1 Corinthians 14:34

Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. (1 Timothy 2:11) For women to speak in public would be an act of independence, as if they were not subject to their husbands (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:3; Ephesians 5:22; Titus 2:5; 1 Peter 3:1). For "under obedience" [ hupotassesthoosan (G5293), as A B 'Aleph (') read; or the infinitive,...

It appears that the Church of the Corinthians was infected with this fault too, that the talkativeness of women was allowed a place in the sacred assembly, or rather that the fullest liberty was given to it. Hence he forbids them to speak in public, either for the purpose of teaching or of prophesying. This, however, we must understand as referring to ordinary service, or where there is a Church in a regularly constituted state; for a necessity may occur of such a nature as to require that a woman should speak in public; but Paul has merely in view what is becoming in a duly regulated assembly. 34._Let them be in subjection, as also saith the law. _What connection has the object that he has in view with the subjection under which the law places women? “For what is there,” some one will say, “to hinder their being in subjection, and yet at the same time teaching?” I answer, that the offic...

34-40 When the apostle exhorts Christian women to seek information on religious subjects from their husbands at home, it shows that believing families ought to assemble for promoting spiritual knowledge. The Spirit of Christ can never contradict itself; and if their revelations are against those of the apostle, they do not come from the same Spirit. The way to keep peace, truth, and order in the church, is to seek that which is good for it, to bear with that which is not hurtful to its welfare, and to keep up good behaviour, order, and decency....

Verse 34. _LET YOUR WOMEN KEEP SILENCE IN THE CHURCHES_] This was a Jewish ordinance; women were not permitted to _teach_ in the assemblies, or even to _ask questions_. The rabbins taught that "a woman should know nothing but the use of her distaff." And the sayings of Rabbi Eliezer, as delivered, _Bammidbar Rabba_, sec. 9, fol. 204, are both worthy of remark and of execration; they are these: ישרפו דברי תורה ואל ימסרו לנשים _yisrephu dibrey torah veal_ _yimsaru lenashim_, "Let the words of the law be burned, rather than that they should be delivered to women." This was their condition till the time of the Gospel, when, according to the prediction of Joel, the Spirit of God was to be poured out on the _women_ as well as the _men_, that they might _prophesy_, i.e. _teach_. And that they did _prophesy_ or _teach_ is evident from what the apostle says,...

LET YOUR WOMEN KEEP SILENCE ... - This rule is positive, explicit, and universal. There is no ambiguity in the expressions; and there can be no difference of opinion, one would suppose, in regard to their meaning. The sense evidently is, that in all those things which he had specified, the women were to keep silence; they were to take no part. He had discoursed of speaking foreign languages, and of prophecy; and the evident sense is, that in regard to all these they were to keep silence, or were not to engage in them. These pertained solely to the male portion of the congregation. These things constituted the business of the public teaching; and in this the female part of the congregation were to be silent. “They were not to teach the people, nor were they to interrupt those who were speaking” - Rosenmuller. It is probable that, on pretence of being inspired, the women had assumed the of...

EXPOSITION 1 CORINTHIANS 14:1 _The_ _gift of preaching superior to the gift_ _tongues_. 1 CORINTHIANS 14:1 FOLLOW AFTER CHARITY; literally, _chase; pursue. _The word is one of which St. Paul is fond (Romans 9:30, Romans 9:31; Romans 13:13; Romans 14:19;...

LET YOUR WOMEN KEEP SILENCE IN THE CHURCHES,.... This is a restriction of, and an exception to one of the above rules, that all might prophesy; in which he would be understood of men only, and not of women; and is directed against a practice which seems to have prevailed in this church at Corinth, allowing women to preach and teach in it; and this being a disorderly practice, and what was not used in other churches, the apostle forbids and condemns, and not without reason: FOR IT IS NOT PERMITTED UNTO THEM TO SPEAK; that is, in public assemblies, in the church of God, they might not speak with tongues, nor prophesy, or preach, or teach the word. All speaking is not prohibited; they might speak their experiences to the church, or give an account of the work of God upon their souls; they might speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; or speak as an evidence in any case...

OBEDIENCE Compare (Genesis 3:16)....

1 CORINTHIANS 14:34-35 _include verses here_ {B} Several witnesses, chiefly Western, transpose verses 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 to follow ver. 1 Corinthians 14:40 (D F G 88* itd, g Ambrosiaster Sedulius Scotus). Such scribal alterations represent attempts to find a more appropriate location in the context for Paul’s directive concerning women. The evidence of the sixth-century Codex Fuldensis is ambiguous. The Latin text of 1 Corinthians...

4. PROPHECY AND SPEAKING WITH A TONGUE. CHAPTER 14 _ 1. Prophecy the better gift. (1 Corinthians 14:1 .)_ 2. Intelligibility demanded. (1 Corinthians 14:14 .) 3. Practical instructions for the public use of these gifts. (1 Corinthians 14:26 .) It is evident from the contents of this chapter that the Corinthians had unduly magnified the gift of speaking in a strange tongue. It had a spectacular aspect which they enjoyed. He therefore shows them that the gift of prophecy is more to be coveted than speaking in an unknown tongue. The speaking in an unknown tongue is intelligible to God, but he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, e