All Christians are equal in Christ as demonstrated in two ways. First, all have equal access to salvation through faith in Christ. “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26-28 NIV).
Second, all have equal gifting by the Holy Spirit. “This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy…’” (Acts 2:17-18 NIV). This is affirmed also in this way: “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone” (1 Corinthians 12:4-6 ESV). In these passages women are either specifically mentioned or are logically included in “everyone”.
What about the passages that limit a woman in the church? Two passages usually come up in this conversation.
One, is 1 Corinthians 14:33-35, “Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church” (NIV). Since women did speak in churches this limitation is taken as addressing a problem in the church in Corinth. (See my blog post “Reasons That Women May Speak in Churches”.) The teaching in 1 Corinthians is addressing the problem that the people were not focused on “the common good” (12:7). The meeting of the Corinthian church was chaotic, including wives asking questions of their husbands (beside whom possibly they were not sitting), and talking over the top of others. The remedy given is that they ask their husbands at home. We know this not a universal since not all women would have a husband. The Greek word for women is also the word for wives, thus the confusion in the English translations. Consideration of the context helps solve that problem. Other clarifications include that “remain silent” more commonly means “behave quietly”; and “not allowed to speak” is more commonly “not chatter or question/talk loudly.” Taking all of these instructions while considering the situation in the Corinthian church prioritizes an instruction given to bring order to the chaotic meetings – “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace – as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people” (14:33 NIV).
Two. The second passage limiting women in the church is 1 Timothy 2:11-15. “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety” (NIV).
The typical view of this limitation is that any woman is not allowed to teach or have authority over any man. This instruction is actually for wives concerning their interactions with their own husbands as discussed above. In addition, we know women taught men in the meeting of the church (also discussed above and in previous blog posts). When considering these commands or examples in the New Testament, the interpreter must decide which one takes priority in any given circumstance. In this case, we can be guided by the first few verses of this chapter that states that God desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (v3, 4). So, the rest of this passage must support the Lord’s priority of evangelism of the lost. Seeing that this limitation on women is addressing a particular problem in the local church allows for the freedom of the local church to allow women the full expression of their gifts since that expands the potential for evangelism and expands the workforce of preaching and teaching the gospel.
To summarize, the limitations on women are addressing local problems in which some wives were behaving in a way that disrespected their own husbands. The solution was temporary until the climate of the local church became healthy. The same applies in 1 Corinthians 11:3-16 to affirm the cultural practice of a wife having her head covered to demonstrate that she has a public “sign of authority on her head” much like our culture uses wedding rings and behavior expectations of propriety for married couples.
Simply taking the approach in this passage that we must follow the practice of women not teaching men then would demand adhering to other practices given here that are not practiced in contemporary churches since such practices are deemed as bound to the culture. These include men praying with uplifted hands and women not wearing styled hair, gold jewelry, or expensive clothes. Considering these limiting passages together with the context of the entire New Testament and the particular letters they are contained within, we can conclude that the limiting passages are addressing local problems and are not to be taken as universal teachings for every church through all time.