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Devotion - May 9, 2021

5/9/2021

Misunderstood scripture verses-these can certainly impact how we may experience God. Could you imagine today what the Methodist Church would be like if we took 1 Corinthians 14:34 at face value?

Allen Burkett (Temperance, MI)

5/9/2021 10:00:57 am

Hi Rev. Bonsky,

Interesting “devotion”. Thank you.
Would appreciate your insight on this translation. Is everything that Paul says GOSPEL?

“For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭14:33-34‬ ‭ESV‬‬

How should “As in all the churches of the saints” be viewed?
Allen

Nicholas Bonsky

5/10/2021 09:57:55 am

Hello Allen,

This is a great question, and an important question to ask! Thank you. First, just like us, Paul is human. Certainly, he was inspired by God to write the works he did, but ultimately they were written by him-and shared to the church such as Corinth, Galatia, etc. We must take this into context when reading his works, and understand what is written may need a holistic view of his works.

As for the rest of the scripture you shared-here is the clearest way I can put it: Have you ever been around someone that says "Everyone is saying..." and when you ask who everyone is, it is one or two people? Paul is using that same method. It was actually a very popular style of writing known as rhetoric, where the writer could be abrasive, and exaggerate in order to get their point across. The people of the time would understand this style, and not react negatively, but respond with respect to this style of writing.

I hope this helps clarify. Let me know if you have any further questions!

Pastor Nick

Pastor Robert

5/11/2021 05:07:08 am

Allen,

Your question was intriguing enough that it inspired me to look into the Greek text of this letter so that I might add to what Pastor Nick has already said.

As you may know, Biblical Greek was not written with punctuation or even with spaces between words or letters. This means that translation and interpretation extends beyond simply finding the meanings of words but also of discerning where thoughts and sentences begin and end.

Looking at the Greek I see no reason why the phrase “as in all the churches of the saints” has to be read as a preface to the comments about women rather than a conclusion to his statements about God being a God of peace rather than confusion. In fact, it seems that if we shift that phrase to the end of the previous thought we actually get an overall argument that is more cohesive.

Paul has been explaining that the gift of prophecy is only valuable in so far as it can be explained to the whole church (a pretty damning passage for the practice of speaking in tongues, but that’s a whole different conversation). It is in the light of the proper usage of this gift that Paul mentions God being a God of peace. It is also in this context that is makes sense for Paul to speak of something “as in all the churches.” The gathering of the faithful ought to be something that uplifts the whole community.

Paul then speaks of a specific group of women who have been disrupting the gathering in Corinth (presumably, given the context, by speaking in tongues without anyone to translate). Paul says that it is better for them to keep silent and if they desire to learn more then they are to speak to their husbands about it at home. Crucially Paul then asks the rhetorical question as to whether God’s word originated with them and whether they are the only ones to have received God’s word. This further suggests that these particular women were attempting to act as oracles in a way that was disruptive to the gathered body.

The universal principle in this section seems to therefore be that if a person wants to prophesy then their prophecy has to be accountable to the standard of being edifying to the whole body. The particular application of this principle is to the women who are causing a disturbance under the guise of prophesying.

It does not seem reasonable to assume that Paul is dismissing the role of women as leaders in the church given that in his letter to the Romans he asks them to welcome Chloe as a deacon from Cenchreae. Cenchreae was one of the ports within the city-state of Corinth and deacons were an office in the ancient church with many responsibilities.

The evidence, both within this letter and outside it, would therefore strongly suggest that our interpretation of these verses needs to align with an understanding of Paul and his theology that allows for women to generally hold positions of authority in the church, while also expecting the women involved in this particular conflict to keep their silence during the liturgical gathering of the body (but continuing to grow in their understanding of God during their personal devotions at home with their husbands).

Also just as a quick aside the question about whether everything that Paul says being gospel: we should bear in mind that the word gospel derived from the Greek word “evangelion” meaning “good news.” This word is not Christian in origin but does speak to a specific form of good news that we proclaim as Christians - namely the good news that Jesus Christ is the son of God through whom God is reconciling the whole word to God’s love. Therefore we can say that what Paul says is good news in so far as it proclaims the love of God as revealed through Jesus who is the Christ (meaning the anointed or Chosen One of God).

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Devotion - May 9, 2021

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