SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15
1 Corinthians 14:34-36
Titus 2:3-5

“Let your women keep silence
in the churches.”

LET THE WOMEN BE SILENT (I)

When Paul commanded to “keep silence in the churches,” he was not forbidding the women to be involved in teaching at all. In Titus 2:3-5, Paul exhorted the aged women to teach the younger women the principles of biblical womanhood. “The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.” There is certainly a role for spiritual women in the church to instruct women and children.

In 1 Corinthians 11:2-16, we saw that some women in the Corinthian church were prophesying in public worship without head coverings. Paul showed why the women had to cover their heads in those verses. Now in 1 Corinthians 14:34-36, he made it clear that women were not to teach authoritatively during public worship.

The reason lies in the principle of man’s authority over woman. Recall the two reasons given in 1 Timothy 2:12-14 for the woman’s submission to male leadership: (1) For Adam was first formed, then Eve (2) And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.

Thus, Paul set the following rules so that worship may be orderly: (1) No woman should be involved in authoritative teaching in public worship. (2) Wives are to obey their husbands in the Lord. (3) If the women have any questions of what was preached, they should ask their husbands in private. The husbands as heads of their home should be responsible in instructing their wives in spiritual things.

THOUGHT: Spiritually mature women should guide the younger women.
PRAYER: Father, raise up women of faith in my church.