Portions of the answer could be used by pro-WO folks today. However, Frank Holbrook still maintains below that men are to be the spiritual leaders in the home and in the church.
Do 1 Corinthians 14:34, 35 and 1 Timothy 2:11, 12 teach that it is wrong for women to teach and preach or to hold office in the church? If so, are such churches false which permit women to preach?
Due to the entrance of sin, the union of the first married couple—Adam and Eve—was jeopardized. Harmony could be preserved only by the submission of the one to the other. In this altered situation God wisely placed the wife in dependence upon her husband for guidance and protection. (Genesis 3:16.) But God never intended that the wife's dependence should become her degradation and dishonor. The husband was to love and respect his wife even as the Lord loved and cherished His church. (Ephesians 5:22-33.)
The dependent relationship of woman upon man is recognized throughout Scripture. "The head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God." 1 Corinthians 11:3. When Paul says, "I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence" (1 Timothy 2:12), it appears that he speaks in the same tenor, namely, that men (already the priests of their respective households) should lead out in the conducting of public worship. Paul advises the Corinthian believers, "Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak." 1 Corinthians 14:34. The key to this passage is found in this context: "For God is not the author of confusion"; "For it is a shame for women to speak in the church"; "Let all things be done decently and in order." (1 Corinthians 14:33, 35, 40.)
The social customs in the Roman world gave added reason why Christian women in the early church were not to teach or to usurp authority in public worship. The culture of the Eastern world dictated that a true and modest woman veil herself (1 Corinthians 11:5) and remain in the background as far as public affairs were concerned. For Christian women to go without their veils (as they were doing in Corinth) and to assert themselves in the public worship of the church would bring charges of indecency and shame by the pagans. Especially would this be true in Corinth, whose women were universally known for their lewdness. The expression "Corinthian girl" was synonymous with "prostitute." Forward, veilless Christian women would have been linked at once with these. Time and circumstances dictated this counsel by the Holy Spirit to the Corinthian church that the gospel might not be needlessly besmirched. (1 Thessalonians 5:22.)
Applications of principles may change, but principles themselves are changeless. The principles with which Paul was concerned in Corinth were propriety and decency. These principles must always be maintained. Generally speaking, our society today would think no evil if a woman were to speak in a church service. The principles of propriety and decency would not be violated.
The Scriptures make it clear that on special occasions God moved upon certain godly women to exercise positions of authority and influence in the church. Deborah was both a judge and a prophetess. (Judges 4:4.) Huldah and Anna were prophetesses. (2 Kings 22:14; Luke 2:36, 37.) It was Mary Magdalene who first proclaimed the resurrection of our Lord. (Mark 16:9-11.) Paul himself commended certain women who labored with him in the gospel work, although he does not specify their activities. (Philippians 4:3.) A church is not to be judged true or false by the sex of its messenger but by the sense of its message. It is genuine only if its message squares with the sure Word of God. (Isaiah 8:20.)
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Topic: The Watchman Nov. 1, 1966 on 1 Cor. 14 & 1 Tim. 2 (Read 3415 times)
