A brother once told me that another brother was able to say: “I’m free to have a glass of wine.” To which the first brother inquired: “Yes, but are you free to NOT have a glass of wine?”
This morning I saw the matter of women under their husbands authority somewhat in the same light. Is the husband free to command his wife’s silence? Is she free obey her husband and to be silent? Is the pastor free to command a woman not to teach? Is a woman free to obey her pastor and not teach? Are we free NOT to command? Are they free NOT to obey? Now we are no longer speaking of one glass of wine.
“What? was it from you that the word of God went forth? or came it unto you alone?
If any man thinketh himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him take knowledge of the things which I write unto you, that they are the commandment of the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 14:36-37
As Christ’s body, bride, and wife to be, we must be free to do what the Lord commands. My sense is that this matter of women teaching and speaking in the church is every bit as important as drinking wine and even more so. Women who are married are to be examples to those who are not, the younger and the widows. If the wife will obey, the children will obey. If not…?
We live in an age of wantonness. Not only women but men are wanton, and even in the church. Romans 13:13; 1 Timothy 5:11. Tozer, Bunyan and others took a stand against wantoness in the church. But do we today? Do we even see the issue? Is our grace cheap? Grace is costly, Jesus paid the high price of obedience unto death, OBEDIENCE unto death >>>---> SO THAT that we might have God’s grace. Bonhoeffer saw it and saw the German church forfeit it’s voice; it had no knowledge or power to stop Hitler. It’s witness was powerless, and a very few Jews were saved from death. We should be LOVING Jews today AND praying God give us divine opportunity to share the Gospel with them. Romans 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” Jewish evangelism is being carried out today, and there will be a blessing for those who participate, even in simply praying. It is the stewardship of knowledge and grace we need to be about. We need to be the Bride, but that will not make men and women equal. We are different. God has instructions on how the difference is to operate, how men are to rule and women to obey.
Women chafe under authority every bit as much as men, and yet in the church they are not to usurp it from men. Men can be very cowardly and not be obedient to the Lord, and the gifts the Lord gives lie dormant just as the one talent was buried. God! Help us! We need to walk as Jesus walked, in obedience, not as the world walks. I fear that when women are given power that should not have the church men begin to think and become like women, and even deceived like Eve.
“But if any man is ignorant, let him be ignorant. Wherefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. But let all things be done decently and in order.”
1 Corinthians 14:38-40
If she will not obey and be silent how shall her husband teach her at home? If the man is to lazy to learn from God and from men, and is content to be taught by women, how shall he lead AND TEACH in his home?
“…for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, let the women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but let them be in subjection, as also saith the law. And if they would learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home: for it is shameful for a woman to speak in the church." 1 Corinthians 14:33-35
Isaiah 3:12 My people—infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths.
Do I take the matter to far? Am I in eisegesis?
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