Check Out the Context

When I was researching to write On Purpose: Understanding God’s Freedom for Women through Scripture, I began to see a troubling pattern in the teaching I’d always heard about the passages concerning the “woman’s role.” I was taught rules that were never intended. How did I know this? It was very clear after an examination of the context of each passage.

In my childhood church, we valued the Word of God and were determined to do what it said. So when I heard that 1 Corinthians 14 directed women to be silent in the church, I did not question it. God said it, I believed it. But did God really say that?

A look at the context reveals a very different meaning. Paul was writing to three groups, all of which were guilty of disrupting the group meetings with self-centered agendas. First were those who spoke in tongues without an interpreter present. Then there were the prophets, unwilling to yield the stage to their fellow prophets, when they also had something to say. Finally, Paul rebuked the women asking questions and disrupting the flow of the service. All three groups, two of three of them including men, were only self-edifying.

Paul had reminded that church earlier in his letter that their spiritual gifts were given for the body, not for our self-edification: “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7 NIV).  Their behavior actually distracted the group, interrupting the flow of their meetings. They were “hogging the mike,” failing to build up others. Paul used the same Greek instructive word for all three groups: sigao. Keep silent.

So why do we often only hear about women when 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 is mentioned? It is a case of pulling one small passage out of its context. This led to a huge misunderstanding, limiting women in the church from any vocal participation. For centuries.

Every verse or passage is a part of the whole. It is a bad practice if you are interested in an accurate interpretation. You can make a verse or verses say anything you want. If you are willing to ignore their contexts.