I have trouble believing Paul was correct when he told women not to speak in church and that wives should submit to the wills of their husbands.
Scripture have never made women second-class citizens, in fact it has always liberated. Just look at the roles of some of the women in Scripture, in the Old Testament there is, the prophetesses like Miriam (Exodus 15:20), Huldah (2 Kings 22:14) Deborah the Judge(Judges 4:4) Noadiah (Nehemiah 6:14), and Isaiah's wife (Isaiah 8:3). Within the epistles we see women were a valued part of the ministry, especially in Romans 16 where Phebe, Priscilla, Mary, Tryphena, Tryphosa, Persis, Julia, and the sister of Nereus are all mentioned with love and honor. The epistles and gospels also record for us five more female prophetesses: Anna in Luke 1:36-38 and Philip's four daughters in Acts 21:9 How can we understand passages used to diminish a woman's role within the body of Yeshua?
"Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church." 1 Corinthians 14:34
As with all of Paul’s letters, we have the answer but not the original question he is answering. Our job then becomes one of figuring out what the question may have been. The only thing we can be absolutely sure of is that at least one Corinthian in the assembly wrote Paul about some problem of disturbance in the assembly from a portion of the women. There are three possibilities of what had happened we could guess from Sha'ul's reply:
Scenario 1) Paul is acknowledging these women have caused a disturbance by interrupting the assembly with questions, and Paul is ruling that these women should stop disturbing the assembly and keep quiet until they get home.
Scenario 2) Sha'ul is debunking the men's complaint by first quoting the solution they proposed in their letter to him (their solution being that "women keep quiet") and then Sha'ul challenges their solution with "what? did the Word of G-d come to you only"(vs36); meaning, 'do you men actually believe that G-d only gives His Word for men to share and not women?' In which case the answer is 'no' and women may continue the behavior the men complained about.
Scenario 3) The whole issue is strictly a tongues issue, and that perhaps some women were speaking out of turn and disturbing the entire meeting. With this view, Paul tells them 'not to forbid speaking in tongues' (vs39) but only try harder to maintain order.(vs40)
Keep in mind that this Corinthian passage is dealing with a specific problem in the Corinthian church. It was never intended to be taken out of context and thrown at any woman who dares open her mouth! Let me explain a few reasons why we know this. A) the topic of the passage is dealing with keeping order in the assembly; B) it is directed specifically at wives, but not all women fit the description of those being corrected; for example, it wouldn't apply to single women who have no husbands to ask at home, nor could it apply to women married to non-believing husbands who would not be able to answer their questions, nor also could it apply to all women with believing husbands, since many may have husbands unable to answer their questions; and the final reason this would not apply to 'all women' is C) there is no assumption that this problem existed among all women, it can only be directed to those who caused the disturbance being discussed. Point being, you cannot establish doctrine for *all* women when the case is addressing only a certain group engaging in a specific activity. Scripture interprets Scripture and we need to find out what does the Bible teach about women.
"Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety." 1 Timothy 2:11-15
Women are to learn in silence. Silence here is Greek
hesuchia (Strong's 2271). It is NOT
phimoo which would mean 'muzzle' (contrary to how many may want read it)
Hesuchia is better rendered 'quietness' and is translated more accurately in 2 Thesalonians 3:11-12 "For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Yeshua Messiah, that with quietness/
hesuchia they work, and eat their own bread." Clearly, in this passage, it is not assumed
hesuchia means that they are to never utter a word. Simply put, they held their tongue and kept the peace. (as in Acts 22:2). This sort of quietness denotes making a conscious choice not to speak out and stir things up, not the same as being muzzled and never ever uttering a single sound ever. Big difference!!
Women are to learn in quiet peace and not teach or usurp authority over a man, but instead, will hold her tongue. The word teach here is
didasko (Strong's 1321) meaning "to give instruction." So are we saying that women may give no instructions at all? Let's look closer now at what it means to 'usurp authority' -- it comes from the Greek
authenteo (Strong's 831) and means to dominate or take control. Women are simply commanded not to dominate or control men with their teaching. This is not a prohibition against women doing any teaching, but instead a prohibition against women having disciples. Yeshua is an examples of “teacher” (meaning Rabi) with dedicated disciples. His disciples lived with them, slept with them, traveled with them everywhere, learned from them, lived their lives according to their teacher's instruction. It is *this* relationship a woman is being warned of. Women are not to take disciples, because such a leader would dominate and teach -- strongly influence their follower's lives. For a woman to take on disciples, she would upset G-d's order and have authority over men. Women are not to be the “pastor” or the head of a “church”, yes speek in them, teach in them but we are to be under the covering of the man. We can be sure it is this type of leadership teaching role being prohibited here, since we have examples of women performing other types of teaching elsewhere in Scripture. The Scripture says, “And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila
and Priscilla had heard,
they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly." Acts 18:26 Notice that she does not dominate here - she is acting as a helpmeet; she is helping to teach a man alongside her husband. She is not taking on disciples or doing anything unbecoming of a woman. Yet she is helping to teach. Moreover, the Word says, "Let the word of Messiah dwell in you richly in all wisdom;
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." Colossians 3:16. Women are included here, to teach and admonish one another in the assembly through praises. Women are not expected to be totally silent in the assembly. "But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head..." 1 Corinthians 11:5. Obviously women teach when they reveal prophesies G-d has sent them. If women were forbidden to teach in an assembly or to any man, then it would be silly for G-d to reveal anything to them -- because they wouldn't be able to share it!