Reflections with Andy - 1 Corinthians 14: 26-40 – Silent in Church?
Paul today says that women should be silent in church. Yet, the United Methodists, and nearly all Wesleyan churches, affirm the call of women to preach. What does this all mean?
What does Paul mean when he says that worship should be done “decently and in order”? In today’s reflection, Andy finishes 1 Corinthians 14 by exploring Paul’s teaching about orderly worship, spiritual gifts, prophecy, tongues, and the controversial passage about women speaking in church. Rather than reading that verse in isolation, Andy considers it alongside Paul’s earlier instructions in chapter 11, where women are explicitly described as praying and prophesying. From a Wesleyan perspective, he explores why context matters when we interpret Scripture and why the goal of worship isn’t a particular style or tradition, but creating space for the people of God to encounter God together.
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Good morning! It’s good to be with you on this Tuesday morning. I hope Monday went well and that you have a great Tuesday ahead of you.
Today we’re going to finish out 1 Corinthians 14. Yesterday we talked about tongues—where the practice comes from theologically and how we might understand it within the Wesleyan tradition.
Today Paul turns his attention to something that is just as important: orderly worship.
Let’s read 1 Corinthians 14:26–40.
Paul’s point throughout this section is pretty straightforward.
When the church gathers for worship, everything should have a purpose.
Someone has a hymn.
Someone has a lesson.
Someone has a revelation.
Someone has a tongue.
Someone has an interpretation.
But Paul keeps coming back to the same principle:
“Let all things be done for building up.”
That’s the standard.
Is what we’re doing building up the body of Christ?
Is it helping people encounter God?
Is it helping people hear what the Spirit is saying?
Or is it simply creating confusion and distraction?
Paul isn’t prescribing one particular form of worship.
He’s prescribing purposeful worship.
And I think that’s important because Christians have spent an awful lot of time arguing about what worship is supposed to look like.
We call them the “worship wars.”
Traditional versus contemporary.
Hymns versus praise music.
Organs versus guitars.
Formal liturgy versus informal worship.
And I think we sometimes miss Paul’s point.
The question isn’t, “Which style of worship is the right one?”
The question is, “Does our worship help us encounter God?”
We all experience God differently.
Some of us grew up in a little country church where the hymns were sung from an old hymnal and somebody’s grandmother sat on the front row.
Some of us encountered God in a much more formal setting—a Catholic or Episcopal church with liturgy and incense and beautiful music.
Some of us experience God through contemporary worship.
Some through silence.
Some through preaching.
Some through Communion.
Those differences aren’t necessarily bad.
They’re contextual.
They’re circumstantial.
They’re preferences.
And there’s nothing wrong with having preferences.
But we need to be careful that we don’t confuse our preferred means of worship with the end of worship.
The means can vary.
The end remains the same.
We gather to encounter God.
That’s what matters.
Paul is telling the Corinthians that their worship should have order because worship isn’t ultimately about us.
It’s about creating space for the whole body to encounter God together.
And then we come to one of the more difficult passages in this chapter.
Paul says:
“Women should be silent in the churches.”
This is one of those verses that has been used throughout Christian history to make very broad claims about women and ministry.
So I want to slow down here and explain how I understand it.
As a Protestant, and particularly as a Wesleyan, I believe Scripture is the ultimate authority for the Church.
Tradition matters.
I love the traditions of the Church.
I deeply respect the wisdom of Christians who have gone before us.
But when Scripture and a particular tradition come into conflict, Scripture ultimately has the greater authority.
That’s an important part of how I understand my own tradition.
As a United Methodist pastor, I affirm the full calling and participation of women in ministry, including preaching and pastoral leadership.
That’s also true throughout much of the broader Wesleyan tradition.
But I recognize that not all Christians agree with me on this.
And that’s okay.
There are faithful Christians who interpret these passages differently.
So why do I interpret this particular passage the way I do?
Context.
Look back at 1 Corinthians 11.
Paul says:
“Any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled disgraces her head.”
Notice what Paul doesn’t say.
He doesn’t say, “Women aren’t allowed to pray.”
He doesn’t say, “Women aren’t allowed to prophesy.”
Instead, he gives instructions about how women should pray and prophesy.
And remember what prophecy means in this context. It isn’t necessarily predicting the future. It’s speaking the word of God to the gathered community.
So Paul has already acknowledged that women are praying and prophesying in worship.
That’s important.
Because when we get to chapter 14 and Paul says women should be silent, we have to ask what exactly he means.
If Paul intended to establish an absolute prohibition against women ever speaking in worship, then chapter 11 becomes very difficult to explain.
So I read chapter 14 in the context of the larger section.
What is Paul talking about here?
Orderly worship.
That’s the subject of this entire passage.
If someone speaks in tongues and there is no interpreter, they should be silent.
If someone else receives a revelation, the first speaker should be silent.
People should speak one at a time.
Everything should be done decently and in order.
And then Paul addresses women who are apparently asking questions during the worship service.
He tells them that if they have questions, they should ask their husbands at home.
In other words, I believe the issue here is disruptive speech, not a universal prohibition against women praying or preaching.
Paul is concerned that the worship service not become chaotic.
And that’s why I think the context matters so much.
We don’t interpret one verse in isolation when the surrounding chapter helps explain what the verse is doing.
So as a United Methodist and a Wesleyan, I can affirm the authority of Scripture while also affirming the call of women to preach and lead in the Church.
For me, those things aren’t contradictory.
They’re the result of reading the whole passage in context.
And that brings us back to Paul’s larger point.
Worship should be orderly.
Not because God is rigid.
Not because there’s only one right way to worship.
But because worship is supposed to build up the body.
That’s why Paul ends this section by saying:
“But all things should be done decently and in order.”
That’s the principle.
Not one particular style.
Not one particular denomination.
Not one particular instrument.
Not one particular liturgy.
Order.
Purpose.
Edification.
And ultimately, encounter with God.
So when we gather for worship, let’s remember why we’re there.
We’re not there to get our preferred style of music.
We’re not there to prove that our way is better than somebody else’s.
We’re not there simply to be entertained.
We’re there to encounter the living God.
And whatever helps us do that faithfully, while building up the body of Christ, can be a beautiful expression of worship.
Thanks for being with me today.
Tomorrow we’ll leave 1 Corinthians 14 behind and move into chapter 15, where Paul turns to one of the central claims of the Christian faith: the resurrection.
And that’s going to give us plenty to talk about.
Have a wonderful Tuesday, and I’ll see you again tomorrow morning.