Subject: Women are to be silent? |
Bible Note: I am giving a non-answer to make a point about exegesis, because your question has multiple facets to it. Here are questions that must be answered: 1. Were women required to be silent or quiet? 2. Why were women to be silent/quiet? 3. When and where were women to be silent/quiet? 4. What was the benefit, if any, of being silent/quiet? 5. What was the consequence of not being silent/quiet? 6. Can a Scripture passage be applicable only to a particular culture? 7. If a passage is indeed cultural, what textual indicators tell me it is only cultural? Or what later commands were given so it is no longer applicable? 8. If I consider a passage cultural, do I undermine the teaching of the book where it is contained? For example, If I say woman's silence is cultural in 1 Cor 14:34, do I negate the whole passage (14:26-39) which teaches that there is to be order in the church? After all, if one verse is cultural, maybe that section is cultural; or the chapter is cultural; or even the whole book is cultural. How does one know where to stop? Those are some random ideas to help move things along. Steve |