17. Part 2, Should Women REALLY "Remain Silent" in Church? Responding to some limiting views of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35

Does the Bible really teach that women are to remain silent in church? As in silent, silent? For all time??? Why did Paul say this and what did he mean?

1 Corinthians 14:34 says, "Women should remain silent in the church. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission as the law says," but WHY and WHAT does Paul mean in saying this??? And what about this mysterious "law" that's mentioned? How can we make sense of this passage, especially given the many other ways that Paul encourages men AND women to participate (with the spoken word!) in church? 

In the last episode, we explored several possible ways of understanding this passage that seem to be the most consistent with what we learn about in several other key passages of the New Testament, and that do not universally exclude women from speaking in church. 

In this episode, we'll discuss how some Bible teachers interpret this passage in a way that reinforces their mindset that women are restricted from preaching in church. 

We start with John MacArthur and his criticisms of Beth Moore, along with taking a brief look at his sermon on 1 Corinthians 14:34-35. You can find those talks here and here. 

Next, we consider what John Piper has to say about women preaching in this Q and A clip. Even though he is a zealous supporter of complimentarity with hierarchy, he does not line up with MacArthur that women need to be silent in church. 

D.A. Carson shares his position on this text in Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, edited by John Piper and Wayne Grudem, but doesn't offer any clear explanation of the text. 

Lastly, we examined Denny Birk's article, "Must Women Be Silent In Churches? (I Corinthians 14:34-35)" published by the 9Marks organization. 

Scripture references include:

1 Corinthians 14:34-35, 1 Corinthians 1:2 and 11:5, & Romans 12:12-13. 

Music by BenSound.com.