Male and Female Church Roles, Part 2

Introduction to Crucial Issues and Review of Male Headship in the Home

0:04 This adult Sunday school class was held on June 19, 1988, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:15 Now we do welcome those who may be visiting among us, and let me give you just a word of explanation as to what we are doing in our adult class. We are engaged in a series of studies under the general heading of crucial issues facing the people of God. Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2 set the framework for this study in which we see in that passage the entreaty of the apostle that the people of God, with their hearts suffused with the believing sense of wonder at God's mercy to them,

0:52 joyfully give themselves as a living sacrifice unto God, determined that they will unlearn all of the ways of the world. and of the present age, and be conformed by the power of the Spirit, transforming their minds into a pattern of life that reflects submission to the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. And the first area of these crucial issues in which we need to think biblically that we are addressing is that of male and female identity, roles, and relationships, and passing over much that we have covered. For this is our fourteenth lesson in this series.

1:35 What we have done in recent days is to establish from 1 Corinthians 11, 3 to 16, the fact that there is a divinely instituted hierarchy. I would give you to know, Paul says, that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. And this divinely established hierarchical structure. does not have to do with inherent dignity or worth.

2:07 There is no lesser dignity in Christ than there is in God the Father. But in the accomplishment of redemption, the incarnate Son of God takes the posture of submission to and obedience to God the Father. We are talking about roles and functions, not inherent dignity or worth. As to inherent dignity...

2:31 ...dignity and worth, the man and the woman bear the image of God, they are morally accountable to God, made with the capacity to know God.

2:40 But in terms of role and function, there is a hierarchical structure. And it occurred to me in writing out my notes for review that someone may not know what the word hierarchy means, and it's defined in Webster's Dictionary as a group of persons or things arranged in order of rank, grade, or class. And so we have a divinely instituted hierarchy, a divine arrangement of rank, in terms of the exercise of authority. God over Christ, Christ over man, man over woman.

3:19 And now what we are seeking to do in the unfolding of this is to demonstrate that neither the reality of the Fall nor the privileges of redemption cancel this divinely instituted hierarchy. And the first area in which we discovered that was that of the home. And we looked at the pivotal passages which clearly establish male headship and female subordination in the home as clearly as the Bible establishes parental headship and child subordination. And anyone who would attempt to overturn Ephesians 5.23 and following,

4:01 has the unenviable task of attempting to overturn Ephesians 6.1-4. Because the same family of words are used to lay upon children the duty of submission to the parents, same family of words as is used to lay upon wives the duty of submission to their husbands. So the hierarchical structure is established in the home in the face of the great realities of Fall and redemption.

Review of 1 Timothy 2:8-15: Women's Roles in the Church

4:31 Now we are presently concerned to see if this reality obtains in the realm of the church or the ecclesiastical structure. And ecclesiastical is just a transliteration of the Greek word ekklesia, which is the word for church. And so we will take the English word in church relationships. And last week we looked at what I said is the most pivotal passage.

4:58 And what was that passage? Will someone tell us? Will someone tell us please? Now I'm going to start asking questions and let you do the review from last week, all right?

5:07 What is the most pivotal passage addressing the question of male headship and female subordination in the realm of the church? All right, someone tell me what is that passage? Just identify it. Raise your hand please.

5:23 Was anyone here last week? Anyone get enough sleep to be awake this morning? All right. Jerry.

5:35 All right. 1 Timothy 2.8. To 15.

5:38 Now, we've said that that is the most pivotal passage. And the next question is what makes it so strategic? Why should that passage be given a place of primacy above all other passages addressing this subject? Jerry.

5:59 Chapter 3, verses 14 and 15. The apostle, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, expressly states the purpose of this epistle, or at least this section of the epistle. These things I write unto you, hoping to come unto you shortly, but if I tarry long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God. So he is writing concerning the behavior that is mandated in God's house.

6:31 Therefore, when he writes, saying, I desire that the men pray in like manner that women also. But I permit not a woman to teach, but to be in quietness. These things have a place of primacy because they come in a context in which the expressed purpose for which these materials were delivered was to guide the church in divinely mandated behavior as the house of God. All right.

7:04 Next question. What four major directives are given? What four major directives are given to women in that passage? You exegeted it last week.

7:18 There are four major directives given to women. And what's the first one? State it in your own words or in summary terms. All right, Nate?

7:27 All right. Women are to appear in the house of God in modest dress, in like manner that the women adorn themselves in modest or befitting apparel with modesty and sobriety. Not braided hair or gold or pearls or costly raiment, but which becometh women professing godliness through good works. We might summarize it by saying women, when they come to the house of God, are to adorn themselves with modesty and with good deeds.

7:59 Not with ostentatious clothes as though they looked upon the gathering of God's people as a fashion show and they were the models to parade across the platform. But rather, they are to make it evident that they are coming for the very purpose for which the church gathers, to have all of its attention drawn to its Lord, to seek his face, to hear his word, to please him, and to minister one to another. All right. What's the second thing that women are to do according to this passage?

8:31 They are to adorn themselves with modesty and with good works. Secondly, the women are to learn. Eric has told us they are to learn. All right.

8:43 Verse 12. I'm sorry, verse 11. Let a woman learn. And that's an imperative.

8:50 Women are to learn, but in a context marked by what two things? Same verse. And that's right. Let a woman learn in what realm?

9:06 In quietness with all subjection. So women are to adorn themselves with modesty and with good deeds. Secondly, they are to learn with quietness and submissiveness. Thirdly, now we have the negative.

9:21 What's the third directive that's given? All right, Elmer? Not to teach. All right.

9:27 They are not to teach. But I permit not a woman to teach. And this, I permit not, was not the expression of a prejudiced, poorly sanctified, half-converted Jewish rabbi. It was Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, whose words are the very same.

9:48 His words are the very words of God, as we shall see in our study in 1 Corinthians 14. So this is an expression of the will of the head of the church through his appointed apostolic representative, even Paul the apostle. And he says, I permit not a woman to teach. A woman is not to teach.

10:09 And then the fourth thing that is said about women in the church is, she is not to exercise dominion over a man. Notice the language. The language is very simple and straightforward, nor to have dominion over a man, but conversely, to be in quietness. Now, she is to adorn herself with modesty and with good deeds, learn with quietness and submissiveness, not to teach, nor to have dominion over a man.

10:43 Now our next question is, on what grounds does Paul rest these directives? I said last week the old Puritans would use the term, on what thing does he bottom his argument? On what grounds does Paul rest these four directives, but particularly the latter two? All right, Louise.

11:11 And secondly, okay, the order of creation. And you have an extended commentary on that for Adam. I'm sorry, Adam was first formed, then Eve, verse 13. And if you want to know the implications of that, you can go to 1 Corinthians 14.

11:28 And if you want to know the implications of that, you go back to our crucial passage, 1 Corinthians 11, and you study verses 8 through 10, in which the apostle expands the significance of what he gives in a very succinct way here, that Adam was first formed, then Eve. You say, big deal, so what? Read 1 Corinthians 11, verses 8 through 10. So the order of creation is half of the foundation, and the second is the circumstances of the fall, in which Paul writes, Adam was not beguiled, but the woman being utterly beguiled hath fallen into transgression.

12:10 And so in a real sense, it was an overturning of her place of being a follower and answerable to the man that constituted the very circumstances that precipitated the fall. So in some sense, the place of subordination is even intensified, whatever Genesis 3.16 teaches, it certainly does seem to teach that. Well, this was the passage we looked at last week, and I think it's very straightforward and clear, and the only way to get around it is to stand on one's head and to twist and to torture the scriptures, and as we shall see in a subsequent study so that you will be armed, there are many,

12:55 in our day, doing that. The Church for centuries, by and large, when it has read this passage in the original, read it in English versions, in Chinese versions, in Hindustani, in Bengali, in Urdu, in French, in any language that the Bible's been translated in, the people of God have understood, basically, what you saw when you looked at it in an English version last week. But alas, the brilliant experts have come along, in the last ten years, and are enlightening us and saying, well, you poor, poor, uninitiated ones, you just have not seen. To give you a little idea of the kind of nonsense that goes on, one approach says, well,

13:40 you see, where it says that the woman is not to have dominion over a man, under the guise of scholarship, some have tried to prove that that means sexual dominion. And the problem there, you see, men were taking a place of leadership with a view to sexually manipulating men and all the rest, and that's what Paul is forbidding. Well, how does that rest down on the order of creation and the circumstances of the fall? So when they've done all their clever manipulation of what the word dominion means and tried to show that it means usurping and domineering with sexual overtones, which cannot be proved linguistically,

14:24 but even if it could, what does that have to do with the basis on which all of this rests? But that kind of stuff is going on. Books are being cranked out of evangelical publishers by the, if not the dozens, they are being cranked out by the twos, threes, fours, fives, and sixes in a way that is frightening. But I hope you would be able to sit with your Bible and if you confronted any of that, be able to answer.

Introduction to 1 Corinthians 14:33b-38 and its Context of Spiritual Gifts

14:53 Now, we said last week that the second most pivotal passage is to be found where? All right, Gary? All right. 1 Corinthians, chapter 14, verses 33b to the end of the chapter.

15:14 Now, what I'm going to do is simply read the passage and then I'm going to make you do the work again. All right? 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. But 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.

15:44 What? Was it from you that the word of God went forth? Or did it come unto you alone? If any man thinks 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.

16:05 But if any man is ignorant, let him be ignorant. All right. Now, question number one. Someone who has a little more knowledge of 1 Corinthians and its structure, tell me, please, what is the larger context of 1 Corinthians, chapter 14?

16:28 It is part of a unit that extends from what chapter? Chapter to what chapter? Someone want to tell us? All right, Tim?

16:39 All right. 12 to 14 of 1 Corinthians. And what is the basic subject dealt with in that section, Tim? All right.

16:49 It has to do with spiritual gifts. And how do we know that? Very simple. Verse 1 of chapter 12.

16:59 Now concerning spiritual gifts. You see, that is usually the key to whatever is being dealt with in Corinthians, Paul tells you. It is like he had a grocery list in problems and he is checking them off one by one. Some of you, when you come for a counseling session, you come with your list and you say, oh, now concerning this.

17:17 And then we talk and then you say, oh, now concerning this. And then you check them off. Well, that is what Paul was doing. He was giving pastoral counsel and he was the other way around.

17:24 Now, he says, concerning spiritual gifts. And basically, here is the outline of the overall section. In chapter 12, he gives what we might call general instruction relative to spiritual gifts. Chapter 13, he demonstrates that love must permeate and be the motive and the exercise of all spiritual gifts and must dominate the character of those who exercise those gifts.

17:50 Then when we come to chapter 14, and here is where I want you to do the work, he addresses particularly perspectives on two gifts in... two gifts in particular.

18:05 You tell me now what they are. Almost gave it away. All right. What two gifts are dominant in that chapter?

18:12 Yes, Jerry? Prophecy. All right. Prophecy and tongues.

18:18 And if you want a helpful exercise to demonstrate this, just do what I do when I come to a chapter like this. Take a one-color pencil and go through every time you find a certain word, underline it or circle it and then a different color. And you will find the verb to prophesy eight times in 1 Corinthians 14 and the noun prophecy two times. And you will find the verb to prophesy eight times in 1 Corinthians 14 and the noun prophecy two times.

18:41 So you've got 10 references to prophecy and then you have 14 to 15 references to tongues, glosa, the noun tongue. So 15 times tongues, 10 times prophecy, total 25 references to the dominant theme of this chapter. And what he does is, first of all, to underscore that the major concern with these gifts is the fact that these gifts are dominant in the chapter. And that is what he does.

19:04 And what he does is, first of all, to underscore that the major concern with these gifts is how to regulate them so as to secure maximum edification to the church. That is his great concern. These gifts had gone crazy in the church. They were being exercised in a way that was not securing edification but was undermining it.

19:22 So Paul is concerned to regulate the exercise of these gifts so as to produce optimum edification. Look at verse 3. Verse 3. Verse 3.

19:31 Verse 3. Verse 3. Verse 3. Verse 3.

19:35 Verse 3. Verse 3. Verse 3. Verse 3.

19:39 Verse 3. Verse 3. Verse 3. Verse 3.

19:43 He who prophesies speaks unto men edification, exhortation, consolation. Verse 5. That the church may receive edifying. Verse 12.

19:53 Seek that you may abound unto the edifying of the church. Verse 19. 5 I had rather speak words with my understanding that I might instruct others. to edification. Now, in the course of trying to instruct them, or actually instructing them as to

20:15 how these two gifts, tongues and prophecy, can be used unto optimum edification, Paul basically does two things. Number one, he speaks of the relative worth and benefit of tongues and prophecy. That's in verses 1 to 25. And his major thesis is, prophecy is better than tongues, because prophecy edifies. And only if tongues are interpreted will they edify, and when tongues are interpreted,

20:48 they are equal to prophecy. So the great thesis of the first half of the chapter is to underscore the relative worth and benefit of tongues and prophecy. Then in verses 26 to 33a, he gives the following. The specific apostolic directives for the exercise of tongues and prophecy. Relative worth, he spends

21:13 the first 25 verses dealing with that. Now he comes to give specific directives for the exercise of tongues and prophecies. Notice verse 26. How is it then, brethren, when you come together? Each one

21:28 has a song, a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. Now he's going to give specific directives for the exercise of tongues. If any man speaks in a tongue, let it be by two or the most three, and that in turn, and let one interpret. But if there be no

21:46 interpreter, let him keep silence in the church, and let him speak to himself and to God. And, now notice, he's going to regulate prophecy. And the prophets, let the prophets speak by two or three, and let the others discern. But if a revelation be made to another sitting by, let the first keep silent. And if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church, and let him

22:04 keep silence. For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be exhorted. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. So in those verses, he is answering the question, how should tongues and prophecy be

22:26 exercised in the assembly? Now, I know you've got all kinds of questions about tongues and prophecy. Forget it. That's not our concern. We are concerned with answering the question, does

22:34 God's hierarchical structure still obtain in the church? And we're going to look at a passage that comes in a context. So we're studying the context, not exegete, just getting a feel for it. So he's answering the question, how should tongues and prophecy be exercised so that they secure maximum edification? You see that in those verses. Now, the next question he addresses is, who should

23:04 exercise these things? And he says, who should exercise these things? And he says, who should exercise these gifts in the assembly? How? Now, who? And notice what he says. As in all the churches

The Prohibition Against Women Speaking in the Assembly

23:16 of the saints, let the women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted them to speak, but let them be in subjection, as also saith the law. Now, what is the obvious meaning of this prohibition in its context? It's the fact that the church is not allowed to speak. It's context. I think the answer is clear, that no female is to speak to the mixed assembly

23:44 unto general edification in the exercise of any God-given gift. For if gifts so directly given by the immediate activity of the Holy Spirit, such as tongues and prophecy, do not warrant a woman becoming the instructor of the mixed assembly, the greater includes the lesser.

24:09 Even if when the Spirit of God came upon a woman and enabled her to be a prophetess, she was to restrain herself in the mixed assembly, how much more of the lesser ordinary gifts of teaching, of exhortation, of ordinary preaching and instruction. And in the context, you see, Paul is dealing not with the church life in general, but he's dealing particularly with the subject of spiritual gifts. General instruction, how they relate to the body and their mutual interdependence, that they must be subdued with the grace of love in the person who exercises them and in the exercise itself.

24:51 Then he's going to particularly hone in upon tongues and prophecy, demonstrate the relative worth, how they should be exercised unto edification, and who may exercise those gifts in the gathered church. But you say, pastor, did women have to? have the gift of prophecy? Yes, they did. In fact, it's one of the proofs that we're

25:14 in the age of the new covenant. For according to Acts 2.17, quoting from the book of Joel, one of the proofs that the age had dawned, Peter is quoting and says, this is that which was spoken through the prophet Joel, verse 17, in the last days saith God, I will pour forth of my spirit upon all your flesh, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. 1 Corinthians 11.5 indicates that women had the gift of prophecy. Nevertheless, 1 Corinthians

25:51 11, I'm sorry, in verse 5, but every woman praying or prophesying with her head unveiled dishonors her head. And then Acts 21.9 speaks of Philip who had four virgin daughters who prophesied. Now, those three texts clearly establish that women had a true gift of prophecy in the apostolic age. But, but that does not negate what Paul says by the inspiration of

Four Reasons for Women's Silence in the Church Assembly

26:20 the Holy Spirit. In the midst gathered assembly of the church, when the church assembled for its ordinary seasons of worship and ministry, of praise to God, of seeking the face of God, he clearly states, as in all the churches of the saints, let the women keep silence. Now, we ask the question, why is she not to speak in the midst assembly, but to be in subjection? And there are at least four reasons given by the apostle. See if you can see them. Four reasons why women

27:04 are to be silent in the churches, why it is not to speak in the midst assembly, but to be in subjection. The first is that it is not permitted for them to speak. It is not handed over to them to speak. Exactly the same verb as Paul used in 1 Corinthians, 1 Timothy chapter 2, I permit not a woman to speak. All right? When you think you've found one of the reasons, raise

27:26 your hand and we'll get all four, God willing. Yes, Gary? All right, by going back you say you'd argue by analogy, uh, by men of strange tongues. Now that may not be, that may just be the case. But it is not. It is not. It is not. It is not. It is not. It is not. It is

27:46 not. It is not. It is not. It is not. It is not.

27:47 That may not be a form of on air. I'd have to check it in the text, but let's hold off on that. But right in the context, all right? Right in the paragraph itself. The answers

28:00 are all right here in the paragraph. All right, it would violate her God assigned position of submission . It is not permitted unto them to speak, but, you see the contrast? But.

28:18 But let them be in subjection, let them be in subjection, as also saith the law. And here's our word, hupotasso, again. We did a little brief study on that a couple of weeks ago, and it is in an imperative form, and it is the law that says, that is, is speaking this very thing. So if the woman were to speak, she would be violating her God-ordained, God-assigned position of submission.

28:57 Now, why would her speaking in tongues or prophecy in the mixed assembly overturn this structure?

29:17 And what goes with that position and function? If someone comes and says, thus saith the Lord, what does he have? Not only a word from God, but a word of authority, absolutely. What greater authority can be exercised than to say, thus saith the Lord?

29:40 So you see, the teaching, prophetic, tongue-speaking position was a position of authoritative proclamation of the word of God. And so for a woman to exercise that gift is to take that position, and to take that...

29:59 That position is to overturn God's hierarchical structure as established in his law. Now, what does Paul mean when he says, as saith also the law? Most likely, because the word the law sometimes refers to the whole Old Testament, he is most likely here, in his most succinct way, referring right back to what he gives in a condensed form in 1 Timothy 2, Adam first created, then Eve, the woman first in the transgression, what he gives in an expanded way in 1 Corinthians 11. In other words, he says, the Old Testament regulation,

30:38 in an area that is not bound by peculiarities of culture or the history of redemption, things peculiar to the Jewish setup, has authoritative directives for this matter of the woman maintaining her place of submission, even in the midst assembly, even if... If she has a divinely imparted gift of prophecy, or a gift to speak in a language she had never acquired in the ordinary means, or acquired by ordinary means, she is not to speak in the midst assembly, for it would overturn her God-assigned position of submission.

31:19 Now, dear people, unless Paul wrote to confuse us, that's what the words obviously say, and it's clear, I believe, unless we have a cause to promote, that that's what they mean. All right, what's the second reason he gives? Why women should not speak in the assembly.

31:39 Let me make sure now I'm at my place in my notes where I want to. Okay. All right, what's the second reason? All right, George?

31:54 Yes, but what... How do we extract a reason out of that?

32:00 Where does the reason come in verse 35?

32:04 All right, for... You see, we have another rationale given, an explanation.

32:09 For it is shameful for a woman... So, reason number two, why is she not to speak?

32:17 Reason one, it would violate her God-assigned position of submission. Number two, it would violate holy propriety. It is shameful for a woman to speak in the church. And this word shameful was used in chapter 11 in verse 6 with regard to that whole difficult matter of the covering.

32:36 If a woman is not veiled, let her also be shorn. But if it is a shame for a woman to be shorn, or shaven, let her be veiled. And most commentators agree that that was the shame attached to the public humiliation of an immoral woman. The shame that a woman ought to feel who's been caught in adultery and has had her head shaved as a mark of her adultery.

33:00 The shame with which she ought to cover herself. That's the word that is used, and it's used in Ephesians 5 and verse 12, the only other place in the New Testament. For the things that are done by them, in secret, that is, wicked and evil men, it is a shame even to speak of. There ought to be a sense of shame even to have to speak of men's sordid, base, immoral deeds.

33:28 And the scripture tells us that this is the second reason why women are not to speak in the assembly. It would violate holy propriety. It would be shameful. Now I know that raises lots of questions.

33:41 I'm not prepared to answer them. We're just trying to go through the passage and get the overall emphasis. All right, what's reason number three? And I'll give you a hint.

33:50 This is found on the front end of the directive and near the tail end. And it's the same on both ends. Verse 33b and also verse 36. Do you think you found it, Jonathan?

34:13 All right, it would violate universal apostolic practice. Notice, he says, As in all the churches of the saints, let the women keep silence in the churches. In other words, as the apostles went into different geographical areas with different cultures, with differing roles determined by pagan culture and by the existing prejudices and patterns of sin, in those cultures, there was a universal practice established with regard to the role of women in the church.

34:57 It had nothing to do with culture. At that day, you had deeply embedded Roman culture. You had Greek culture. You had Jewish culture.

35:08 You had cultures peculiar to given areas. Remember, Paul said concerning the Cretans, they had certain aggravated sinful manifestations in their whole culture. They had certain cultural conditioning. There were all kinds of cultures in all parts of the Roman world.

35:25 But he says, As in all the churches of the saints. It was universal apostolic instruction. And that's emphasized again in verse 36, where Paul says sarcastically, What? Was it from you that the word of God went forth?

35:42 Were you Corinthians the ones to whom God gave the deposit of his truth? And that out of you came apostles to direct how the church went forth? And that out of you came apostles to direct how the church went forth? And that out of you came apostles to direct how the church went forth?

35:50 And that out of you came apostles to direct how the church went forth? And that out of you came apostles to direct how the church went forth? And that out of you came apostles to direct how the church went forth? No.

35:53 You were nothing but a bunch of lost pagans and some self-deceived Jews at Corinth there meeting in the synagogue and perhaps some sincere, what we would call Old Testament believers, people who had lived in messianic expectation, but the word of God came to them. Paul ministered among them for eighteen months. So he's humbling them by saying, What? Was it from you that the word of God went forth?

36:18 Or, he says, to you alone? Are you the only people who have come under apostolic directive? Are you prepared to set up standards that violate what we have universally, by the Spirit of God, imposed upon all the churches? The third reason that he gives for women's silence in the assembly, in the exercise of spiritual gifts, is that it would violate universal apostolic practice. All right? And what's the fourth reason? And this is powerful. All

36:54 right, Ernest? All right, verse what, Ernest? Verse 37. If any man thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him take knowledge of the things which I write unto you, that they are the entole, the commandment of the Lord.

37:18 Paul was conscious that he was not speaking out of personal preference, out of native male chauvinistic dominance, out of carnal rabbinic prejudice, and I say it's tantamount to blasphemy to accuse him of that. He says, What I write are the commandment of the Lord. I am conscious that I stand under the authority of Jesus Christ, the one sole head of his church, and it is this Lord who is speaking by me and through me, and therefore to refuse

37:59 to obey this directive is to refuse the authority of Jesus Christ himself. That's pretty serious stuff. To claim to love Christ and to honor the redemptive work of Christ in liberating women from all of the dominance of males and giving them equal standing in ecclesiastical office and authority, all under the name of honoring Christ, it's blasphemy in the very house of Christ. And it's time someone had the guts

38:37 to say it. Great liberators come to liberate women from the oppressive position of silence in the churches. How could Christ ever oppress women when he loved them and died for them, when his blood was shed as much for every precious sister in the church as for every brother? It is out of deference for what he made women to be that he does not overturn this structure that he has established for her good and for his glory. And so to overturn this directive

The Meaning of 'Speak' (Laleo) in 1 Corinthians 14

39:19 is blatant refusal of the authority of Christ. Now, in the remaining minutes, I want us to concentrate on what is probably one of the most crucial things in this whole study. And I want you to look back at the passage and you will see that it is a very important thing. And I want you to look back at the passage and you will see that it is a very important Now, some say, well, you see, what Paul is forbidding is just women getting up and blethering on and just talking, having a chat, as it were, and talking off the cuff. He doesn't

39:55 say, I forbid them to preach. I forbid them to prophesy. I forbid them to teach. He uses the folksy word laleo.

40:04 Oh, which means just to speak. Convincing, isn't it? He doesn't say, I do not permit them to prophesy. He's been using the word prophesy. He could use it here. He doesn't

40:22 say, I forbid them to speak in tongues, to teach. But what he's doing is, he doesn't want the women just popping up here and there in the midst of the service and interrupting and just talking. But he says nothing about well-planned, well-prepared, authoritative good, homiletically clean preaching and teaching. Well, how do we answer that? How would you answer that? Well, what I want you to do very

40:50 quickly, in your mind's eye, if you don't have a pencil and you don't mark your Bible, I want you to start glancing from the beginning of 1 Corinthians 14 right down through and see how many times you find the word speak, speaking, speaketh, in conjunction with this whole treatment of tongues in prophecy. All right? We'll do a little exercise and give you 30 seconds to glance.

41:11 30 seconds down through. 30 seconds are up. Okay. Now, what have you discovered by that quick flyover of 1 Corinthians 14? What is the word used to describe all of the functioning

41:53 of tongues in prophecy, again and again and again? Speak. Twenty-four times the Greek word laleo in various forms is used in 1 Corinthians 14. Twenty-four times. For he,

42:12 he that speaketh in a tongue, speaketh, verse 2, not unto men but unto God, but in the Spirit he speaketh mysteries, but he that prophesieth speaketh unto men, verse 4, he that speaketh in a tongue, verse 5, I would have you all speak with tongues. Twenty-four times the word speak is used and in every single instance. Let's leave the disputed one out there. Let's get out of the question. It has reference to, in conjunction with the exercise of the

42:50 gifts primarily of tongues and prophecy, possibly one or two other gifts in verse 26. Now then, by what rationale do we put a totally different meaning on the word speak in that kind of a context? Dear people, that's what the Bible means when it talks about people manipulating and distorting and putting the word of God on a torture rack. It is clear that the prohibition

43:25 to speak in the context means to speak in the exercising of a prophetic or tongue gift, and by implication, the greater includes the lesser. Any God-given gift given by the head of the church, associated with authoritative instruction in the assembly, or that, by, in the assembly, women are flatly, clearly prohibited from exercising it in the mixed assembly of the people of God. Now, there are many questions. Well, where did Philip's daughters prophesy? I don't know, but one place I know they didn't was when the church gathered.

44:08 1 Corinthians 11, praying or prophesying with their heads uncovered. Where did they prophesy? I don't know, but I know one thing. In no apostolic church did they, unless they were blatantly defying the Word of God. Well, where is a female tongue speaker supposed to exercise

44:30 her gift of tongues? I don't know, but one place she ain't. It's when the church is gathered. I don't have to answer all the what-ifs. The Word of God is plain in the areas where it needs to be

44:42 plain. And we don't need to feel that the onus is enough to answer all the problems that may arise in people's minds growing out of the clear teaching, of the Word of God. Ours is to walk in the light of what is clear, and to leave to God to give us more light concerning the obscure. And one of the most frightening things is, you say, Pastor, you didn't touch on verse 38. Well, let me stop there. Are you all convinced now with the use of

45:07 Laleh? Oh, you see how now if someone ever gave you that, you could just sit with your Bible and say, hey, wait a minute. Come on, get a pencil. Sit down with me. Let's go through. Count the

45:15 times. Speak, speaking, speak, speak it, speaking, speak, speak it, speak it, speak. I suffer not a woman to speak. Well, you see, it's so plain.

The Frightening Implications of Disobedience (1 Corinthians 14:38)

45:23 So clear. And only a deliberate attempt to get away from the teaching of the Word while maintaining lip allegiance to the Word would ever drive anyone to such ludicrous extremes. And now what's frightening, dear people, is the possible rendering. And I only say possible.

45:41 You say, what does verse 38 mean, Pastor? You said the passage goes down to verse 38, but we said nothing about verse 38. That's right, and deliberately didn't. Paul could be saying, if any man is ignorant, that is, if someone takes the position that he's not going to let the light of this apostolic instruction come in after all this clear teaching, Paul says, there's no hope for him. He is so willfully blind. Let him alone. Sort of like in Revelation 22. He that is filthy,

46:17 let him be filthy still. He that is unjust, let him be unjust. It's almost as though he's writing them off, saying, anyone so perverse after teaching so perverse, let him be filthy still. But you'll notice you have an old 1901. It says, many ancient authorities read,

46:31 but if any man knows not, he is not known. There is a textual variant, a little change in the words. What Paul could be saying is, if any man knows not, that is, if any man will not recognize this instruction as the instruction of the Lord, and in the posture of humility regulate his life by it, such a man is not known. In other words, it's an indication that he's a hypocrite, and he doesn't have the root of the matter in him. For John says, the mark of a true believer is this, 1 John 4, 6,

47:08 they that know God hear us. They that know God hear us. And if that's the proper rendering, isn't that a frightening conclusion? What does that say to large segments of the evangelical church?

47:26 The so-called evangelical seminaries with men and women with Ph.D. degrees and denomination leaders who are taking this section of the word of God and saying, we will not obey it.

47:45 Maybe it's an indication that they have no saving knowledge of God. The world's perspectives on feminism hold more weight than the words of God through the apostles. Dear people, do you see why this comes under the general heading, of crucial issues facing the people of God? The pressure is on us continually. And you mark my

48:13 word, unless the Lord visits this country with a mighty outpouring of the Spirit, if we as a church are determined to stand for these perspectives, committed to them as the word of the living God, treating the women among us with all dignity and respect in coveting and encouraging for us, then we will not be able to do that. We will not be able to do that. We will not be able to give them every legitimate sphere of ministry permitted and mandated by the word of God, but taking our stand that under no circumstances at any time is a woman to speak in the mixed assembly

48:52 in the exercise of a gift that attaches to it authority over men. We will be more and more lonely, more and more regarded as oddballers, and mark my word, we'll have people who will not obey us. who will periodically become disaffected and leave us because they are unwilling either to submit to the word themselves or unwilling to bear the reproach of being part of a church. Doesn't let women teach?

49:28 Doesn't let women exhort? And part of the reproach of Christ in our day will be standing with Christ and his apostles on this issue of the place of women, not only in the domestic sphere, but in the ecclesiastical sphere. May God help us to have the grace to stand firm and not to be shaken, no matter how much pressure is brought to bear. And I thank God that I don't know of any of you women.

50:01 God knows your hearts, but as far as I know you and know your patterns of behavior and your speech, I can bless God that I don't know of a woman who has not been in the church for many years. There is no one among us who is chafing at this, may it ever be so, because to throw over this order is to violate your God-assigned position of submission and therefore to violate the law, to violate holy propriety, it is shameful. It is a shameful overturning of the divinely instituted hierarchical structure of male headship. It would violate universal apostolic practice.

50:36 It would be blatant refusal of the authority of Christ. And if the variant reading of verse 38 is correct, it might be a clear indication of an unregenerate heart. Friends, we don't need women's gifts at the expense of those five things.

50:57 Oh, but if God gives her a gift of prophecy, doesn't he give it at all? The God who gave it there at Corinth said, I suffer not a woman to speak. Don't be more fastidious for the edification of God's people than God is. Never forget that.

51:16 Don't be more... more anxious for your usefulness than God is.

51:22 Ours is to obey. God's is to vindicate in his own time. Well, our time is gone. I trust the Lord will write this passage upon our hearts.

Future Topics: Femininity, Masculinity, and Dress Code

51:33 And I would ask you then to consider, if you think there are any other passages, these are the only ones that I plan to exegete. And God willing, we'll entertain questions that you may have when we come next week. But then we'll see you next week. And then we're going to press on in this whole matter of male and female roles and relationships from the area of showing that the male hierarchy obtains in the church home, I'm sorry, and in the church.

52:06 And then we're going to deal with this whole matter of how femininity and masculinity are to be manifest in our general appearance, demeanor, bearing, and dress. The Bible does have a dress code. It won't tell you how much you're going to wear. It won't tell you how much you're going to wear.

52:21 It won't tell you how much you're going to wear. It won't tell you how many inches from the knee your skirt should be. But it does assume there's a difference between modest and immodest. The attire of a godly woman and the attire of a harlot.

52:32 The Bible does use those terms. And I think with the summer coming, it's very appropriate that we'll be coming into that area next week. And while we abominate legalism that would legislate where God is silent, we abominate the free spirit that would act as though we're all so holy that what we see doesn't affect us. Or that what we present ourselves to be does not make an impression.

52:57 If I showed up this morning like this, and if I didn't have to preach in the next hour, I'd do it. I'd just...

53:04 If I showed up like that, it wouldn't matter.

53:17 You're laughing. I haven't even messed my hair up yet.

53:23 You see, long before I opened my mouth, I would have made a very powerful impression. Now maybe I showed up that way because I had come from getting up at two in the morning. And I'd gotten dressed and then was wrestling with God in prayer and I might be more full of the spirit than I ever was. But if I came like that, it'd be hard for you to believe it.

53:44 Because you believe that the Holy Spirit will cause a man to walk in love and it says love does not behave itself unseemly. And I would not appear in unseemly dress that would prejudice you against the truth before I ever opened my mouth. So you see, you've already proved my point for next week. How you look and how you present yourself does indeed speak worlds.

54:09 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

54:10 Amen. I see what the word of God says about that in terms of male and female roles and identities in general appearance, bearing, and demeanor. Well, let's pray.

54:24 Oh, our Father, amidst the din of all the screeching voices of men and women crying for their rights, crying that they've come to liberate the church from its centuries of bondage, we thank you that in your law there is perfect liberty. We bless you for the liberty that has been given to us that assigns our relative roles and gives us joy in accepting them. Thank you for the many godly and gifted women among us who are content to take their proper place in the mixed assembly, content to have the men take the lead in the prayers, in the preaching, in the teaching, in the exhortation.

55:07 Lord, we bless you for every one of them. Oh, give them a heart so wedded to Christ that they will never be seduced seduced away by the world into its horrible thinking that not only dishonors Christ but dishonors their godly femininity. And help us as men, Lord, to be true men, not tyrants who abuse the place of authority but servants who assume it and bear its burden and like the Lord Jesus discharge it for the good of others. Seal your word to our hearts.

55:44 Thank you for your presence. Thank you for your word. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.