Bible was doctored to read ‘no women priests,’ academic claims

• A biblical passage used to prevent women from being ordained is not original and was inserted after initial publication, an academic insists.

The section of Corinthians that states women must remain silent in church has been used to justify restricting the priesthood to men.

But recent research has suggested that the passage was not written by the apostle Paul — as is widely believed — but was added later.

An academic claims to have discovered a key symbol that proves the passage is not authentic.

Research published in the journal New Testament Studies casts doubt on the text, 1 Corinthians 14:34, which says: “Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says.”

In the article, published by the Cambridge University Press last week, U.S. academic Philip Barton Payne claims that a symbol next to the passage shows that the writer, known as “scribe B,” believed it was not part of the original but had been added later.

His analysis of the Codex Vaticanus, one of the oldest versions of the Greek Bible, identifies a symbol called a “distigme-obelos,” which appears next to the relevant passage. Payne says these were used to identify added text and lists several other cases where they were deployed.

The symbol, two small dots and a dash, appears in the left margin of the text at the start of verse 34.

He also argues that the passage is inconsistent with other sections of Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, such as “... every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonours her head,” suggesting that women were allowed to preach.

Payne writes: “This study demonstrates that scribe B was a careful textual critic who identifies 1 Cor 14.345, the only Bible passage silencing women in the church, as added text.

“This is important since it offers a resolution to the notorious difficulty of reconciling vv. 34-5 with Paul’s many affirmations of women in vocal ministry and their equal standing with men in Christ.”

However, other scholars have criticized the claim. Pieter Lalleman, tutor in Biblical studies at Spurgeon’s College in London, said: “The fact is that no single surviving manuscript omits the two verses altogether.”