What did Paul mean when he discussed women's roles during worship?

M

Mark G

New member
In I Corinthians 14:34-35 Paul writes that women should essentially remain silent. What particular context did Paul have in mind? Was it from a traditional vantage point in relation to the societal mandates of the subservience of women? Or was there something more practical i.e. 'God would be provoked to anger?' Also, what did some of the other writers in the New Testament suggest? Did they agree or disagree? Did they offer a different perspective?
*In light of comments offered by 'Light and Truth' I will present a slightly altered form of the question: why did Paul call for the barring of women presiding over worship and/or prophesying if indeed that was his intention?
 
I was taught that Paul was responding to the Church Elders he had left behind in Corinth. The customs of the Corinthians interfered with the Church services. In other words, the Corinthians were a loud people who didn't know how to act in public, let alone in a church setting. Paul's letter to the Corinthians was not intended to set Church standards anywhere else but in Corinth. Paul was not God, or Jesus. He was an ordinary man and did not posess the power or the authority to say what is right or what is wrong. He was unhesitant to express his opinion on just about any topic however.
I believe it is wrong to confuse what Paul has to say with right and wrong on some subjects especially, because he was absolutely wrong a great many times. He believed the world was about to end, at any second. He encouraged men to abandon wives and children, as he had, and to sell property and give the money to the disciples of Jesus, as he had. He encouraged men to become very selfish about their own salvation, as he had.
Is that whacko Corinthians nut reading this? If so, hey pal, if you are looking for encouragement for your anti-feminist slant on life why not find an S&M site instead of R&S? You are boring.
 
Partly.

May women speak in Church? Yes, in the sense of teaching, counseling, testifying, exhorting, and the like; no, in the sense of assuming rule over the Church as such, and in attempting to give direction as to how God's affairs on earth shall be regulated: "A woman has no right to found or organize a church-God never sent them to do it." Paul is here telling the sisters they are subject to the priesthood, that it is not their province to rule and reign, that the bishop's/Pastors wife is not the bishop.

Times have changed from what they were in the days of Paul. The counsel that Paul gave in the branches of the Church in his day was in strict conformity to the law of the times in which he lived. In the beginning it was not so. Paul intimates that Eve was silent because she was created after Adam, but we may read that after the consequences brought upon Adam and Eve by the fall, Eve preached the discourse. It is brief but wonderfully full of meaning and is as follows:

. . . Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient. (Moses 5:11.)
And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all things known unto their sons and their daughters.

And finally,no one is confused by Paul's instruction that members of the church "greet all the brethren with an holy kiss" (1 Thes. 5:26). If we were to attempt to follow such instruction today, no one would dare go to church, regardless of which gender was doing the preaching. As to Paul's statement about women keeping silent, it must have had reference to presiding because he expressly says that they were to both pray and prophesy (see 1 Cor. 11:5). Paul's statements that women were not to speak in church were changed by the Prophet to read "rule," meaning "preside," in his inspired translation of the Bible
 
Partly.

May women speak in Church? Yes, in the sense of teaching, counseling, testifying, exhorting, and the like; no, in the sense of assuming rule over the Church as such, and in attempting to give direction as to how God's affairs on earth shall be regulated: "A woman has no right to found or organize a church-God never sent them to do it." Paul is here telling the sisters they are subject to the priesthood, that it is not their province to rule and reign, that the bishop's/Pastors wife is not the bishop.

Times have changed from what they were in the days of Paul. The counsel that Paul gave in the branches of the Church in his day was in strict conformity to the law of the times in which he lived. In the beginning it was not so. Paul intimates that Eve was silent because she was created after Adam, but we may read that after the consequences brought upon Adam and Eve by the fall, Eve preached the discourse. It is brief but wonderfully full of meaning and is as follows:

. . . Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient. (Moses 5:11.)
And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all things known unto their sons and their daughters.

And finally,no one is confused by Paul's instruction that members of the church "greet all the brethren with an holy kiss" (1 Thes. 5:26). If we were to attempt to follow such instruction today, no one would dare go to church, regardless of which gender was doing the preaching. As to Paul's statement about women keeping silent, it must have had reference to presiding because he expressly says that they were to both pray and prophesy (see 1 Cor. 11:5). Paul's statements that women were not to speak in church were changed by the Prophet to read "rule," meaning "preside," in his inspired translation of the Bible
 
Paul lived in Cypress where Mithraism was the main religion and women were actually leaders in their religion. I think Paul was in competition with them and did not want women taking over his church.
 
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