House Church Talk - Look who Jesus Chose

[Dan Beaty]

Bruce,

Using your logic, then Paul rarely addressed the females in any church, as
he in most every case I have found, the same Greek word was used  "adelphos"
for brethren.

That would mean, that when Paul wrote, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in
the Lord, and in the power of his might," then only the men were to be
strong, putting on the whole armor of God, praying always with all prayer
and supplication with all the saints. etc etc etc

Maybe I am a bit naive, but I have always understood the brotherhood in
Christ to include both men and women, for we are all sons of God through
Jesus Christ.

Of course perhaps some would argue that only the men who are led by the
Spirit of God are the sons of God. And maybe the creation is waiting eagerly
for only the male children of God to be revealed?

It is not that I am attempting to neutralize all gender-specific language in
the Scripture, or deny that there are any role distinctions involved. But I
have done some research into how words were used in the NT.

Dan Beaty


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bruce Woodford" <bwood4d at hotmail.com>
To: <House Church Talk  at housechurch.org>
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2004 4:37 PM
Subject: Re: House Church Talk -  Look who Jesus Chose


> Dear Brother Dan,
>
> You wrote:"That is my main reasoning that "silent women in the assembly"
> seems inconsistent to what God is doing today in house church, and other
> small group settings. There are so many places in the NT where "every
> member, the functioning of every part, every gift " is emphasized. This is
> not to downplay leadership, as some have done, and even some attempt to
> eliminate it altogether. The real need is to release every gift, including
> the equipping gifts, so that the whole body can be built up."
>
> Brother, the silence of women in the assembly is not inly inconsistent
with
> what God is doing TODAY in house churches, but it has ALWAYS been
> inconsistent with what God has done in house churches from the Day of
> Pentecost onward!
>
> The silence of women is NEVER associated with house church gatherings in
> scripture at all!  Scriptural records of gatherings of churches in houses
> repeatedly include the vocal participation of sisters AND the breaking of
> bread. I would challenge anyone to show from scripture that the silence of
> women in house gatherings of believers was ever practiced by the first
> century church or is ever commanded in scripture!
>
> The kind of gatherings in scripture where there is NEVER any record of
> female vocal participation and where the "not to speak" kind of silence of
> women is SPECIFICLY COMMANDED is in whole church gatherings in cities. I
> would also challenge anyone who claims that women may scripturally
> participate vocally in whole church gatherings  to demonstrate this
position
> from scriptural examples of whole church gatherings and also from
scriptural
> examples of instructions which regulate whole church gatherings!
>
> You are absolutely right that,"There are so many places in the NT where
> "every member, the functioning of every part, every gift " is emphasized."
>
> However, in I Cor.14 there are two expressions which have been
misunderstood
> and misapplied by many because they failed to observe...
> (1)the context of the instructions (whole church gatherings in one place)
> and
> (2) those to whom those commands are directed (males)!
> Those two expressions are found in verses 26 and 31:  " when ye come
> together  every one of you hath a psalm..."  and " ye may all prophesy one
> by one ..."   Many have assumed that these expressions are addressed to
all
> in the church, i.e. men and women.  This is just not true!  All of the
> commands of I Cor 14 are directed to MALES!
>
> There are many contextual reasons why I believe this is so:
> -From verse 6 onward, it is BRETHREN (males) who are specificly addressed.
> -It is the "brethren" who are commanded in verse 20.
> -It is "brethren" who are addressed in verse 26 to whom the instruction "
> when ye come together  every one of you hath a psalm..."   is addressed.
> -It is "brethren" who are informed " ye may all prophesy one by one ..."
> in verse 31.
> -It is "brethren" NOT sisters to whom the instructions relative to the
> silence of women are addressed in verses 34 and  35.
>
> These verses say, "Let 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. And if THEY will learn anything, LET THEM
> ask THEIR husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the
> church."
>
> If these verses were actually addressed to women as well as men as many
have
> assumed, they would actually read as follows: "Let YOU women keep silence
in
> the churches: for it is not permitted unto YOU to speak;  but YOU are
> commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. And if YOU will
learn
> anything, ask YOUR husbands at home: for it is a shame for YOU to speak in
> the church."
>
> I hope this helps to put these scriptural instructions into their proper
and
> contextual background.
>
> Your brother in Christ,
> Bruce
>
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