House Church Talk - Re: hc, women JL et.al

[jesusislord343 at juno.com]

On Tue, 04 May 2004 21:21:29 -0400 "Bruce Woodford" <bwood4d at hotmail.com>
writes:
> Hi Glenn,
> Welcome to HC-Talk! I hope you'll feel free to become a regular
participant here!

Hi, Bruce--
Greetings again in our Lord and Savior's name, and thank you so much for
the warm welcome.  I'll certainly look forward to our edifying
interaction here, as He leads and allows.

> Thank you for your additional observations in I Corinthians which
support the the view that "brethren" are indeed males just as "sisters"
are indeed females.

Yes, I think this is a very important point to establish in these
discussions which have distinct gender roles in view.  The authors of the
epistles, themselves being male, spoke from a place of enjoying an
intimate brotherly relationship with the men of the assemblies, and this
is reflected in their addressing them continually as
co-equals--"brothers."  

One further note I'd raise on this point is that the NT uniformly
distinguishes between males gifted by the Holy Spirit as "prophets," and
their female counterparts, which are rather *prophetesses* (Lk. 2:36;
Rev. 2:20).  Thus it is "two or three" men specifically in view in I Cor.
14:29, and men specifically who were to measure the reality of their
giftedness and spiritual maturity by their submission to the Lord in I
Cor. 14:37.  As I Cor. 16:13 and the various other passages indicate, we
must view chapter 12's mention of prophets from the perspective that the
immediate recipients of the epistle, ultimately written to all Christians
in all ages (1:2), were the men.  That is, the headship of the men (I
Cor. 11:3) is being reflected even in the addresses of the epistles.  

> You seem to be the first to respond to my challenge:"...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!"

I appreciated the graciousness of your response.  It appears we have some
similar understandings, but differ over whether I Cor. 14:26-40 and its
counterparts in I Tim. 2:8-15 and Heb. 10:24-25 have a house meeting in
view, or refer exclusively to gatherings of the saints in an entire city
or region.  I do not believe there are different commandments of order
given by the Lord for house meetings, and which would defy those of I
Cor. 14:26-40.  Your present position, as it appears to me, would require
that either there are no scriptural commands concerning order for house
assemblies, or that the order is markedly different.  

So my question to you is, if house assemblies are not to observe "the
commandments of the Lord" (I Cor. 14:37) given in great detail in I Cor.
14:26-40 (which employs the word "let" fourteen times in fifteen verses),
what remains as the distinct scriptural order they are to observe (II
Tim. 3:16-17; Eph. 2:10)?  

I must rush off for now, but will leave this for you (and any others who
would wish) to comment on as you are able.  

Grace, peace, and love in Christ Jesus,
Glenn

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