To avoid
the very appearance of evil, they were to absent themselves from these
contentious meetings because it was a shame for a woman to speak or
contend in such riotous assemblies. It is more than probable that
Christian women had done so prior to this; and therefore Paul warns them
against such improprieties; not, however, forbidding them to pray or
prophesy in the Church, providing they "covered their heads." The
Gospel proclaims an equal freedom to all; Paul earnestly asserting (Gal.
in, 28), that "there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor
free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ
Jesus." Nevertheless, lest the cause of God should be hindered by women
asserting their Christian liberty, by speech or action, he desired them
to comply with the common usages of the society in which they lived,
where those usages were not in themselves immoral or contrary to the
Word of God. Kindred to I Cor. xiv, 34, 35, and referring to the same
thing, is I Tim. ii, 11, 12: "Let the women learn in silence with all
subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor usurp authority over
the man, but to be in silence." For a woman to attempt any thing either
in public or private that man claimed as his peculiar function, was
strictly prohibited by Roman law; and Christian women, as well as men,
were to be submissive to the "powers that be.
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