λαλέω

Summary

λαλέω ("to speak") in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 cannot mean all forms of speech, because Paul explicitly affirms women prophesying in the same church context (11:5, 14:26) — and prophesying is a form of laleō. The tension between the laleō prohibition and the prophesying permission makes this one of the most debated words in the WIM canon, with egalitarian readings identifying vv.34-35 as either an interpolation, a restriction on disruptive questioning, or a Corinthian quotation Paul refutes.

It contrasts with legō (to say specific words with propositional content) in that laleō emphasizes the act of speaking itself. In 1 Cor 14:34–35, Paul writes that women should "be silent in the churches" and "not speak" (laleō), and that "it is shameful for a woman to speak (laleō) in church." This is the central hermeneutical battleground for 1 Corinthians 14. Egalitarian scholars (article 337, Bartlett/Williams) note that laleō here cannot mean all forms of speech, because Paul elsewhere explicitly affirms women prophesying in the same church context (1 Cor 11:5; 14:26) — and prophesying is a form of laleō. The restriction must therefore be contextually defined: most egalitarian interpretations understand 14:34–35 as either (a) an interpolation (Payne's argument from manuscript evidence), (b) a restriction on disruptive questioning/chattering during the evaluation of prophecies, or (c) a quotation of the Corinthian position that Paul immediately refutes with "What?!" (v.36). Complementarian interpreters read the prohibition as a genuine Pauline restriction on women exercising doctrinal authority in the gathered assembly. The tension between the laleō prohibition and the prophesying permission (11:5) makes this one of the most debated words in the WIM canon.