A reflection on 1 Corinthians 11:2–16 and 14:34–35, from our Hot Takes series.
“What if a woman feels called to be a pastor?”
I asked it in my sister’s living room in Maine, where the youth group leaders had gathered to agree on shared beliefs. The other women had just agreed that they would not teach when boys were present. As an unmarried woman, I understood that I could no longer preach or teach, even after four years in collegiate ministry. Wasn’t God big enough to speak through women too?
One leader looked me in the eye and said, “If a woman feels called to preach, she is just being prideful.”
Shortly after, I stepped down. She wasn’t trying to be cruel. She was repeating what she earnestly believed, and she had verses for it: “Women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak but should be subordinate, as the law also says” (1 Corinthians 14:34).
Confessions of a Paul Defender
I confess: I am a Paul defender. For nearly 2,000 years, Paul’s words have been used to keep women in their place, defend slavery, condemn queer folks, and push people to the margins.
My favorite seminary professor, Dr. Carla Works, now the president of Wesley Theological Seminary, taught me that if we can’t wrestle with these texts honestly, we cede them to the people who use them to do harm. We must name and reclaim these verses for the sake of liberation. To do that with chapter 14, we have to back up to chapter 11.
Reading Paul’s Mail
“But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:3).
If your first response is rage, that’s valid. If it’s confusion, you’re in good company. Scholars have scratched their heads over this passage for centuries. We are reading Paul’s mail to Corinth, a port city obsessed with status, where he wanted to end the church’s divisions.
The chief issue seems to be head coverings, though the word “veil” doesn’t appear in the Greek. Verse 10 says a woman ought to have authority over her head “because of the angels,” and scholars give a big fat shrug. It is OK to be confused, but we shouldn’t pretend to understand more than we do.
The One Thing Paul Doesn’t Argue About
Paul’s chain of command is real, and this language has been used to oppress countless women. But in all this word salad, Paul never argues about one thing. Verse 5 says, “any woman who prays or prophesies.” For Paul, it’s a given that women pray and prophesy in the assembly. The only question is how.
And that verse about the angels? Some scholars read “a woman ought to have authority over her head” as her own authority to pray and prophesy. Her authority doesn’t come from the men around her. It’s hers, given to her by God.
That’s still radical. This past June, the Southern Baptist Convention voted to move toward expelling churches where women serve as pastors or preach. I grew up Baptist and never saw a woman preach until I came to the Table.
Paul relied on women as partners in ministry: Prisca, whose name usually comes before her husband Aquila’s, and Phoebe, “a deacon of the church at Cenchreae” (Romans 16:1), who likely carried his letter to the Romans. In verse 11 he flips the script on verse 3: “Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man or man independent of woman” (1 Corinthians 11:11). In the Lord, we are equal.
Chapter 14 is about order in worship, with people talking over one another, and Paul ends it, “So, my brothers and sisters, strive to prophesy” (1 Corinthians 14:39). Whatever he meant, he can’t have meant permanent silence for all women, everywhere.
Told No, Called Anyway
Nearly 250 years ago, Jarena Lee, a Black woman born free in New Jersey, heard a voice: “Go preach the Gospel!” She answered, “No one will believe me.” Her pastor, Richard Allen, told her the Methodist Discipline “knew nothing at all about it,” and for years she obeyed that no. “Is he not a whole Saviour, instead of a half one?” she later wrote.
About eight years later, when another minister lost the spirit mid-sermon, Jarena stood up and preached. Allen, by then a bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, rose and said she was as called as any preacher present. She became the first woman to preach in the AME Church, and in one year she traveled more than 2,300 miles and preached 178 sermons.
Those stories are still being written. On Election Day, Georgia elected Keisha Lance Bottoms, the first Black woman elected governor of any state. New Mexico elected Deb Haaland, the first Native American woman governor. Michigan elected Abdul El-Sayed, the first Muslim U.S. senator. Voters in Alabama elected Allison Montgomery, the state’s first transgender legislator.
Your Own Nevertheless
When I asked my question eight years ago, I never dreamed I would preach as an associate pastor. The only reason I’m here is that the Savior called me.
Paul didn’t have all the answers, and neither do we. His words can be used to silence or to set people free.
So name your own nevertheless. I was told that a woman who wanted to preach was being prideful. Nevertheless, I preached. Some of you were told that queer folks could not possibly bear the image of God. Nevertheless, you held on to your love of Jesus. What have you heard that has kept you from saying yes to God?
Whatever it was, hear this: nevertheless, in the Lord, the Spirit has been poured out on all people. “The one who calls you is faithful” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).