As Women of God, Where Do We Stand?


1 Corinthians 14:26-40
26 What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. 27 If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. 28 But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God. 29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. 30 If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, 32 and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. 33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, 34 the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. 35 If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. 36 Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? 37 If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. 38 If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. 39 So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40 But all things should be done decently and in order.

The title of this particular post needs to be addressed first. As women of God, where do we stand? We stand right next to the men of God as equals. God does not love men more or hold them in higher regard. The Scriptures are clear on that account. In fact, Jesus treated women with great respect and dignity, unlike the pervading standards of His time. But – God has established a hierarchy regarding men and women because there must be leader and He has chosen men to be the leaders.

With that said, we need to examine this passage in particular and discover where we stand in the area of Christian worship. My stance will ultimately anger some. (What’s the word now? Trigger alert?) And if I could get around this understanding, I would because I must confess, I don’t like it sometimes either. The older I get the easier this is to swallow, and I spent years disliking these verses intensely. God has “worked” on my understanding and practice of these verses and I fear that perhaps He and I will have some extended conversation about how I lived them out – or didn’t.

The Church Body to which I belong does not condone the ordination of women. And I’m okay with that - after years of not being okay with that. I’m married to a pastor and let me just say – it’s a tough job. I wouldn’t want to carry those responsibilities on my shoulders or stand before God and explain my ministry choices to Him. But on the other side of that coin, I believe that I have been gifted, by the Holy Spirit, to teach His Word. And with that, mean I am compelled to teach anyone who will listen. At my congregation, my pastor-husband allows me to teach the Adult Bible Class on Sunday morning, which I’ve done for well over 30 years now. For him, the line between women speaking in church begins at the chancel in the Sanctuary. I have never been allowed to preach or teach during a worship service. And we are both comfortable with that situation. I’m 100% certain there are many who would hate that stance on either side of the issue. But, according the Scriptures, I answer to this man as both my pastor and my husband. Sometimes that’s a tightrope and I fall off. But God gives us grace and I gladly embrace it.

There is much about this passage that I believe is cultural as well. I don’t want to fall into the category of someone who looks at Scriptures and feels free to cast concepts aside as “cultural” because I don’t want to embrace them. But the early Church was a unique entity. The members of the church in Corinth were almost all adult converts. These were people who knew what pagan worship looked like because they had participated in it up until their conversion to Christ. Now they were forced to learn a new way; a way that contained some decorum and civility. That learning process took time and patience and Paul’s instructions are meant to move that process along.

If we have landed on the wrong side of this theology, I pray God’s forgiveness. The blood of Jesus covers all of our sins, not just the really obvious ones. And for me, there is nothing obvious about this topic.

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