The Verse Everyone Wants to Cancel | 1 Corinthians 14:33-35

Welcome to The Daily, where we study the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter, every day.

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Our text today is 1 Corinthians 14:33-35.

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. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. — 1 Corinthians 14:33-35

This is one of the most debated texts in the New Testament, for all kinds of obvious reasons. But there are a couple of things to note here:

First, he grounds this instruction in what is true "in all the churches of the saints." That language signals apostolic authority and consistency—not local preference. The gathered church belongs to Christ (Matt. 16:18), and its worship is ordered according to his revealed will, not cultural negotiation. That is sound ecclesiology. It's not your church, so you and I don't get to decide the rules.

Second, we have to read this text in context. So let's go back to chapter 11 first. Paul has already affirmed that women pray and prophesy in gathered worship—under proper order. (1 Cor. 11:5) So this cannot mean absolute silence in every sense. Also, Paul has already mentioned two contexts in which certain people should remain silent in the church: those who speak in tongues without an interpreter, and those who prophesy out of order. So this present call to remain silent is not exclusively for women. Which is how many people read it.

Context matters, people. The specific issue here is not female inferiority in the church. The specific issue concerns the wives of believing husbands, who are commanded in this context to address and resolve family differences at home, as clarified in the text: "let them ask their husbands at home."

Paul’s concern is not the participation of wives (married) or women (gender) in the church. Again, go back and read 1 Corinthians 11:5. It was how speaking was being handled in public worship. And I believe that, if we read this in context, it would make sense that the word translated as "to speak" (laleō), which was most recently used by Paul in reference to speaking in tongues and prophesying, was the main issue.

Paul's bottom-line concern is preserving the structure of authority God established for gathered worship, and ensuring that all forms of speaking are handled in an orderly, not chaotic, fashion.

This is not misogynistic oppression. It is a covenant structure for both his church and his covenant of marriage. Both were instituted by God, and not us, so we don't get to decide the rules regardless of culture. It flows from the same theological pattern we saw in chapter 11: Christ → man → woman — ordered environments under God’s design.

God’s order is not a burden—it is a gift. When we submit to the structure he has revealed, we preserve both the church and the family from confusion and competition. We work in concert with his design. Faithfulness here means trusting that his design produces peace, clarity, and spiritual strength—even when culture and some opinions in the church disagree. God's church is not a democracy.

DO THIS:

When you encounter “the verse everyone wants to cancel,” refuse to dismiss it. Slow down. Study it in context. Ask what kind of disorder it was correcting and what structure it was protecting.

ASK THIS:

1. Do I instinctively resist passages that confront modern cultural instincts?
2. Am I tempted to edit Paul where he makes me uncomfortable?
3. Do I really believe God’s church is not a democracy?

PRAY THIS:

Lord, give me humility where your Word confronts my assumptions. Keep me from trimming hard texts to fit modern preferences. Teach me to trust your authority and your design for your church. Amen.

PLAY THIS:

“What A Beautiful Name”