General Male Headship Established

Opening Remarks and Gratitude for Church Grounds

0:04 This adult Sunday school class was held on May 29, 1988, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. While others are finding their places, I do think I should speak, I'm sure, for many of you who noticed how lovely the grounds around the church looked this morning and say a hearty thank you for all who obviously must have put in many hours yesterday to get the grass cut and dig around the shrubs and pull weeds. And we do commend you for your labor of love, whoever you are, because the orderliness and the neatness bespeaks our God, who is a God of order. And as I was admiring the grounds, walking in from my car and looked at one of the bushes of the flowers, I stood amazed. I was amazed again at God's handiwork and thought as we sang this morning, Ocean and mountain, stream, forest and flower, echo his praises and tell of his power. Now don't you all go out and pluck one or there will be nothing left. But I took just one flower off the entire ball and there it is with its five petals and only one of them that looks as though it were spattered with blood in the center and every one of them, that particular petal, the center of the petals, and every one of them, that particular petal, the center of the petals, same way and just to marvel afresh at God's handiwork and to know that when it says in the

1:33 beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that has been made just as we know from the scriptures the revelation of the love and condescension of our Lord so he witnesses to us of his wisdom and power in his handiwork I have often said I wish I could have the immense faith of an evolutionist in order to exercise it as a Christian to believe that that just happened I don't have that kind of faith I wish I did the evolutionist has this tremendous faith to believe that time plus space plus chance produces that I don't have such strong faith I wish I had the faith of the evolutionist and then could exercise it as a Christian far easier to see in the petals of that flower the handiwork and the wisdom of our great God and our Savior may we never get to the place where we get accustomed to what God is saying to us in the world around us any more than we become hardened to what he's saying to us in the book of special revelation so thank you for all of you who had any part in helping to get the grounds into their place of worship present shape and for those of you who work in this unglamorous task particularly throughout

Introduction to Crucial Issues: Male and Female Roles

2:59 the summer months we do extend a special welcome to the visitors who are in our class we don't often have a homily on flowers but I felt it was appropriate what we are doing at this time in our adult class is dealing with the general broad category of concerns under the title of crucial issues facing the people of God and the first major area of these crucial issues is the matter of male and female roles and identity and thus far in our studies together we have covered three major categories after setting a broad field of reference for how a Christian approaches practical concerns with primary attention to Romans 12 1 and 2 as we took up this first major area we have looked at three major categories of biblical teaching first of all the fundamental realities of male and female roles as embedded in God's creative design and activity and there we looked particularly at Genesis 1 and 2 and secondly the tragic disruption of God's design through the fall and there we looked

4:17 particularly at Genesis chapter 3 and then last Lord's Day we completed our overview of this third major category the glorious design and dynamics of redemptive grace with respect to male and female roles and relationships and we saw in our study of the scriptures that God's design and his actual provisions in grace are to restore male and female to their originally designed areas of equality Galatians 3 28 to purify the originally assigned roles and there we looked at a number of passages and then to make a gracious adaptation to the abnormality and the emergency situation in which we find ourselves and there we looked at Matthew 19 and 1st Corinthians 7 where God speaks of some of the peculiar problems arising from the emergency and abnormality of sexual and sexual in our present set of circumstances and in conjunction with that third area I highly recommended a book by Margaret Clarkson your single or so you're single and only to find out

5:38 alas it is out of print now we're doing our best to track down any copies and we assure you that we will and we'll put some pressure by way of perhaps letters to the publishers to see if they would consider the book and we'll put some pressure on them and we'll put some pressure on them and reprinting it and I do want to also mention that in rereading the book I thought if I highly recommended it I ought to go back and reread at least the most crucial sections I do want to give a qualification her chapter chapter 21 singles and the church contains some tentative perspectives and some questions which I would not endorse at all in fact we'll have occasion to refer to some of these later on in our study so as with any human book we cannot give 100% unqualified endorsement and should any of you obtain a copy of this and come to chapter 21 and say well pastor gave such unqualified recommendation he must share the sentiments and the questions raised in chapter 21 I say no I do not now immediately you're all going to go get the book and read chapter 21 there is the fascination of the forbidden and I realize that but nonetheless sooner or later if you read the book you would have read it and I did not want you to have any question with respect to my assessment of some of her perspectives and particularly some of the tentative conclusions she draws in chapter

Transition to General Male Headship: Neither Fall Nor Grace Blurs Distinctions

7:04 21 now before we move on to some new material today we did not have any opportunity last week for questions after completing this broad threefold overview of male and female roles and relationships and there may have been some of you who were just bursting at the seams with questions and though you've been able to patch yourself up throughout the week you're kind of hoping and praying opportunity would be given well you have that opportunity now are there questions arising from our studies thus far that you desire to raise before we press on into new territory this morning all right I don't see anyone raising his or her hand if not then we will move on to consider the great fact that neither the tragedy of the fall nor the provisions of grace are to blur distinctive masculinity and femininity in any biblically defined area of human experience neither the tragedy of the fall nor the privileges of grace are to blur the distinctive are to blur distinctive masculinity

8:24 and femininity in any biblically defined area. And we're going to look, in the course of our study, into four subheadings under this general area. First of all, general relationships and functions. Secondly, domestic relationships and functions.

8:44 Thirdly, church relationships and functions. And fourthly, general physical appearance and bearing and demeanor. We're going to see that there is such a thing from the scriptures as a physical appearance, bearing, and demeanor that is masculine, a physical appearance, bearing, and demeanor that is feminine, and neither the fall justifies nor does grace and redemptive provision cancel the necessity of maintaining these distinctive elements of masculinity and femininity. Well, we take up today category number one in general relationships and functions.

Reading 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 and Identifying the Primary Concern

9:29 And here I would ask you to turn, please, to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 1 Corinthians chapter 11.

9:39 Now, I'm going to read verses 2 through 16. And as I do, I want you to listen, seeking to discern the answer to this very simple, straightforward question. What is Paul's primary concern in this particular passage? What is the major theme treated in this passage?

10:06 All right? That question in mind, follow as I read, please, 1 Corinthians 11, 2 and following. Now, I praise you that you remember me in all things and hold fast the traditions even as I delivered them to you. But I would have you.

10:23 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. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. But every woman praying or prophesying with her head unveiled dishonors her head, for it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven. For if a woman is not veiled, then let her also be shorn. But if it is a shame to a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be veiled. For a man indeed ought not to have his head veiled, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. For neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for

11:22 the man. For this cause ought the woman to have a sign of authority on her head because of the angels. Nevertheless, neither is the woman without the man, nor the man without the woman in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, so is the man also by the woman, but all things are of God. Judge in yourselves. Is it seemly that a woman pray unto God unveiled?

11:52 Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a dishonor to him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering. But if any man seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God. Now, the reason I ask the question ahead of time is that this passage probably as much as any section of the Word of God that covers 14 verses has all kinds of fascinating questions built into it. What is this reference to the angels? What is this business of nature teaching us about long and short hair? What about women prophesying? What is the parallel

12:48 between unveiled and shorn and shaven? All kinds of questions. What is this reference to the angels? All kinds of questions. But now I ask you to focus upon one very fundamental question. If you had to say, these verses address primarily the issue of, what would you put to complete the sentence? Anyone want to be bold enough to venture a completion of the sentence? All right. Cliff?

Discussion on the Main Subject of 1 Corinthians 11:2-16

13:18 Appearance? Whose appearance? A man and a woman's appearance. All right. Cliff would say, the main thrust, or the main subject dealt with in this passage is the appearance of men and women. All right. Someone else want to venture a completion of the sentence? All right. Mike? All right. Men and women's functional identity and relationship to each other and to God. You think that's the main subject dealt with? All right. Someone else want to offer an answer? All right. Paul?

14:08 Henship and its manifestations. All right. Someone else want to complete the sentence? Chuck?

14:14 I would try to go back to verse two. He's talking about holding these traditions, and then in the first sentence and the last sentence he's talking about those, and the rest of it is the qualification.

14:28 All right. So you'd say the main subject dealt with is a certain aspect of apostolic tradition, as it applied to circumstances in the Church of Corinth? He's giving them an exhortation to hold fast to these traditions. Okay. All right. All right. Gary?

15:02 All right. So you would say the main subject of this passage has to do with people honoring their proper head, or their God-assigned head. All right. Someone else want to complete the sentence? We've had about a half a dozen different ways to complete the sentence.

15:18 All right. Jonathan? A manifestation of headship in regard to praying and prophesying.

15:43 All right. Dominic? I thought I saw an answer about to come out.

15:50 All right. The order of things ordained by God. All right. So in these verses Paul is dealing with the order of things ordained by God. Now, did any of you happen to look at the top of your Bibles? Yes. Yes. Yes.

16:04 Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

16:04 Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

16:05 Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

16:05 Yes. Yes. Yes.

16:12 All right. Very good.

16:19 All right. What does the old 1901 say, Lois? All right. What does that particular edition say?

16:28 Rules for Divine Worship. All right. What does another version say? What do you have?

16:33 Sense?

16:35 Christian Liberty and Order. All right. Jerry? Women to be veiled. I'm beginning to get the suggestion, if you were simply to take the subject that is dealt with in terms of the amount of words, what is the particular issue that is being dealt with here? Is it not the matter of a woman's veiling or a woman's covering? Isn't that the particular subject being dealt with? Look at it. After a general statement in verse 3, he then moves immediately. Every man praying or prophesying having his head covered dishonors his head, but every woman praying or prophesying with her head unveiled dishonors her head. But if a woman is not veiled, let her be shorn. Verse 7, for a man indeed ought to have his head veiled, and then some further explanatory statements, and then 13, judge in yourselves, is it seemly that a woman pray unto God unveiled doth not nature itself even teach you? Verse 15, but if a woman has long hair, it's a glory to her. Her hair is

17:46 given for a covering, but if any man seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God. Were you afraid to say that the main subject being dealt with was this naughty problem of the veiling or the head covering of the woman? That seemed to be the subject that is being dealt with. However, and this is where most of you were right, you realize that Paul, in addressing this specific problem of the head covering, was concerned immediately to go to the deeper principles which undergirded a proper practice here. As so often in Scripture, you do not find a legalistic treatment of a specific problem, but the specific problem becomes the occasion of dealing with the deeper biblical and theological issues. So that before he's done dealing with this matter, we find such theological issues being dealt with as the relationship of God the Father to God the Son in what the theologians would call the economic trinity, that is, the trinity in function with respect to the impartation of salvation. And we have words

19:12 about God being the head of Christ. We have such doctrines as the original creation. The woman was made for the man. The man was not made for the woman. We have something of the doctrine of natural revelation. Doth not nature itself? And we have a host of weighty biblical and theological issues brought into the fore, but for what purpose? In order to address this specific problem of the head covering, which was an irregularity in the church at Corinth. And do you see that? That the head covering is the

20:01 subject that keeps cropping up again and again and again, and all of these other factors are being brought up in order that the Corinthians might, in the language of Romans 12, 2, not think after the world, but be transformed by the renewing of their mind, that they might prove that which was the good and acceptable and perfect will of God for their existence there in Corinth, with reference to this specific problem of women appearing in the mixed society. This assembly of God's people with their heads uncovered or unveiled. And in the course, perhaps eventually, of dealing with another aspect of this subject, area number four, that in our external appearance, demeanor, and bearing there is to be distinctive masculinity and femininity, we will no doubt have occasion to come back to this passage and to see in it some vital principles with reference to that area of construction. But now, what I want us to see this morning in this passage is that in general relationships and functions,

Apostolic Tradition and the Authority of Scripture

21:18 neither the fall nor God's work of redemption in Jesus Christ overturns God's purposes that men should be men and appear as men in all circumstances and relationships, and that women should be and appear as men in all circumstances and relationships, and that women should be and appear as men in all circumstances and relationships, and that women should be and appear as women in all circumstances and relationships. And so, as Paul addresses this subject, we have some very helpful principles set before us. All right, now coming back to the passage. Now, I praise you that you remember me in all things and hold fast the traditions even as I delivered them to you.

22:02 Now, before we move any further, lest this be a stumbling block, let me ask a question. Is Paul teaching the Corinthians that the church does indeed have two courts of authority, the word of God and tradition? That's the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. Was Paul a good Roman Catholic when he wrote this?

22:26 What is the significance of his reference to holding the traditions as they were delivered by Paul? Anyone want to venture a guess? All right, Tim? All right, the verbal communication by whom?

22:51 All right, by the apostles. So, apostolic tradition, that is, whatever the apostles established as practice and as doctrine, equaled the word and will of God because of the unique place of the apostles. Now, when the apostles...

23:10 When the apostles died, did God perpetuate the apostolate? And where's the only place we find, then, apostolic tradition? In this book. All right?

23:21 So, don't let anyone ever come up to you and say, Oh, look, see, Paul said you keep the traditions, therefore we ought to hold the traditions of the church along with the scripture. No. Scripture is comprised of the word of God, which is apostolic tradition, along with the words of the prophets. And the words of our Lord and the other prophets, Old and New Testament prophets, some of which is embodied in the scriptures.

23:50 We have Ephesians chapter 2. The church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone. All right, any question on that? Don't want that to be a stumbling block to you.

The Divinely Instituted Hierarchy: Headship Defined

24:03 All right, 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. Paul says, I want you to understand at the outset, before I even start addressing this specific problem, that there exists as a non-negotiable reality a divinely instituted hierarchy. Now, that word will get you in trouble in our day, but it's a good word, and we're going to use it.

24:40 All right? There is a divinely instituted hierarchy. I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ. We'll have occasion later on when we deal with a section in which I'm going to call Popular Attempts to Refute This Teaching.

25:03 And one of them is an attempt that has some pseudo-scholarship about it to try to prove that the word head doesn't mean authority. It means source. It's a very specious kind of scholarship. But anyway, they would say what we are to understand here, that the source of every man is Christ, and the source of the woman is the man.

25:26 Then you get in trouble here, and the source of Christ is God. Then you get a created Christ. Then you upset historic biblical Christology, all in the efforts to defend the incursions of feminism into the Church of Jesus Christ. That's the price some people are willing to pay, in order to be conformed to the world while maintaining the semblance of fidelity to the Scriptures.

25:51 No, the sense of kephale here is exactly what the people of God have assumed it to be for centuries. I would have you to know that the head, the one who stands in the relationship of authority and direction over the man, is Christ, and the head of the woman, so we've got the woman here with her skirt and a current, and her veil.

26:20 All right, there's her veil coming down. The head of the woman is the man, and, now notice, the head of Christ, Christ in his messianic function, stands under the headship of God the Father. And everything pertaining to his functions as Messiah, the Anointed One, Christ, Christ does in obedience to, and as a result of the revelation of, the will of God. I do always the things that please my Father.

27:01 Lo, I come to do thy will, O my God. Hebrews chapter 1, Not my will, but thine be done. John 17, I have glorified thee on the earth, having finished the work which thou gavest me to do. So in the outworking of salvation, in the economy of redemption, and that's what the theologians mean when they say the economic trinity, it is true that the head of Christ is God.

27:35 Now, here is a hierarchical structure, clearly established by apostolic authority. I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ, the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. Now that hierarchical structure has been established by God, and therefore any attempt to disrupt it, is nothing short of an attempt to overthrow the instituted pattern, the hierarchical structure established by God, by himself. All right, any question on that?

28:19 Are any of the faculty members perhaps, who've taught in this passage, any of the fellow elders, want to make additional comment on this passage, before we pass on from it? All right, do you all see that? I mean, I haven't thrown any curbs at you, I mean, seems to be quite straightforward in the text. I would have you know, the head of every man is Christ, the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.

Image, Glory, and Subordination in the Hierarchy

28:46 Now, he goes on then to state, Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. But every woman praying or prophesying, with her head unveiled, dishonors her head. For it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven. For if a woman is not veiled, let her also be shorn.

29:07 But if it is a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be veiled. For a man indeed ought not to have his head veiled for as much as he. Now notice, is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man. Now he introduces another very vital concept.

29:29 Within this hierarchical structure, the male and the female do not equally bear the image and glory of God. We saw from Genesis chapter 1, verses 26 and 27, that in terms of the dignity of the uniqueness of being creatures made in the image of God, the man and the woman were equal. In the image of God created he them, male and female, created he them. So that in one sense, they equally bear the image and reflect the glory of God.

30:13 But within this hierarchy, in this hierarchical structure, notice what he says. Within this structure, he says that, verse 7, that it is the man who is the image and the glory of God, while the woman is the glory of the man. So that in what sense could it be true that the man in this hierarchical structure reflects something of God's image and glory? God's glory and God's image, which the woman does not.

30:53 Anyone?

30:55 In what sense? All right, Dan? All right. There is a unique position as God is the head of Christ, so as the man is the head of the woman.

31:08 He reflects a dimension of the character, and may I say it rapidly, the function of God, that the woman does not. She is the glory. She is the glory of the man in her position of divinely instituted subordination to the man. And I would say if there are two words that are hated with a demonic passion by every form of feminism, pagan and patently godless, and even quasi-Christian, it's the words hierarchy and subordination.

31:48 The immediate connotation is, if there's hierarchy and subordination, there is of necessity authority, laws,

32:09 and structure for this. Seen in verse 3. Is Christ as to his glory to the Father? Yes or no?

32:30 My Father, I am one. Glorify thou me with the glory that I had before the world began. If there is no essential inferiority, in the hierarchy within the trinity, the economic trinity, then it is wrong to say that if the man is given a place of hierarchical superiority, a place of rule, and the woman a place of subordination, that automatically equals inferiority, that cuts at the very nerve centers of biblical Christology. You see that? Loss of dignity. Has Christ lost any dignity in his voluntary submission to God the Father?

33:27 No, he's been raised to a place of dignity as the fruit of his voluntary submission. Wherefore, God has halted him and given him the name which is above every name. So it does not necessarily mean loss of dignity, and does it mean oppression? Is there any thought that the Father ever oppressed the Son, and that that structure is unlawful?

33:52 That he is oppressive? No. Christ said, My meat, the thing that satisfies my soul as food, satisfies the body. My meat and my very drink is to do the will of him that sent me.

Creation Order as the Basis for Headship

34:08 So if any of you have had, as it were, some of this filtered into your psyche and staining your soul, I trust that just spending some time on this initial framework established in verse 3, and some of the negative connotations that always surround it, that we'll see, no, that is not so. It cannot be so if in the hierarchical structure established by the Apostle, this is the framework within which it is set before us. So he is not speaking of inferiority or superiority of being. Rather, a hierarchical structure instituted by God, in which one is head, and another is subordinate to the one who is established as head. And then he goes further to demonstrate that this relationship is reflected in the very specifics of creation. As we had occasion to see earlier, notice verse 8, For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. Man was not made from a rib, or an ear, or a lock of Eve's hair.

35:29 Eve was made from a rib of Adam. Adam was made of the dust of the earth. But Eve was made out of the man. And Paul goes back to that very fact as recorded in Genesis chapter 2.

35:43 The man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. Secondly, for neither was the man created for the woman. God had not created. God created the woman and then said, It's not good for the woman to be alone.

35:56 I will make a helper answering to her need. But just the reverse was true. God had made the man. He had set the man in the garden to dress it and to keep it.

36:07 He had revealed to the man the specifics about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And he said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper answering to his need. That's exactly what Paul is referring to here.

36:22 For neither. Neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. In that sense, you see, she is the glory of the man. That God should create something so marvelous and wonderful for man speaks both of man's dignity as well as the woman's dignity.

36:42 What a glorious creature man must be if God would make such a marvelous creature to answer to his needs. May I say it reverently, God didn't bring him a witch. Or an old hag. Or a mindless, beautiful beauty contest winner.

36:59 He brought her his counterpart with gray matter that could think and aesthetic sensitivities and spiritual capacities. Well, if a creature so wonderful as woman was needed to answer to man's need, what a glorious creature man must be as made in the image and likeness of God. And the woman also made in the image and likeness of God. And the woman also made in the image and likeness of God.

37:22 And the woman also made in the image and likeness of God. becomes, in that sense, the glory of the man. Something so marvelous was needed to answer to man's need. And so, if we're to overturn this hierarchal structure, then we've got to go back and totally reconstruct Genesis 2, and it is interesting that, by in large, the so-called evangelical feminists who are attempting to obliterate this act of violence, hierarchical structure, by and large, not without exception, but by and large, they hold very low unorthodox views of the early chapters of Genesis. They do not want to treat those early chapters as history. And you can see why. Because there is this direct umbilical cord of theological life between Genesis 1 and 2 and the established hierarchical structure of God that is never to be overturned, as we'll see as we come to our conclusion this morning, even in the most heightened, most glorious spiritual experience of being an organ of direct revelation of the Word of God. And that's where we're moving in our study. All right, but let's continue to read on

Mutual Dependence and God's Sovereign Design

38:40 now. After he goes back to creation, verses 8 and 9, now notice how he comes back to the head covering, for this cause, for this cause.

38:53 Hierarchical structure is embedded in the very order of creation, for this cause ought, ought, it is necessary for the woman to have a sign of authority on her head because of the angels. What's that mean? I don't know. Nevertheless, nevertheless, having established that there is a hierarchical structure, having established that that hierarchical structure is embedded in God's creative design, having seen as we have, it does not imply inferiority, loss of dignity, or necessity, oppression of the head over the one who is subordinated to the head. Now Paul, just wonderfully in a stroke of pastoral genius, of course, by the inspiration of the Spirit, says, nevertheless, neither is the woman without the man, nor the man without the woman in the Lord, mutual dependence, for as the woman is of the man, so is the man also by the woman. Lest any man take this concept of priority in creation, and run off half-cocked with it, and abuse it. He says, remember man, you got here by a woman's womb. You would have no existence

40:16 in this divinely structured hierarchy if you didn't get it by coming from a woman's womb. Neither is the woman without the man. Neither is the woman without the man. Neither is the woman without the man.

40:24 man without the woman, and then he resolves it all in the will and wisdom and creative power of God. Notice, but all things are of God. So that if we come to the conviction that it is God who designed, God who implemented, God who instituted the hierarchical structure, then ultimately, you see, we come back to resting in the wisdom, the love, and the sovereign prerogatives of God to do what he will in the creation of man and in the assignment of the relative roles and hierarchical structure of the relationship between male and female. So ultimately, then, to fight against this is to raise one's fist against God himself. Now, someone says, well, that's the traditional male interpretation. Well, as Betty Elliott said after giving the simple summary of the Genesis account, she said often when she does it, people say, well, there are a lot of interpretations. That's just yours. Her standard answer is,

41:36 well, give me three. Let's start with three. If there are a lot, surely you can give me three others that fit the passage. And I would ask you, and I don't mean this cheekily, but sitting there this morning, what other meaning?

41:49 The meaning can be placed upon these words, and I've not tried to unravel some of the more difficult, but the things that are plain in any good English translation, you don't need to know a syllable of Greek. If this does not teach a hierarchical structure, then it wasn't written to teach anything. It was written to confuse. And now the word is no longer a lamp to our feet. It's nothing but something to muddy our path and to confuse us. So this structure is clearly...

Headship Maintained Even in Highest Spiritual Exercise

42:19 It is clearly established. It is rooted in God's creative activity, as we've seen in verses 8 and 9, and now this is where we come to the crunch. In the most elevated spiritual exercise, this distinctive femininity of role and even of appearance is not negated. There is nothing in the demeanor or dress in the highest spiritual activity that justifies God's activity.

42:51 It's overthrowing masculine or feminine identity. Now, why do we say that? Well, notice verse 5. Here Paul envisions a woman praying or prophesying. Now, of all the ordinary spiritual exercises, I think we would agree in saying that prayer is probably the most elevated privilege given to the sons of men. In prayer, we have a level of direct access and communion with God that is the apex of spiritual privilege. That's why a man's private prayer life is the most certain indication of where he is spiritually. You think about that for a moment.

43:40 Many things can prop up a person's public attendance at prayer, family prayers, and a number of other things, but if he has no felt experience of communion with God, it's doubtful that he'll know anything about the delights and the habit and the practice of secret prayer. That's why secret prayer is probably the most single, accurate index of the state of a man's soul. We don't want to get diverted there, but I'm just doing that to show what Paul is emphasizing. A woman praying, she's engaged in the highest of the ordinary spiritual privileges afforded all believers, or, notice, prophesying. And by the way, there's an excellent little monograph coming out by George Knight III, who's done an excellent work on male-female roles we'll refer to later, and will be coming out in print soon on prophecy in the New Testament, and it's excellent. And when it says prophesying, we have no reason to put any other meaning on the word than its universal acceptance in the Old and New Testament. Someone's mouth becomes the very organ of speaking the words of God, what the prophet says God says.

44:59 And when God speaks through the prophet, God takes the prophet's mind and his vocal faculties and his whole redeemed being and makes it the instrument to articulate his word. So here is a woman prophesying. Now, I know that raises questions. Where is she prophesying? If women are to be silent in the church, he takes care of that in chapter 14. So don't let secondary questions divert you. But here is a woman in the highest form of spiritual privilege. She is being an organ of direct revelation by prophesying. And yet he says even in that highest exercise, she is not cut loose from being conscious of her God-ordained place of subordination to the man. And in the concrete situation at Corinth, as we'll see in subsequent lessons, I know I'm making tremendous demands upon you to hold back other questions, but I believe it's the best way to get at the heart of the real issues and not be confused by secondary issues. A woman praying or prophesying with her head unveiled, that is, in a manner that in Corinth at that time was an indication that she was

46:20 rejecting her place of subordination to the man. When she does so, even in the midst of this most heightened, privileged spiritual experience, she is not cut loose from her place of subordination to the man. When she does so, even in the midst of this most heightened, privileged spiritual experience, she is not cut loose from her place of subordination to the man. When she does so, even in the midst of this most heightened, privileged spiritual experience, she dishonors her head.

46:37 Every woman or praying with her head unveiled dishonors her head, for it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven. And as best we can discern, it was only both what we would call radical feminists and immoral women who would have their heads shaved at Corinth. Paul says if you are going to so throw over the external indications of your commitment to divine hierarchical structures as to prophesy with your head uncovered, you may as well go out and have your head shorn and say to everyone, I reject both modesty and subordination to the man. And he says you can't have that privilege even if you were being the very mouthpiece of bringing the word of God to others. There is no place or circumstance in which it is right for a woman to be a woman. There is no place or circumstance in which she can cast off in her heart or in her external appearance her place of subordination to the man in the will and purpose of God, even when God is laying hold of her and making her an organ of direct revelation. If ever there could be an exception, it would be there.

47:53 Paul says no exception there. And the greater includes all of the lesser. And so by addressing this issue in this way, he has made it clear to us that the greater includes all of the lesser. And so by addressing this issue in this way, he has made it clear to us that the greater includes all of the lesser. And so by addressing this way, he has made it clear to us that the greater includes all of the lesser. And so by addressing this way, he has established that the tradition that he has imposed as an apostle upon all of the churches is one in which the divinely instituted hierarchical structure is firmly held in place and no amount of spiritual privilege or heightened spiritual activity is ever to indicate in the slightest way that the people of God are seeking to overthrow that divinely instituted hierarchy. hierarchical structure. Rather, the one place on earth where it ought to be evident that people are comfortable with what God has established is in those who've come to claim to love this God

48:47 through his redemptive mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ. Where men take their proper place in this hierarchical structure, gladly acknowledging Christ as their head and deriving from Christ their concept of male headship, not from the world, not from the television, not from the ads in the slick magazines. No, they derive their concept of what it is to be head from Jesus Christ who stands as head over them. And women then, who are willing to take their God-given place in a climate in which if people say such a hierarchical structure automatically means inferiority, loss of dignity, and oppression, we can say, come and see. Come into the house of God and behold the people of God living comfortable with the instituted hierarchy of God with no one, no males treating females as inferior, no treating of them in a way that is undignified, and certainly not treating them in a way that is oppressive. And we ought to be the living monuments as the new humanity that God's hierarchical structure is. is the good, the acceptable, and the perfect.

50:07 And there ought to be something beautiful about the way Christian men and women conduct themselves within that framework of divinely instituted hierarchy. You see, Peter says, and this will be the last, oh my, our time is gone, well, we'll have to hold off on that. I was just going to point that he says that in a biblical context, we give honor to the woman as the weaker vessel. We don't oppress or demean her.

50:32 She is brought to a place of honor because of her position, not a place of dishonor, oppression, loss of dignity, or made to feel inferior. So if a woman says, as long as I am in this place in the hierarchical structure, I can only consider myself inferior, she shows an unwillingness to embrace her true identity as a woman. And her controversy is not with church tradition or male domination or related church life. Her problem is with God who instituted this framework.

Questions and Ambivalence on Headship in the World

51:07 Well, we've got about two minutes. First of all, any contribution from my fellow elders that you feel would be relevant at this point? Any question from the members? Yes, Gary?

51:29 Yes.

51:35 It's very interesting, isn't it? He doesn't say husband, wife. He is talking in a church context. And I was afraid someone might ask that question.

51:47 I should have prayed when I was done. But seriously, Gary, it's a...

51:54 I'm not sure somebody's going to ask, what about Mrs. Thatcher? When I got through the hour without Maggie, I said...

52:00 That's a good question. And I'm not sure how to answer it from this passage. I confess my ignorance. But I think the very generic way these things are set forth, Paul is saying, this is the general order of God for his creatures.

52:19 But specifically because he does it in such Christian terminology and assuming he's speaking to people who are knowledgeable in these concepts of Christ being the head, of God being the head of Christ, that one would have to have some, I think, other compelling biblical data to say that we can take all of this and, as it were, impose it without qualification, in every situation and in every circumstance in the world. God's original intention that we see in Genesis 1 and 2, that applies to all men as men. There we have no problem. But taking something that is written in this setting in a church context to people who've experienced the dynamics of redemptive grace, but he harks back to creation so it seems to break out of the bounds of redemptive provisions. So I must confess, I'm ambivalent and I'm praying for more light from this very passage, Gary. So if I were to say more than that at this juncture, I'd go beyond what I feel I could say in faith and with confidence. But that is a very valid question.

53:27 To what extent must this hierarchical structure be manifested in the office?

53:35 Is it right that a woman should have men working beneath her? In government, is it right that Maggie should be at, what, 10 or 12 Downing Street? Those are vital questions. 10?

53:47 Thank you, sir.

53:49 10 Downing Street.

53:53 But you see, in a sense, in a sense, that really is not our concern, is it? I mean, it's nice to have a workable theory so when people from the world ask us, but in a sense, that's really not our concern because what we decide about that ain't going to affect Maggie.

54:12 And what we determine about this thing is unlikely to affect our neighbor. But it better affect the way we think and act here in Trinity Church because we claim to be subject to Christ and it better regulate how we act. But how far it breaks out at this juncture, I'd have to claim an element of agnosticism, Gary. I just don't know.

54:36 All right? Cliff, a final comment? Yes. I think it is fairly relevant, especially because I listen to work in the world and there are a lot of women being promoted to positions of responsibility.

54:50 Yeah. And when you are given choices as to who you work with, I think that might be a very important consideration if you're offered a job opportunity or you're asked to go to one division or another.

55:07 Yeah. To what extent? Now, see, when we get into asking the question of what ethics should govern my work perspectives, my career perspectives, then this question does enter. There's all the difference in the world between working for a job and a woman who's been locked into singleness and embraces her place as a woman and a woman who is determined to prove anything you can do, I can do better, you know.

55:36 What a miserable thing it is to be around a woman who's trying to prove she's smarter, wiser, stronger, and can be a better bully than any man can. That's a horrible thing. On the other hand, I've seen women that seem to be, as it were, promoted to position of influence against their will and, you know, who exuded gracious femininity even as ungodly, unconverted women. And I don't think I'd have any problem working for them in the work world.

56:02 I don't think I would. I've worked for them in Christian camps where there was a woman director. And so we get into some tacky areas, Cliff, and I'm not sure that I'm ready to start giving, you know, pontifical answers on those things, but it's an area where we can all pray that God will give us life. We've all got the Bible before us.

56:21 And we're, as it were, together at the funeral, at the feet of Christ that he would teach us. So let's pray that he'll give us further light as we carry on our study. But our time has gone. We'll have to close now.

Closing Prayer: Embracing God's Order with Joy

56:31 Let's pray.

56:36 Father, we worship you. We bless you that you have not left us in darkness concerning that instituted hierarchical structure by which you have ordained to govern your children and they, in turn, to regulate their lives. And our Father, we confess with joy, that we have no complaint with your order. Many of us who are men have wished in the past that we could throw off the burden of headship.

57:08 But, O Lord, you have taught us that it is a noble thing for us to embrace that burden and to discharge it in your strength and according to your word. We think of the women among us who once thought it was a horrible, crushing thing to be subordinate to the man who now, now rejoice that you have placed them in that position. Give them increasing joy. Give them increasing grace to resist all of the evil pressures that would try to bombard their minds and pummel their psyches into thinking they are some kind of mindless, spineless creatures because they allow themselves to be subordinate to men.

57:52 O Lord, protect our dear women from all of these influences that they may know and probably reflect to that peculiar glory that is theirs in the position assigned unto them. Help us as men that we may enable them to feel increasingly their worth and their dignity that in this place none would ever have righteous grounds to suspect that subordination means the loss of dignity and nobility. O Lord, help us, we pray, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

58:27 Amen.