Now if Paul meant that, there are contradictions in the Bible!  Because time and time again we have references in the New Testament to  women's ministries! On the day of Pentecost St. Peter telescoped into the  church age the Old Testament's licenses to women prophesying!

Have you ever read Acts 2:15-18? "For these are not drunken, as ye  suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day." But this is that  which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the  last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and  your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see  visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on  my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall  prophesy:" (KJV). Does this passage contradict 1 Corinthians 14:--. If  the male chauvinist churchmen are correct that Paul ordered women to shut  up in church, 1 Corinthians 14 itself has a contradiction. Verse 31  rebuts verse 34! Paul licenses all to prophecy in services: "For ye may  all prophesy one by one..." And in chapter 11 verse 4 he specifically  includes women praying and prophesying! I suppose one might pray in  silence but whoever heard of keeping silent while prophesying?

In so short an article as this it is impossible to cover the whole subject  of women's vocal ministries in church services. But let us look at  another alleged prohibition: 1 Timothy 2:12 (KJV) "But I suffer not a  woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in  silence."

Now this passage prohibits bossy wives, not women preachers. The  context requires understanding that Paul is teaching about women at home,  not women at church! They were to learn at home from their husbands who  mostly had gone to school, been educated, while most women had not. The  activities to which Paul specifically refers women performed at home,  never at church. Cf. Rev. 2:20 where obviously Jesus permits women to  teach truth but not error.

Paul did suffer a woman to teach a man. He probably encouraged  Prisca/Priscilla to teach Apollos (Cf. Acts 18:26). She doubtless taught  many others because she was a woman co-pastor of the "church that is (was)  in their house" (Romans 16:5)--the church that is in THEIR house, not the  church that is in HIS (Aquila's) house! Paul did suffer a woman to teach  at church but forbad her to usurp authority over her husband at home The  passage could not be clearer!

The continuation of this article in the next issue will explore the real  meaning of 1 Cor. 14.37 and show how women occupied all the ministry gift  offices in the apostolic church!

The previous issue of OROMHIRADO established the vocal women's  ministries are valid in churches despite alleged prohibitions like 1 Cor.  14:37 and 1 Timothy 2:12. This sequel will demonstate how certain women  in the apostolic church exercised all five ministry gifts Paul listed in  Ephesians 4:11, before presenting the true explanation of the passage  beginning, "Let your women keep silent in the churches"!

The New Testament names women as occupying four of the five-fold  offices, apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers. And apostolic church  history shows a woman travelling as an evangelist!

Could a woman be an apostle? Junia was, in conjunction with her  husband Andronicus (cf. Romans 16:7) The King James Version sounds  ambivalent in calling them "of note among the apostles". The New Revised  Standard Version (which I consider usually the most accurate of all  translations) has: "They are prominent among the apostles." The New  Century Version, which I have seen in Hungary, probably translates it  best: "They are very important apostles." Now some versions because of  male chauvinist prejudices change Junia to Junias, making her a man, but  Junias was never known as a man's name in the Graeco-Roman world,  while JUNIA was common name for a woman!

Could a woman be a prophet? Philip's four daughters were (cf. Acts  21.9, also Acts 2:15-18. Could a woman be a pastor? Phoebe is often recognized as pastor of the church at Cenchrea (cf. Rom. 16:1-2), and  Prisca/Priscilla was certainly both a pastor and a teacher in the church  in their house (cf. Acts 18:26, Rom 16:3-5). And the German scholar  Harnack believed she was the actual author of the Epistle to the Hebrews!

Now there is no woman named as an evangelist in the New Testament.  Only one man is so named, Phillip (Acts 21.9). But church history of the  first century knows with women evangelists, the most prominent of whom was  Thekla in what is now Turkey. I visited her tomb at Silifke. "The Acts  of Paul and Thekla," while not belonging in the canon of Scripture, is  regarded as an accuate historical account their ministry. So women  occupied the five-fold ministries of Eph. 4!

But what of Paul's alleged prohibition in 1 Cor. 14:37? A host of  Bible scholars agree that Elizabeth Barret Montgomery gives the right  interpretation in her Centenary New Testament: "In your congregation"  [you write], "as in all the churches of the saints, let the women keep  silence in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak. On the  contrary, let them be subordinate, as also says the law. And if they want  to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home, for it is  shameful for a woman to speak in church." Notice she puts the prohibition  in quotes. Then she translated Paul's disclaimer of the idea: What, was  it from you that the Word of God went forth, or to you only did it come?  And she adds a note explaining how this is one of several quotes Paul  refutes of Corninthian ideas presented to him by a communication from  them! The Corinthians could have had such a "law" but you won't find  anything like it in the Bible! Certainly no Biblical law enjoined silence  on women. A local rule of the church had to be meant!

Constraints of space prevent more detailed consideration of this  matter. However, the consistent teaching of the Bible indicates that  women could and did minister orally in the apostolic church. To hold  otherwise is to assert that there are contradictions in the Bible. Perish  the thought!

According to the Bible a woman can do anything in the church that a  man can do. A woman can be anything in the church a man can be--EXCEPT  the husband of one wife (cf. 1 Tim. 3:2)!