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The Role of Women in the Church part 2
Peter Ditzel
With
this background, it is time to look at 1 Corinthians 11. We will begin with
verse 3: "But I would have you know, that the head of every man is
Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is
God." Here again we see order. God is the head of Christ. Christ is the
head of man. Man is the head of woman. Like it or not, this is what the Holy
Spirit says through Paul. In
verse 4, we read, "Every man praying or prophesying, having his head
covered, dishonoureth his head." Seemingly
clear enough. It is wrong for a man to pray or prophesy with his head
covered. The
problems begin with verse 5: "But every woman that prayeth
or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she
were shaven." Is Paul saying that it is permissible for a woman to say a
prayer or speak a prophecy in church as long as her head is covered? No! How
do we know this? Because it is contrary to the clear Scriptures we have just
examined. Paul, let alone the Holy Spirit, is not schizophrenic. What, then,
can he mean? Several
possibilities have been offered by people examining this passage. Of course,
there is only one right answer. All of this is thoroughly discussed in
another article on this site. I don’t want to repeat myself, so I
suggest that you read The
Head Covering. In short, the article shows from the Bible that praying
and prophesying are simply two activities of public worship that Paul
intended to stand for all. When a man leads in any of these activities, the entire assembly participates,
even if silently. Therefore, women “pray and prophesy” just by
attending public worship, even if they remain silent (which they should). This
is what eighteenth-century Baptist commentator John Gill says of 1
Corinthians 11:5: "Not that a woman was allowed to pray publicly in the
congregation, and much less to preach or explain the word, for these things
were not permitted them: see 1 Corinthians 14:34, but it designs any woman
that joins in public worship with the minister in prayer, and attends on the
hearing of the word preached, or sings the praises of God with the
congregation, as we have seen, the word prophesying signifies, with her head
uncovered." Therefore, according to Gill, Paul is saying that women
should not speak in church and should also have their heads covered because
they participate silently in congregational prayer, by listening to the
preaching, and by participating in congregational singing. So,
women are to be silent in church except for congregational singing. All of
the relevant Scriptures, then, agree. Should women teach in church? No.
Should women preach in church? No. Should women pray aloud in church? No.
Should women sing without the rest of the congregation in church? No. Should
women be ordained to an office in church? No. But
isn't this outdated, something only for the times and society in which Paul
wrote? Absolutely no! There is nothing different about the Scriptures we have
just examined that would make us believe that they are limited to the time
and society in which Paul wrote. Say that these passages of God's Word do not
apply to us today, and you have torn open a hole in your armor that will
allow Satan to destroy the entire Word of God, and you! Some
other questions may come to mind. 1) Should women teach children in Sunday
school? 2) What about women teaching or preaching to other women? 3) What
about women being ordained to the office of deaconess? 4) If women are to be
silent in church (which seems rather passive), what active role are they to
have? 1)
Should women teach children in Sunday school? The question is premised on the
assumption that there should be such a thing as a Sunday school for children.
The Bible gives no sanction to Sunday schools. It says that children are to
be taught by their parents (see our article "Should
You Be Homeschooling?" for the relevant Scriptures). Fathers and
mothers (when they are both Christians) should work together in determining
what this teaching should be. A role for the church, in this regard, is in
imparting to parents a good understanding of Scripture, teaching them to be
good parents, and helping them know how to teach. Families should attend
church services together. 2)
What about women teaching or preaching to other women? Paul instructs Titus
to "speak thou the things which become sound doctrine.... The aged women
likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much
wine, teachers of good things; that they may teach the young women to be
sober [sober minded], to love their husbands, to love their children, to be
discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that
the word of God be not blasphemed" (Titus 2:1, 3-5). Here is a direct
command that the older women, by their example and instruction, teach younger
women. Therefore, we see that women can be teachers of other women. This is not
something done in church as part of the church service, and preaching has
nothing to do with it. Older women are to be teachers, but not preachers.
They are to teach younger women to behave according to the list in Titus
2:4-5; that is, to be good wives and mothers. 3)
What about women being ordained to the office of deaconess? In Acts 6, we
read of Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas being set apart to the physical
service of the church by the laying on of hands (Acts 6:1-6). These were all
men. There is never a mention of women being set apart to an office. Yes, the
Greek word diakonos
is used in reference to women who gave physical service to the church (diakonos is
translated "servant" in the King James Version in Romans 16:1, for
example). But diakonos
merely means servant, and it does not have to refer to the special office we
call deacon. To settle the matter, in 1 Timothy 3:12, Paul, writing of who
can be considered for special offices in the church, says, "Let the
deacons be the husbands of one wife." Women cannot be the husbands of
one wife. While there are many biblical examples of women serving in the
church, there is no indication that they ever held a church office. 4)
If women are to be silent in church (which seems rather passive), what active
role are they to have? We have already seen in this article one active role
that older women are to have: they are to teach younger women to love their
husbands and children, obey their husbands, be chaste, be keepers at home,
etc. We see another active role in the example of the women who followed
Jesus (see, for example, Luke 8:1-3), and in the examples of Phebe (see Romans 16:1-2), Dorcas
(see Acts 9:36), and other women in the New Testament. They served the
physical needs of the church. At
this point, we should re-examine 1 Timothy 2.
Earlier, we looked at verses 11-15 as they concerned women being silent and
not teaching. But we should look at the verses that come before these. Paul
begins the chapter by saying that the church should pray for all kinds of
people, even for kings and others in authority. Then, in verse 8, he writes,
"I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands,
without wrath and doubting." “Men” here comes from a Greek
word that specifically means males. The verses that follow then give
instructions concerning the women. "In
like manner also, that women adorn themselves in
modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but
(which becometh women professing godliness) with
good works" (verses 9-10). The "in like manner also" is
important. Paul's previous instruction that the men pray publicly is an
instruction in public worship. When he says, "in like manner also,"
he means that he is going to give further instruction in public worship.
Therefore, a way that women are to worship God is to dress modestly. They are
also to be modest and self-controlled, and, instead of adorning themselves
with elaborate hairstyles and jewelry and clothing, to adorn themselves with
good works. And, Paul continues with the thought, they are to learn in
silence and not teach. Since
our reason for attending worship services is to worship God, these are important
instructions. Women are to worship by modest dress and behavior and learning
in silence. Of course, this is at opposite ends of the universe from the
feminist-originated assumptions that now influence practice in so many
churches. But the Bible, and not contemporary society, is to be our authority
for belief and practice. Therefore, we must stand for what the Bible says is
right, worship God according to the instructions He gives us in the Bible,
and act to realign our churches to biblical standards (or, failing that, find
churches that are already faithful to the Bible). To
return to the original question, Are women to teach or speak in church? No,
because God does not want women to worship Him in that way. <Previous Next> Copyright © 2004 - 2006 wordofhisgrace.org Last
revised 2006-06-29 |
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