By Nancy Virden (c)2023

Unbelievers and Christian believers alike will hear a misquote and think it is Biblical. One of those Bible teachings taken out of context is the idea that women are to be subservient to men and quiet in church.

One funny story happened twenty years ago when my family visited a new house church. The pastor made it clear that women were not to speak, and then he asked for comments and questions. From the back row, I saw at least six women elbow their husbands, whisper in their ears, and urge them to stand and parrot what the women wanted to say but were not allowed.

I laughed inwardly. Afterward, I asked the pastor what that was all about and he made the understatement of the year. “You can give people rules but it doesn’t change their hearts.”

Bingo.

This is one reason why a study of the Bible as a whole is vital. It does not (contrary to some loud opinions) contradict itself. Neither does Jesus, and even Paul who was merely human did not likely change his mind. So how are we to take the following verses about women?

Let your women keep silent in the churches… And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home…(I Corinthians 14:34-35).

Women should learn quietly and submissively. I do not let women teach men or have authority over them. Let them listen quietly (I Timothy 2: 11-13).

Notice Paul is saying women can learn! The radical and politically incorrect way of Christians was to open the path for women to learn. Jewish men (for we are talking about Jews who accepted Jesus as their Messiah) were raised in Hebrew school, allowed to participate in Temple proceedings, and taught the prayers and scriptures from an early age. Women had none of that, nor any backdrop to the many prophecies pointing to Jesus. Paul was guiding church leaders in the book of Corinthians on how to keep order in their disorganized meetings. Women who had never been to school did not know how to behave in that setting. Having been included for the first time, they were asking questions aloud, interrupting proceedings. Imagine that! Women with questions, wanting details. Sounds like normal female nature to me.

In the book of Timothy, Paul is writing to a young pastor and giving him a heads-up concerning many issues. When Paul said “I do not permit women to teach men” he was warning Timothy about uneducated and unprepared women. He also was no doubt referring to women who had false faiths such as idol worship and did not yet know the distinctions. The Christian faith itself was very new.

By allowing scripture to support scripture, and not choosing one verse at a time and using it for unsupported doctrine, we can see Paul does not practice keeping women silent. He sent Phoebe, a church leader, with the book of Romans to read to the Roman church and answer their questions. He encouraged Priscilla and her husband Aquila who ran a church in their home and taught doctrine together. Junia (or Julia) was an apostle who spent time in prison. Nympha ran her own house church. There are more. (see Christianity Today https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-17/neglected-history-of-women-in-early-church.html)

Paul writes to other believers, “There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).

As for us, women still belong to the Church where Jesus purposely gave voice to any who would put their faith in Him and humbly obey His commands.

-COMMENTS WELCOME

Today’s Helpful Word

Acts 2:16-18 esv

But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:

“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
    and your young men shall see visions,
    and your old men shall dream dreams;
even on my male servants and female servants
    in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.

If you are feeling suicidal, or concerned about someone who is, in the U.S. call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988, or for a list of international suicide hotlines, go here.

If you are suicidal with a plan, immediately call 911 in the U.S. or go to your nearest emergency room. In the EU call 112. (For other international emergency numbers, go here ). Hope and help are yours!

Always the Fight Ministries (ATFM) has been displaying compassion for those fighting mental illness, addiction, or abuse since 2012. Nancy is the founder and voice of ATFM and openly shares her emotional resurrection from despair. NOTE: Nancy is not a doctor or a mental health professional, and speaks only from personal experience and observations. In no way is this website intended to substitute for professional mental or behavioral health care.

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