John Calvin Commentary 1 Corinthians 14:34

"let the women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but let them be in subjection, as also saith the law." — 1 Corinthians 14:34 (ASV)

It appears that the Church of the Corinthians was also infected with this fault: the talkativeness of women was allowed a place in the sacred assembly, or rather, full liberty was given to it. Therefore, he forbids them to speak in public, either for the purpose of teaching or of prophesying. This, however, we must understand as referring to ordinary service, or where there is a church in a regularly constituted state. For a necessity may occur that requires a woman to speak in public; but Paul is simply addressing what is fitting in a duly regulated assembly.

Let them be in subjection, as also saith the law. What connection does his objective have with the subjection under which the law places women? “For what is there,” someone will say, “to prevent them from being in subjection and yet at the same time teaching?” I answer that the office of teaching is a position of superiority in the Church and is, consequently, inconsistent with subjection. For how unseemly it would be for one who is under subjection to one of the members to preside over the entire body!

It is therefore an argument from inconsistent things—if a woman is under subjection, she is, consequently, prohibited from having the authority to teach in public. And unquestionably, wherever even natural propriety has been maintained, women have in all ages been excluded from the public management of affairs. It is the dictate of common sense that female government is improper and unseemly.

Furthermore, while women in Rome were originally permitted to plead before a court, the effrontery of Caia Afrania led to their being prohibited even from this. Paul’s reasoning, however, is simple—that authority to teach is not suitable to the position a woman occupies, because if she teaches, she presides over all the men, while it is fitting for her to be under subjection.