Brett A. Todd
The infamous words of “Paul” that women are supposed to be silent in the church have had a long-lasting effect on the church, even into these modern times. You probably know this passage as well as anyone. 1 Corinthian 14:34 reads, “Women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak but be subordinate [to men?]...” Obviously “Paul” never heard of women’s rights or the “Me Too” movement.
How are we supposed to understand these words? Bible scholars have long debated these words and have come up with several different answers that you might or might not agree with: 1)Traditionally, many scholars through the years simply believed that what Paul said is what he said, women should be silent in the church, period. Now they may add to this thought that this was the culture of the time and now we live in a culture where women are more educated and should now be allowed to speak in the church.
2) Other Bible scholars are of the opinion that Paul is quoting what some other men said in some of the house churches in Corinthian but were without question wrong. Women don’t have to be silent in the church. The hinge pin to this argument is that later Paul scolds these men in verse 36 by basically saying “Where did you get this great revelation?” This is how verse 36 reads, “Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only ones it has reached?” It is Paul’s slap slap in the face for these early Christian male-chauvinist men.
3) Some other modern scholars have a different twist on these words found in verse 36 that seem to make a lot of sense. They believe these words (women should be silent in the church) were added later by scribes to keep women subordinate to men, and yes, silent in the church. They note that in other ancient Greek manuscripts these words in verse 36 are located in different locations in 1 Corinthians which is a possible indication that these words were added later. In other words, these words “women are to be silent in the church” are fraudulent words added by some scribe and not the words of the Apostle Paul.
As I look at these hotly debated words, I think it is self-evident that more than likely, no matter what argument one is inclined to, Paul's thoughts on the matter were probably not too far off from the idea that women should be silent in the church. Yes, today, most modern thinkers would view the Apostle Paul as a male chauvinist or a misogynist.
This is not the end of the story. Sometime back a scholar at the University of Cambridge was examining this same verse where women are told to be silent in the church and saw something other scholars had missed. What did this scholar see? It was a tiny little ancient dash called “distigme-obelos” that indicates this verse was added to Paul’s original words. Now, this tiny little dash was not found in some obscure ancient Greek manuscript, it was found in one of the oldest and most reliable manuscripts, called the Codex Vaticanus.
Where does this leave us? More than likely, Paul never penned the words that women are to be silent in the church. Nevertheless, it would not surprise me that he would have agreed with it.
In our next study, we will add “part 3” to our discussion concerning the early church’s view of women in the church. I was asked for my opinion concerning the Apostle's usage of the word “head” when he said that man was the “head” of the woman (1 Corinthians 11:3). This should be a fun Scripture to look at.
No comments:
Post a Comment