Harry Bethel 2008

In these last days of apostasy what the Scriptures say about wives being in subjection to their husbands, and women being silent in the churches is virtually ignored. It behooves us to be obedient to the clear commands of God's Word.

It is a rare thing today to find men who fill their God-ordained roles as leaders of the families and churches. Since World War II women have become more and more prominent in the affairs of government, business, law, and every other aspect of society. This is also true of the prominence of women in the churches.

The world from which we should be separated has so much influenced the last-days Church that many Christians, including church leaders, will persecute the man who dares to challenge their departure from scriptural commands. We must reform our ways. We must fear and obey God in a day when so many are doing that which is right in their own eyes.

A Consequence of The Fall

One of the consequences of Adam and Eve sinning is that God told Eve, "...Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee" (Gen. 3:16). This is one thing that did not change from the Old to the New Dispensation as clearly revealed in the New Testament. It is only in heaven where there are no husband-wife relationships that wives will no longer be in subjection to their husbands.

God said through the Apostle Peter, "...Ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands...while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning...but let it be the hidden man of the heart...even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit....For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord..." (1 Pet. 3:1-6).

Sara trusted God and obeyed Abraham, and even went to stay in Pharaoh's house in obedience to her husband after he told her to tell them she was his sister. God commended Sara in the Scriptures through the Apostle Peter in his first epistle. Sara also obeyed her husband in the same situation with King Abimelech. Rebekah did a similar thing in obedience to her husband Isaac, and God kept both Sara and Rebekah safe because they obeyed their husbands.

The relationship of women to men has not changed. As a matter of fact, God makes it even clearer regarding what His will is about this. God said through the Apostle Paul, "But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man [not Christ]..." (1 Cor. 11:3). "...Forasmuch as he [the man, not the woman] is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man [not God]. For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman but the woman for the man" (1 Cor. 11:7-9).

The Lord says to wives through Paul, "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord" (Col. 3:18). "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband [not Christ] is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church....Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let wives be to their own husbands in every thing" (Eph. 5:22-24).

An Age-Old Problem

Scripture could not be any clearer, and yet wives still contend with their husbands and in many cases even rebel against them. This is a very serious sin because God says that "rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry" (1 Sam. 15:23a). The wise man Solomon, having had 700 wives, doubtless knew what he was talking about when God inspired him to write "It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house" (Prov. 21:9) and "It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman" (Prov. 21:19).

The problem of wives not submitting to their husbands is an age-old one and the husbands are largely to blame. Many Christian women would submit to their husbands if the men had the backbone to stand up to their wives when they try to contend with them. There are, however, demonized women who refuse to submit to anyone on a continuing basis. And it is true, according to Scripture, that the wife is "the weaker vessel" (1 Pet. 3:7). But in addition to husbands being firm with their wives when necessary, husbands must, as God commands them, "love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it" (Eph. 5:25). How many Christian men can honestly say, I love my wife as Christ loved the Church?

It is noteworthy that, given the proper God-ordained relationships, God had virtually nothing to say in the Scriptures about the wives of the Apostles. We do not even know any of the names of the Apostles' wives. And we would not even know that the Apostle Peter, who had a significant role in the early Church, was married except for the mention of his mother-in-law's illness and the brief comment in 1 Corinthians 9:5.

A Commandment of The Lord

Concerning women being silent in the churches, God says through the Apostle Paul, "Let your women keep silence in the churches; [the same Greek word for "silence" is used in Acts 22:2, "And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence"] for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. [The law, Genesis 3:16, says, And thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.] And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands [Gk. aner "man"] at home [not the pastor or other men or women]: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church....The things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord." (1 Cor. 14:34-35, 37). The Word of God could not be any clearer in this commandment. Yet so many Christians, including church leaders, dismiss this and make the Word of God of no effect. The same Greek word for "shame" used here is used in 1 Corinthians 11:6, "For if the woman be not covered [with long hair], let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered [with long hair]."

The Apostle Paul told not only the church in Corinth about the commandment of the Lord that women are to keep silence, they are not permitted to speak, that it is a shame for women to speak in the church; he also wrote to Timothy, who was overseeing the church in Ephesus, concerning the same thing. The inspired apostle said to Timothy, "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. [Why?] For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression" (1 Tim. 2:11-14). But the enemy is saying through many, including church leaders, "Yea, hath God said, Women are to be silent in the churches?"

Another thing that the enemy of our souls is saying is, "Well, Philip had four daughters who prophesied." Yes, Acts 21:9 says that, but one thing is sure---they did not prophesy in the churches and be in the Lord's will, because it was a commandment of the Lord that women were not to speak in the church.

Furthermore, women should not teach, including First Day School classes. In fact, the concept of First Day School is relatively new and foreign to the Scriptures. This was not found in the Church for the first 1700 years. Fathers are responsible for teaching their children. Of course this task could be given to the wife to be done in the home, but the man is still responsible for what is taught. The husband is responsible for teaching his wife also. And if any woman has a question while attending a worship service of the church, she should wait to ask her man, aner, (husband if married, or father) at home.

If we want to form our doctrine based on "everybody else is doing it" instead of the infallible Word of God by which we will one day be judged, then anything goes. But if we want to base what we do on the Scriptures---on the commandments of the Lord---then women must be silent in the churches. Again, women should not teach, they are to be silent in the churches (1 Tim. 2:12); they are commanded to keep silence in the churches, they are not permitted to speak, it is a shame for them to speak in the churches (1 Cor. 14:34-35).

There needs to be a return to New Testament truths and their applications in practical aspects of everyday life. For centuries there has been much interpretation of the Word of God in accordance with what the Church is doing rather than conforming the practices of the Church to the plain teachings of Scripture.

The Enemy Continues To Speak

Satan spoke to Eve in the Garden saying, "Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" And the archenemy's voice still echoes around this world concerning the issue at hand---"Yea, hath God said, Wives be subject to your own husbands in everything and women be silent in the churches?"

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