Women's ministry in the church Part 2: I Cor 14:34-35

This is part 2 of my summary of Dr. Earl Ellis' thoughts regarding women in ministry. As I mentioned last week, there are at least three major textual areas which need to be discussed: 1) Paul's positive statements regarding women's ministry, 2) I Cor 14:33-34 which commands women/wives to be silent, and 3) I Tim 2:11-12 which commands women/wives to learn in quietness and not to teach and usurp authority over men/husbands. Last time I summarized some of the positive statements which Paul made in regards to women in the church, and we saw that there are verses which show a significant role which Paul gave to women. Originally, I had thought to deal with both I Cor 14 and I Tim 2 in one blog post, but I now think I will divide them into separate posts in case we want to comment on each passage individually. So this entry is Dr. Ellis' thoughts on I Cor 14: 34-35.

Here is the text, "...women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 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." (I Cor 14:34-35 NIV)

Ellis first notes that this passage has four qualifications to it. Before mentioning them, however, it is important to note that the word "women" (Gk: γυνη) can be translated as "women" or as "wife." Context decides. Ellis understands the word to be "wives," but is this justified? Several contextual clues point to the more specific reading of "wives":1) Paul mentions that they should ask their husbands. Surely Paul would not be so careless as to assume that all his female church attendees are married. It makes sense that he is limiting his discussion to married women. 2) Paul mentions that the Law states that wives should be in submission. This is most likely not a reference to the regulations given on Sinai, but is more generally a reference to the first five books of the OT - the Pentateuch which are also regularly called "the Law." Paul is probably referencing Gen 3:16 and the results of the Fall for women which states that the husband will "rule" (NIV) the wife. "The Law" does not speak about women being silent, but it does speak of wives being submissive to their husbands.

Now to Ellis' qualifications: First, the teaching is directed to married women and not to women in general. This is seen by the reference to asking "their own husbands." Obviously, if you are not married then you cannot ask your husband. Second, this only applies to wives of Christian men because a saved women would not go home from church and ask her unsaved husband. The image is laughable. Third, it seems to apply only to Christian wives married to Christian husbands which are actually present at the service. This makes sense in that a wife would most likely ask her husband about some teaching/event happening at the church service. If he is out of town, then he cannot answer as he wasn't at the meeting in the first place. Lastly, this passage is probably specifically written to instruct gifted wives of male prophets. These specific wives should be silent and submissive when their husbands are prophesying. For Paul, it is disrespectful for the wife to publicly challenge her husband as he is exercising his gift of prophecy. She should wait and talk with him at home so that the marriage roles are not violated.

Since the last point is the most significant and debatable, I will separate out his reasons supporting it in a new paragraph. First, the immediate context surrounding the text is about the proper use of the gift of prophecy in the worship service (14:29-33 and 39-40). This significantly supports Ellis' argument that the restriction regards the proper way for married couples to exercise their gift of prophecy in the church. Second, in verses 29-30 Paul directs prophets to speak in an orderly manner, to keep their numbers limited, and then weigh carefully what is said by the other prophets. In other words the prophecy/prophet needs to be tested. This involves discussion - orderly discussion. But what if the situation involves a husband and wife who both have the gift of prophecy? Does Paul want husbands and wives to be debating each other publicly as they practice their gifts? Ellis concludes that this is the specific situation happening in Corinth.

To summarize Ellis' argument for this passage: Paul's command is that in situations where both a husband and a wife have the gift of prophecy, then the wife should wait until they get home if she needs to disagree or discuss the husband's prophecy. In this way, the marriage roles are kept in place as per the Genesis passage.

This blog has already broken a key blog rule: keep it short. However, I am very interested in hearing critical readings of Ellis view. Is this reading tenable?

Women's ministry in the church

To be honest this is not a topic of which I have done much thinking. In the last few weeks, however, I have been reading several books on early church order which discuss this topic. In the past when I have looked into this topic, the arguments seemed to revolve around whether or not Paul's commands for women to be silent were culturally limited to the ancient world and, therefore, should be "upgraded" because of our more progressive understanding. This line of discussion was not very persuasive to me personally.

One of the books I have been reading is from conservative theologian and former (he is deceased) Southern Baptist professor Dr. Earl Ellis. He has brought to light some new thoughts (at least new to me) in this discussion. It seems there are three Scriptural areas which need to be explained/discussed: 1) Paul's positive statements regarding women's ministry in his letters, 2) I Cor. 14:33-35 which commands women/wives to be silent, and 3) I Tim 2:11-12 which states that women/wives are to learn in quietness and submission while not usurping authority or teaching over men/husbands.

Just to clarify the discussion: no one that I know of explains these passages in terms of women being inferior to men. The issue is one of roles in the church, at least that is how most conservative thinkers explain it. Both men and women are equal in their salvation and unified in Christ (Gal 3:28), however, roles may be distinct as between husband and wife or between the Father and Jesus Christ.

In this post, I want to present Dr. Ellis' arguments regarding the positive role of women in Paul's ministry. In another blog post I will present his exegesis of the I Cor and I Tim passages. All of this information can be found in his book Pauline Theology pages 53-86 which is very readable.

Paul mentions many women who are involved in ministry with him: Prisca (Priscilla), Junia, Euodia, Syntyche, Nympha (not mentioned by Ellis), and Phoebe. In fact, when we look at the biblical evidence nearly 1/4 of the names mentioned in regards to Paul's ministry are women (not from Ellis). Significantly, Phoebe (Rom 16:2) is called a "minister" or possibly "deaconess" in the church of Cenchreae. The other ladies, exluding Nympha, are called "coworkers" which is a term Paul uses elsewhere of those involved in various ministries including teaching, preaching, and prophecy. Junia was imprisoned (Rom 16:7) most likely because she was involved in some ministry which drew the ire of the Roman government: preaching and evangelism. Ellis does not mention Nympha (Col 4:15), but she needs to be added to the list as well in that her house was used for a church meeting. When we realize that only wealthy people owned homes large enough to accommodate 30-50 people for a church meeting, then we realize that Nympha was probably wealthy. Also, if the church met in her home, then there is no reason to assert that she did not administrate some aspects of the meeting. Lastly, Paul mentions that women can have the gift of prophecy (I Cor 11:5). Since prophecy is exhortation, encouragement, consolation and probably has significant overlap with what might be defined as teaching this becomes a significant point. It also creates tremendous tension with I Cor 14 where Paul tells women/wives to be silent.

Obviously Paul has a high regard for women in ministry. In fact if it were not for I Cor 14 and I Tim 2 this would most likely be a non-issue. So how does Ellis handle/explain these other passages? Does he give priority to this evidence or does he give priority to I Cor 14/1 Tim 2? Tune in next time to find out (and hopefully "next time" will be relatively soon).