Recently, I was reminded of something God gave me about three years ago. It's a subject that people seem to argue over almost as much as they argue over baptism. The reminder was a friend mourning about losing fellowship with another brother because they disagreed on the subject. I thought maybe it was time for me to share what God showed me.
The controversy centers around two scriptures in the Bible:
I Corinthians 14:33-35 (Yes, I included 33 on purpose.)
"33For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
34Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law.
35And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church."
and I Timothy 2:11-12
11Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
12But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
The controversy rages between two camps.
Camp A (No man is going to tell me to shut up!) prefers to toss both scriptures out of the Bible, claiming this was just a reflection of the times and these verses are Paul's opinion, not God's. My problem with this is that, once you start tossing out/explaining away verses you don't like, where does it stop? The Word of God becomes just another book and there is no source of truth -- nothing for me to use as a measure between my ideas and God's will.
The thing we should always remember is that God is not random - He does not say anything without a reason. While He could just be reminding us to let the men speak (face it, ladies, get enough women in a room and the men will never get a word in edgewise!), I think there is a lot more to it than that. I think these statements have to do with the relationships between men and women and what each was created to do. We get caught up in our own pride and self-worth and forget that God actually had a plan from the beginning.
Let's start by looking at the context of these verses. In both cases, Paul is asking for the woman to be in silence in a gathering of people when she is learning. This is a time of teaching - learning something one did not know before.
There are two aspects to this scenario - learning and teaching. God has very specific reasons for asking women to be silent in the group setting. Let us look at the learning aspect.
In the beginning, God ordained that man and woman should become one. (See my post "The Promise".) While the verse actually reads "one flesh", I believe that it is more than physical. I believe it includes your mind and soul as well. When a woman is listening to a man that is not her husband, she needs to remember to whom she is married. It is not that other man. Therefore, she is not to try to become "one" with or see eye to eye with that other man. She is supposed to ask her questions of her husband, so that she comes to the same understanding as her husband. Men and women speak different languages. Your husband may hear something completely differently than you do. If you try to line up your beliefs (become one) with the speaker, you may end up with an entirely different conclusion than your husband. Suddenly, you and your husband are no longer one. Trying to become one with another man seems dangerously close to committing spiritual adultery. Better to ask your questions at home.
That answers the learning question. What about teaching? "I suffer NOT a woman to teach!" Gosh, Paul, you're pretty adamant about that. Don't you know that women were created to teach. Think about it a minute. Nearly every human ever born had a woman for his first teacher. What is a woman supposed to do when her children are grown? Teach younger women! (Titus 2:3-4) Teaching is not just what we do...it is what we are! Why, it was a woman who taught you the essentials of life...how to eat...how to walk... how to dress...how to go to the bathroom, for heaven's sake! How ungrateful of you to suddenly decide we cannot teach! When you were a child, a woman taught you EVERYTHING. When you were a child...
Oh. I see. When you were a child. 1 Cor. 13:11
11When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
Hey! Your mother is NOT a childish thing. Ah, but what about Gen. 2:24
24Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife...
Once again, a man is supposed to become one with HIS woman - not some other woman. This is the flip side of asking questions at home. Also, he is supposed to leave his father and mother... they are no longer his teachers. Why? I give you 1 Cor. 11:3
3But 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.
When a woman teaches a man, or tries to change the understanding of a man, she is reducing him to the status of child, and putting herself between that man and Jesus. This is a shame.
Wait a minute, am I saying a woman cannot get things from the Lord? Absolutely not! Women get things from the Lord throughout the Bible. Women share things from the Lord within the gatherings. Women were allowed to both pray and prophecy in the gatherings, as long as their head was covered. (Perhaps, as long as they were in agreement with their husband?) What they were not allowed to do is teach - or persuade others to their point of view. That is their husband's department. (Sisters, if you don't have a husband, you have to find your own path, here.)
Remember wives, you aren't in this alone. God gave you a husband - a man, not a child - who can share and work with and teach other men. Just as you can work with and share and teach other women. If the two of you are one, what God has given one of you, He has given to both of you. He is the head, you are his heart. Luke 6:45:
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
