My dear readers,

Answering Remaining Questions asked during Calvary Pandan Bible Camp 2026 (9)

Question One:

Before the ACM, a BP pastor told sisters-in-Christ not to ask questions during the ACM but to remain silent. If they had any questions, they were to go home and ask their own husbands. Is this a correct interpretation of 1 Corinthians 14:34–35, or was Apostle Paul addressing a different issue, such as women preaching or disorderliness in the church?

Answer One:

1 Corinthians 14:34-35: “³⁴Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. ³⁵And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.” The context of 1Corinthians 14 is dealing with the abuse of the spiritual gift of tongues speaking. Some, including women, were speaking God’s Word in foreign languages during worship services. Paul had to regulate the usage of tongues speaking, i.e. speaking God's Word in a foreign language. He began by teaching them the meaning and significance of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12.

All spiritual gifts are given by God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. There is no division or disagreement among the Godhead as to who should receive which gift or gifts. Since God gives spiritual gifts, the believer cannot ask or demand what spiritual gifts they would like or God ought to give. The prerogative is God’s alone. The believer’s duty is to find out what spiritual gift or gifts God has given to him at spiritual birth, just as a child needs to discover what talent he has received from God at birth to help him live in this world. All spiritual gifts are for the blessing of others, especially for fellow believers, not for self-glorification. For example, a believer received from God the spiritual gift of preaching. He can understand and explain God's Word better than other believers who do not have the same spiritual gift. He must now use the gift to minister God’s Word to bless God's people.

 All believers are blessed with at least one spiritual gift. All spiritual gifts are likened to the different parts of the human body. All of them must function together according to their respective parts and designed functions. The eye cannot say that it does not need the mouth because the mouth is not like the eye. Neither can the mouth say that it does not need the eye because the eye is not like the mouth. Jesus Christ is the Head of the body, controlling every part. All believers are the parts of the body that function together, and when one part is hurt, the whole body feels the pain. Every part of the body must be cared for so that the body can feel good and function properly.

The motive behind the usage of every spiritual gift is God’s love. Paul dedicated 1 Corinthians 13 to teach this very important truth. He concluded the teaching with a contrast among faith, hope and love. Love is the best motive when spiritual gifts are used. Hope and faith are important in every believer’s life, but they are not as good as the motive of love in all that the believer does for Christ and to remain a blessing to God’s people.

Paul dealt with the abuse of the spiritual gift of tongues speaking in 1 Corinthians 14 so that when the believers in the Corinth church decided to obey Paul’s instruction to stop the abuse of that spiritual gift, they knew that they were not obeying Paul but God. After Paul explained that it is better to speak five words with understanding and be understood than to speak ten thousand words that no one understands. Apparently, the abuse of tongues speaking was that some stood up and started speaking God’s Word in a foreign language such that no one in the congregation understood. For example, why would someone start preaching God's Word in Korean when no one in the congregation speaks Korean?! The result was confusion during Sunday worship. After explaining that spiritual gifts are for the blessing of God's people, Paul wrote that they could not be blessed if they did not understand what was spoken!

Preach God's Word only in languages that people understand so that they can be blessed. Paul regulated this by teaching that there ought not to be more than three different languages during the worship service. 1 Corinthians 14:26-33: “²⁶How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. ²⁷If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. ²⁸But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God. ²⁹Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. ³⁰If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. ³¹For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. ³²And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. ³³For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”

If there were people in the congregation who spoke different languages and there were those in the church who were able to share God’s Word in those languages, then let them speak; but not more than three different languages. In addition, there must be others who also spoke the languages to check and ensure that the words spoken were truly God’s Word and not anything spurious.

Therefore, in the present-day context, most churches limit it to two different languages in the same worship, even though God’s Word allows a maximum of three. For example, if a local church needs to interpret God’s Word for the congregation, the limit should be three languages. The preacher preaches in English, someone interprets into Mandarin, followed by another into Tamil. Then the preacher preaches in English again. If there are four different languages, then the preacher and the congregation’s concentration may be compromised.

The ministering of God’s Word in the church is the duty of the pastor and elders. God has called only spiritual men to be pastors and elders in God's church. God gives the biblical basis in 1 Timothy 2:11-15: “¹¹Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. ¹²But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. ¹³For Adam was first formed, then Eve. ¹⁴And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. ¹⁵Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.” The twofold biblical basis includes the eternal past that cannot be changed. Adam was created first, and the serpent did not deceive Adam, but Eve was. Based on this twofold reason, God prescribed the spiritual qualifications of the pastors and elders in 1 Timothy 3:1-7. All the spiritual qualifications listed in that passage are masculine in gender. The doctrine that only men can serve in God’s church as pastors and elders was written later, since 1 Timothy was written later than when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians to deal with the many church problems in that church. That does not mean that the teaching that only men can be pastors and elders did not apply and was not the basis for Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians.

That being said, Paul addressed the leadership problem in the Corinthian church. The women began preaching during worship service in a foreign language like some of the men. Therefore, Paul taught that women should not preach and teach during the church worship service on Sunday, which is the responsibility God has assigned only to pastors or elders. This does not mean that women were not allowed to even teach in God’s church. They can teach in other ministries within the local church such as in Sunday school, during Bible Studies, etc., as long as the overall headship of the church is not compromised, whereby the pastors and elders remain as undershepherds of God’s flock. In the history of the B-P Church of Singapore, there had been exceptions when women missionaries were sent out to evangelise in their home towns in Malaysia. They shared the gospel and souls were saved, and when a local church was formed, they were the only ministers on Sunday during worship. They ministered God’s Word to the congregation until the men in the church matured in their faith sufficiently to take over the leadership.

Now to the question of whether women are allowed to speak at the local church’s Annual Congregational Meeting (ACM). The ACM is not like the Sunday worship service, and it did not exist in the early church setup. By way of application, since the ACM is not a worship service and the person asking the question is not preaching, there is no biblical injunction that prohibits a woman from asking questions during the ACM. However, it is important to note that if a married woman asks questions, she would be seen as representing her husband. That is why verse 35 says that if she has anything to ask, it is best to ask her husband at home, i.e. in the privacy of the home. It does not mean she cannot ask her husband in the church or anywhere outside their home. The home context is cited as the place for her to ask, just in case the question may result in some heated discussion, and it is a shameful thing for such emotional discussions to be conducted publicly.

It is a shameful thing for a woman to preach in the church, i.e. to be made an elder or a pastor in the church when God did not ordain her to be so. Verse 35: “And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.” This obviously cannot mean that she cannot ask other men such as an elder or her church pastor for advice, or that she is to keep silent the moment she steps into the church premises, for that would be ridiculous. The context is one of disorderly behaviour during church worship, speaking God’s Word in a foreign language when no one in the congregation understands that language.

All members of the church, including ladies, who desire to ask questions during ACM are welcome to do so. The church is a family where there must never be a feeling that the congregation is on one side and the leaders are on another side. We are all on the same side as a united body of Christ; the blood of Christ redeems all. We serve and worship and are answerable to the same Lord on the Day of Judgment. Christ alone is Head of the church. We are one family in Christ, helping and provoking one another unto love and good works, never to compete and complain to hurt one another. All must ask all questions sincerely and with a clear conscience before God and man, and all questions must be answered with the same heart and mind to God’s glory and the spiritual benefit of God’s people.