[Steve Myers] This is Epistles of Paul. We've been going through 1 Corinthians and we left off last time in Chapter 14, which is known as the tongues chapter, or languages, or languages. You remember Chapter 13 was...what was Chapter 13's theme? Love, right? And chapter 12? Traditions in the Church, Chapter 12. Yeah, okay. So if you remember those, just might show up on a test at some point. Remember that. We left off last time in verse 10 of Chapter 14, the tongues chapter. The chapter on glossa is the Greek term there, languages. And we pointed out really clearly this is not talking about some ecstatic, crazy gibberish that so many think of in traditional Christianity when they think of this idea of speaking in tongues. This is not what this is talking about. In fact, we begin to see how this tied in with some of the concepts we talked about in Chapter 13. Don't forget this background in Corinth of pagan worship and worshiping Dionysus. That comes into play in this chapter as well. So keep tuned into that and we'll see how that comes into play in just a little bit. So we left off in verse 10.

1 Corinthians 14:10 It says, "There are, it may be, so many kinds of languages in the world." Yeah, the same base word there, the glossa, so many tongues, so many languages, “none of them is without significance.”

Yeah, if that's the language you speak, it's a pretty significant thing. This is important in order to understand, in order to have conversation, in order to have intercourse, you relate to people, got to have languages. He says, verse 11.

1 Corinthians 14:11 "Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I'll be a foreigner to him who speaks, and he who speaks will be a foreigner to me."

If you've taken foreign language back in college or high school, yeah, you know what it is. You won't have a clue what they're talking about if you don't understand that language.

1 Corinthians 14:12 "Even so, you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the Church that you seek to excel."

Remember all the way back in spiritual gifts, looking at Chapter 12...oh yeah, I think I said that wrong when we were talking about themes. Spiritual gifts, Chapter 11. Traditions in the Church, Chapter...let's get it right now. Spiritual gifts, Chapter 12. Chapter 11, traditions in the Church. So when we think of that, think back to what he talked about in that chapter. He talked about all of these spiritual gifts were to be used for building up the Church, for edifying the Church. So that's why you should be zealous for them. Now, when it comes to speaking, when it comes to languages.

1 Corinthians 14:13-14 He says, "Therefore, let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret." Otherwise, what good is it if you don't understand, if there's not an interpretation? He says, "If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful."

I'm not going to get anywhere if I don't understand what's being said. So what's the conclusion?

1 Corinthians 14:15 "I will pray with the Spirit. I will also pray with understanding." In fact, let's take it a step further. "I will sing with the Spirit and I will also sing with understanding."

Have you ever sung in a choir where you sing a foreign language and the audience is looking at you going, "Huh, I wonder what they're saying?" You know, sometimes there's a lot of different classical tunes out there that are sung in foreign...If you don't know what they're saying, how can you agree with, how can you understand? You just can't.

1 Corinthians 14:16 Here's an important point. "Otherwise, if you bless with the Spirit..." And don't forget, we've talked about the human spirit, our understanding, it's what actuates us. He's comparing that here, you know, our understanding, our human understanding with the spirit in man, how we can think, how we can reason, all of those types of things. He says, "If you bless with the Spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say amen at your giving of thanks since he doesn't understand what you say?"

How can you say amen? How can you say absolutely, yes, I agree? So be it? How can I concur with what's being said if I don't get it, if I don't understand? And I think that's important even as we pray. If you can't hear the prayer that's being said, don't say amen because you don't know what just got done being said. You don't know. So if you don't agree with what's being said, don't say amen. If you don't understand what's being said, you can't possibly agree with it. If you can't hear it, don't agree. Don't say yes, absolutely, amen. Absolutely, we agree. No, you can't. You can't. And so he's asking this rhetorical question. You don't understand? Don't agree with it. Don't say amen.

1 Corinthians 14:17 He says, "If indeed you give thanks well, but the other is not edified." Well, you may understand this language, but if another doesn't, they're not benefiting by it.

1 Corinthians 14:18-19 He says, "I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than you all. Yet in the Church, I would rather speak 5 words with my understanding that I may teach others also than 10,000 words in a tongue."

So here we have this beautiful conclusion, you pray, you sing with your mind, your heart, your understanding. Paul says he spoke all these languages and we know it was at least Greek and Hebrew and Aramaic and Latin that he spoke, but he really gets down to the significance. What's important about it? What makes the difference? Well, he says it's knowing and understanding that really counts. That's what's really important that you really have an understanding. Understanding, that becomes absolutely critical.

1 Corinthians 14:20 He says, "Brethren, do not be children in understanding. However, in malice be babes, but in understanding, mature." Mature, you've got to have a grasp on the Word of God. That's where we want to be grown up. And he uses that interesting metaphor is about being children versus being grownups. And we should understand in a grownup way, grown up spiritually in other words.

1 Corinthians 14:21 And so he says, "In the law it's written with men of other tongues and other lips, I'll speak to this people, and yet for all that they will not hear me."

And so here he has this quotation from Isaiah 28. Yeah, even when people do hear with different languages, it takes God's Spirit to move us and bring us to understanding. You know, God has to call us and open our minds. And so he's trying to make an important point here on how important this divine inspiration is when it comes to different languages.

1 Corinthians 14:22 And so he says, "Tongues are for a sign." Now, that sign could be a miraculous sign. That same word for sign, while maybe meaning a miracle, a miraculous kind of thing, can also just mean an unusual occurrence. Yeah, signs can be an unusual occurrence. And he says, "Not to those who believe," right? We've talked about believers versus unbelievers, those who are in the faith. He says, "They're a sign to unbelievers. But prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe."

Okay, what's he getting at there? Why put it that way? How would languages not be a sign for those who believe? Well, I think we have to put ourselves in Corinth for a moment. Remember all the various gifts that God had given them, and they had emphasized this particular one. And they thought this was the greatest gift of all. But what did Paul say in Chapter 13? No, the greatest is love. The greatest is love.

So they were comparing and looking at each other, comparing their gifts, thinking that languages were so critically important that they would seemingly show off to each other. Well, I can speak this language. And so it's not supposed to be for believers. Why unbelievers? Why important for unbelievers? Well, what's part of the commission to the Church? We sing about it quite often at Sabbath services, don't we? "Go ye therefore into all the world." Well, can you just go with English only and that'll suffice? Or do we have to go with different languages? Oh, different languages. You get the Word out there. You preach the gospel to the world and it's not just in English. You've got to do it in different languages. So tongues for unbelievers, for those that we're preaching and teaching. We're spreading the gospel. Yeah, that's pretty evident then. You have to do that in other ways with other languages.

1 Corinthians 14:22 And then he says, "Prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe."

Why would that be? Well, what is this idea of prophesying? We've talked about how Paul's used it quite often here in 1 Corinthians, talking about inspired speaking. Well, when do we hear inspired speaking? Hopefully we hear it every Sabbath. Hopefully every sermonette, hopefully every sermon would fall into that category of prophesy, speaking in inspired ways, which could also include just how we fellowship and how we talk to each other, encourage each other. That could also be included in this idea of inspired speaking. And so that's for the believers. Yeah, that's for believers. We listen to each other, we encourage each other, we pay attention to the sermons, all of those kinds of things can kind of fit into this idea of verse 22. Now he says in verse 23 then...See if we see a connection to some of the things we've talked about in the past.

1 Corinthians 14:23 He says, "If the whole church comes together in one place and all speak with tongues and there comes in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say you are out of your mind?"

Now why would they say that? It seems like this is indicating everybody's talking at once. Everybody's talking at once. And that should take us back to this whole concept of Dionysus worship. Remember, they're screaming and they're yelling and there's all this commotion going on as they worship their pagan gods. Everybody talking all at once is unacceptable. He's going to talk about that a little bit later as well. No, they're going to think you're crazy because things are just confusing. Everybody's talking at once and not only one language but multiple language. "And won't they say you're out of your mind?" And that was part of that whole ecstatic worship as they worship their pagan gods that they would just go kind of crazy like they're going out of their minds. Remember we talked about the women especially having a part in that and we'll see how that comes into play later in this chapter.

And so when you look at that sort of thing, it definitely speaks to that. Think of what God is all about. God's about order, isn't He? He's a God of order, right? God likes to do things decently and in order, and yet this lends itself to just total confusion. And of course, it's interesting then when you contrast that and what Paul is preaching about here in 1 Corinthians 14 and what so many of the world's churches believe and their practice. The Pentecostal churches that are out there get into this idea of speaking in tongues. And oftentimes, I mean, you can google it, just look up on Google or look up on YouTube all the different examples of what speaking in tongues is all about in some of these Pentecostal denominations. It's confusion. It's total disorder. In fact, I thought what I could do is just play you one version because they've taken this whole idea of speaking in tongues to other levels. Have you ever heard of holy laughter? Yeah, it's kind of an interesting...it's a takeoff on speaking in tongues, but it takes it to a whole new level. So I thought I'd play a little report from CNN that kind of gives us an idea of what this is all about. And you see if it doesn't remind you of what 1 Corinthians 14 is talking about.

[Man 2] Flashback to 1963, "The New York Times" reported a strange illness in Africa along the shores of Lake Victoria. The trouble and epidemic of laughter. More than 1,000 people, mostly children, who could not stop laughing. In one village, an entire school was said to have shut down. Scientists had no explanation for the outbreak of hysteria. Today, here in the U.S., contagious laughter has sprouted up again at a Florida church. But this, they say, is holy laughter. CNN's Tom Forman explains.

[Tom] On a warm night in Tampa, young people are out looking for laughs. But hundreds are bypassing comedy clubs to get their chuckles at church, and guffaws, roars, screams all standard fare at the laughing church where Dr. Rodney Howard Brown says the Holy Spirit is making folks howl.

[Rev. Brown] They're laughing, they're crying, they're shaking, they're falling out of their seats. I knew it had nothing to do with me because you cannot take a crowd and make them do that.

[Tom] You don't buy the fact that you're a funny guy.

[Rev. Brown] Well, I use a lot of humor because...I do use humor, but that's just the way I am. Because I've news for you. He arose. He ascended on high. [crosstalk 00:15:04.058]

[Tom] This is worship for Reverend Howard Brown and his thousands of followers.

[Rev. Brown] He is coming back. He is coming back. King of kings and Lord of lords.

[Tom] Unlike other Pentecostal Christians who speak in tongues, these people say the joy of salvation makes them laugh uncontrollably.

[Woman 1] It's the most amazing feeling. I can't explain it.

[Man 2] Flying high. Flying high.

[Tom] What is it?

[Woman 2] It's the Holy Spirit.

[Steve Myers] All right, that's holy laughter. Have you ever seen anything like that before? Taking that whole speaking in tongues thing to another level. Is that something that's done decently and in order? Does that fit with this? I mean, it's amazing the connections you can see to this ancient Dionysus worship where people are just screaming and yelling and here laughing and falling out of their chairs. Now, I'm not saying Corinth was like that, but there were probably some attributes in Corinth that were similar in some ways to this because they had to fight off that pagan influence that was surrounding them from the city. So when you think about that, that fits. Don't they think that you're out of your mind? It seems to fit with that part of this particular passage. And so Paul is refuting this type of a thing, saying this is not God, this is not His way, this is not the way we conduct ourselves. This is exactly opposite of what God would expect.

1 Corinthians 14:24-25 He says, "If all prophesy and an unbeliever, an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he's convicted by all. And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed. And so falling down on his face, he'll worship God and report that God is truly among you."

So we have this difference between just blabbering in languages or, like the Christian world thinks, these unintelligible languages, things that are only...a Spirit language is what they'll often say with their Pentecostal gibberish, which obviously is not really languages at all is what Paul is talking about. But he's saying prophesying, encouraging, inspired speaking can make the big difference. And so he zeros in on that. And so now he gets into an idea of, well, what do worship services look like? Because if this is unacceptable, if everyone speaking at once is unacceptable, if talking in various languages and outbursts is not what God's after, well, what is? What should services look like? And that's where Paul goes next.

1 Corinthians 14:26 He says, "How is it then, brethren, whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation?" He says, "Let all things be done for edification."

All right, so what you saw in the report, was that everything done for edification, for building up? Was it a show? Was it just ridiculousness, people going out of their mind? I think so. Here he's saying, listen, here are the elements of worship. The elements of worship. When you come together, you have a psalm. What's a psalm? A song. Yeah, it's a song. It's plain and simple. He says, you have a teaching. The teaching word there is doctrine. You have a doctrine. You have instruction, in other words. He also says, there is a tongue, a language. And then he says also a revelation, a revealing. In other words, clear instruction would be the implications here. Clear instruction of truth. And then he also says, an interpretation. So what is an interpretation? I mean, it could be translating a language, but if you're talking about prophesying, inspired speaking, you know, revealing, well, then that means it relates to this idea of expounding and explaining God's way, explaining Scripture, expounding Scripture, and how does it apply? How does Scripture apply to me today? Those seem to be those elements of worship. And so as he gets into speaking about this, he gives guidance on what services should look like.

1 Corinthians 14:27-28 He says, "If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret." So there has to be an interpretation. There has to be an understanding of what he talked about a little bit earlier. He says, "If there's no interpreter, let him keep silent in church and let him speak to himself and to God."

Kind of made that point in the past. Got to have that interpretation or leave it out. Shouldn't be a part of services.

1 Corinthians 14:29 Then he says, "Let two or three prophets speak." Prophets would be those that are inspired by God. Today we think of the ministry as those who stand up and speak, give sermonettes, sermons. He says, "Let two or three speak and let the others judge."

So not everybody getting up talking at once, not this craziness that you saw in the news report. No, none of that. He's saying, limit it. Not everybody getting up and speaking. That's not acceptable. He says, two or three, two or three. And so he gives guidance in that. The others should listen. Now, the judging doesn't mean they're condemning them or judging necessarily to see if it's correct. It's not implying that sort of thing. The others are to listen and judge themselves, look at their own lives, listen to the inspired speaking and apply it to themselves. That's the idea here with this, let them judge. And so two or three should be our speakers, our main speakers.

1 Corinthians 14:30 He says then as well, "If anything is revealed to another who sits by," what should they do?

Should they just get up and start yelling? Should they get up and start laughing and rolling on the floor? Should they just shout things out? Well, that would have been normal worship in pagan Corinth. You say, no, no, “let the first keep silent.” And so one at a time, one at a time is the way it should be done decently and in order. It just shouldn't be random. It's not this ecstatic worship that the Dionysians were known for. No, none of that. You leave that out. He says, verse 32...well, verse 31.

1 Corinthians 14:31-32 It says, "For you can all prophesy one by one that all may learn and all may be encouraged.” So those that are speaking, you do it one at a time, not everybody all at once. And so then he concludes that by saying, "And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets."

You know, those that are speaking, are they out of control? Are they like what we watched in this news report? He says, no, that can't be the case. No, if you claim to speak for God,you have to be in control. And so that certainly kind of juxtaposes itself to the whole Dionysus worship where the people were just yelling and screaming, not too much unlike the Pentecostal services that we saw in the report. He says that's unacceptable, that if you claim to speak for God, you have to stay in control. If you look this up in other translations, God's Word translation says something very similar to that. Instead of saying, "The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets," I think it makes it very clear. It says, "People who speak what God has revealed must control themselves." Absolutely, have to be that way.

And so he gives this information for services and gives us the elements of service. And so do we follow that even today? Yeah, yeah. I mean, exactly? Well, maybe not exactly. He's not saying the exact order of services. Certainly today we take this instruction and we apply it today. And so we order services today with his guidance. And so when you look at this, yes, we come together to worship God. He's made that very clear. We come together to be instructed, absolutely. Same happens today. We come together to be inspired and given spiritual food, to hear prophecy. Yes, that happens today as well. We come together to enjoy each other's fellowship. We come together as the body of Christ. Yes, all of those things certainly apply today. And so the general guidelines that he's given here, he's not saying you have to do this, this, this and this. He's giving some general guidelines of the elements that apply in worship.

And so even today we've got different ways that we conduct services. We're not locked into just one way. We have a number of ways that services can be conducted. I suppose in one way we normally would have three hymns, an opening prayer, a sermonette, then we'd have another hymn, we'd have announcements, special music, we'd have the sermon, and then close...Oh, I think I left the prayer out. Yeah, the three hymns and the prayer. Then after the sermon you'd have another hymn and then a closing prayer. Oftentimes that ends up to be about a two-hour service or so. Is that the only application that we would have from 1 Corinthians 14? No, the Council of Elders has certainly approved a number of different guidelines for Sabbath services. A 90-minute service is one that they've also approved that would be a little bit shorter service. Occasionally, we might have Sabbath services where we don't have a sermonette and instead we'd have maybe musical presentations. We do that at Winter Family Weekend or sometimes here in Cincinnati we may have a children's choir sing a number of selections during that time. ABC Chorale will do that as you go out and serve various congregations. You'll take that sermonette time and do musical presentations that are worshiping God and certainly edifying the brethren as well.

And those are various forms of Sabbath services that are certainly approved today that we have a part of our worship service. In some areas, you may do it quite differently, that you'd have a shorter service and then follow that with a Bible study. Or other groups just have a small group Bible study where they might have hymns and then go right into a Bible study. And so there's various number of ways that we worship today that are acceptable. And so do they follow these guidelines that were given here? Yeah, overall we do, we do. And so we see that Paul certainly gives those instructions and each one of those, the ones we do today, the way that he instructed was emphasizing that fact that God is a God of order, that God is not the God of Tohu and Bohu, chaos and confusion. And of course, that was what was acceptable for the Romans. That's what was acceptable for the Dionysus, those that worshiped Bacchus. Yeah, that was acceptable.

And as we'll see here, he's going to continue that thought as he gets into women's contributions to services. So let's take a look at what he has to say here as we look back at 1 Corinthians 14, notice verse 34.

1 Corinthians 14:33 He says, "God is not the author of confusion but of peace as in all the churches of the saints."

So there's the big summary statement. God is not about Pentecostal laughing and screaming and yelling, this ecstatic kind of thing, out of control. No, that is not our God. God is a God of order, so not the author of confusion. And here he makes an important point as well. Where does this apply? Does this apply only in Corinth? No. He says very clearly, "This is in all the churches of the saints." All the churches. So don't tell me that Corinth had special rules or somehow there were Gentile churches that were being developed, that were being raised up around the Roman Empire and somehow they were different than the churches that were in Judea. No, not at all. This is a statement that's unequivocal. He says very clearly, "This is in all the churches of the saints. God is a God of order and we do things decently in order in all the churches." We have similar services in all the churches.

So today you can go to services here in the United States, go to services in faraway places like Canada, other places, go to Africa, go to Australia. you're going to feel at home. It's going to seem so familiar because God is a God of order. And so he emphasizes that point. If we didn't get it up to now, he just says it straight out, that's the way God is. So it reminds us there's no independent congregations. That's not the way God's church works. You can't be off on your own doing your own thing, having your own interpretations, doing things whatever way you might think is appropriate. No, that takes us back to Judges where everybody does what's right in their own eyes. Now we've got to do what's right in God's eyes. And he says, "This is the way we do it as in all the churches of the saints," all the congregations, all of them. So it helps really delineate that very thing. Now, next he addresses the subject of women and services. And hopefully with the background that we've discussed, we get a better idea why he needs to do this.

1 Corinthians 14:34 He says, "Let your women keep silent in the churches. They're not permitted to speak."

So what does that mean? Ladies walk in the door of services and shut up and sit down. Is that what it means? Zip it, can't say a word. Is that what he's getting at there? Okay, no, he's not saying that you have to be mute as you come into church services. No, remember, he's addressing the elements of worship. He's zeroing in on the worship service. That's the context of what we've been looking at. So when it comes to church services, he makes that point, "Let them keep silent in the churches. They're not permitted to speak, but they are to be submissive as the law also says." So what is this, male dominance that we want to get rid of these women that just don't measure up? Is this this idea of some kind of crazy 1st-century rule that shouldn't apply today? How does this look today in the 21st century? Let's think about that for a moment.

He says, "Women are not allowed to speak." So this word for speak is an important one. It's the Greek word laleo. The Greek word laleo here, "Women are not allowed to laleo." And this word is used multiple times throughout 1 Corinthians 14. In this context, more than 16 times the word is used, not allowed to speak. Well, when we've talked about speaking before, what have we connected it with? Well, it seems to be connected with prophesying, with the way you speak, inspired speaking, inspired speaking. So when it comes to church services, women are not allowed to speak, to laleo, to give inspired speaking. And so what would that look like, let's say, today in a modern sense? Well, women don't speak at church. They don't give the sermonettes. They don't give the sermons. Paul says very clearly, "Let them keep..." Now, of course, remember the whole Dionysus Bacchus worship. The women would go crazy and they would be screaming and yelling. And I don't doubt that in Corinth sometimes some of that influence they would interject or they'd start getting up at services or maybe talking or asking questions about what was being said. Well, Paul says, that's not ours. That's not our practice. That's not what we do. No, it's not about confusion. It's about doing things decently and in order.

And so a woman's influence in church should be to listen, to listen. And so when you look at this, it sounds pretty male dominated then. Well, is that saying somehow that women are less valuable? I mean, that's not the subject. The subject is, who is authorized by God to be the inspired speakers at church? You see, he's saying here, men should lead in worship. Men are the ones that should lead in worship. If you were to read about this in some of the various commentaries, some of them are really good. In Barnes' Notes, in his commentary, he says something pretty interesting about this particular passage. He says, "This rule is positive, explicit, universal." Barnes says, "There's no ambiguity in the expressions and there can be no difference of opinion." That's pretty straightforward. There can be no difference of opinion. He says, "These things constituted the business of public teaching." He goes on to say, "And in this, the female part of the congregation was to be silent. They were not to teach the people, nor were they to interrupt those who were speaking."

So when it comes to inspired speaking, that duty and that responsibility was absolute. It was directed by God. Women were not to do any public speaking in the Church. And so that doesn't construe women as somehow lesser or anything like that. No, he's talking about this idea of prophesying, inspired speaking, giving the sermonette, giving the sermon. And so when we look at this, we begin to see God is a God of order. And that becomes so very important here. If you look back, it's interesting that he also says, "They're to be submissive as the law also says." As the law also says. Well, where does the law say women should be silent? Where does the law say women should be submissive? Well, remember, he's using the law as looking back at Scripture. And what is the law? The Torah, the first five books of the Bible. Well, where does the law refer to a concept like this?

If you hold your place here and go all the way back to Genesis, Genesis 3. Genesis 3 is certainly a reminder of this that kind of helps us to recognize where this begins. And Paul refers to this in a number of ways. Of course, this is after Adam and Eve sin and certainly we have some of the first prophetic things in the Bible that are mentioned here. God curses the serpent in verse 14.

Genesis 3:14 He says, "You're cursed more than all cattle," and goes on talking about that and talking about how ultimately his head is going to be bruised. And then this prophecy in verse 16 in Genesis 3.

Genesis 3:16 "To the woman," God says, "I'll greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. In pain you shall bring forth children, your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."

So here we begin to see part of that instruction that God gives that the man will rule over the woman. Now, we also recognize that had also already been instructed back in verse...let's see, where is this? Back in verse 3 of Chapter 11 of 1 Corinthians. If you want to go back to 1 Corinthians 11 and notice what's going on here in 1 Corinthians 11. Of course, we've got this traditions in the Church as a theme and he identifies the divine order of the family. Divine order of the family, what we talked about when we covered Chapter 11. And he says in verse 3.

1 Corinthians 11:3 "I want you to know the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, the head of Christ is God."

And so we've got the divine order of the family. Men should lead the family. Men should lead in worship is what He's also talked about then in Chapter 14. They should lead in worship. It's the way that God has designed. Does it mean men are better than women? No. No, they have absolutely equal spiritual potential. Absolutely, no doubt about that, but God's a God of order. And so he goes to creation to validate that very thought. Don't forget that. Remember, part of the conclusion he drew here in Chapter 11 was found in verse 8.

1 Corinthians 11:8 "Man is not from woman but woman from man, nor was man created for the woman but the woman for the man."

So he goes back to creation to validate the divine order of the family. When you look at Chapter 14, that similar concept carries through that women should be silent in churches. They shouldn't take over the leadership responsibilities at church services. Remember, we're talking about services specifically. We're not talking about other things that women certainly contribute, whether it be...Can women teach? Yes, absolutely. Can they speak in inspired ways? Yes, absolutely. They better be. They should be, but not during the holy convocation, not during church services. And so he's zeroing it specifically on church services. And look at the contrast between that and worshiping Bacchus where the ladies took over and did everything. They were the screamers, they were the yellers, they were the ones tearing the animals apart, they were the ones doing all of those. So what a contrast to the way that God orders His services, His worship services to be constructed. And so Paul emphasizes that very point, that there is an order in the family, there is an order for church services as well. So, no wonder, he says then, back to 1 Corinthians 14:35.

1 Corinthians 14:35 He says, "If they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home, for it's shameful for a woman to speak in church.”

Almost implies that maybe they were interrupting. Maybe they were stopping the sermon and saying, "Hey, well, what do you mean? I'm not sure I get that." And you can kind of see how that would kind of play to perhaps some of the background that they came out of, you know, that you got a question, just blurt it out. And of course, what does Paul refer back to? The family. It's not that the husband knows everything. That's not necessarily the case. But the idea is there is an order to the family as well as an order to services. So that's where you start. That's where you begin. If your husband doesn't know, well, who do you talk to? Well, you talk to the pastor. You can talk to others. But you don't do that by interrupting the worship service. That's the key point that he's making here.

1 Corinthians 14:36 And so he says, "Did the Word of God originally come from you or was it only you that it reached?"

No, not at all. And so we see that application here and how that works at church services. So as we consider this very thing, this is a big subject and there's more than one reference. This isn't the only reference to this concept in the New Testament. And so what we'll do is we'll take a little bit of time in our next session to take a look at this idea of women keeping silent in churches and see how that does still apply today. Why does it apply today? Well, we'll look at a couple other examples in Scripture and we'll begin to see that this wasn't just a 1st century command of the apostle Paul and today it should be totally different. Most Christian churches feel that this only applied back in that day and they forget how Paul uses creation as the ultimate proof of what he's talking about. So we'll look at a couple of verses that we'll add to this next time.