Don Johnson

One reason Fee questioned the authenticity of 1 Cor 14:34-35 is that these verses showed up at the end of the chapter in some manuscripts, indicating to him that some copyists did not know what to do with these verses. I agree that 1 Cor 14:36 repudiates the 2 verses before, another term for eta is expletive of repudiation. The closest in English is “Pffft!” but some do not know that word, so “Bunk”, “Garbage” or similar is also possible. This eta shows up a lot in 1 Cor. it is like Paul is speaking in person to the congregation.

In my understanding, the 11 were acting in faith in choosing Matthias. There are other apostles besides Paul mentioned in the NT that are not the 12 + Matthias. They were all apostles, but not the 12. The 12 needed to be 12 to map to the 12 tribes, 11 will not do. Judas was a traitor and so kicked himself out. But to be 12, they needed to add another, which they did in faith based on the verses they quoted and their process. They did not replace James when he died. The lot may have been random (as the lot is in the hands of the Lord) or it may have been a vote of the 11. Paul was not one of the 12. This is a tangent to women in ministry however.