BiBLiOTHECA SACRA 168 (July-September 2011): 317-33

PAULINE COMMANDS AND

WOMEN IN l CORINTHIANS 14
Andrew B. Spurgeon

T
HE CORINTHIAN BELIEVERS HAD ASKED PAUL several ques­
tions t h a t he answered in 1 Corinthians. He introduced each
answer with πβρί δέ ("and concerning") in 7:1, 25; 8:1; 12:1;
16:1, 12. The fourth πβρί δέ topic discussed questions about spiri­
tual gifts and the Resurrection (chaps. 12-15). I n discussing spiri­
tual gifts Paul stated who a spiritual person is (12:1-3), how t h e
spiritual gifts operate (12:4-14:25), a n d how spiritual gifts
strengthen the body of Christ (14:26-36). To illustrate how a spiri­
tual gift can strengthen the body of Christ, he discussed three spe­
cific situations: speaking in unlearned languages (14:26-28),
prophesying (14:29-33), and women remaining silent in the church
gathering (14:34-36). The last of these three issues h a s become a
m a t t e r of contention. The purpose of this article is to evaluate sev­
eral views on these topics and to propose a n alternative to the tra­
ditional rendering of the passage.

CONTEXT: STRENGTHENING THE C H U R C H (14:26-36)

Earlier in 1 Corinthians 14 Paul repeatedly t a u g h t t h a t spiritual

gifts a r e given for the strengthening of the church (οίκοδομήν a n d
οικοδομέω, vv. 3, 4, 5, 12, 17). He stated t h a t principle again in this
section: "What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble,
each one h a s a psalm, h a s a teaching, h a s a revelation, h a s a
tongue, h a s a n interpretation. Let all things be done for edification
[οίκοδομήν]" (v. 26).
The gift of speaking in languages strengthens t h e church, b u t

Andrew B. Spurgeon is Research Development Director, Asia Graduate School of

Theology, Manila, Philippines.
318 BiBLiOTHECA SACRA / July-September 2011

only if three criteria are met. First, there should be only two or
three speakers of foreign languages in a church gathering (v. 27b).
Second, language-speakers must take turns so that their words do
not overlap and become meaningless (v. 27c). Third, someone needs
to interpret what is said (v. 27; cf. vv. 6, 13). If those criteria are
not met, the language-speakers must remain silent (σιγάω) in the
church (v. 28a). Of course language-speakers are free to speak to
God or to his or her own heart in silence (v. 28b). Such orderli­
ness—two or three language-speakers taking turns, and with in­
terpretation—and self-control (remaining silent when there is no
interpretation) will strengthen the church.
Also prophesying strengthens the church when proper stipula­
tions are followed. First, only two or three prophets should speak in
a church gathering (v. 29a). Second, other prophets must examine
the prophecy to determine its authenticity and orthodoxy (w. 29b,
32). Third, while a prophet is speaking, if someone sitting in the
congregation receives a revelation (from God), the former prophet
must remain silent (σιγάω, v. 30). A direct revelation from God,
unlike prophecies, need not be examined for authenticity and or­
thodoxy, and therefore the prophets must give way to authentic
revelation from God. Fourth, prophesying must be given in se­
quence, one after the other, in order to facilitate learning and en­
couragement (v. 31). Fifth, prophesying must not lead to chaotic
disorder; instead, it must bring peace (v. 33).
Paul's third example of strengthening dealt with women's si­
lence (σιγάω) in the congregation. At first glance his reason for in­
troducing this topic seems puzzling, especially since he had already
taught that women may pray and prophesy (11:5). At the same
time, the words and thoughts are congruous to what he has been
teaching: (a) σιγάω (as he instructed language-speakers [w. 34,
28], and prophets, v. 30); (b) λαλέω (as he instructed language-
speakers [γλώσση Tis λαλεί, v. 27; and prophets προφήται . . .
λαλείτωσαν, v. 29]); (c) υποτάσσω (v. 34, as he instructed prophets
[πνεύματα προφητών . . . υποτάσσεται, v. 32]); (d) and μανθάνω (v.
35, as he instructed prophets [πάντες μανθάνωσιν, v. 31]). Thus it is
necessary to understand Paul's instructions to the Corinthians and
consider applications for the contemporary church.

SUMMARY OF PROPOSED THEORIES

The standard interpretation of the three imperatives is to treat

them as direct commands: "women should remain silent [σιγάτ-
ωσαν] . . . must be in submission [ύποτασσεσθωσαν] . . . they should
ask [έπερωτάτωσαν] their own husbands" (14:34-35, NIV). Scholars
 Pauline Commands and Women in 1 Corinthians 14 319

have proposed three theories to explain these commands: (1) "Paul

said it," and the message is universal; (2) "Paul did not say it"; and
(3) "Paul said it," but the message is culture-bound.1
First, some claim that Paul's message is a universal prohibi-
tion of women against speaking in church. Robertson and Plummer
write, "The women are to keep silence in the public services. They
would join in the Amen (v. 16), but otherwise not be heard. . . .
Teaching he forbids them to attempt. . . . [This was a] rule taken
over from the synagogue and maintained in the primitive Church
(1 Tim ii.12)."2 In support of this view are the facts that the word-
ing seems to suggest this interpretation, and that 1 Timothy 2 : I l -
io seems to favor this interpretation.
However, this view faces several difficulties. This view is con-
trary to Paul's instructions elsewhere within the same letter in
which he speaks of women praying and prophesying (11:5). Some
seek to answer this by suggesting that these verses discuss private
prayer and prophesying, which Paul did not prohibit, and that
14:34-36 deal with praying and prophesying in the congregation,
which Paul did object to. 3 Barrett, however, thinks such a differen-
tiation is "special pleading,"4 and Dunn asks, "Where else would
prophets prophesy, and to whom else would they prophesy than to
other believers?"5 Further, if women were to prophesy in private

1
Robert W. Allison suggests a similar threefold division ("Let Women Be Silent in
the Churches (1 Cor. 14:33b-36). What Did Paul Really Say, and What Did It
Mean?" Journal for the Study of the New Testament 32 [fall 1988]: 28).
2
Archibald Robertson and Alfred Plummer, A Critical and Exegetical
Commentary on the First Epistle of St Paul to the Corinthians, International Critical
Commentary, 2nd ed. (Edinburgh: Clark, 1914), 324-25. See also Ed Boschman,
"Women's Role in Ministry in the Church," Direction 18 (fall 1989): 47. Matthew
Henry wrote, "There is indeed an intimation (ch. xi. 5) as if the women sometimes
did pray and prophesy in their assemblies. But here he seems to forbid all public
performances of theirs" (Matthew Henry's Commentary in One Volume, ed. Leslie F.
Church [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1961], 1822).
3
Harold R. Holmyard III writes, "A number of observations suggest that these
verses refer to women wearing head coverings when praying or prophesying in non-
church settings" ("Does 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 Refer to Women Praying and
Prophesying in Church?" Bibliotheca Sacra 154 [October-December 1997]: 467,
italics added). See also John H. Fish III, "Women Speaking in the Church," Emmaus
Journal 1 (winter 1992): 214-51. But Markus McDowell, after examining over six
hundred prayers from the Second Temple era, has successfully argued that Jewish
women prayed in both private and public (Prayers of Jewish Women [Tübingen:
Mohr Siebeck, 2006], 198-208).
4
C. Κ. Barrett, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, Black's New Testament
Commentary (Peabody, MA: Henrickson, 1968), 331.
5
James D. G. Dunn, 1 Corinthians, T&T Clark Study Guides (New York: Clark
International, 2003), 75.
320 BiBLiOTHECA SACRA / July-September 2011

(11:5) and then the church were to evaluate those prophecies to

determine if they were truthful (14:32), would this not make all
private prophecies public? Thus it is highly doubtful that Paul
would have differentiated between private and public prophesying
and praying.
Another explanation is that 11:5 was a hypothetical situation. 6
However, nothing in the context of 11:5 suggests that Paul was
dealing with a hypothetical situation, and it is highly doubtful that
he would have given an extensive explanation (11:1-16) of a hypo­
thetical practice that he never intended the church to practice. 7
Regarding 1 Timothy 2:11-15 there are more dissimilarities than
similarities between that passage and 1 Corinthians 14. For exam­
ple 1 Corinthians addresses the issues of spiritual gifts and speak­
ing (KaXelv) whereas 1 Timothy addresses teaching and exercising
authority.
Second, some claim that Paul did not say these words, and
thus the passage is a non-Pauline interpolation. Fee writes, "One
must assume that the words were first written as a gloss in the
margin by someone who, probably in light of 1 Tim. 2:9-15, felt the
need to qualify Paul's instructions even further. Since the phe­
nomenon of glosses making their way into the biblical text is well
documented elsewhere in the NT (e.g., 5:3b-4; 1 John 5:7), there is
no good historical reason to reject the possibility here." 8 Several
factors support this view. (1) Some Western manuscripts trans­
posed 14:34-35 to the end of the chapter, after verse 40, thus sug­
gesting that the scribes debated the Pauline authorship and
placement of these verses. (2) Placing this passage along with a
discussion of spiritual gifts and prophesying seems odd. (3) Some of

"We are not sure whether St Paul contemplated the possibility of women
prophesying in exceptional cases. What is said in xi. 5 may be hypothetical"
(Robertson and Plummer, The First Epistle of St Paul to the Corinthians, 325).
James G. Sigountos and Myron Shank write, "It would be quite strange for him
to devote a lengthy argument to the proper fashion for a practice he is about to con­
demn as wrong" ("Public Roles for Women in the Pauline Church: A Reappraisal of
the Evi4ence," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 2 [September 1983]:
284).
Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, New International
Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), 705. See also
William O. Walker Jr., "1 Corinthians 15:29-34 as a Non-Pauline Interpolation,"
Catholic Biblical Quarterly 69 (2007): 699-705; and Ν. T. Wright, The New
Testament and the People of God, vol. 1 of Christian Origins and the Question of God
(Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992), 107 n. 48. Robin Scroggs proposes a variation of this
theory, arguing that a Paulinist (who wished to revise Paul) disagreed with Paul's
liberation of women and inserted these modifications ("Paul: Chauvinist or
Liberationist?" Christian Century, March 15, 1972, 307-9).
 Pauline Commands and Women in 1 Corinthians 14 321

the concepts in this section may not seem characteristic of Paul.

On the other hand several factors oppose this view. (1) Even
though some significant Western manuscripts (D F G) have trans­
posed these verses to the end of the chapter, these verses were
viewed as authentic though out of place. Metzger writes, "Such
scribal alterations represent attempts to find a more appropriate
9
location in the context for Paul's directive concerning women." (2)
All the earlier manuscripts have this text at the precise location
and give no indication of being an interpolation. 10 The transposi­
tion could be explained as an accidental omission (an instance of
haplography), in which a scribe's eyes skipped from εκκλησία at the
end of verse 33 to εκκλησία at the end of verse 35, thus omitting
verses 34-35. n Then when the error was discovered, the missing
verses (vv. 34-35) were inserted at the end of the chapter, after
verse 40. Thus there is no reason to argue for a non-Pauline
interpolation of these verses. Though Horsley points to "several
non-Pauline expressions (e.g., 'as the law also says'—without
reciting a particular passage)," 12 in actuality, however, several
expressions in the verses point to Pauline authorship. 1 3
Third, others say that though Paul wrote those words, the
message is limited to the culture in Paul's day. Fiorenza argues
that these commands were addressed not to all women but only to
married women (as suggested by the phrase "let them ask their
own husbands at home"), for this reflects "a Jewish patriarchal
pattern." 1 4 In response, however, Paul seems not to have differen-

9
Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament: A
Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament, 2nd ed.
(New York: United Bible Societies, 1994), 499.
10
In examining Codex Vaticanus, J. Edward Miller argues that the umlaut there
does not indicate that the scribe knew of a variant ("Some Observations on the Text-
Critical Function of the Umlauts in Vaticanus, with Special Attention to 1
Corinthians 14.34-35," Journal for the Study of the New Testament 26 [2003]: 217-
36).
11
Antoinette Clark Wire, The Corinthian Women Prophets: A Reconstruction
through Paul's Rhetoric (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990), 151-52.
12
Richard A. Horsley, 1 Corinthians (Nashville: Abingdon, 1998), 189. Walker
writes, "In short, it is my judgment that the peculiarities of the vocabulary of 1 Cor
15:29-34 are such as to raise serious questions regarding Pauline authorship of the
verses" ("1 Corinthians 15:29-34 as a Non-Pauline Interpolation," 92).
13
Raymond F. Collins cites six expressions that suggest Pauline authorship (First
Corinthians, Sacra Pagina [Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 1999], 516). See also
Barrett, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, 330-31.
14
Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological
Reconstruction of Christian Origins (New York: Crossroad, 1983), 230-33. Also
322 BiBLiOTHECA SACRA / July-September 2011

tiated between "wives" and "women" in this passage as he did

elsewhere in 7:25, 28, 34, 36-38 ("virgins," παρθένοι); 7:8 ("widows,"
χήρα); and 7:8, 11, 32, 34 ("unmarried," άγαμοι). Most likely Paul
was addressing all women, and the phrase τους ίδιους άνδρας (lit.,
"their own men") in 14:35 means their husbands, fathers, or broth­
ers. 1 5
Wire suggests that Paul was refuting the prophetesses in the
Corinthian church who were imitating Greek prophetesses.
Whereas the prophetesses exalted themselves, uncovered their
heads, and prophesied freely in church gatherings, Paul wanted
them to "restrain" themselves and to "subordinate" themselves to
the more established social order. Wire says that although Paul
permitted women to pray and prophesy in chapter 11, he quickly
changed his mind in chapter 14 and wanted the women to submit
to traditional family roles. 16 But if there were problems with their
behavior, Paul would have addressed them earlier, just as he ad­
dressed dissension and sexual immoralities.
Others have argued that these words of prohibition in 14:34-
35 were those of the Corinthians and that Paul was refuting them,
saying, "Was it from you that the word of God first went forth?" (v.
36). 17 Although Paul had corrected some of the Corinthians' slo­
gans (6:12-13; 10:23), 14:34-35 give no evidence of being a Corin­
thian slogan. 18
Some scholars have argued that the Corinthian women were
disruptive in the church by talking aloud and asking questions,

Horsley writes, "Paul has to be addressing only married women, not all women, in
14:34-35, since in 11:5 he had already implicitly acknowledged that women were
active in prayer and prophesying" (1 Corinthians, 189).
Ben Witherington III writes, "I am less sure now than before that these verses
refer to married women. The phrase 'their own men' (v. 35) need not refer to hus­
bands. It could also refer to whoever was the male head of a particular woman's
household. But probably 'husband' is what is meant" (Conflict and Community in
Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians [Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1995], 287 n. 43).
16
Wire, The Corinthian Women Prophets, 59-61.
Collins, First Corinthians, 514. See also Joseph A. Fitzmyer, First Corinthians:
A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New Haven, CT: Yale
University Press, 2008), 530; Allison, "Let Women Be Silent in the Churches," 27-
60; and Louis Rayan, "Be Subject to One Another Out of Reverence for Christ (Eph.
5:21)," Indian Theological Studies 47 (June 2009): 23-48.
Craig L. Blomberg lists seven other objections to this view, including form, lack
of historical evidence, and structure (1 Corinthians, NIV Application Commentary
Series [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995], 280). Jay E. Smith lists criteria by which
to determine a Corinthian "slogan" ("Slogans in 1 Corinthians," Bibliotheca Sacra
167 [January-March 2010]: 84-86).
 Pauline Commands and Women In 1 Corinthians 14 323

and therefore Paul instructed them not to speak, that is, not to
"converse" or engage in conversation. Dockery writes, "The problem
addressed in ν 34 probably deals with a specific difficulty of women
interrupting the services with either outbursts of glossalalia or un­
timely, unedifying questions. Paul commands these women to re­
main silent and in reference to the untimely questions commands
19
that they ask these questions to their husbands at home." The
difficulty with this view is that the word λαλέω ("speak") in this
context refers to more than "conversation" since Paul referred to
speaking in languages as γλώσση τις λαλβΐ (14:27) and prophesying
as προφήται . . . λαλείτωσαν (v. 29). Thus if Paul was prohibiting
any speaking, he would have been prohibiting women speaking in
languages and prophecies. Soards writes, "The verb [λαλέω] does
not name an activity that is distinct from other sensible speech or
prayer or prophecy. Through the rest of chapter 14 'to speak'
clearly and consistently refers to inspired speech (see w . 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 9, 11, 13, 18, 19, 21, 23, 27, 28, 29, 39). The vocabulary employed
in these verses does not distinguish this reference from all other
mentions of speaking in this and other chapters." 2 0
Still others have argued that uneducated women in the Corin­
thian congregation were asking inappropriate questions in the
church, and therefore Paul instructed them to stop interrupting the
church with their foolish talk. Morris writes, "We must bear in
mind that in the first century women were uneducated. The Jews
regarded it as a sin to teach a woman, and the position was not
much better elsewhere. The Corinthian women should keep quiet
in church if for no other reason than because they could have had

i y
David S. Dockery, "The Role of Women in Worship and Ministry: Some
Hermeneutical Questions," Criswell Theological Review 1 (spring 1987): 370. H. A.
Ironside writes, "If at such a time [church gatherings] the women hear something
they do not understand, do not let them interrupt the meeting by inquiring aloud
nor by seeking to teach. Let them ask their husbands at home" (Addresses on the
First Epistle to the Corinthians [New York: Loizeaux Bros., 1938], 455). F. F. Bruce
thinks this is one of the two possibilities, the other being that women were not to be
involved in evaluating the prophets (1 and 2 Corinthians, New Century Bible
[Greenwood, SC: Attic, 1971], 135). See also Thomas D. Lea and Hayne P. Griffin
Jr., 1, 2 Timothy, Titus, New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman, 1992),
100; James D. G. Dunn, 1 Corinthians (London: Clark, 1999), 74-75; and John
MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Nashville: Thomas
Nelson, 2007), 514.
2 0
Marion L. Soards, 1 Corinthians, New International Biblical Commentary
(Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1999), 306. J. Vernon McGee writes, "He is not saying
that a woman is not to speak in church; he is saying that she is not to speak in
tongues in the church" (1 Corinthians, Thru the Bible Commentary Series
[Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1991], 168).
324 BiBLiOTHECA SACRA / July-September 2011

little or nothing worthwhile to say."21 If that were the case, Paul

would have instructed only the ιδιώτη ν women ("the uneducated
women"—a word he used in the same chapter, in w . 16, 23-24) to
refrain from speaking in the church.22 The argument that women
were not educated misrepresents the Bible and the women of the
Bible. The Law clearly included women in hearing the Law (Deut.
31:12); therefore the Jews made sure that men and women were
present when the Law was read (Neh. 8:2-3).23 Several women,
although unschooled, were brilliant. Hannah composed a psalm of
praise (1 Sam. 2:1-10), Mary composed the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-
55), Mary the sister of Martha was keen to hear the Lord's teach­
ings (Luke 10:39), and Priscilla, along with her husband Aquila,
"explained to him [Apollos] the way of God more accurately" (Acts
18:26). Thus the evidence shows that women in Judaism were edu­
cated in the Law, even if they were generally unschooled.24
Others have argued that Paul was not forbidding women from
exercising their gifts of prophecy in the church; instead he was for­
bidding them from "joining in the congregational discussion of
what a prophet or a teacher had said."25 The merit of this view is

Leon Morris, The First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: An Introduction and
Commentary, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL:
InterVarsity, 1985), 197-98. Craig S. Keener writes, "The short-range solution was
that the women were to stop interrupting the service; the long-range solution was
that they were to learn the knowledge that they have been lacking" (Paul, Women
and Wives: Marriage and Women's Ministry in the Letters of Paul [Peabody, MA:
Hendrickson, 1992], 88).
It is actually an insult to suggest that only educated women were permitted to
speak (λαλέω) in the churches. The Bible sets no such limitation on uneducated peo­
ple, male or female. Blomberg correctly notes that this view "fail[s] to explain why
Paul silenced all women and no men, when presumably there were at least a few
well-educated, courteous, or orthodox women and at least a few uneducated, less
polite, or doctrinally aberrant men!" (I Corinthians, 280-81, italics his).
2 3
See also 1 Esdras 9:40-41.
Similarly non-Jewish women could also have been well versed in philosophies,
although unschooled. "Women all over the Mediterranean would have been able to
hear philosophy from a variety of schools in their homes as Pliny and Seneca indi­
cate in their correspondence" (Nathan J. Barnes, "Women in Philosophy and the
Agon Motif of 1 Corinthians 9," Perspectives in Religious Studies 36 [spring 2009]:
59).
2 5
Margaret E. Thrall, The First and Second Letters of Paul to the Corinthians,
Cambridge Bible Commentary (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965),
102. Blomberg writes, "An authoritative evaluation of prophecy, however, while
requiring input from the whole congregation, would ultimately have been the re­
sponsibility of the church leadership (what Paul elsewhere calls elders or overseers),
who, at least in the first century, seem to have been exclusively male" (1
Corinthians, 281). Arthur Rowe takes this a step further, suggesting that the
women started to judge their own husbands' prophesies, thus causing marital un-
 Pauline Commands and Women in 1 Corinthians 14 325

that the context does speak of "evaluating" prophecies (v. 29). But
verses 34-35 make no reference to "evaluation." Paul seems to
have been prohibiting speaking prophesies or languages instead of
examining them. 2 6 However, this view has "the least number of
additional difficulties."27
The theories 2 8 and literature on this subject are vast. 2 9 Basi­
cally they all see the three imperatives as direct commands and
seek to show that Paul's commands are neither extreme nor con­
tradictory to the rest of the Bible.

rest, and that explains why Paul did not want the women to be involved in the judg­
ing of the prophets ("Silence and the Christian Women of Corinth: An Examination
of 1 Corinthians 14:33b-36," Communio viatorum 33 [spring-summer 1990]: 70).
Simon J. Kistemaker argues similarly. "No pastor wishes to be publicly criticized by
his wife in a worship service; if she does, she undermines his ministry and is a dis­
grace to him" (Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, New Testament
Commentary [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993], 513). See also Dunn, I Corinthians, 75;
L. Ann Jervis, "1 Corinthians 14.34-35: A Reconsideration of Paul's Limitation of
the Free Speech of Some Corinthian Women," Journal for the Study of the New
Testament 58 (June 1995): 51-74; Sigountos and Shank, "Public Roles for Women in
the Pauline Church," 284; and Warren W. Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary
(Colorado Springs: Cook, 2007), 492.
2 6
One could argue that the verb "submit" (υποτάσσω) is used of both the evaluat­
ing of prophecies and of the women being silent, and therefore submitting was the
common theme. If so, Paul was actually encouraging women to prophesy (the logic
would be, "Prophets were subject to prophets; women must submit to others because
the women were prophesying").
Blomberg, 1 Corinthians, 281.
2 8
Three additional theories are these: (a) Paul was prohibiting only disorderliness
(Roger L. Omanson, "The Role of Women in the New Testament Church," Review &
Expositor 83 [winter 1986]: 21; and Dunn, 1 Corinthians, 75). (b) The message of
Galatians 3:28 supersedes this passage (Reimund Bieringer, "Women and
Leadership in Romans 16: The Leading Roles of Phoebe, Prisca, and Junia in Early
Christianity," East Asian Pastoral Review 14 [2007]: 225). (c) These cultural com­
mands do not apply to churches today (N. J. Hommes, "Let Women Be Silent in
Church: A Message Concerning the Worship Service and the Decorum to Be
Observed by Women," Calvin Theological Journal [April 1969]: 5-22; and Jon M.
Isaak, "Hearing God's Word in the Silence: A Canonical Approach to 1 Corinthians
14.34-35," Direction 24 [fall 1995]: 55-64).
2 9
Carl B. Hoch Jr., "The Role of Women in the Church: A Survey of Current
Approaches," Grace Theological Journal 8 (fall 1987): 241-51; Keener, Paul, Women
and Wives, 74-88; Richard Clark Kroeger and Catherine Clark Kroeger, J Suffer Not
a Woman: Rethinking 1 Timothy 2:11-15 in Light of Ancient Evidence (Grand
Rapids: Baker, 1992); Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians,
New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000),
1147-62; James R. Beck and Craig L. Blomberg, eds., Two Views on Women in
Ministry (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001); Bruce W. Winter, Roman Wives, Roman
Widows: The Apperance of New Women and the Pauline Communities (Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003); Ronald W. Pierce and Rebecca Merrill Groothuis, eds.,
Discovering Biblical Equality: Complementarity without Hierarchy (Downers Grove,
IL: InterVarsity, 2004); and Leelamma Athyal, Man and Woman: Towards a
Theology of Partnership (Tiruvalla, India: Christava Sahitya Samithy, 2005).
326 BiBLiOTHECA SACRA / July-September 2011

AN ALTERNATIVE PROPOSAL

An alternative proposal to the traditional rendering is to see the

imperatives as permissive imperatives, that is, Paul was sanction­
ing an ongoing action that he felt should continue. "Women are to
continue to remain silent, continue to submit, and continue to ask
questions of their family" (author's translation). Instead of envi­
sioning a scene in which Corinthian women wanted to speak and
Paul was silencing them, this alternative view sees a situation in
which Corinthian women hesitated to speak in front of unrelated
men (as in a church gathering) because of their cultural upbring­
ing. Having received the gifts of the Holy Spirit such as speaking in
languages and prophecies, some women were unsure whether to
remain silent in public gatherings (something they preferred) or to
speak in languages and prophecies. The matter was brought to
Paul, and he commanded that the church let the women continue
as they were—remaining silent, submitting, and asking questions
at home with their own family members—instead of speaking or
asking questions in the church against their personal convictions.30
Permissive imperatives are rare. As Wallace writes, "The im­
perative is rarely used to connote permission or, better, tolera­
tion."31 But in a few instances writers used the permissive impera­
tive. 32 Permissive imperatives are also easily misunderstood. They
are foremost volitional—the writer commands the hearer to do a

This proposed view does not ignore or negate the existence of female speakers
such as Phythia at Delphi and Sybil (Plato, Phaedrus, 244), prophetesses such as
the daughters of Philip (Acts 21:9), or benefactresses (R. A. Kearsley, "Women in
Public Life in the Roman East: Iunia Theodora, Claudia Metrodora and Phoebe,
Benefactresses of Paul," Tyndale Bulletin 50 [1999]: 189-211). This proposal refers
to women in general who might have been shy or timid to speak in public.
Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar beyond the Basics (Grand Rapids:
Zondervan, 1996), 489 (italics his). He adds, "It often views the act as a fait accom­
pli. In such instances, the mood could almost be called 'an imperative of resigna­
tion.' Overall, it is best to treat this as a statement of permission, allowance, or tol­
eration" (ibid., italics his).
Scholars list two other passages in 1 Corinthians with permissive imperatives:
7:15 and 7:36 (ibid., 490). See also Ernest De Witt Burton, Syntax of the Moods and
Tenses in New Testament Greek (Edinburgh: Clark, 1898), 80; A. T. Robertson, A
Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research (New
York: Hodder & Stoughton, 1915), 948; and James L. Boyer, "A Classification of
Imperatives: A Statistical Study," Grace Theological Journal 8 (spring 1987): 37. In
7:15 the imperative allowed an unbelieving spouse to depart from a believing
spouse—"Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave [χωρι£έσθω]"; and in 7:36
Paul's imperative granted permission to virgins to marry when they wished—"But if
any man thinks that he is acting unbecomingly toward his virgin daughter, if she is
past her youth, and if it must be so, let him do what he wishes, he does not sin; let
her marry [γαμείτωσαν]."
 Pauline Commands and Women in 1 Corinthians 14 327

certain action. Porter writes, "The command attitudinally

grammaticalizes the speaker's desire to give direction to a
process."33 Fantin writes, "The meaning of the imperative which is
being labeled volitional, does not necessarily mean that it is the
speaker's desire. Rather, the imperative presents the language
code in a way which portrays a specific manner for the
action/event/belief/etc. to be carried out. It is in this way that it is
volitional . . . permission, tolerance, etc. are forms of volition. They
communicate to the hearer that the action may continue."34 In
other words a permissive imperative "does not normally imply that
some deed is optional or approved."35 Instead the writer gives
direction to an ongoing action to continue.36
Second, the "object of the command" usually wished for that
(permissive) command or was already following that command.
Dana and Mantey write, "The command signified by the imperative
may be in compliance with an expressed desire or a manifest incli-
nation on the part of the one who is the object of the command, thus
involving consent as well as command."37 Thus in 1 Corinthians
14:34-36 Paul may have been giving directions that certain ongo-
ing actions in the church were to continue as the Corinthians
wished or practiced—women who were already silent were to con-
tinue remaining silent, women who already submitted to their
husbands were to continue submitting, and women who were al-
ready asking questions at home were to continue asking questions

Stanley E. Porter, Verbal Aspect in the Greek of the New Testament, with
Reference to Tense and Mood (New York: Peter Lang, 1989), 335.
3
Joseph D. Fantin, The Greek Imperative Mood in the New Testament: A
Cognative and Communicative Approach (New York: Peter Lang, 2010), 150 (italics
his). Chung-hye Han writes, "Imperatives are in principle agentive . . . the directive
force sets forth a plan which is expected to be realized by an agent" ("The Structure
and Interpretation of the Imperatives: Mood and Force in Universal Grammar"
[Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1998], 168). Wallace writes, "But that voli-
tional force is nevertheless still lurking beneath the surface, even when the speaker
is not barking orders" (Wallace, Greek Grammar beyond the Basics, 486).
35
Wallace, Greek Grammar beyond the Basics, 488 (italics his).
36
Imperatives can either initiate an action (as direct commands) or respond to an
action (as permissive commands). The latter "merely confirms, permits, or tolerates
an action/statement/question previously initiated or suggested" (Fantin, The Greek
Imperative Mood in the New Testament, 252), or in the case of 1 Corinthians 7:15
and 7:36 "the author is simply directing action based on the actions and/or decisions
of others" (ibid., 255). Boyer writes, "Rather than an appeal to the will, this category
involves a response to the will of another" ("A Classification of Imperatives," 37).
37
H. E. Dana and Julius R. Mantey, A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testa-
ment (Toronto: Macmillan, 1957), 176 (italics added).
328 BlBLlOTHECA SACRA / July-September 2011

at home. The durative aspect38 of the present imperatives further

strengthens the concept that the women in Corinth were already
practicing these commands and Paul affirmed them.
Third, permissive commands are usually expressed by third-
person imperatives but are addressed to a second-person audience;
in this case Paul's audience was the Corinthian church. Porter
writes, "The third person Greek imperative is as strongly directive
as the second person."39 And Wallace writes, "Its [third-person im-
perative] force is more akin to he must, however, or periphrasti-
cally, J command him to"40 To say it differently, the third-person
imperative refers to a "recipient group"41 within Paul's primary
audience (second person). In other words Paul was addressing and
commanding the Corinthian church (second person) by focusing on
a recipient group within the church (al ywaÎK€s, "the women"),
because the recipient group was already doing an action of which
he approved (permissive imperatives): "I command [you, the
church] that women [in your congregation] must continue to be si-
lent, obey, and ask questions at home . . . as they have been doing."
The immediate context seems to support this hypothesis.
Paul's reasoning for the command was expressed by the words, "for
they are not permitted to speak" (14:34). Traditionally this state-
ment has been understood as Paul or the culture prohibiting the
women from speaking in the church.42 But it is possible that the

d
° The present imperative usually implies durative ("continuous") or iterative ("re-
peated") action (e.g., "let them continue to be silent" or "every time when the church
gathers, let them be silent"). For this function of the present imperative see Robert
G. Hoerber, "Implications of the Imperative in the Sermon on the Mount,"
Concordia Journal 7 (May 1981): 100; Kenneth L. McKay, "Aspect in Imperatival
Constructions in New Testament Greek" Novum Testamentum 27 (July 1985): 201-
26; and William D. Mounce, Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar, 3rd ed. (Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 310. John Thorley also sees these present imperatives as
"free" imperatives, in which Paul was not under lexical restrictions to choose a
present imperative, and yet he did so because he wanted to emphasize the durative
nature of the imperative ("Aktionsart in New Testament Greek: Infinitive and
Imperative," Novum Testamentum 31 [1989]: 306-10).
39
Stanley E. Porter, Idioms of the Greek New Testament (Sheffield: Sheffield
Academic, 1999), 55. Fantin writes, "The vast majority of third person imperatives
in the New Testament are directed toward the second person in one way or another"
(The Greek Imperative Mood in the New Testament, 269). Boyer writes, "Most of the
third person imperatives are aimed indirectly at the one addressed and are there-
fore basically not much different from second person imperatives" ("A Classification
of Imperatives," 37).
Wallace, Greek Grammar beyond the Basics, 487.
41
Fantin, The Greek Imperative Mood in the New Testament, 269-74.
If that was Paul's intention, one might expect him to have used a simpler con-
 Pauline Commands and Women in 1 Corinthians 14 329

women themselves sought permission not to speak in the congrega­

tion. When the construction επιτρέπω plus a dative noun occurs,
the dative noun refers to both the person who received the com­
mand and the person who sought the permission. When Jesus said,
"Moses permitted you [ύμιν] to divorce your wives" (Matt. 19:8), it
was the Jews (Sadducees) who sought the divorce. And in Mark
5:13 "Jesus gave them [αύτοίς] permission" in response to the re­
quest of the demons who sought permission to enter pigs. 43 Thus it
may be that the women in the congregation themselves (αύταις)
sought the permission not to speak ("To they themselves, it is not
permissible to speak"). Such an interpretation may be suggested by
Paul's choice of the middle voice επιτρέπεται—where the "subject
performs or experiences the action expressed by the verb in such a
way that [it] emphasizes the subject's participation"44 Since the
women themselves45 did not find it permissible (i.e., they hesitated)
to speak in public, Paul commanded the church that the women
must continue to remain silent (σιγάτωσαν) instead of speaking in
languages and prophecies in the congregation.
Why did the Corinthian women think that speaking in the
congregation in front of other men who were unrelated to them was
not permissible? Perhaps this was because they associated such
speaking with nonsubmissive action, that is, an expression of im­
modesty. 46 Paul's strong adversative αλλά ("but") in verse 34 sup-

struction such as ουκ λαλβίν έτητρέτω γυναικί—similar to his prohibition in 1 Timo­

thy 2:12.
Other examples include a potential disciple seeking permission—"Lord, permit
me [μοι]"—to bury his father (Matt. 8:21) or a disciple saying good-bye to his family
(Luke 9:61) before following Jesus. Another example is Paul seeking permission
(έπίτρεψόν μοι) to speak (λαλήσαι) before the people (Acts 21:39) and receiving per­
mission from the Roman commander (v. 40) or Agrippa (26:1).
44
Wallace, Greek Grammar beyond the Basics, 414.
"This is semantically equivalent to an active verb with a reflexive pronoun as
object: simply add himself, herself, etc. as direct object to the verb" (ibid., 417, italics
his).
Craig S. Keener writes, "Plutarch insists that a wife ought to reserve her speak­
ing for her husband, or through him (Bride 32; Mor. 142D). Pliny the Younger
praises his young wife for enjoying his readings—as she sits privately behind a cur­
tain (Ep. 4.19.4). He also mentions an excellent speaker who publicly read eloquent
letters from his wife, the wife herself not appearing to read them (Ep. 1.16.6). . . . A
virtuous woman in a possibly third-century novel prefers that the man with her
speak, 'for I think it proper for a woman to be silent, and for a man to make answer,
before a company of men' (Heliodorus, Eth. 1.21)" ("Women's Education and Public
Speech in Antiquity," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 50 [December
2007]: 757). In some Eastern cultures today it is considered immodest for women to
speak in public to men to whom they are not related. Hamdan narrates the plight of
a Muslim woman, Wafaa, who migrated to Canada and was asked to speak in pub-
330 BiBLiOTHECA SACRA / July-September 2011

ports this possible view: "instead of [άλλα] speaking, let them con­
tinue to submit." The women did not want to speak in the congre­
gation because they thought it would bring them shame, since it
would have portrayed them as nonsubmissive.
Verse divisions can be misleading. In the standard Greek texts
verse 34 ends, "but [women] are to subject themselves, just as the
Law also says." Some scholars find Paul's reference to the Law
puzzling. For example Blomberg writes, "The 'Law' cannot refer to
a specific Old Testament passage telling women to be silent in pub­
lic service, since no such passage exists." 47 Others suggest Paul
was alluding to either Genesis 2:18 or 3:1648 as a means of sanc­
tioning women's submission. An alternative view is to see the
phrase καθώς και ό νόμος λέγβι as part of verse 35 rather than part
of verse 34: "Just as the Law also says, If they desire to learn any­
thing.' " Aeyei can function as a marker of a quotation and can in­
troduce a conversation: "Aeyei, φησίν and the like appear to be es­
pecially vernacular (occasionally in Plut.) in the reporting of a con­
versation (λέγβι chiefly in Mt, Mk, Jn, φησίν in Lk)." 4 9 Twice in 1
Corinthians Paul used Xéyei to introduce SL quotation. "Each of you
is saying [λέγβι], Ί am of Paul,' and Ί of Apollos,' and Ί of Cephas,'
and Ί of Christ'" (1:12), and "No one speaking by the Spirit of God
says [λέγει], Ohrist is accursed' " (12:3). The Law could not be
withheld from women or children: "Gather the people—men,
women, children, and foreigners residing in the village—so that
they may hear about and fear the LORD your God and carefully
obey all the words of this law" (Deut. 31:12, italics added; cf. Neh.

lie. "I was very shy and not good at public speaking. I did my first presentation here.
. . . I almost cried. I'm not used to that. They told me you have to give a speech
about [a topic] and when I was speaking I didn't look at anyone. I just put my head
to the paper and I read it off. . . . I got a good mark on the information I provided,
but I got 0 marks for eye contact!" (Amani Hamdan, "Arab Muslim Women in
Canada: The Untold Narratives," Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 27 [April
2007]: 147).
Blomberg, 1 Corinthians, 282.
4 8
Madeleine Boucher, "Some Unexplored Parallels to 1 Cor 11, 11-12 and Gal 3,
28: The NT on the Role of Women," Journal of Biblical Literature 31 (January
1969): 50; and Morris, The First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, 197.
F. Blass and A. Debrunner, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other
Early Christian Literature, ed. Robert W. Funk, 10th ed. (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1961), § 321. See also Nigel Turner, Syntax, vol. 3 of A Grammar of
New Testament Greek, ed. James Hope Moulton (Edinburgh: Clark, 1963), 61; and
Andrew B. Spurgeon, "The Historical Present Λέγει ['He Says']" (Th.M. thesis,
Dallas Theological Seminary, 1993). Buist M. Fanning says λέγει is a "stereotyped
idiom" with little or no significance (Verbal Aspect in New Testament Greek [Oxford:
Clarendon, 1990], 231-32).
 Pauline Commands and Women in 1 Corinthians 14 331

8:2-3; 10:28). The Corinthian women were eager to learn, just as

the Law instructed them to learn. But similar to their hesitation to
speak, they may have hesitated to ask questions of men in the con­
gregation.
Paul explained their hesitation with the second γαρ ("for")
clause: "for it is improper [αίσχρόν] for a woman to speak in
church" (1 Cor. 14:35). This sentence has been traditionally under­
stood as Paul stating why women must be silent. Instead, it is pos­
sible that the women themselves found it shameful or humiliating
to speak in the church. The dative following the adjective αίσχρόν
often points to the person to whom it is shameful. For example,
"but if it is disgraceful for a woman [γυναικί] to have her hair cut
off or her head shaved (11:6); and "for those who looked those seven
cows that came out of the Nile were hideous [αίσχραί]" (Gen. 41:3-
4, author's translation; cf. 41:19-21).50 Similarly women in the Cor­
inthian church may have been ashamed to speak in church and to
ask questions of men who were not their relatives. 51 Therefore Paul
gave the third command: "Women must continue to ask (έπερωτάτ-
ωσαν) their men at home questions in order to learn." This was be­
cause the Word of God was not confined to the church gathering.
"Was it from you that the word of God first went forth? Or has it
come to you only?" (v. 36). 52 For the women to learn, they need not
ask questions in the congregation; instead they could learn at home
because the Word of God was present even in their homes, in the
hearts and lips of their men. Regardless, Paul did not want the
women to feel compelled to ask other men in the congregations;
instead they were to continue to ask their family members at
home.
If Paul meant these commands as permissive commands, the
passage may be understood as follows. First, Paul approvingly
authorized the women to remain silent in the church when speak­
ing in public would shame the women (v. 34a). Second, Paul sanc­
tioned the women's interpretation of what submissiveness meant
for them: instead of speaking "let them continue to submit" and be

5 0
Walter Bauer, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English
Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., rev.
and ed. Frederick W. Danker (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 29.
5 1
Even in the Jewish world interaction between men and women in public was
discouraged. "In the traditional Jewish ideal, men should avoid unnecessary conver­
sation with women, to minimize the risk of unchastity or, in some texts, foolishness"
(Keener, "Women's Education and Public Speech in Antiquity," 757).
5 2
"It was a common rhetorical technique to end a discussion with rhetorical ques­
tions" (Witherington, Conflict and Community in Corinth, 288).
332 BiBLiOTHECA SACRA / July-September 2011

silent (v. 34b). Third, Paul sanctioned the practice of women who
wanted to follow the cultural practice of asking questions at home
in order to learn as the Law demanded, because the Word of God
was not limited to the church gathering. "As the Law demanded,
when they wish to learn anything and find it immodest to ask
questions in the church, they must continue to ask their familial
men at home since the Word of God did not go out only from you
nor did it come to you only" (w. 34c-36; author's translation).
These instructions were mandating that the church and the recipi­
ent group within the church (αϊ -γυνάικβς) follow Paul's directives.
The context favors this interpretation. Paul had been explain­
ing the need to "remain silent" (σιγάω) when edification did not oc­
cur in the congregation. Prophets must remain silent when some­
one with a divine revelation spoke. The language-speaker must
remain silent when there was no translator. Women likewise must
remain silent when asking questions of men in the congregation
was inadmissible and shameful to the women. They must remain
silent, be submissive, and ask questions in their homes to their
own familial men for the congregational experience to be beneficial.
Although exercising spiritual gifts was vital (v. 30), and both men
and women were gifted equally, 53 they should not be forced to exer­
cise their gift against their own belief, in order for proper edifica­
tion to occur.
The practical application for the universal church is the core
teaching of the whole passage (1 Cor. 12-14): "Utilize spiritual gifts
for the edification of the whole church and limit the use of the
spiritual gifts when necessary." Thus in a culture where women
find it difficult to speak in front of a congregation because it im­
plies nonsubmissiveness or find it difficult to ask questions in pub­
lic because it conveys immodesty, the church should let the women
remain silent and learn in their own homes by asking their male
54
family members who are Christians. But if the women do not
have such hesitation, they may pray and prophesy (11:5), speak in
languages or prophecies (14:26-34a), and ask questions in the con­
gregation in order to learn (vv. 34b-36). Spiritual gifts are given for

5 d
For a detailed explanation of how the Holy Spirit gives gifts to both men and
women equally and yet how offices and gifts differ see Harold W. Hoehner, "Can a
Woman Be a Pastor-Teacher?" Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 50
[December 2007]: 761-71).
As a missionary working in Asia, this author has known churches that demand
that their women exercise spiritual gifts in public even when it violates their convic­
tions and grieves them. This passage speaks against such compulsory exercising of
spiritual gifts.
 Pauline Commands and Women in 1 Corinthians 14 333

the benefit of the whole church (12:7). Thus gifts are to be exercised
or curtailed based on the church's need.

CONCLUSION

Paul's instruction to the Corinthians concerning women (14:34-35)

has been a topic of contention. Taking the three instructions as di-
rect commands, scholars have offered a plethora of views. An alter-
native view suggested in this article is that these were permissive
imperatives in which Paul sanctioned actions that were already in
progress in the Corinthian church, such as (a) women remaining
silent because they themselves were not comfortable speaking in
front of others, (b) women submitting in ways that they understood
as appropriate, and (c) women learning at home instead of asking
questions in public because they considered such public speaking
embarrassing.
 ^ s
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