Woman's Role in the Church

• Apostle Paul was not commanding the women or certain group of women (as some Christians today believed in the Isolated Case ) to be silent, but rather he was quoting from the Oral Law to deal with the corruption of forbidding women to speak out during worship.
• If Paul is for this Law of silence, he would not write this down since he was a Pharisee (Acts 23:6) before his conversion and he knew very well that the Jews forbid the Oral Law to be written down. The Oral Law was not allowed to be written down until 100 AD, and Paul wrote this letter in 55 AD. What he did here actually violate the Jewish tradition. Such action in writing down this Oral Law in his letter is definitely Paul’s liberated attitude toward Judaism.
• Perhaps some Jews, who might be continually abiding to the Jewish Law, or the Jews who against Paul's teaching (Acts 18), corrupted and confused the Corinthians' worship by forbidding women to speak out in prayer and prophecy. Apostle Paul properly learned about this corruption from Chloe's people who reported to him about the problems in the Corinthian church (I Corinthians 1:11). He also could have learned from the questions in a letter addressed to him by the Corinthians (cf. 7:71,24; 8:1; 12:1; 16:1,12). Paul, who was a Pharisee before his conversion, knew only the Jewish Rabbinic Tradition that would not allow women to speak but to keep silent during worship. He knew only the Judaizers who could disrupt and confuse the Corinthians’ worship.
• In his usual manner of writing, Paul intentionally first quoted this Oral Law that "the women should keep silent in the church" to expose their heretical teaching. To ridicule their foolishness as being so spiritual, he rebuked them, "What! Did the word of God originate with you, are you the only the one it has reached? (verse 36)." Again, this is Paul’s usual pattern of questioning that comes after he stated the issue. He properly questioned not only the Judaizers but also the Corinthians in an angry tone to ridicule them that the words of God is not from men but from God. His questioning also implied indirectly that this Oral law of silence is not from God but from men.

  PAUL'S USUAL PATTERN OF QUESTIONING

  Paul stated the problem first.	I Corinthians 14:34-35 Let the women keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but let them subject themselves, just as the Law also says. And if they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church.
  He questioned the Corinthians' actions.	I Corinthians 14:36 Was it from you that the word of God first went forth? Or has it come to you only?
  He rebuked them and straightened them out.	I Corinthians 14:37-40 If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord's commandment... Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak in tongues.

• Therefore, the Law quoted in verses 34 and 35 is not a commandment but simply a quotation which Paul made to confront the Judaizers who tried to induce Judaism into Christianity in the Corinthian church. However, these verses have been blown out of proportion and misused by many Christians, even by well-respected Bible scholars and commentators who force us back into Judaism, the religion of Law abiding. Even worst, some used these verses to prove conclusively that women are forever denial ordination as ministers.

  The next topic of study is on Liberation & St. Stephen's New Modern Translation on I Corinthian 14: 34 - 40

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