Women Voting

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Q:  Do you feel that because the Bible teaching that women are to be silent in church and it also states that women are to ask questions of their husbands that it means that women should not be a part of the Church business meetings and that they should not have a vote.

A:  Thank you for writing. I will answer your question the best I can according to my understanding.

The command for women to keep silence in the churches (1Corinthians 14:34-35) was in response to a particular problem in the church of Corinth. Looking at this context does not mean that we seek to destroy the authority of God's words. It does, however, help us to avoid misapplying the command today.

The problem in context was general mayhem in the church service. Everyone wanted to be heard all at once. One would have a song they wanted to sing; another a doctrine they wanted to teach; one wanted to speak in tongues; another wanted to tell about their revelation; another had an interpretation (see 1Corinthians 14:26). Several would be trying to gain the floor at the same time so they could be heard. Some were probably going ahead and trying to drown out the others. What a mess! The teaching of verses 26-40 of this chapter deals with solving this problem so that all things can be done "decently and in order" (v.40).

Paul gave some rules of order. Speaking in tongues and the preaching of the prophets were to be limited in number and done one at a time (evidently, everyone was doing their thing at once in Corinth). If someone had a revelation during the service, he was to hold his peace
(v.30) since the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets (v.32) and God is not the author of confusion (v.33).

Evidently, another problem in Corinth was that the women had lost all sense of propriety and were yelling out what they wanted to say alongside the men. Some of them were challenging (questioning) the speakers aloud while they preached or taught. As a fix to the terrible situation, Paul required the women to keep silent during the service and not interrupt
the speakers. If they had a question, it could wait until they got home. They needed to understand that it was shameful for them to forget their role of submission and speak out as if God's church were a bar.

Now, as to ladies voting in a business meeting or asking a question when a time for questions is given, there is no comparison with this to what was happening in Corinth. It is like comparing apples with oranges. They are not the same situations. It is still wrong for a woman to interrupt the services of a church. In most cases, it would be wrong for a man to
do so. But, if it needs to be done, let the men do it. However, when it comes to voting or asking questions when a time is made for that, there should be no problem. That is not what Paul was talking about. I hope this helps.

Till He comes,

Pastor David Reagan
 

 

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