Women in the Assembly and 1 Corinthians 11 and 14
Many
women’s roles discussions hinge on what to do with 1 Corinthians chapters 11
and 14. They each say something about
male spiritual leadership, and they each say something about women’s roles in
light of that reality. But at first
glance, they seem contradictory, leading some people to feel like they must
alter the natural understanding of one or the other. My best understanding, however, is that there
is a way to understand both to mean exactly what they say, without having to
strain the language of either passage.
Unfortunately, not understanding how they could fit together has led
some churches to almost entirely dismiss some very clear teachings of Scripture,
based on what I believe is a not-so-great-rationale, but I’ll explain that as
we go along. First, the issue itself…
1 Corinthians 11:5 and 1 Corinthians 14:34-35
The first part of 1 Corinthians chapter 11 discusses male spiritual “headship,” and says that women were supposed to wear head coverings to show that men were the spiritual leaders of the church. We don’t entirely understand the head covering issue, and most people understand it to have had a cultural meaning in those days that Paul was encouraging them to acknowledge and uphold. Maybe we’ll try to figure the head covering thing out another time. But for now, notice what it says women were to do:
