The Apostle Paul closes chapter 14 of his
first epistle to the Corinthians by telling any one who thought of
himself as a prophet or spiritual, that he ought to “recognise the
things that I write to you, that it is [the] Lord’s commandment”
(v37). Not merely Paul’s commandment mark, but the
Lord’s. Yet even if we
confine ourselves to what is set out in that chapter, how little His
commandment—for it is but one,
meaning all that was taught
stands or falls together—has been heeded!
Some of the reasoning used to undermine Paul’s
ministry has a superficial plausibility about it. Take verse 34 for
example: “Let [your] women be silent in the assemblies, for it is
not permitted to them to speak; but to be in subjection, as the law
also says”. It is said that this verse is limited in its scope,
being applicable only when the saints “come together
in assembly” (1 Cor. 11:
18, my emphasis). Thus in certain other meetings of the saints, such
as Bible readings, it is claimed that this verse no longer applies
since the saints are not exactly assembled there in their ‘assembly
character’. Now to some reading this, the distinction being made may
be a fine one, but it is on such a hairbreadth of difference that an
argument is built for sisters asking questions in
some of the public meetings of the saints.
However, the deduction used is based on an
unwarranted assumption! There is a supposition, implicit in the
reasoning, that NT Christians had meetings that were not of
‘assembly character’. Where is the evidence for this?
There is none. Where is
there an example of a gathering of saints in the NT to which 1 Cor.
14: 34 conceivably does not apply? Again,
there is none. Is it
not perverse therefore, to set up meetings today to which this verse
supposedly does not apply? It applied in every single NT meeting
that we know of—why then, should it not apply in all our meetings
today?
The inference of verse 35 is that the place of learning for women
(in the sense of oral enquiry) is
the home: “But if they wish to learn anything, let them ask
their own husbands at home; for it is a shame for a woman to
speak in assembly”. If there existed meetings to which the
previous verse did not apply, would not the apostle have
mentioned them and said that the women could also ask questions
in that context? The silence of Scripture is deafening!
