Why do people say that the word "silence" in these verses '1cor.14:34-35' doesn't mean keep quiet?

Question

1cor.14:34-35 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.
35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

Some user on this forum said :"The "silence" word is used almost everywhere else in the NT to reference a "quiet spirit," NOT being literally silent. In other words, it references the attitude, not the mouth."

Need help, please explain because I am very confused.

Answer 1

I love pointing out misogyny in the bible as much as the next person, but I'm sick of this verse. There are so many much more interesting biblical gender topic to choose from.

Answer 2

Look at the context.



Some people take things out of context in order to support some personal opinion or in an attempt to misrepresent and slander the Bible.



Compare Pentecost, where all present (including Jesus' mother Mary and other women) spoke in tongues to all the Jews gathered there. Acts 1:13-2:21.



Also compare the fact that Paul entrusted the letter to the Romans to a woman, named Phoebe, whom he calls a "diakonos" (minister, or deacon) in the congregation of Cenchrea." Romans 16:1-2.



The verses in 1 Corinthians 14:33-35, about women keeping silent in the congregation, makes perfect sense IN CONTEXT.



The context goes from the start of chapter 12 through the end of chapter 14. That context involves the discussion about gifts of the spirit (speaking in tongues, translating tongues, prophesying, etc.)



The situation, as described, is that unbelievers are present and Christians are speaking in tongues, etc. The purpose of the entire discussion to keep everything organized under such circumstances; which is clearly stated at the end of the context in chapter 14 verse 40.



It is IN THIS CONTEXT that the women were to keep silent. Which makes sense, since women in Corinth had a very low status. A woman speaking in public would likely be an unacceptable shock to an unbelieving Corinthian male. So they would keep quiet, in order to keep things organized. This rule likely extended to other regions as well, where women had low status.

Answer 3

Philippians 3:11 (King James version) 11If via any capacity i might attain unto the resurrection of the ineffective. i'm questioning what translation you're examining. Philippians 3:11 (The Message) 10-11I gave up all that inferior stuff so i could desire to understand Christ in my view, journey his resurrection capacity, be an significant different in his struggling, and circulate each and each of ways with him to dying itself. If there become any thank you to get in on the resurrection from the ineffective, i had to do it. i opt to propose you look at quite a few translations once you have subject, however the King James is an impressive place to start.

Answer 4

You'll not be getting a decent answer from the bunch you're aiming at here.

My response: Ha! Now that is a really good one! Somebody thinks they can actually interpret the ineffable word of God as bungled by his imperfect creations! Now THAT'S rich! ROFL OMFG LMAO

Greek & Coptic has the rights of it, but what about people ignoring some parts of the Bible & embracing others as it suits them? I think you know what the real question is here.

Angeltress: You're only proving the point that women were generally considered less than the men, unless the men suddenly decided they could be useful for errands & such.

Answer 5

The word silence there, when God said it was in greek, he used the word, sigaō, that word was translated into english as keep silence.



the word sigaō is found 12 times in the new testament, here are some of the verse's



Luke 20:26And they could not take hold of his words before the people: and they marvelled at his answer, and held their peace .



there the word sigaō was translated, held their peace.





Acts 12:17 But he, beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, Go shew these things unto James, and to the brethren. And he departed, and went into another place.



there the word sigaō was translated "hold their peace"



Acts15:12 Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.



there the word sigaō was translated "kept silence"



1Corinthians 14:28 But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.



here the word sigaō was translated "keep silence"

Answer 6

"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 Corinthians 14:34).



"Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence" (1 Timothy 2:11-12).



In these verses, Paul cannot be addressing women who were in the ministry, but rather those in the congregation who were out of order. How do we know this? We have many such proofs, many from Paul himself. Here is a partial list of women who were all in influential positions of leadership in the early church.



Pheobe (Romans 16:1-2): This woman was a deaconess of the church in Cenchrea, who was beloved of Paul and many other Christians for the help she gave to them. She filled an important position of leadership. It would be a difficult stretch of the imagination to say that this woman fulfilled her duties without ever speaking in the church!



Priscilla (Acts 18:26): Priscilla and her husband Aquila are often mentioned with great respect by Paul. Together they were pastors of a church in Ephesus, and were responsible for teaching the full gospel to Apollos. We are informed that they both taught Apollos, and pastored the church together. In fact, Priscilla is sometimes listed ahead of Aquila when their names come up. This has led some to speculate that of the two, she was the primary teacher and her husband oversaw the ministry. At any rate, we see here a woman in a very prominent position of teaching and pastoring. (Other references to Priscilla and Aquila are Acts 18:2, 18; Romans 16:3, and I Corinthians 16:19).



Euodia and Syntyche (Philippians 4:2-3): Here we see reference to two women who were "true yokefellow" and who labored with Paul in the advancement of the gospel.



Junia (Romans 16:7): In this verse we see Paul sending greetings to Andronicus and Junia, his "fellow-prisoners" who are of note among the apostles. Junia is a woman's name. In some modern translations, an "s" has been added (Junias) because the translators were so sure a woman could not be an apostle, that they assumed a copyist has accidentally dropped the "s." However the proper male ending would have been "ius," not "ias." No church commentator earlier than the Middle Ages questioned that Junia was both a woman and an apostle.



Though there were other women throughout the Bible in positions of leadership, such as prophetesses, evangelists, judges, leaders, etc., the above references should be enough to establish that women were indeed a vital and normal part of church leadership. Paul expected women to speak in the church, or else why would he have given the following directive? It would have been useless to give directions for women who were speaking in the church, if they were never allowed to do so.



1 Corinthians 11:5, "But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven."



Furthermore, if Paul believed that all women should never teach or speak in church, why does he commend many women who did just that?



With all this in mind, what then do we make of the troubling verses that command women to be silent in the churches? First of all, we must interpret those verses in light of what we have just established--that there were women in leadership positions of the church. Obviously, Paul is not writing to them. He is must be addressing another issue entirely--the women who were loud and unruly during the service, causing disorder and confusion..



When he wrote the Corinthians, he was dealing with a church that was very disorderly in their services. Much of the letter was spent correcting excesses and abuses. Some of these pertained to women in particular and some were to the entire church. Paul is not being prejudiced against women when he instructs the Corinthian women to keep silence. In the early church the seating arrangement was quite different from our modern day churches. Men were seated on one side of the church while the women and children were seated on the opposite side. This is still practiced in many cultures today.



The women of Christ's day were generally uneducated and usually only the men were privileged with an education. Due to this situation, when the church met the women were tempted to shout across the room and ask their husbands the meaning of whatever was being taught. This disturbed the service. Paul was simply saying during the service, "Women, keep your children quiet and you be quiet, and if you have anything to ask your husbands, wait until you get home." Because of the new equality that Christianity brought to women, it could be that some of them were taking their freedom too far, to the point of being obnoxious.



When Paul wrote to Timothy, he gave him a similar directive. Again, it is important to understand the context in which the letter was wri

Answer 7

Here is why: When Christians don't like a certain passage they say it is "figurative". Let me you two for an example:



Matthew 27:1-10

1Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. 2They bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.

3When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. 4"I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood."

"What is that to us?" they replied. "That's your responsibility."

5So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

6The chief priests picked up the coins and said, "It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money." 7So they decided to use the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place for foreigners. 8That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by the people of Israel, 10and they used them to buy the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me."



Now for the second passage.

Acts 1:18-20

18(With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. 19Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

20"For," said Peter, "it is written in the book of Psalms,

" 'May his place be deserted;

let there be no one to dwell in it,'[a] and,

" 'May another take his place of leadership.'



Interpreted literally they contradict, figuratively they don't. See how that works?



Remember this Christians: Censorship never works so don't even think about clicking that report button.