Actually, it is. Three times: (1) “women should be silent in the churches,” (2) “they are not permitted to speak,” (3) “it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.”
It’s important to let the actual words sink in to see how different this is from how Paul tells the prophets and tongues speakers (whether men or women) to be silent while someone else is talking. Or how he tells tongues speakers to be silent and speak quietly to themselves and God if there is nobody to interpret. In those cases, it’s not categorical silence because their speaking would be shameful. It’s strategic silence to maintain order and intelligibility.
Seeing the harshness of the words to the women is the first step to seeing how completely those words contradict Paul’s teaching in this chapter, and in fact of the whole letter, especially since chapter 11. Paul has been building the case for how everyone can participate, not just those privileged by society.
But the Corinthians were hostile to this message. They had sent a letter to Paul, and he often refers to bits of it (see 7:1). One of the easiest ways to see where Paul is quoting the letter is by looking for where he seems to disagree with himself. He’s not double-minded – he’s responding to them! That’s the whole purpose of his letter.
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They say that anything we do with our bodies is fine because God will destroy material things like food and bodies (6:12a, 13a). Paul says that how we use our body, which belongs to the Lord, can dominate our whole being – and like Jesus we’ll still have a body when God raises us again (6:12b, 13b–14).
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They say that men shouldn’t have relations with women (7:1). Paul says that while singleness is great, not everyone has that gift; men and women should have relations only with their spouse; and husband and wife each have authority over the other (7:2–7).
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They say that tongues are a sign for unbelievers and prophecy isn’t for unbelievers (14:22). Paul says that tongues just make unbelievers think you’re crazy while prophecy is what may show unbelievers that God is among you (14:23–25).
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They say that women should be silent in church, and if they insist on learning, do it at home from their husbands (14:34–35). Paul says that church services are supposed to be a place where everyone can learn and be built up (and in Greek, the word for “built up,” oikodomeo, puns on the word for “home,” oikos). He insists that all should want to use their gifts, especially prophecy, in church (14:1), that all should come prepared to contribute (14:26), and that many should be able to speak, but in an intelligible and orderly way (14:31–33). After quoting the Corinthians, Paul insists on his authority to set them straight (14:36–38), then repeats his message about not forbidding anyone from speaking, the very thing the Corinthians were doing (14:39–40). That would be a very strange way to conclude if the words against women speaking were his own.
When we allow Paul to actually speak to his original audience and respond to their letter, he no longer seems to contradict himself. He doesn’t give instructions for how women should prophesy only to tell them to be silent in church a few chapters later.
There are other lines of support for this reading, including a textual issue in verses 14:34–35, the unusual way the verses refer to the law, and a scarcity of early quotations of these words even by people trying to silence women in church, but this is long enough. If you want more, some guy wrote an article that goes into much more detail.
