Reformed religion forbids women to preach, right? (Chen Ge)

Author: Reverend Chen Ge Chen Ge replied: When it comes to women's service in the church, I think we should avoid two extremes: one is "no distinction between men and women" and the other is "suppression of sisters". The former advocates the supremacy of women's rights under the banner of "equality between men and women", so it allows sisters to stir up and usurp power in the church, which further hinders the rise of brothers (both the Corinthian church and the Ephesian church made this mistake, Lin Qian. 14: 34-36; 2: 1 1- 15) in advance; The latter discriminated against sisters, suppressed women, prevented them from giving full play to their talents, and even prohibited them from praying publicly, thus depriving them of their services in the church (some reformist churches in China seem to have this tendency today). These two, one is too loose and the other is too tight; One to the left, one to the right, all deviated from the right path of the main balance. The Bible tells us that God created men and women in sequence and gave them different functions. Let's do our duty and honor our head of state with one heart and one mind: the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4: 15- 16). Oh, my god 1 1:3 "I want you to know that Christ is the head of everyone; Men are women's heads; God is the head of Christ. " 2: 1 1- 13 "Women should learn the Tao quietly and follow blindly. I forbid a woman to preach, and I forbid her to rule over men, as long as she is quiet. Because Adam was created first and Eve was created later. " Oh, my god 14:34-37 "Women should be silent in the church, just like in the churches of saints, because they are not allowed to speak. As the law says, they must always obey. If they want to learn something, they can ask their husbands at home, because it is shameful for women to speak at meetings. Did the word of God come from you? Only you thought of it? If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, he should know that what I am writing to you is the command of the Lord. 1: In God's arrangement, the responsibility of leading and teaching is not for sisters, but for brothers. The apostle Paul said under the authority of the Lord Jesus, "I don't allow women to preach or rule men." (2: 12 in advance). The original "preaching" is "teaching", which is best translated as "being a teacher" because "teaching" is the responsibility of elders, priests and supervisors (1 Timothy. 3: 2; 5: 17; 1:9 or more). In the New Testament, there are no priestesses, overseers and elders. In the Old Testament, there were no priestesses or kings. The only exception is the queen Athaliah who usurped the throne and destroyed the royal family (2 kings 1 1: 1-3). The only two exceptions in the history of China Empire (Empress Wu Zetian and Empress Dowager Cixi) are also notorious for disasters. It can be seen that no matter in the church or in the world, God's rules are led by people and taught by people. However, this does not deny that sisters use the gift of teaching when facing the right objects (such as women, young people and children) on appropriate occasions, as Titus 2:3-5 says, "We also advise elderly women to teach others in good ways, so as to teach young women, love their husbands and children, be temperate, chaste, keep house, be kind to others and obey their own." Generally speaking, sisters can use gifts, but don't use the authority of brothers. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church and said, "Anyone who prays or preaches with his head covered is humiliating his own head. Every woman who prays or preaches without covering her head shames her head ... "(Cor. 1. 1 1:4-5) It can be seen that women can pray or preach as long as they cover their heads. Covering one's head is a "sign of service authority" (Cor. 1. 1 1: 10). In other words, as long as she is under the authority of the church (not necessarily wearing a headscarf or headscarf), her sister can use her gifts, which also includes prophetic sermons and public prayers. In the early church, men and women prayed together (Acts 1: 13- 14). Priscilla and Aquila taught Apollos together (Acts 18:26). By the way, the couple's names appear six times in the New Testament. Three of them, that is, half the time, put their sister's name before their brother's. This is against Jewish tradition. Obviously, this girl must be very capable. However, she still respects her husband, obeys authority and uses her gifts. Generally speaking, brothers are the protagonists and sisters are the supporting roles. In other words, brothers should be dominant and sisters should obey (in advance 1. 2: 1 1- 14), because women's obedience is God's command, God's rule and God's command (Cor. 1. 1 1: 3; 2:11-13 in advance; Oh, my god 14: 34); This does not mean inequality between men and women (Gal. 3:28) (note 1), not to mention discrimination against women. For the first time, the Lord Jesus revealed his identity as the Messiah to a Samaritan woman (Jn. 4: 25-26); After his resurrection, he first appeared to women (Ke16: 9; About 20: 1 1- 18). In the patriarchal era at that time, this was incredible. In addition, the Lord Jesus teaches women (Luke 10:38-42) and heals women (Kyle 5: 25-34; Road13:11-13; Mt 15:2 1-28) and received the services of women (Luke 8:2-3). Peter also reminded: "husbands, you should also live with your wives according to reason;" Because she is weaker than you, (original: weak vessel) shares the grace of life with you, so respect her ... 3.7) All the promises, commands and blessings in the Bible are given equally to men and women. Nevertheless, in God's design, men and women are different, and their priorities are orderly. Never put the cart before the horse. Sisters should obey their brothers in society, church and family. Don't reverse the roles and confuse the order. 14:34-40).4. Under special circumstances, when brothers are lacking, God may temporarily adopt sisters. Please note that the above is the general situation: the principle of sisters serving, but under special circumstances, even if no brothers get up, or brothers are immature or disappointing, God may adopt sisters to lead his people. Therefore, there will be a Deborah (Judges 4:4) in the Book of Judges, who is the only female teacher. The rise of judges is different from that of kings, who are hereditary and must be male; The judge is the Holy Spirit who operates according to his own will and God's sovereign choice, just like a prophet. Although both priests and kings must abide by the legal system (only the descendants of Aaron can be priests and the descendants of David can be kings), the prophet was anointed by the Holy Spirit according to his own wishes. "The wind blows at will, and you hear the sound of the wind, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going ..." (John 3:8) The same is true of the work of the Holy Spirit, which may be completely unexpected. God said, "I'm going to do something. Who can stop it?" (Isaiah 43: 13) In the time of Moses, God once raised Miriam (Exodus15: 20); During the reign of kings, he raised Hulda (2 Kings 22: 14) and Isaiah's wife (Isaiah 8: 3). At the end of the Old Testament, he resurrected the prophetess Anna, who "never left the temple, fasted and prayed, and served God day and night." (Road 2: 36-37); In the New Testament era, he raised Philip's four daughters (Acts 2 1:9). These are all acts of God's sovereignty, and we can only be grateful, not forbidden. However, when Deborah (prophetess) led the Israelites, she also revealed the depravity and desolation of that era. Deborah sent for Barak to fight the Canaanites and promised that he would win (Judges 4:7). Since God chose Barak, I believe he must be the most outstanding man at that time, but he was just a general among the short men. Barak said to Deborah, "If you go with me, I will go. "I won't go unless you go with me." (Judges 4:8) Hey! So much for the bravest! Deborah said, I will go with you, but you will not be respected on the way, because the Lord will give Sisera into the hand of a woman. (Judges 4:9) It can be seen that when God attaches great importance to his sister, but not to his brother, it shows that his brother is timid and incompetent, not because his sister wants to get ahead and take the initiative, but because his brother is timid. Therefore, God raised Deborah, a prophetess, to lead the Israelites to fight bravely, and also raised Aizhi, Heber's wife, to capture Sisera (Judges 4: 17-22). Thank God, in the forefront of missionary work, the Lord often uses sisters to take the lead. When the two brothers pursued fame and fortune and stood still, the sisters abandoned their families and careers and stepped forward. "When the Lord gave the order, a large group of women delivered good news." (Ps. 68: 1 1) and thank the Lord for raising many brave sisters in China. When brothers love the world and refuse to commit themselves, God nurtures sisters, shoulders heavy burdens and shoulders heavy beams. We should thank the women of China Church! However, sisters raised by God also know when to retire. When God gradually raises the right brothers (in advance 1. 3; 1 above), they voluntarily retired, hid themselves, willingly obeyed, silently helped their brothers behind the scenes and established the church. These loyal women will get as many rewards as their brothers who appear on the stage. 3: 7; Mt 5: 19)。 Note 1: The son obeys the father, but is equal to the father (Phil. 2:5-9).