barrykind
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THE SUBJECTION AND SILENCE OF WOMEN
Harry Bethel
In these last days of apostasy what the Scriptures say about wives being in subjection to their husbands, and women being silent in the churches is virtually ignored. It behooves us to be obedient to the clear commands of God's Word.
It is a rare thing today to find men who fill their God-ordained roles as leaders of the families and churches. Since World War II women have become more and more prominent in the affairs of government, business, law, and every other aspect of society. This is also true of the prominence of women in the churches.
The world from which we should be separated has so much influenced the last-days Church that many Christians, including church leaders, will persecute the man who dares to challenge their departure from scriptural commands. We must reform our ways. We must fear and obey God in a day when so many are doing that which is right in their own eyes.
One of the consequences of Adam and Eve sinning is that God told Eve, "Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee" (Gen. 3:16). This is one thing that did not change from the Old to the New Dispensation as clearly revealed in the New Testament. It is only in heaven where there are no husband-wife relationships that wives will no longer be in subjection to their husbands.
God said through the Apostle Peter, "Ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands...while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning...but let it be the hidden man of the heart...even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit...For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord" (1 Pet. 3:1-6).
Sarah trusted God and obeyed Abraham, and even went to stay in Pharaoh's house in obedience to her husband after he told her to tell them she was his sister.
Sarah had sexual relations with Pharaoh, being in obedience to Abraham (Gen. 12:19). God commended Sarah in the Scriptures through the Apostle Peter in his first epistle.
About 20 years later, Sarah obeyed her husband in the same situation with King Abimelech, except that Sarah did not have sexual relations with Abimelech (Gen. 20:4). Rebekah did a similar thing in obedience to her husband Isaac.
The relationship of women to men has not changed. As a matter of fact, God makes it even clearer regarding what His will is about this. God said through the Apostle Paul, "But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man [not Christ]" (1 Cor. 11:3). "Forasmuch as he [the man, not the woman] is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man [not God]. For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman but the woman for the man" (1 Cor. 11:7-9).
The Lord says to wives through Paul, "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord" (Col. 3:18). "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband [not Christ] is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let wives be to their own husbands in everything" (Eph. 5:22-24).
Scripture could not be any clearer, and yet wives still contend with their husbands and in many cases even rebel against them. This is a very serious sin because God says that "rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry" (1 Sam. 15:23).
The wise man Solomon, having had 700 wives, doubtless knew what he was talking about when God inspired him to write, "It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house" (Prov. 21:9) and "It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman" (Prov. 21:19).
The problem of wives not submitting to their husbands is an age-old one and the husbands are largely to blame. Many Christian women would submit to their husbands if the men had the backbone to stand up to their wives when they try to contend with them. There are, however, demonized women who refuse to submit to anyone on a continuing basis. And it is true, according to Scripture, that the wife is "the weaker vessel" (1 Pet. 3:7). But in addition to husbands being firm with their wives when necessary, husbands must, as God commands them, "love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it" (Eph. 5:25).
It is noteworthy that, given the proper God-ordained relationships, God had virtually nothing to say in the Scriptures about the wives of the Apostles. We do not even know any of the names of the Apostles' wives. And we would not even know that the Apostle Peter, who had a significant role in the early Church, was married except for the mention of his mother-in-law's illness and the brief comment in 1 Corinthians 9:5.
Concerning women being silent in the churches, God says through the Apostle Paul, "Let your women keep silence in the churches; [the same Greek word for "silence" is used in Acts 22:2, "And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence"] for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. [The law, Genesis 3:16, says, And thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.] And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands [Gk. aner "man"] at home [not the pastor or other men or women]: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church...The things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord." (1 Cor. 14:34-35, 37).
The Word of God could not be any clearer in this commandment. Yet so many Christians, including church leaders, dismiss this and make the Word of God of no effect. The same Greek word for "shame" used here is used in 1 Corinthians 11:6, "For if the woman be not covered [with long hair], let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered [with long hair]."
The Apostle Paul told not only the church in Corinth about the commandment of the Lord that women are to keep silence, they are not permitted to speak, that it is a shame for women to speak in the church; he also wrote to Timothy, who was overseeing the church in Ephesus, concerning the same thing. The inspired apostle said to Timothy, "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. [Why?] For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression" (1 Tim. 2:11-14). But many pastors are saying, "Yea, hath God said, Women are to be silent in the churches?"
Another thing many pastors are saying is, "Well, Philip had four daughters who prophesied." Yes, Acts 21:9 says that, but one thing is sure---they did not prophesy in the churches and be in the Lord's will, because it was a commandment of the Lord that women were not to speak in the church.
Satan spoke to Eve in the Garden saying, "Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" And pastors all over the world are saying, "Yea, hath God said, Wives be subject to your own husbands in everything?"
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The HEART of the issue is truly the issue of the HEART!
John 3:3;Mark 8:34-38;James 1:27
Posts: 3529 | From: Orange, Texas | Registered: Jun 2002
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