There are 3 occurrences of πάντας in 1 Corinthians [see Table below], the Greek word translated all people in: And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people (πάντας, a form of πᾶς) to myself.¹ I’ve begun to consider the second occurrence (1 Corinthians 14:5 ESV [Table]):

Now I want you all (πάντας ὑμᾶς) to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.

I wondered whether ὑμᾶς limited πάντας to men only (1 Corinthians 14:34, 35 ESV).

the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church [Table].

Various lines of reasoning made this particular limitation doubtful, but in so doing made the meaning of keep silent in the churches more difficult to decipher. I left off with the NET translators’ suggestion that 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 related:

…to the preceding regulations about evaluating the prophets (v. 29). Here Paul would be indicating that the women should not speak up during such an evaluation, since such questioning would be in violation of the submission to male leadership that the OT calls for (the law, e.g., Gen 2:18).²

The beginning of the next note (15) follows:

Some scholars have argued that vv. 34-35 should be excised from the text…because the Western witnesses…have these verses after v. 40, while the rest of the tradition retains them here. There are no mss that omit the verses.

This prompts me to consider this passage without the two verses in question (1 Corinthians 14:26-33, 36-40 ESV):

What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up [Table]. If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints [Table],

Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized [Table]. So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But all things should be done decently and in order.

The first thing that stands out is that there is no mention of women keeping silent in the reprise of Paul’s discussion: So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But all things should be done decently and in order.³ Chaim Bentorah recognized something in Paul’s description I, as a Gentile, could miss:

Paul is most likely referencing the beth midrash, where members of the congregation assemble after a time of prayer…an open forum where you discuss the Torah and Talmud. Women were allowed in this room in the first-century Christian synagogue/church.

These midrashes followed certain rules and customs to maintain focus on the Word of God…

Everyone expressed his or her opinions and thoughts. They would argue and debate and sometimes get downright nasty in their search for the truth.⁴

So, I can contrast Paul’s address to all (both men and women) as followers of Jesus—that all things should be done decently and in order—to “They would argue and debate and sometimes get downright nasty in their search for the truth.” Though ad hominem arguments are recognized as logical fallacies, anyone who has ever argued recognizes how effective they can be for “winning” an argument in the moment, irrespective of the truth. Moving verses 34 and 35 to the end of the chapter makes them much less strident (1 Corinthians 14:40, 34, 35 ESV).

But⁵ all things should be done decently and in order: the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

Chaim Bentorah continued:

Paul is not saying women keep silent, but wives, anatta in Aramaic, keep silent. Big difference. They are to keep silent in the edita, ‘adah in its Semitic root. An ‘adah is loosely rendered as church, but as already mentioned, it is not a church as we know a church to be today. If Paul meant a church, he would have used the word qahal, which means “an assembly or congregation of people.” ‘Adah, however, is a legal term for a place where witnesses testify. This is a place where everyone is free to express what he or she has experienced and seen. It would be at a specific place and time. Hence, this is likely the first-century form of the beth midrash, where everyone can share their opinions and ideas as to the meaning behind a passage of Scripture. Women are to keep shetheq during this time. Yes, it can mean silent but shetheq has more of the idea of silence in the sense of not arguing a point, not rebuking, not calling someone a toad and blasting them out of the water.

This does not mean that women were not allowed to speak or teach others. They were just not allowed to rebuke their husbands in a public forum when discussing the Holy Scriptures.⁶

I’ll keep shetheq here regarding whether Paul wrote to the Corinthians in Greek or Aramaic, and simply be grateful for the insights into the traditions of the beth midrash and the Aramaic words of the Peshitta of 1 Corinthians 14. It matters very little to me in this instance whether Paul wrote in Aramaic or translators chose the words Mr. Bentorah explained some three centuries or more after Paul wrote in Greek. Since his letter records a transition from “the traditions he delivered to them, through spiritual gifts, to a still more excellent way,”⁷ the latter option offers an even better point through which to draw the trajectory of that transition.

It’s quite moving to consider that even as Paul pretended⁸ to know nothing among [them] except Jesus Christ and him crucified,⁹ he delivered the beth midrash, a revered tool of Jewish men of learning, to Gentiles and to women. And it is instructive that this old wineskin¹⁰ blew up in his face (or away from his face, as it were) into factions centered around preferred teachers (1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 3:4-7). I’m inclined to keep verses 34 and 35 at the end of the chapter because they seem to fit better there, and the NET translators’ defense of the earlier location was based upon an imaginary manuscript:

The very location of the verses in the Western tradition [e.g., “at the end of the material on church conduct”] argues strongly that Paul both authored vv. 34-35 and that they were originally part of the margin of the text.¹¹

Frankly, if I imagine a manuscript in which verses 34 and 35 are written in the margin of the text, it won’t be original and verses 34 and 35 won’t be penned by Paul. No such manuscript is extant apparently. And no extant manuscripts omit the verses. There are many other things to consider about these verses if that were one’s purpose. These have been sufficient to persuade me that Paul and the Holy Spirit didn’t intend to limit πάντας in I want you all to speak in tongues¹² to men only.

Do Paul’s rhetorical questions limit πάντας?

Are all prophets?…Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?¹³

If Paul’s rhetorical questions with their anticipated negative answers constitute eternal truths, then they form an absolute, if unknown and effectively unknowable, limit to his desire for you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy.¹⁴ That was the answer I have preferred: I don’t speak in tongues. As I worked on this essay, I was awakened early in the morning with an urgent prayer request so complicated I prayed, “I wish I could pray in tongues because all I’ve got to say is, Aghh!!”

If Paul’s rhetorical questions with their anticipated negative answers constitute a local assessment of current circumstances, then his desire may have been much stronger. For comparison consider Jesus’ answer to a very pointed question (Luke 13:23-30 ESV).

And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from’ [Table ]. Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ [Table] In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God [Table]. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

One person asked a question but Jesus answered everyone: Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.¹⁵ Who are the many (πολλοί, a form of πολύς)? All who do not strive as hard as I do to enter through the narrow door. But that answer had a way of coming back on me: Do I really strive hard enough to be part of the few? Over time I began to understand that Jesus didn’t threaten the many to motivate the few to strive harder. He spoke the truth. So, is this an eternal truth?

Yes, addressed to the old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires.¹⁶ But it is also a local assessment of current circumstances so dismal it cries out to a God who so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. A God who did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.¹⁷ It cries out for a Savior, a Champion, who wrests salvation from the dominion of human will or exertion to establish it firmly in the dominion of God, who has mercy:¹⁸

Jesus said to [Thomas], “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.¹⁹

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him…²⁰

This local assessment of then current circumstances is so dismal even I can begin to comprehend why a loving Savior sent by his loving Father would lay down his life willingly to complete (John 19:28-30) the work his father sent him to do (John 10:17, 18 ESV).

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.

Once his Father’s work is completed this loving Savior promises with all the authority of God (John 12:32 ESV):

And I…will draw all people to myself.

That is the judgment of this world; that is how the ruler of this world [will] be cast out.²¹ For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.²² This tends to make me a bit more open-minded toward Paul’s desire for you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy.²³ Though I wouldn’t compare Paul’s will to God’s, the Holy Spirit did allow him to write it.

The final occurrence of πάντας in 1 Corinthians follows (1 Corinthians 15:21-25 ESV).

For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead [Table]. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.²⁴ Then comes the end, when he delivers²⁵ the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power [Table]. For he must reign until he has put all (πάντας) his enemies under his feet [Table].

I’m not inclined to argue any limitation to πάντας here. Paul made his position quite clear (1 Corinthians 15:26-28 ESV):

The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

According to a note (17) in the NET Paul quoted Psalm 8:6. A table comparing the Greek of that quotation in 1 Corinthians 15:27a to Psalm 8:6b in the Septuagint follows.

The Greek words ὑπέταξεν and ὑπέταξας above are forms of ὑποτάσσω as are ὑποτασσέσθωσαν and υποτασσεσθαι in 1 Corinthians 14:34, translated should be in submission (ESV) and to be under obedience (KJV) respectively. The main difference is that the first two forms are in the active voice: “to subject, place under (someone’s authority); to place, place below (in a document); to subdue; to subordinate, subjugate; to bring under subjection.” This is the work of God. The second two forms are in the middle and passive voices: “to submit oneself: to be submissive; to become subject; to subject oneself; to be subjected; to be subordinated; to obey.” In other words, this is the response of godly women to the work of God. It is not something a husband, or any other man, does to a wife or can do in a wife.

The table mentioned above follows.

A table comparing Psalm 8:6 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and comparing the Greek of Psalm 8:6 (8:7) in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and tables comparing 1 Corinthians 14:40 and 15:23 in the NET and KJV follow.