verse 34 and so it may be left untranslated, or it could be translated with the word “and” as in the Authorized Version (KJV).
Be that as it may, it is our assertion that the second instruction of the apostle to women is premised on their having questions. This is because of the conditional word “if” in verse 35. The word “if” is translated from a Greek particle (ei) that is used in different ways in the Greek. For example, the Greek particle is used as a marker of condition that exists in fact or hypothetical so that it is translated “if.” On the one hand, if a writer presents an action associated with a verb as real, although the writer may or may not believe the action to be real, there is the implication there is no doubt or uncertainty about what is stated when our Greek particle is used. Thus, in some context the meaning “if” may be understood to mean “since”, especially if the action has already taken place as in the statement of the brothers of the Lord Jesus to Him about public display of Himself based on His miracles as we read in John 7:4:
No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.”
The clause Since you are doing these things is literally If you are doing these thing. On the other hand, if a writer presents the action associated with a verb as possible the implication is that the thing in question is possible but uncertain, though assumed probable. Thus, it is used to state the possibility of suffering of Christians recognizing that not everyone may suffer in a given time as we read in 1 Peter 3:14:
But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.”
It is in the alternative usage of something possible but uncertain that the word is used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 14:35. In other words, the apostle assumes that it is possible that a woman may have a question, but he is uncertain that would be the case.
Anyway, the possibility of a woman having a question regarding what transpired in the church meeting is introduced in the sentence they want to inquire about something or literally they desire to learn anything. Interestingly, there are people who hear something taught in a local church that do not understand but they shy away from asking questions or they are not really interested in what they heard that they do not ask questions. When a person has a question and does not seek the answer, it implies that the person is not really interested in acquiring knowledge since one way to acquire knowledge is to ask questions. The apostle is concerned with the woman that shows interests and wants to learn. Hence the sentence they want to inquire about something or literally they desire to learn anything.
The word “want” of the NIV or “desire” in the literal translation is essentially the same since the word “want” is translated from a Greek word (thelō) that may mean “to wish to have, desire, want,” that is, to have a desire for something as Apostle Paul used it in his question to believers about being free of fear of punishment by submitting to the appropriate authority in Romans 13:3:
For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you.
The word may mean to have something in mind for oneself and so means “to purpose, will, decide” as Apostle Paul used it to describe what God does in a believer regarding His plan as stated in Philippians 2:13:
for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
The word may mean “to choose” as it is used to convey that there are those God chose to disclose His secret truth or mystery in Colossians 1:27:
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
The word may mean to take pleasure in something in view of its being desirable and so means “to enjoy, like, take pleasure in something” as Apostle Paul used it to describe false individuals in Colossae that took pleasure in false humility and in the worship of angels in Colossians 2:18:
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.
The word may mean “to have an opinion,” “to think something to be so,” that is, “to maintain” something that is contrary to the true state of affairs as it is used to describe false teachers whose opinion is described in 2 Peter 3:5:
But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.
The clause they deliberately forget is literally in maintaining this it escapes them. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 14:35, the sense of the word is “to desire,” that is, “to feel or to have desire for something” or “to want strongly.”
The thing that a woman desires or wants strongly is to learn something that she was unclear about that she heard in the local church. Thus, the sentence of 1 Corinthians 14:35 they want to inquire about something or literally they desire to learn anything. By the way, the pronoun “they” refers to women, specifically wives, mentioned in verse 34. The word “inquire” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (manthanō) that may mean “to learn” in the sense of gaining knowledge or skill by instruction from a teacher, as it is used in 1 Timothy 2:11:
A woman should learn in quietness and full submission.
But the word may also mean “to learn” in the sense of to appropriate to oneself what has been instructed as Apostle Paul used it in encouraging the Philippians to practice what he had taught them as we read in Philippians 4:9:
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 14:35, the word means “to learn,” that is, “to gain knowledge by instruction from someone.”
Anyway, the apostle assumes that a wife is eager to gain knowledge so that after stating the condition that may exists, gave his second instruction to the woman or specifically a wife in the expression of 1 Corinthians 14:35 they should ask their own husbands at home. There must have been a reason the apostle issued this instruction. Although the apostle did not directly state what led to the instruction, it is very likely that some women were asking questions about what they heard during the church service. By the way, some men do the same thing in that they have the tendency to speak or to utter something while a pastor is teaching God’s word. The point remains that the instruction of the apostle is for women to ask their questions to their husbands.
The word “ask” is translated from a Greek word (eperōtaō) that may mean “to ask” in the sense of to make a request from a person as it is used to describe the request of the Jewish authorities for Jesus to perform a miracle or show a sign from heaven as we read in Matthew 16:1:
The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.
The word may mean “to ask” in the sense of putting a question to someone as it is used of the question Jesus put to those who came to arrest Him as we read in John 18:7:
Again he asked them, “Who is it you want?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 14:35, the word has the sense of “to ask”, that is, “to inquire.” This inquiry is to take place at home of the woman or wife.
The word “home” is translated from a Greek word (oikos) that may mean “a house” as it is used to describe the residence of the Philippian Jailer that he brought Paul and Silas to take care of them following his salvation as we read in Acts 16:34:
The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.
The word may mean “a household” as the word is used by Apostle Paul to describe those he baptized in Corinth as we read in 1 Corinthians 1:16:
(Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.)
The word may mean “home” as the word is used by Apostle Paul to describe where believers in Corinth should eat food to their satisfaction instead of the meeting place of believers as we read in 1 Corinthians 11:34:
If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come I will give further directions.
The word may mean “family” in the sense of consisting of a husband, a wife, and children in the criteria for appointing an overseer or pastor of a local church as we read in 1 Timothy 3:5:
(If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?)
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 14:35, the word means “home” in the sense of a person’s regular dwelling place at a given time.
The instruction of 1 Corinthians 14:35 they should ask their own husbands at home is based on at least two ideal situations. A first ideal situation is that a wife is married to a believing husband and both attend the same local church. The apostle recognized that at the time of this epistle mixed marriages existed, that is, a believer married to an unbeliever. As the apostle had indicated in the seventh chapter of this epistle, such would be the case when both husband and wife were unbelievers at the time they got married but one of them got converted. It is not expected that a believer should marry an unbeliever and so mixed marriage should only exist because both spouses were unbelievers when they got married. This first ideal situation, as we have indicated, also implies that both attended the same local church. At the time of this epistle that would be the case because there were not as many local churches as we have today and in the house churches the same activities took place. The situation today is different. Ideally, even today, we should expect husbands and wives to attend the same local church but that may not always be the case. Take for example, a woman may be attending a local church where teaching is taking place, but the husband is not interested in teaching of God’s word, she should not because of unity so to speak join the husband in a local church where there is no teaching. This may sound strange to you but we must remember that in the final analysis of things, each believer stands accountable to the Lord. A wife could not say that she was submitting to her husband’s authority that is why she abandoned a teaching church to attend a local church where teaching of the word of God is not taking place. To do so will indeed be a sin as per James 4:17:
Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.
This is because there is a hierarchy in the authority chain. A woman or a man must always defer to a higher authority, especially when it comes to spiritual matters. What this means is that a man or woman should not yield to a situation whereby his/her spiritual life is adversely impacted because of willingness to please the other person. We must consider pleasing the Lord which implies that we should attend local churches where the Great commission that involves teaching of believers is obeyed. We should not think it is strange for a woman to attend a local church and not be accompanied by the husband for after all, in the time of the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus, there were women that followed Him, listening to His teaching but their husbands did not as we may gather from Luke 8:1–3:
1 After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; 3 Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
There is no indication that Cuza followed Jesus or was His disciple during the earthly ministry of Jesus so that we have at least a situation where we can say a woman attended to hearing of the teaching of the word of God without the husband. This aside, the point is that the first ideal condition is that a woman is married to a believer, and both attend the same local church. A second ideal condition assumed in the instruction for a woman to direct her question to the husband is that the husband is himself paying attention to what is taught and in fact is more matured spiritually. This situation should challenge every believing husband to recognize that his responsibility towards the wife is not only material but spiritual. As I have said previously, it is a failure of a husband if he is not the spiritual leader of his family. Such a failure can be easily corrected by the man taking serious interest in studying the word of God and applying it.
What if the ideal situations for a woman asking question of her husband are not met? What should a woman do in such case? In the time in which we live that can easily be met by her directing her question to her pastor. This can be done via the telephone. Person to person questioning should be carefully carried out in the sense that a pastor should endeavor not to be alone with a woman regardless of the marital status of the woman. It may become necessary for the interaction between a pastor and a member of his congregation to take place where the wife or another believing lady is around. The point is that the Holy Spirit recognized that the ideal situations may not exist so He expects us to apply the fact that every local church should have a shepherd whose interest is to nurture spiritually the believers in the local church. Hence, the woman placed in a situation where she could not ask her husband spiritual questions, she should direct them to her pastor.
The apostle not only issued the second instruction, but he provided the reason or explanation for such an instruction. We say this because the last clause of 1 Corinthians 14:35 begins with the word for that is translated from a Greek word (gar) that has several usages. For example, it can be used as a marker of inference with the meaning “so, then, by all means” or it can be used as a marker of cause or reason for something in which case it may be translated “for, because.” It can be used as a marker of clarification or explanation so that it may be translated “for” or “you see.” It is in the sense of providing reason or explanation that the word is used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 14:35.
The reason for the instruction that women should direct their questions to their husbands is given in the last clause of 1 Corinthians 14:35 it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. The word “disgraceful” is translated from a Greek word (aischros) that is a term especially significant in honor-shame oriented society; generally, in reference to that which fails to meet expected moral and cultural standards. Hence, the word pertains to “being socially or morally unacceptable,” hence means “shameful, base.” The meaning “shameful” is used for hidden, sinful activities of unbelievers in Ephesians 5:12:
For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.
It is used with the meaning “dishonest” in connection with gain in Titus 1:11:
They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 14:35, it means “disgraceful,” that is, giving offense to moral sensibilities and injurious to reputation.” Hence, the apostle’s reason or explanation is for a woman to speak in church goes against what is acceptable and so is morally offensive either to God whose word the woman ignores about submission, or it is offensive to other members of the local church. Of course, the speaking that the apostle meant as we have noted previously is any speaking that is not Spirit-inspired such as speaking in tongues or prophesying. Some think that today it will be shameful if women are not permitted to speak in the local church and so they take the position that the apostle’s instruction is culturally based. It seems to me that when a person argues that way that the individual rejects that the Holy Spirit inspired the apostle in what he wrote. The apostle justified his instruction of this section by referencing OT Scriptures. Therefore, to say that his instruction is culturally based is to reject God’s word. We should not twist the word of God because it is not palatable to our culture. We should remember that God’s word is not subject to our approval, so we do not have any right to modify it because we feel it is not applicable in our time. In any event, the second instruction is for women to address their questions to their husbands at home hence the message we have considered which is Women should be silent in church meetings.