How (Not) to Read the Bible: Making Sense of the Anti-women, Anti-science, Pro-violence, Pro-slavery and Other Crazy-Sounding Parts of Scripture

by Dan Kimball

In Jewish worship at that time and as is still common today in the more conservative branches of Judaism, women and men sit separately. This is done in Islamic mosques today as well. Within Judaism this is just a custom, not directed in the Bible. Some have suggested that this “separate seating” was happening in these early church meetings, and this practice may have led to problems. If women who weren’t educated (due to the way women were treated at that time) had questions, they might try asking their husbands, possibly shouting across the room. This would understandably cause distractions for others in the worship gathering. Or if the women were on their own or unmarried and they were confused about the teaching, they might begin talking among themselves, disrupting the worship gathering. If option 2 was the case, it makes sense why Paul would be asking them to stay quiet and wait until later to ask questions. This is all speculative. We don’t know what the situation was in these cities. In the churches Paul was writing to, however, I am sure they did know the situation.