Let your women keep
silent in the churches,
for they are not
permitted to speak;
but they are to be
submissive,
as the law also says.
And if they want to
learn something,
let them ask their
own husbands at home;
for it is shameful
for women to speak in church.
1 Corinthians 14: 34
-- 35
Before you
go running off yelling he is a “chauvinistic pig” for he wants women to be
submissive: this smacks of Islamic religion; he probably wants us to follow
Shiara Law. Well that is far from the
truth, so we must look at what Paul wrote to the Corinthians and see how that
applies to us today. The culture that
has been developed, especially since World War I and even greater since World
War II, a time when men were killed and women had to go to work, in fact there
were many women who had did you a man's job as the western part of the United
States was explored and settled, and now women are trying to do the work and attempt
to be equal to a man. Let me settle
this one fact: women are just as capable, maybe not always physically, but they
are mentally capable and in some cases even more capable than a man. It is not a matter of equality or inequality
that Paul is speaking about when he wrote to the Corinthians and left us with
the inspired word of God for us today.
It was a matter of God's dispensation and economy, we are His people,
therefore, we are to follow what He inspired to have written. God is determined to make you, His church
pure and holy and right. God is going
to bring us out of this world into a purer and spotless and undefiled world;
but He wants you to recognize His disposition, and your disposition, a
disposition within this culture and apparently in the culture of the Corinthian
church, this disposition of your right to your self. We must come to this moment whereby we are
willing that God should alter our disposition.
The moment you realize God's purpose, which is to get you rightly
related to Himself and then to your fellow men, He will tax you to the last limit,
and tax the limit of the universe to help you take the right road. These inspired words, the messages of Jesus
Christ are for the will and the conscience, not just for the head. Let us take a look at the word which has
become very negative in today's society and that word is submission. The Greek word: ύποτάσσω, or as it is in
this scripture: ύποτάσσεθαι Which is in
the present infinity, middle voice, so it is translated that to whomever Paul
is speaking to must be in subjection.
So what does it mean by subjection?
Yes, it means to obey, to be subordinate, to be subject to something or
someone, but originally it was a great military term meaning to arrange the
troops in some sort of division in some sort of military fashion under the
command of a leader. In a non-military
use, it was a voluntary attitude of giving in, to arrange, assuming
responsibility, and carrying a burden.
We are speaking of a non-military use of the word, therefore the word
refers to our voluntary attitude of giving to another to lead us, and we are to
follow. Does this mean that we are to
simply be some sort of milk toast kind of person? NO! The Bible does not
teach that, furthermore women are to speak with and be a helpmate with their
husband. Women are to teach their
children the Bible, and how to live as a mature Christian adult. Now, for the men, IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
TO LEAD YOUR FAMILY IN WORSHIP, AND STUDY OF GOD'S WORD, TO AID YOUR WIFE AND
YOUR CHILDREN TO BECOME AUTHENTIC MATURE CHRISTIANS. You are not of the hook!
Yes, women are to be in submission to you as a husband, to the leaders
of the church, and they are to obey and this obedience examined according to
Scripture before they give their submission.
It is not negative to be in submission to another person. When you work for someone you are in submission
to those who are supervising you or our owners of the business, in fact you are
to be in some sort of submission to your customers, to those whom you are
serving. In the military of coarse
submission is very important. So it is
not a negative term, although it can be if the person whom you are submitting
to is asking you to submit any wrongful way or leading you any wrongful way,
but submission is proper when it is properly administered. Paul made it very clear that the husband is
to teach their wives. In fact Paul made
it very clear that husbands are to love their wives: "Husbands, love your wise, just as Christ also loved the church
and gave himself for her" (Ephesians 5: 25). This love is the same love that Jesus Christ gave to His called
out ones, His church. Is it not true we
are to sanctify our lives and be formed into the image of Jesus Christ? Yes! Therefore, you as husbands are not to
rule over your wives in a manner that is being done in such religions as the
Muslim religion, and others whereby the man can do what ever he wants to his
wife. This is not true with Authentic
Christians. As Authentic Christians we
are to love as Jesus Christ loves who gave himself for His people, and this He
did by dying on the cross: "So
husbands ought to love their own wise as their own bodies; he who loves his
wife loves himself. For no one ever
hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does
church" (Ephesians 5:28 -- 29).
So to be submissive to your husband, and to follow the inspired word of
God for both the wife and for the husband, the husband in his role as husband is to
be submissive to Jesus Christ and then to be the leader as Jesus Christ was to His wife, the Church. This is a dual role that
complements each other, and by this complementary examples you display the love
of Jesus Christ to yourselves and to all those who know you, or see you, for
they see Jesus Christ in you. Christian
submission is not negative! It is the
love God in your life.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
a broken
and a contrite heart -- --
these, O God, You will not despise.
Psalm 51: 17
May God be pleased with your sacrifices of righteousness
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