Cheryl

May I put my two cents worth in this line of thought?

If we take Paul as saying that God is not a God of confusion and then Paul quotes from the letter from the Corinthians which is a source of confusion and restriction of women, then we rightfully have Paul correcting the confusion in verse 36. i.e. God is not a God of confusion so the confusing contradictions of the Corinthians cannot be from God. Paul’s commands (plural) then from verses 1 to 33 are from God because God is a God of peace (tranquility and a lack of dissension) and the dissension that comes in verses 34 & 35 is not from God but from man. Paul is not going to let men divide themselves from the women in this church and thus bring dissension into the Corinthian church (and into the body of Christ!) In this way Paul is saying that all the other churches have peace.

I am not saying that this is the only way to take Paul, but the fact that there is no record of dissension against women in any of the other churches tends to make me find support to the view that “as in all the churches of the saints” is a word from Paul not the Corinthians.

Again, I could be wrong, but a quote that starts with “as in all” seems to be misplaced if it is a Corinthian quote. It is also missing support of women’s suppression in all the churches if the quote is from the Corinthians. The other important thing to consider if this is part of the Corinthian quote, is that it is a misplaced sentence. It should read “Women are to keep silent in the churches as in all the churches of the saints”.

Thoughts?