Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: women

Propriety in Worship of the Church – 1 Corinthians 14
Paul wanted his churches to exhibit a modesty and propriety recognized by the surrounding culture, especially in worship.

(1 Corinthians 14)

THE BAKER ILLUSTRATED BIBLE COMMENTARY P.1303

An Overview of Paul’s Epistle

Most outlines of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians include what we are about to read next under a smaller heading of ‘spiritual gifts’ or ‘the gifts of tongues and prophesy’ as part of a larger section of the epistle — as a conclusion of the previous chapters.

Remember that like our letters to anyone it had no chapters.

Without returning to my original introduction to 1 Corinthians, I would like to point to these larger points of Paul’s letter here:
Introduction & reason for writing to the Corinthians

Response to their questions [chaps. 7-16]

Recommendation of others & closing
One of the central cultural issues of propriety and order the Apostle has addressed in response to several Corinthian questions is that of the role of women.

Within the Apostle’s response to the Corinthian elders some of these issues include:

* Immorality in the Church (5:1–6:20)
```
These issues applied to men certainly affect all women. 
```
- But actually, I wrote you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister and is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person.
  - 1 Cor 5:2
- Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.
  - 1 Cor 6:18
Marriage in the Church (7:1–40)
- 3 A husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise a wife to her husband.
- 10 To the married I give this command — not I, but the Lord — a wife is not to leave her husband.
Liberty in the Church (8:1–11:1)
```
This section ends with Paul's personal example: 
```
Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.

AND — (as introduction to our current larger section of his epistle) — the Apostle continues by encouraging those who have done so.

Worship in the Church (11:2–14:40)

Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold fast to the traditions just as I delivered them to you.

3 But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ.

– 1 Corinthians 11:2-3 CSB

Intro to Apostolic instructions about Head Coverings
- Roles of Men and Women in the Church (11:2–16)
- The Lord’s Supper (11:17–34)
- Spiritual Gifts (12:1–14:40)
The Context of Worship – A.D. 55 or 2025 CE

As you can see, the Apostle has introduced this smaller section of his letter about spiritual gifts in the context of worship

AND that he has already addressed some of the roles of men and of women who worship the Lord Jesus Christ as the Apostle has ‘delivered‘ ‘the traditions’ to them.

What is propriety?
- for a first century Corinthian
- or (for example) a 21st c. Cincinnatian
This photo next to the BAKER commentary for 1 Corinthians 14 got my attention to focus back on
```
the propriety and modesty of a classic Corinthian woman. 
```
Propriety – conformity in socially acceptable conduct and speech, appropriateness, fear of offending against conventional rules of behavior especially between the sexes.

source

In light of this, consider propriety from the earlier BAKER quote.

At Corinth he [Paul] was particularly concerned about women’s reputation. For women modest draped clothing with a head covering was common. (see 1 Corinthians 11:2-16),

as seen here in a sculpture from 300 BC (Tanagra, Greece)

ibid.

Here is more background on the culture of Corinth named for a goddess descended from the Greek Titans [also pictured on our cover to this post].

In Greek mythology, Tethys was Consort of Oceanus, father of the river gods and goddesses including a Greek goddess who founded Corinth named Ephyra.

The Greeks and Romans honored many gods and goddesses of culture and worshipped these with some order and propriety, while worship of others included temple prostitutes, so much debauchery and excess witnessed in festive celebrations.

(Sound familiar, 21st c. christian?)

Yet the modesty of a proper woman is important to the Corinthians, both men and women, thus the Apostle’s insistence on the propriety of head-coverings in worship of the church.

What’s allowed in proprietary worship of God?

1 Corinthians 14:

Concerning Prophesy and Tongues

Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy.

.. The person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may be built up.

.. — since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek to excel in building up the church.

13Therefore the person who speaks in a tongue should pray that he can interpret.

Who’s in charge?
```
Using several references from Paul's letters to the Corinthians in "DIVINE PROVIDENCE," STEPHEN CHARNOCK [pub. AD 1680, updated 2022] provides us with a helpful overview of the Apostle's thinking: 
```
The edification of the church is the great end that we are commanded to work toward:
Stephen Charnock – DIVINE PROVIDENCE, p.146

Since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.”

1 Cor, 14:13 – ibid.
```
Then, under the heading 'The Gifts and Common Grace of Bad Men and Women' Charnock addresses Paul's order of propriety mentioned in this and other epistles. 
```
God is the giver of gifts, Christ is the governor of those gifts, and all is for your sake.

ibid.

I find this particularly helpful.

Think of it:

God the Father (or because of their Oneness in substance, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit) — who created ALL things —

charges CHRIST (Jesus, the Person of the Son of Man and Son of God) — THE CORNERSTONE of the Church — as its governor —

with perfect distribution of the gifts to the church — gifts that GOD has given to the church for the LORD’s divine purpose for the sake of those chosen before creation to worship him .
```
Now think of Jesus' parable of the wheat and the tares for this next one: 
```
There are some husks that come up among men and women, and God uses them to shelter the church in common works, and he [GOD] restrains these men and women through the knowledge of Christ.

God gives gifts to them out of love for his church, not out of love for them.

DIVINE PROVIDENCE, P.147

Get a grip on this: it’s not about YOU — God’s love is about HIS CHURCH.

REMEMBER, what the Apostle has just written?
- IF I [do any of so many things]
- BUT have NOT [agape {love}]
- I am nothing
- and I gain nothing.
To have and to hold Christian Love

Dearly beloved,

Do you take this bond of your church to have and to hold..?

OR is our desire to try out relationships of LOVE —

to try out church es

— NOT having or holding any commitment to Christ Jesus and His body the Church?

What then, brothers?
```
We realize that this is not a politically correct question in this common era (and some English translations soften it), but Paul uses the Greek word ἀδελφός - adelphos - a masculine noun for brethren. 
```
What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.

Let all things be done for building up.

1 Corinthians 14:26 ESV

The Apostle, under Christ, under God addresses the men of the church — not the women saints of Corinth — as was proper in Corinthian culture.

The Apostle has addressed:
- quarreling among you, my brothers. (1:11)
- But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. (3:1)
- But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of.. [a long list of sins] (5:11)
Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

1 Corinthians 14:20 ESV

Order and Propriety

Each of you (brothers).. (not the sisters.. and not ONLY the pastor in charge under Christ).

What then is it, brothers? When you may come together, each has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation.

Let all things be done for edification.

1 Corinthians 14:26 Berean Literal Bible – [more study]
- Tongues?
  - two or three at most
  - in turn &
  - must have interpretation
- Prophets?
  - two or three
  - others weigh in on what is said
  - IF a personal revelation is made to one present, the man receiving it must remain silent.
  - all may profit by learn and be encouraged by (this kind of) prophesy
  - prophets are subordinate [hypotassōto] to each other
```
Now do not be offended by Paul's next orderly instruction for worship — for it uses the same Greek word [hypotassō] — for the Corinthian women of propriety and modesty expected in worship. 
```
For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.

As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches.

For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission , as the Law also says.

1 Corinthians 14:33-34 ESV

Note that the Apostle — who has been addressing order and propriety in worship throughout his epistle to the saints of Corinth — also speaks to ALL the CHURCHES [ekklēsia] of the SAINTS [hagios].

ARE YOU, beloved 21st century worshipers of the Lord Jesus Christ, not also His saints?

and we have believed,
and have come to know, that you are the Holy One [hagios] of God.”
Gospel of John 6:69 ESV – Simon Peter to the Lord Jesus
```
Yes, the women of Corinth and of your 21st century church could be of the Holy Ones - saints - of God; so don't be offended by what the Apostle Paul next instructs the saints by the Spirit - even if God formed you as a woman. 
```
If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

1 Corinthians 14:35 ESV

Paul then proceeds to instruct ‘the brothers’ in those issues the apostle has already addressed, prophesies and spiritual gifts (essentially reiterating ‘listen to me about these things).

And the Apostle Paul’s conclusion to this large section of his letter to the Corinthian saints

— who are of course free from the Law (as servants of God, Christ and each other) —

But let all things be done properly and with order.

1 Corinthians 14:40 BLB
```
And since Paul's epistle (like any letter) lacks chapters, what does the Apostle NEXT remind the Corinthians -- the saints of Christ's Church? 

About THE RESURRECTION. 
```
Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
May 8, 2025
Christian Roles in Christian Worship – 1 Corinthians 11
You are to imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.

1 Corinthians 11:1 Berean Standard Bible

Now there’s a tall order seemingly impossible for any worshiper: Imitate an Apostle. But the humble Apostle Paul addresses the different roles of men and women in prayer and worship of the church.

Roles of men and women

Maintaining the Traditions

Now I commend you for remembering me in everything and for maintaining the traditions, just as I passed them on to you.
- 1 Corinthians 11:2 BSB
Paul compliments the Corinthian church for remembering him in everything, including his teaching as an Apostle of Christ, from going back to when he ministered personally to the Corinthian church.

The apostle specifically addresses what he expects of the Corinthian believers.

Yet centuries later we may wonder:

To what ‘traditions‘ is Paul referring? Jewish traditions? Local Hellenist Corinthian traditions?
```
So let's take a more formal from the King James in order to clarify who Paul addresses in the Corinthian church.
```
Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.

1 Corinthians 11:2 KJV

In his Apostolic authority of these ordinances, Paul first and primarily addresses the men of the Corinthian church — a cultural consideration expected by both Jew and Hellenist gentile believers.

An Illustration of Leadership

Paul employs a common metaphor we won’t want to miss.

κεφαλή – kephalē – head

metaph. anything supreme, chief, prominent
1. of persons, master lord: of a husband in relation to his wife
2. of Christ: the Lord of the husband and of the Church
3. of things: the corner stone
```
Paul uses this metaphor of the head ten times in his first letter to the Corinthian church. 

So IF you tend to shun authority, you may question what the Apostle humbly orders by way of this ordinance of relationship and roles. 
```
Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head.

1 Corinthians 11:4

The idea here is that man was made in the glory of God and it would be dishonoring to God for him to cover his head while he prayed or prophesied. Now that is interesting coming from Paul considering that in Orthodox Jewry today, they all wear their little hats whenever they come into any sacred place of prayer.

Chuck Smith commentary on 1 Cor 11:4
```
So where where is the Apostle headed? 

Paul naturally points to the creation of mankind by God. 

"Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man." 1 Cor 11:9 KJV
```
But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved.

1 Cor 11:5 NKJV
```
Paul does not tell the men of Corinth that women should neither pray nor prophesy publically, only that she should have her head covered out of respect to the authority over her. 
```
Thinking it through

What is Paul’s reasoning?
```
He uses hyperbole with irony here (pointed in the KJV):
```
- For if the woman be not covered,
  - let her also be shorn:
- but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven,
  - let her be covered.
Again the Apostle emphasises:
- 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.
  - For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.
```
"Because of the angels?"

Where did angels enter into roles of worship in church? 
```
```
You may not accept this on either, but the Apostle has already made mention in this letter to the Corinthians of such authority. 
```
Apostles at the end of the procession

.. like prisoners appointed for death.”

Picture the ranks of all authority: Kings and captive prisoners of other kings.

AND above all, God the Father, with Cherubim and Seraphim, ARCH-ANGELS and countless ranks of Angels — all spirits as gods serving the LORD with power to the glory of the Almighty — servants and messengers of God interacting with mortal men of dust and souls quickened in His Image with His Holy Spirit.

We have become a spectacle [theatron] to the whole world [kosmos],

to angels [angelos] as well as to men

[anthrōpos {both men and women}].

1 Corinthians 4:9b BSB

– Paul’s reference to Apostles viewed by the world and angels

Wearing your Symbols of AUTHORITY with humility and respect

head-covering, the emblem of “power on her head”; the sign of her being under man’s power, and exercising delegated authority under him.

Paul had before his mind the root-connection between the Hebrew terms for “veil” (radid), and “subjection” (radad).

BENGEL explains, “As the angels are in relation to God, so the woman is in relation to man. God’s face is uncovered; angels in His presence are veiled ( Isa 6:2 )

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown :: Commentary on 1 Corinthians 11:10

In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For just as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.

A head uncovered

13 Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?
```
Now the Apostle addresses the opposing sign of a head uncovered. 
```
14 Doesn’t nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, 15 but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering.
```
Again, a helpful overview of this Greek word for uncovered or unveiled [11:5 & 11:13].
```
ἀκατακάλυπτος – akatakalyptos

“uncovered” (a, negative, katakalupto, “to cover”), is used in 1Cr 11:5, 13, RV, “unveiled,” with reference to the injunction forbidding women to be “unveiled” in a church gathering. .. and in the phrase “because of the angels,” intimating their witness of, and interest in, that which betokens the headship of Christ. – Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words
```
The Apostle has not yet reached his final point on the matter, but for our purposes consider it now: 
```
For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. Let your women keep silence in the churches..

1 Corinthians 14:33-34a KJV

.. the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. 1 Cor 14:37b

we have no other practice

The Apostle Paul concludes this section definitively as a segue into Holy Communion in this way:

If anyone is inclined to dispute this, we have no other practice, nor do the churches of God.

1 Corinthians 11:16 BSB

NEXT: Holy Communion and Worship
February 6, 2025
Emmanuel -2
Christmas according to the Gospel

Yesterday, in part one of this 3-part Christmas series, I mentioned that ‘Emmanuel’ is a Latin or romanized spelling of “Immanuel” from the Hebrew. I also remind us that Christmas was a minor celebration, actually banned at times by the church.

We began discussion of the Nativity (the birth of Jesus) with an introduction of the Gospels of Mark and John, discovering that the prophets had already predicted the coming of a Messiah, God With Us, Immanuel.

Today we continue with the Gospel of Matthew, Disciple to Jesus and a Jew familiar with the Bible (Old Testament).

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ

Matthew 1: KJV

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat…

Wait! Why start the story of Jesus with a history of ancestry? It reads a little bit like Genesis 5 to me. Adam begat Seth, who begat Enoch, who begat... (you get the idea). We tend to skip over those little details anyway.

We see Abraham in there and David on the list.

And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon: a clear connection of this Jewish genealogy from Adam through David, then Kings of a divided, defeated and deported Israel.

If we look at Mathew’s list of the genealogy of Jesus more closely, another question may even come to mind.

and Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary,
who gave birth to Jesus who is called the Christ.
Matthew 1:16 CSB

Immediately following, Matthew mentions the controversy of the time:

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise [in this way]:

When as his mother Mary was espoused [betrothed] to Joseph, before they came together [physically {or sexually, if we may be so bold}], she was found with child of the Holy Ghost [pregnant, by the Holy Spirit of God the Father!].
Matthew 1:18 KJV [with comment]

Before we address the controversies of verse 18, let’s address the obvious question about Joseph first.

If Joseph was not the father of Jesus, why include Joseph’s family in the genealogy of Jesus?

Here we must first remove the blinders of our twenty-first century biases against practices of other cultures in distant places and former times we do not understand.

Glance at a First Century Woman

Our misunderstanding of the place and role of Mary may be helped by this brief glance at life at the time of Jesus’ birth.

Make no mistake about it, first century life from Rome to Jerusalem and the hills of Syria was hierarchical. Caesar Augustus sought to build a civilized ‘Roman’ culture throughout the captive states of his reign.

In Rome some women were freeborn citizens, but did not vote. Slaves had no inheritance rights and under Roman law a slave had no father. I mention this because Rome was highly dependent on slaves, including physicians, accountants, along with common laborers. Nearly four of every ten Romans were slaves of a citizen. Romans could actually sell their own children as slaves, property of the buyer with no family association. A woman belonged to her father or husband.

Captive Israel and Judah were client states of Rome. Kings and others held some authority over the men of these captive states. Romans and Jews held similar views about the value of marriage, stability of families and value of the relationship of a virgin daughter joining herself to a husband and new family (betrothal).

The light regulation of marriage by the law with regards to minimum age (12) and consent to marriage was designed to leave families, primarily fathers, with much freedom to propel girls into marriage whenever and with whomever they saw fit. [source]

Mary is no queen, just a common girl, most likely age 13-16, promised to an older man of somewhat better standing.

Two controversies

Joseph, a carpenter born to a family from very rural Bethlehem near Jerusalem, by order of Rome, must register (in person) for a census in the city of his family. This, the reason for the genealogies of men in historical documents. Matthew 1:1-17 details Joseph’s ancestry. We will examine more of the details of the event in tomorrow’s concluding story of the Nativity from the Gospel of Luke.

Mary, a virgin pledged to him as a wife, returns from an extended visit to her relatives – pregnant!

Matthew clearly states that this is the Child of the Holy Spirit [ἐκ ἅγιος hagios πνεῦμα pneuma].

Clearly, Joseph knows that the child in the womb of his betrothed is not his – he is not the father, suggesting divorce (rather than stoning her to death), which brings us to our second, even larger controversy.

An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream revealing both the identity and Holy conception of the Child.

She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Matthew 1:21 CSB

Ἰησοῦς Iēsous יְהוֹשׁוּעַ JESUS – THE LORD SAVES
bLUElETTERbIBLE.ORG http://blb.sc/000q28

Immanuel

Prophesy

Joseph and faithful Jews of first Century Judea and other captive Roman provinces would know predictions of a Messiah. Herod, vassal tenant king or tetrarch (one of four local Jewish governors) would have also known or learned the prophesy.
```
Isaiah said, “Listen, house of David! Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men? Will you also try the patience of my God? Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: 
See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.
```
24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him. He married her 25 but did not have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son. And he named him Jesus.

One other prophesy

5:2 וְאַתָּה בֵּֽית־לֶחֶם אֶפְרָתָה צָעִיר לִֽהְיֹות בְּאַלְפֵי יְהוּדָה מִמְּךָ לִי יֵצֵא לִֽהְיֹות מֹושֵׁל בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל וּמֹוצָאֹתָיו מִקֶּדֶם מִימֵי עֹולָֽם׃

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
are only a small village among all the people of Judah.
Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you,
one whose origins are from the distant past.
Micah 5:2 – Hebrew Bible & NLT

Matthew 2:

This familiar scene (of Kings following a star to worship Jesus takes place some time after His birth).

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem, 2 saying,

“Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?

For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.”

Herod the Great

Traveling kings ask about one born ‘king of the Jews.’ And by protocol they ask the so-called king ruling in Jerusalem under Rome.

The Herod’s have have held the captive thrones of Judea and surrounding Roman states for just a few decades.

Where is this new King of the Jews?

3 When King Herod heard this, he was deeply disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 So he assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Christ would be born.

5 “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they told him, “because this is what was written by the prophet:

6 And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah:
Because out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.”

9 After hearing the king, they went on their way. And there it was—the star they had seen at its rising. It led them until it came and stopped above the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overwhelmed with joy.

11 Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

12 And being warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another route.

Joseph and Mary take Jesus to Jerusalem, then escape Herod to live in Egypt during the early childhood of Jesus.
```
To be continued... (tomorrow, Christmas Day)
```
December 24, 2018