The women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak,
Women were not to take official speaking roles in the services of the church, usurping the roles of the men.
but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says.
The Law here must refer to Genesis 3:15, when the Lord God tells Eve that she will be under her husband's rule.
This is expressing God's order of authority, as discussed August 28, 2019, and other places.
If they desire to learn anything,
That is, if they have questions.
let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church.
They are not to interrupt the service to get answers, they are to discuss these queries privately at home. Or if she has no husband, then the pastor or one of the teachers in the church. Not during the service.
Was it from you that the Word of God first went forth? Or has it come to you only?
Paul's rhetorical questions here suggest that the Corinthians had their own customs concerning women's public speaking, and were acting independently of the other churches. They may have been presuming that the Word of God came only to them through their own prophets, so could deviate from what Paul wrote.
If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord's commandment.
So Paul suggests that if they think they are true prophets of God or spiritual, that they would acknowledge that God had Paul put into writing the guidelines for all the churches to follow. We are all one Universal Church and all our congregations are to be united in promoting God's order, as He had Paul lay it out for us.
But if anyone does not recognize this, he is not to be recognized.
The one who ignores this is to be ignored.
Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak in tongues.
So he says to still want the gifts that would profit the church the most, but don't be against any gift God would give, even the gift of tongues.
But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner.
Just make sure that everything done in church, for the church services, is all done in an orderly and proper manner, not allowing confusion or inappropriate behavior to bring chaos into God's church.
We think that we're so modern, and that these old-fashioned ideas are out of style for us today. But I think that is how they were thinking in Corinth. They were thinking that women were emancipated, so could override the order of authority God made mankind to operate under.
When Eve allowed herself to be deceived, she demonstrated that she needed her husband to be able to lead her aright. So God put him over her in authority, to maintain order. That has never changed.
The husbands have the position of leadership over their wives, and widows or unmaried women are under the umbrella of authority of the church. So the women are not to usurp the men in assuming speaking and teaching and preaching roles in the church. This is not being followed in many churches today.
Yes, women are emancipated today. Yes, God considers that in His family there is no more male or female, any more than there is any distinction between rich or poor, Jew or Gentile, educated and cultured or "naked savage." All are one in Christ Jesus (Colossians 3:11).
But God is still a God of order, and His order in the church is for the men to take the leadership roles of pastor and teacher over the congregation.
He's not saying that the women should be uneducated or put down in any way, but that their place in the church is to learn from the leaders, and their own husbands. And the older women are to teach the younger women (Titus 2:3-5), so they are not excluded from ministry. And in some cultures today, women are not permitted to be taught by men at all, so women need to pastor those women in those situations. They would not be usurping the men's role there. And there are very godly women today teaching other women the "deep things" of God in Ladies' Bible Studies. So we ladies can learn from both the men and the women who are gifted to teach.
So God has use for each one of us. We are all God's ministers if we are His children. We are His witnesses, and we all are to be able to give an answer to whatever question we may be asked at any time.
Where we are and who we are with will determine how our ministry will look. And we all have a ministry to others from the Lord to promote His Kingdom. That's why He left us here after saving us.
It's up to us to scatter the seed of His Word throughout the whole World, until every person alive will be able to hear His Gospel, and understand enough of how much God loves us all to be able to make an informed decision to either accept His gracious gift of Salvation or reject it.
Then the Lord will return (Matthew 24:14). And we will be rewarded for all we did to promote and grow His Kingdom, that will last forever.
O my Father, thank You for Paul. Thank You for taking Saul of Tarsis, the fiery persecutor of the Way, and transforming him into Paul the Evangelist. From tearing down the church to building it. Thank You for having him write out all these details and preserving his writings so that we could read them today and be instructed, just as the church in Corinth was taught so long ago; and the guidelines still apply to us, just as they did then for them.
Father, help us to rightly understand all these admonitions, not only for the original hearers in their culture, but also for us in our own societies today.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord God Almighty, our Sovereign King, to the glory of Almighty God the Father, forever.
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