From the context of all of Scripture the Christian understands that God gave men and women different roles-- head and helper (Genesis 2:18)--not to play favorites (Galatians 3:28), but to provide order (1 Corinthians 14:33). With that said, application of God's will can be a bit more tricky. In today's reading, 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 gave me pause and had me thinking about what Paul was meaning for Christians here. It sounds quite strict, like women shouldn't speak at all at church. It's hard to know for sure how much the culture of the time played into Paul's tone. It sounds like it was the custom of the time for women to be completely silent. It also sounds like the Corinthians had a habit of taking what they knew about Christian liberty and running with it a little too far. Perhaps that is why Paul took a sharper tone (1 Corinthians 14:36).
What we do know is what other passages of Scripture tell us. Passages like Joel 2:28-29/Acts 2:17-18, Acts 21:8-9, and especially 1 Corinthians 11:5 show that women were not expected to be completely silent. The 1 Corinthians 5:11 passage was written by Paul himself and mentions women prophesying in worship. Therefore it seems that what is being emphasized is the head/helper principle--that men and women should honor God's order in the church. These passages show that the same action--speaking (prophesying is the sharing of God's Word) can with different motivations and in different situations be right or wrong for a woman in church. Isn't that the fine line with so much in Christian living? It's not the outward act but the motivation behind the act.
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