One passage that causes a lot of controversy is 1 Corinthians 14:34-35:
1 Corinthians 14:34-35 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. 35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
Is that a cultural statement? No. It does not say “It is a shame for a woman of your city to speak up at a meeting.” It says that women are not to speak in church, but to keep silent. Period.
Now, if that were cultural, we would expect to find that this is the only place that it is found. But no. We find it again in 1 Timothy 2:11-15:
1 Timothy 2:11-15 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. 12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. 13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. 15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
Is this male chauvinism? No. The women are allowed to learn. They are welcome. They are even to teach the younger women (Titus 2). But they are not to teach men. Why? 1 Timothy 2:13-14 tells us: Adam was made first, then Eve. Also, Eve was deceived, but Adam was not. So Adam was over Eve, not the other way around.
1 Corinthians 11:3 tells us that Christ is over the man, and the man is over the woman. God did that so that there would be order. Someone has to be in charge. Someone has to be the leader. Is it strange that since women have thrown off the headcovering (a symbol of God’s divine order), we have seen more and more women teaching in the church? I don’t think so. As the understanding of women and men’s roles has been neglected, we have lost the order that God desires. And now, what do we have? Confusion. God is not the author of confusion ( 1 Cor. 14:33).
The feminists would have us believe that it is wrong to teach the things that I have just stated. They say that we are chauvinists who want to heavy-hand it over the women. That’s not so. The leader is to be a servant (Matt. 23:11). Unless there is order, there WILL be confusion.
This also shows the importance of a husband being the spiritual leader in his home. How will he be able to answer his wife’s questions (1 Cor. 14:35) if he doesn’t have a right relationship with God?
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Hi Joel,
As one who spent most of my working life in hospitals, where women were mostly in charge, I can endorse what Paul teaches. As a farmer you know a lot about animal behavior; this is something us city boys are ignorant of. A female of any species is totally different than the male of the species. Where our emotions are linear their’s are cyclical. Women are natural born liars. When a woman is in obedience to God, you can expect to find a woman like that described in Proverbs 31:10-31. But where you find a woman who is disobedient to God & His order, you can expect to find a woman like that described in Proverbs 7:10-27. Also Judges 16 is a good chapter to study on this issue. Look at verses 15-17.
I hope this helps to endorse Paul’s teaching on authority in the home & church. In the world the Dalilahs are running things & also in Christendom. They control churches from the bedroom & kitchen & allow the hen-pecked husband play at being in charge. Most cases of bullying in the work place result from emasculated men in the home. They have to try & get recognition to keep themselves from going mad & so they vent their frustration on those who are weaker.
Leonardo
That’s an astute answer to a tricky quiteson