The Jewish Talmud says, "out of respect for the congregation, a woman should not herself read in the law. It is a shame for a woman to let her voice be heard among men. The voice of a woman is filthy nakedness.” In that culture, the woman’s voice was considered an obscene thing. This is the kind of teaching that Jesus died to correct.  Yet, the church, even today, holds to that kind of teaching. Most of the church today says that women are forbidden to operate in the speaking gifts of the five-fold ministry. Thus, Satan wins as millions of God's girls sit by in silence, neglecting the Holy Spirit gifts in them, thereby cheating God of his rightful due. Women, God has invested much in you, He expects all of us to produce good, plentiful fruit for His harvest from every gift he has given us. (The parable of the talents, Math. 25:14-30) Women, don't you know you sin against God when you know what good He wants you to do but do it not because of fear of men? (James 4:17) I have to humbly say "God forgive me for bowing to man, thus burying my talent in layers of fear of man. I have not produced much of a harvest for you considering the gifts you gave me to work with. I knew to do it.”

First Corinthians is a book of instruction and corrections. The Corinthians had written a letter to Paul about some things they were teaching. They wanted to know if they were correct or not. Much of the book is a reply to their specific questions. In Chapter 3, he says they are walking as carnal men, still in the flesh and not as spiritual men. Paul is correcting some of these fleshly issues. One such issue is the matter of having sex in I Cor. 7:1. Because Paul said, "Now concerning the things which you wrote unto me" we know their specific question to him was "is it good for man to touch a woman?" And he goes on to answer that how to avoid fornication, and such, they should have sex with their spouse. They were teaching that there should be no sex even when married, and Paul was dismantling the false teaching.

One thing that we must be aware of is that in the Greek language there are no quotation marks. There is only a little symbol after a quote called an etta. After "is it good for a man to touch a woman?" this little symbol appears. It was to let them know that he was quoting the question they had asked him. Mathew 28:1-10 Verse 1 says Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb. Vs. 7 an angel announces Jesus has risen and commissions them to go quickly and tell his disciples the word. Vs. 9 Jesus himself meets them and in verse 10 He commissions them to go tell my brethren. (The women were the first to receive the commission to "go and tell" by an angel and Jesus.) Mark 16:1-11 Verse 7 an angel tells the women "Go your way quickly, tell his disciples and Peter that He goeth before you into Galilee, there you will see him as He said." (Again, the commission is given to tell the disciples and PETER. Go talk to the men!) Verse 8, they were afraid and so did not say anything. Verse 9,10 Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene and she went and told the disciples. But they did not believe her.

Luke 24:1-11 Vs. 4, two angels, Vs. 9,10, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary mother of James, and other women. They told the 11, and all the rest. Vs. 10 says they told the apostles. Vs. 11, The men did not believe them. John 20:11-18 Mary speaks to two angels. Vs. 15-17 Jesus himself speaks to her and tells her Vs 17 "Go to my brethren and SAY to them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." Vs. 18 She goes and tells the disciples she had seen Jesus and what he had said.

Notice! Women were the first to be commissioned by Jesus himself to go and speak the word that He is risen, the gospel. WHY DIDN'T JESUS ARRANGE TO HAVE PETER AND JOHN COME TO THE TOMB FIRST OR SPEAKS TO THEM FIRST, OR COMMISSION THEM FIRST?

Notice, in two of these accounts it says the men did not believe the women. Was that setting a precedent that shows us men will have a hard time believing the gospel or receiving anything from a woman, even when they are commissioned by God to do so?

Throughout Paul's writing, he speaks of women prophets (Philips 4 daughters), women apostle (Junias), women ministers or overseers (Phoebe) and women teachers (Priscilla), etc. In I Cor. 11:5 he says women can pray and prophesy in church but they need to cover their heads when they do it. Prophesy means to preach the word, as well as to foretell. So we know it is not logical for him to say in the following verses that women cannot speak in any way in a church. After a long discourse on the proper use of gifts in I Cor. chapters 11-14 he speaks verse 14:33. Then in the middle of that, it seems like a total departure from the subject when he interjects verses 34 and 35. The verses seem to come in a conspicuously odd place. However, it isn't odd. He had spoken of all things being done decently and in order so that there would be no confusion, but peace. This false doctrine of woman being silent was causing confusion and not peace. He had to set them straight on the subject they had asked about. Man states that the confusion was coming because women were speaking in the church. But that definitely was not the case. The confusion was there because the men were forbidding women to speak, going back to that old Jewish law, when Jesus had loosed them from the old traditions. The confusion was because they did not know whether they should be following law or the new thing of women speaking. Actually, they rebelled at the new teaching. I Cor. 14:33-36 "God is not of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

Let your women keep silent in church for it is not permitted unto them to speak but to be under obedience, as also sayeth the law. And if they will learn anything let them ask of their husbands at home, for it is a shame for women to speak in the church." The etta symbol appears here again, signifying that what Paul had just written was a quote from the letter they had written him. Paul's answer begins with verse 36 "What? Came the word of God out from you? Or came it to you only?" The emphasis is on WHAT?! He is indignantly responding to the false teaching that women were to be silent in church. He is indignant that they could teach such a thing when Jesus’ dealings with women, His death and resurrection had done away with all the old traditions of the law. The phrase "as also sayeth the law" confirms that the people, not Paul, wanted to go back to the Jewish tradition of women being excluded from religious participation. They were going back to the evil tradition that said a woman's voice was considered obscene. A woman could not testify in court at the time of Jesus, because her voice was called obscene. Paul’s question to them "What?! Came the word of God out from you? Or came it to you only?" was to remind them of something. Jesus made sure that woman's voice would no longer be called obscene because it was the women who first were commissioned in the previous verses to bring the word of the Lord to all the brethren, the apostles and all other disciples, male and female. He was indignant that they had so soon reverted to old Jewish tradition concerning women's role in ministry and concerning women as a whole, by saying the woman's voice was obscene. He was responding to their own question.

Paul was rebuking the Corinthians for their false teaching, dismantling their error and setting them straight. He certainly was not setting up a doctrine of excluding women from church ministry in any of the speaking gifts, or any other way. His answer was a rebuke to the men. In fact, he gets even stronger in verse 37 and 38. He says, "If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. In other words, men do not have an option of allowing or not allowing women to speak.

God commands that women be allowed to use EVERY speaking gift, APOSTLE, PROPHET, TEACHER, PASTOR, EVANGELIST!

If men are at all spiritual, they know this is true. If they do not know it is God's command for the woman to speak, they are spiritually ignorant. The word ignorant is pregnant with meaning. It means whoever has promoted, or is promoting, the idea that women are excluded from the ministry speaking gifts, are one of three things. 1) They truly lack the information and understanding of God's Word that comes from the Spirit. 2) They do not have the intelligence to understand God's Word on the matter. 3) They know what it says but are disinclined to teach and practice God's Word. They have made a deliberate choice to ignore it so as to keep the female gender under bondage, as per Satan's plans. By the same token, women do not have the option of using the speaking gifts or not either. They are commanded to speak! When they do not speak out of obedience to, and in fear of, man they let man take the place of God and man becomes the idol. This is exactly what God warned the woman about in Gen.3:16. You will turn to man and he shall rule over you.

Modern man has followed the lead of the Corinthians by using this passage to forbid women to minister in the calling of God in the speaking gifts. Even some of our well known women bible teachers (Beth Moore, Kay Arthur, Joyce Meyer) all believe that women are not to be ministering that way UNLESS they are doing it under the authority of a husband or a pastor. It is only because those men in their lives have given them permission to do it, that they feel they have the liberty to fulfill their calling. In all of Paul's speaking about women in ministry, even commending them to others, there is not one word about them getting permission from a man to do it. There is not a hint in any of his writings that says a woman MIGHT be allowed to speak IF she was under her husband's or pastor's authority. The modern teaching that anyone has to get permission to use a speaking gift in the church is just an egotistical ploy of the devil to keep women and men from speaking the word of God. There is no bible base for that teaching either, just as these verses are misinterpreted to silence women. Women, as you are set free to pursue your ministry for the Lord, if that calling is to be in a leadership position PLEASE do not follow in the hierarchical controlling system of the current church.  That is not of God.  You must assume the position of the servant, not the boss.