As Women of God, Where Do We Stand?


1 Corinthians 14:26-40
26 What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. 27 If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. 28 But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God. 29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. 30 If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, 32 and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. 33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, 34 the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. 35 If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. 36 Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? 37 If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. 38 If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. 39 So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40 But all things should be done decently and in order.

The title of this particular post needs to be addressed first. As women of God, where do we stand? We stand right next to the men of God as equals. God does not love men more or hold them in higher regard. The Scriptures are clear on that account. In fact, Jesus treated women with great respect and dignity, unlike the pervading standards of His time. But – God has established a hierarchy regarding men and women because there must be leader and He has chosen men to be the leaders.

With that said, we need to examine this passage in particular and discover where we stand in the area of Christian worship. My stance will ultimately anger some. (What’s the word now? Trigger alert?) And if I could get around this understanding, I would because I must confess, I don’t like it sometimes either. The older I get the easier this is to swallow, and I spent years disliking these verses intensely. God has “worked” on my understanding and practice of these verses and I fear that perhaps He and I will have some extended conversation about how I lived them out – or didn’t.

The Church Body to which I belong does not condone the ordination of women. And I’m okay with that - after years of not being okay with that. I’m married to a pastor and let me just say – it’s a tough job. I wouldn’t want to carry those responsibilities on my shoulders or stand before God and explain my ministry choices to Him. But on the other side of that coin, I believe that I have been gifted, by the Holy Spirit, to teach His Word. And with that, mean I am compelled to teach anyone who will listen. At my congregation, my pastor-husband allows me to teach the Adult Bible Class on Sunday morning, which I’ve done for well over 30 years now. For him, the line between women speaking in church begins at the chancel in the Sanctuary. I have never been allowed to preach or teach during a worship service. And we are both comfortable with that situation. I’m 100% certain there are many who would hate that stance on either side of the issue. But, according the Scriptures, I answer to this man as both my pastor and my husband. Sometimes that’s a tightrope and I fall off. But God gives us grace and I gladly embrace it.

There is much about this passage that I believe is cultural as well. I don’t want to fall into the category of someone who looks at Scriptures and feels free to cast concepts aside as “cultural” because I don’t want to embrace them. But the early Church was a unique entity. The members of the church in Corinth were almost all adult converts. These were people who knew what pagan worship looked like because they had participated in it up until their conversion to Christ. Now they were forced to learn a new way; a way that contained some decorum and civility. That learning process took time and patience and Paul’s instructions are meant to move that process along.

If we have landed on the wrong side of this theology, I pray God’s forgiveness. The blood of Jesus covers all of our sins, not just the really obvious ones. And for me, there is nothing obvious about this topic.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Excusez-moi

Image
2 Kings 23:31-37 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-fiv
Read more

יהוה שָׁמַר--Yahweh Shamar (God Watches)

Image
Psalm 121 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. There are numerous passages I cling to when stress takes over my life. I would be hard pressed to declare a favorite, but this psalm would come close. So this morning I listened to Psalm 121 about 20 times as I meditated through the verses. First, I want to point out that the word or idea of shamar appears in every verse expect 6. The NIV uses the word "watch" while the ESV uses "keep". The
Read more

Narrow Door

Image
Luke 13:22-30 22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them , 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at tabl
Read more