Women in Ministry Pt. 1
Women in Ministry
In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul is specifically addressing issues of orderly worship, not establishing who can and cannot be elders in the Church.
1 Cor 14:34–35 - Women should be silent during the church meetings. It is not proper for them to speak. They should be submissive, just as the law says. 35 If they have any questions, they should ask their husbands at home, for it is improper for women to speak in church meetings.
Some would argue this is Paul making a blanket command for all time. But when you look at the context of the day (because Scripture was not written in a vacuum) we know that in that day women were most likely not educated, and likely would have had many questions about what they were hearing in church services.
So, in order to ensure church continued orderly, Paul is specifically addressing the issue of a bunch of side conversations that would have been very distracting. In other parts of this very letter, Paul lays out orderly worship that does not specify men and women prophesying, speaking in tongues or speaking in other contexts.
How we exegete Scripture is important. And part of that process is understanding the cultural context in which it was written. Even outside of that, within context of the surrounding verses there is no argument here not allowing women to participate in church services.
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