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

1 Corinthians 14:34–35 The letter to the Corinthian church was written by Paul around the year 55 AD. Four years prior to writing this letter, Paul spent a year and a half in the city of Corinth. He knew the church and he knew the people, and in the letter he indicates he had received a disturbing report of fighting and quarreling within the Corinthian church. From his letter we learn that all types of disruptive things were happening in their worship gatherings.* Before he tells women to “be silent” in this letter, Paul instructs the church about these sad divisions. Some were taking the Lord’s Supper (sometimes called communion), while others weren’t allowed to take it. Some were coming to the church meetings hungry because they were not included in the meal being served. Some were getting drunk on the wine used in the Lord’s Supper. Some were going to the meetings while participating in ongoing open sin, with no evidence of sorrow or repentance. Paul tells them they are taking the Lord’s Supper—a sacred and holy remembrance of the death and resurrection of Jesus—“in an unworthy manner.” In other words, there were some pretty crazy things going on in the Corinthian church meetings. Paul was writing to correct these abuses and guide the people to unity.