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V. ANALYSIS OF TEXTS PROHIBITING THE PUBLIC MINISTRY OF WOMEN.
1) The Corinthian Texts: “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” (I Cor. 14:34–35).
These two verses, when taken literally, contradict everything that Paul has taught and affirmed to this point. How can he acknowledge women praying and prophesying in the Church in I Cor. Chapter 11 without one word of prohibition or condemnation, and then in Chapter 14 tell them to keep silent? How were the women, whom Paul so warmly commends in Romans 16, to exercise their public ministry in the Church if such a “gag-rule” were in place?
The rationale given for silencing women is, “just as the law also says.” What law? None in the Old Testament. To the contrary, the laws of Moses are noteworthy for their egalitarian application: that is, they apply to rich and poor, bond and free, and men and women alike. The “law” here mentioned is not found in the scriptures, but in Judaism’s Mishna (“traditions of the elders”). How then do we reconcile I Cor. 14:34–35 with the even-handed way Paul treats men and women in all the passages we have surveyed to this point? We answer: With great difficulty! Scholars and biblical interpreters have struggled with this issue for generations.
The most likely explanation focuses upon the astonishing fact that women in the early Church were not only permitted—for the first time ever—to worship side by side with men but were given freedom to pray, prophesy, and participate in the services. It was the first and only public forum in their culture that welcomed such freedom of expression. Unfortunately, their newfound freedom bred excesses. Since women were illiterate and had been denied access to the scriptures, they may have been creating confusion and disorder through aggressive and noisy displays of ignorance. Consequently, they not only offended the sensitivities of male believers but were bringing reproach upon the Church in the eyes of non-believers. Thus Paul’s cautionary command.
In the light of Paul’s overall attitude toward women in the Church however, this passage is best interpreted as representing specific instructions to a particular problem-Church, and is not meant to be generalized as a universal rule binding upon all churches for time immemorial. It is ironic that most of the denominations which appeal to these verses for support in excluding women from preaching conveniently ignore Paul’s further command in this same chapter, “and do not forbid to speak in tongues” (14:39).
2) The I Timothy Texts: “Let a woman quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being quite deceived, fell into transgression. But women shall be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint” (I Tim. 2:11–15).
There is, not only a restatement of the injunction against women speaking in Church voiced in I Cor. 14:34–35, but a further rule: “I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man.” This is the proof-text most frequently cited by those who deny ordination and leadership positions to women in the Church. There is no question but that verse 12 asserts an externally imposed, gender-differentiated law excluding women from teaching and, thus, from all preaching and pastoral offices. This directive then is a clear call for the Church to order its life “according to the law” of Rabbis (I Cor. 14:34), rather than according to the grace which is “in Jesus Christ” (Gal 3:28). The rationale given for this prohibition is the “order of creation” by which the Jews defended female subordination: namely, man has preeminence over women because he was created first. We have already seen, in our study of I Cor. 11:8–12, that Paul rejects this argument out of hand. First, it does not reflect the believing woman’s standing “in the Lord.” Second, it ignores the fact that, after Adam, God Himself reversed the “order of creation.”
A second reason is offered which, again, owes its genesis not to any clear teaching found in either Testament but to Rabbinical tradition: that is, since “the woman, being quite deceived, fell into transgression,” she cannot be trusted with either teaching offices or leadership roles. This is a theologized version of “the weaker sex” argument. Paul, however, draws quite the opposite conclusion from the Genesis story of the fall in his other letters. In Romans he affirms that “Through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned. . . . Death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of Adam’s offense” (Rom. 5:12–14; cf. I Cor. 15:21ff.). Adam, and not Eve, is responsible for the entrance of sin and death into the world. Eve may well have been deceived, but Adam was not. He disobeyed with his eyes wide open. His was a knowing, deliberate, and dispassionate act of sin. Therefore his guilt was the greater. Eve is not blamed by Paul: he does not so much as even mention her. So much for Rabbinical “blame the woman” theology.
This restrictive passage concludes with a patronizing statement in v. 15: “But women shall be saved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self- restraint.” The implication is that both a woman’s salvation and worth as a human being is dependent upon her biological function as a mother. Where then does this leave single or barren women, such as Mary and Martha? While this demeaning view was prevalent in Judaism, it is impossible to imagine Jesus reflecting such a low estimate of a woman’s status before God.
How then do we deal with these multiple problems? Again we say: with great difficulty. Some scholars argue persuasively, on the basis of careful stylistic, linguistic and historical grounds, that the Pastoral Epistles did not come directly from the hand of Paul but from a more fully developed Church such as we find in the early second century. Others suggest that this passage may well have been an interpolation by a later copyist.
Many conservative New Testament suggest that this may well have been a particular directive applied, once more, to a specific Church problem situation in Ephesus. That is, unlettered and unschooled women were voicing “strange doctrines, . . . myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation” (I Tim. 1:3–4), thus creating disorder and fomenting false doctrine. It was never intended by Paul to be a rule locking women out of ministerial leadership roles for all time. For example, in this same letter Paul counsels Timothy to “drink a little wine for your stomach’s sake” (5:23). Most Evangelicals do not take this as a universal command for all ministers to partake of alcoholic beverages. Rather, they understand it to be sound medicinal advice appropriate to that time and situation in which water was not fit to drink.
I feel constrained to point out a flagrant flaw in the logic of those who use these two passages to justify gender discrimination in ministry: and that is, nobody really takes the command for “women to keep silent in the Church” seriously. To the contrary, both Protestant and Catholic Churches would be irreparably crippled if women ceased to “speak”—that is, witness, testify, sing, teach, counsel, comfort, encourage, and serve in all sorts of ministries. Here is the question: if we are not willing to interpret this injunction against women speaking in Church literally, then on what basis do we draw the line at the point of women preaching? If women cannot be trusted to preach and teach the Word to adults, should they be allowed to shoulder the bulk of responsibility for leading and teaching children who are at the most impressionable and vulnerable stage of their lives?
We began our study by noting that positions supporting male dominance and female subordination in the home and Church are indeed “biblical:” that is, they are supported in the Bible. Our question, however, has been: do these texts represent the overall revelation of scripture which finds its fullest and final expression in Jesus? More specifically, do these specific texts, which circumscribe women’s role in the Church, reflect Paul’s underlying position?
Our answer has been: no!
These texts which discriminate against women do not represent God’s original intention for the race. Neither are they representative of the overall teaching and practice of the Apostle Paul. Further, they find no support in the teaching or example of Jesus whatsoever. And, for the Christian interpreter, the life, teachings, and example of Jesus is the ultimate criterion by which everything else in the Bible is evaluated and judged. Finally, they cannot represent a timeless and universal rule in the Churches that understand themselves as a Community of the Spirit. On the day of Pentecost Peter exults in Joel’s prophecy which celebrates the new freedom women will enjoy in the new age of the Holy Spirit: “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,” and “upon both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit, and they shall prophesy (proclaim, preach) (Acts 2:17–19).
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