women speaking in mixed assemblies

8/9/2019 Women Speaking in Mixed Assemblies

1/4

Women Speaking in Mixed Assemblies by J. B. Hawthorne- Page 1

WOMEN SPEAKING IN MIXEDASSEMBLIES

By J. B. HawthornePublished in the Berea Baptist Banner September 5, 1992.

Do the Scriptures permit women to speak in mixedassemblies? Let your women keep silence in thechurches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak;but they are commanded to be under obedience,as also saith the law. And if they will learn any-thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for itis a shame for women to speak in the church. What?came the word of God out from you? or came itunto you only? If any man think himself to be aprophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that thethings that I write unto you are the commandmentsof the Lord. But if any man be ignorant, let him beignorant (I Cor. 14:34-38). Let the women learn in silence, with all subjec-tion, but I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurpauthority over the man, but to be in silence. ForAdam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam wasnot deceived, but the woman being deceived wasin the transgression (I Tim. 2:11-14).

If through Gods infinite mercy, I am ever permittedto see the face of the apostle Paul, I shall feel that I owehim an humble apology for having many times tried tobelieve, that in some unaccountable way he had madea prodigious mistake, and inflicted on woman a cruel

injustice in forbidding her to speak in the church. Mysympathies, my prejudices and three-fourths of my read-ing and thinking have been on the womans side of thisquestion. But the conflict is over. After a long and pain-ful struggle I have made an unconditional surrender toconscience and Paul and the Holy Ghost.

What do the Scriptures teach upon this subject? Thediscussion must be limited to this single question. Yourfeelings, the opinions of men, and the spirit of the nine-teenth century cannot be admitted into this controversy.It is a subject upon which God has spoken, and we can-not array human opinion, or human feeling against histruth, without aligning ourselves with Robert G. Ingersoll

and his followers.On the question now before us, we find in this Book

by inspiration given, a thus saith the Lord. Let thewomen keep silence in the churches, for it is notpermitted unto them to speak. By these words Bap-tists have stood through all the centuries of their exist-ence, and by them they will continue to stand till timeslast thunder shakes the world.

1. It is claimed by some, not many, that the apostlePaul did not intend to forbid women to take in any seri-ous discussion, but to prohibit them from indulging in

idle chatter.In answering this view, Dr. Broadus, one of the great-

est teachers of New Testament Greek, says; The wordwhich commonly means to talk, to speak, is sometimesused in classical Greek for chattering, and is sometimesapplied to animals. But there are no clear examples ofany such use in Biblical Greek, and the word is appliedto apostles, Saviour, God

If there is any authority for translating the Greek soas to make the passage read, It is not permitted untothem to chatter, there is the same authority for saying,

that Paul chattered to the Athenians, or that Christ chat-tered to the multitudes.2. Others claim that Pauls prohibition is limited to

speaking in the church, and that while it would be un-lawful for women to speak in a church, it is permissiblein a prayer meeting. In answer to this it is sufficient tosay, that a meeting of this congregation for prayer, is

just such a meeting of the church, as a meeting to hearthe preaching of the gospel. The word church was ap-plied by the New Testament writers to meetings in pri-vate houses.

3. There are some who contend that Paul could nothave forbidden to speak upon religious subjects in meet-

ings of the church, because there were prophetesses inthose days, and such were allowed to speak. There is noconclusive evidence to show that either Christian or Jew-ish prophetesses delivered their prophecies before publicassemblies. Do the women of this day, who go intomixed assemblies and speak, claim to be prophets? Dothey claim that what they say is a revelation from God?If they do, and their claim be true, their utterances shouldbe written down and incorporated with the other sa-cred Scriptures. If they are indeed prophets, inspiredand accredited as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Peter, Pauland John were, then we have abundant material to makea new Bible every week. But are they prophets? They

cannot be if Paul has spoken the mind of God. Whatdoes he say? Immediate conception with these wordsforbidding women to speak in the church, he says: Ifany man thinketh himself a prophet, or spirituallet him acknowledge that the things which I writeunto you are the commandments of the Lord. Hemakes the acknowledgement of his inspiration the testof their claim, not only to the gift of prophecy, but toany spiritual gift. They may sincerely believe themselvesto be spiritual, but if they refuse to acknowledge hisauthority, he says they are not spiritual. Now where there

8/9/2019 Women Speaking in Mixed Assemblies

2/4

Women Speaking in Mixed Assemblies by J. B. Hawthorne- Page 2

is this conflict between Paul and the women what shallI do? What ought I to do? The Lord knows how dis-tressful it is for me not to go with the women. Withouttheir sympathy and fellowship this world would be tome a solitude. But having Adams experience beforeme, how foolish it would be for me to follow these daugh-ters of Eve in violating a law as simple and legible asGod could make it.

4. The position on which the advocates of this newdoctrine and practice rely more than any other, and towhich they cling with greatest persistence, is that thelaw which Paul lays down in this letter to the Corinthians,was intended only for the Corinthian churchthat it waspurely a local regulation made necessary by a peculiarand exceptional state of things among the Christians ofCorinth.

This position is utterly untenable. Anyone can see ata single glance that Paul did not make this law for theCorinthian women only. He wrote the same thing toTimothy that he might apply it to the churches in theregion about Ephesus. In his letter to Timothy he as-signs two reasons for not permitting to teach and prayin a mixed assembly.

(1) For Adam was first formed, then Eve. Now,the Corinthians were not the only people in the worldwho had descended from Adam and Eve. I trust thatthe members of the First Baptist Church have not ceasedto believe that even they are the descendants of Adamand Eve. I entreat these female apostles of the new Gos-pel and new dispensation to permit us to hold to thatmuch of the Bible. If we have descended from Adamand Eve, then Pauls law forbidding women to speak inmixed assemblies was not local, and is binding on the

women of all the churches. Adam was first formed. The man was formedout of the dust of the earth. The woman was formed outof the man. She was formed for him, for his help andcompanionship. Here lies the strength of the reasonwhich the apostle gives for the divine law that womanshall be in subjection to the man. She is to be in subjec-tion to the man, not so much because she was madeafter the man, for she and the man were both createdafter the beasts of the field, but because she was madeout of the man, and for the man. So the womans sub-

jection to the man, is according to the laws of natureand creation.

Now Paul says when a woman goes to church andteaches or preaches in the presence of men, she reversesGods order and violates the laws of her own natureand creation. I suffer not a woman to teach or usurpauthority over the man. Teaching implies authorityover those who are taught, and as a woman has not,according to Gods economy, authority over the man,she is not permitted to stand up in a public assemblyand teach. God knows that millions of women have theability to teach men; but he does not permit them to doit, at least in a public way, because it has the appear-

ance of authority.(2) The second reason Paul had for prohibiting women

from speaking in mixed assemblies was, that Adam wasnot deceived; but the woman being deceived was in thetransgression. If that was a sufficient reason for not per-mitting the women to speak in the church at Corinth, itis a sufficient reason for the same regulation in the FirstBaptist Church of Atlanta. The women to whom I speak

today are just as much involved in the consequences ofEves conduct as the women to whom Paul spoke andwrote. Our mother took the poisonous cup and taintedall our blood. Adam was not deceived. This positive assertionis to be taken without limitations or qualifications. Adamwas not deceived at all. He was not deceived by theserpent with whom he had not talked, nor was he de-ceived by his wife. He knew what he was doing. Heknew what would be the consequences of eating theforbidden fruit. He understood Gods law. He knew thatthe violation of it would bring death to him, to Eve, andall their countless posterity. He ate because his wife hadeaten it and became mortal, and he loved her so wellthat he would rather die with her, than be left alone inthe world. Inasmuch as he sinned wilfully, and againstlight and knowledge, without any deception, his sin wasgreater than hers, and his punishment more severe.

But the woman was deceived. She really thought theserpent spoke the truth, and that she and her husbandshould not die if they ate of the fruit. And the serpent said unto the woman: Ye shallnot die, for God doth know that in the day that yeeat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, andye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. That

was what caught the dear woman. She wanted to knowas much as God, so that she might be independent ofHim. That was what caught her, and there she has shownher weakness ever since. She wants to know too much.She is restive under her sense of inferiority to anyone.Out of this natural weakness grows her insubordinationto Paul.

When a woman looks upon a thing, and is pleasedwith, charmed by it, she believes it to be right, no mat-ter what the authorities say about it. Bear with me, gentlesisters, while I suggest some of the natural infirmities ofyour sex. The infirmities of your brothers are much moreserious.

In these latter days, when, according to prophecy, allmanner of strange things must occur, it has appearedunto some women that it would be pleasant and beauti-ful for them to step out of their divinely appointedsphere, and do some of the things which God has com-mitted solely to men. Some invisible artist has set be-fore their minds eye pictures of women in the pulpit,women on the rostrum, women at the ballot-box, womenon the Judges bench, and women in the halls of Con-gress. These pictures have charmed them, bewitchedthem, and thus deceived. They have reached the con-

8/9/2019 Women Speaking in Mixed Assemblies

3/4

Women Speaking in Mixed Assemblies by J. B. Hawthorne- Page 3

clusion that the Bible and Gods order need amendment;and one of the amendments which they propose is, tostrike out from the Divine Book Pauls words forbid-ding a woman to speak in the church. Paul bases thislaw upon the fact that the man was not deceived, andthe woman was deceived. Well, what has that to do witha woman preaching? It has a great deal to do with it.Basing his prohibitory law upon the fact that she was

deceived, he means that a creature who can be made tobelieve that a law signifies something radically differentfrom its obvious meaning, or that it is wise and good insome things to disobey the Almighty, cannot be safelytrusted with the office of the Christian ministry.

God said unto woman, I will greatly multiply thysorrow and thy conception; in sorrow shalt thoubring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thyhusband, and he shall rule over thee.

That was Gods punishment of woman for the partshe took in the first transgression. Has it been removed?Is it not just as real today as it was thousands of yearsago? It remains, and will remain till the end of time, toremind woman how the devil beguiled her and robbedher of her innocence.

Now Paul says that his law forbidding women pub-licly to teach men is based upon the sentence whichGod pronounced against woman in the garden. Has thatsentence been revoked? If it has been annulled, whodid it, and when and where was it done? The curse uponthe serpent remains. The curse upon the man contin-ues. Why should womans curse be removed? Whatevidences have we that the disabilities imposed uponher in Eden have been cancelled? The Bible containsno such doctrine. Jesus Christ and His apostles did not

teach it. Womans sorrow has not been removed andthe law putting her in subjection to man has never beenrepealed.

Under the old Jewish dispensation there were no fe-male priests, and women were not allowed to speak inthe synagogue in any capacity. Christ did not interferewith this regulation. In organizing His own dispensa-tion He said nothing and He did nothing to warrant adeparture from the Jewish doctrines and practices inreference to women. He chose twelve apostles. Therewas not a woman among them. Among the seventywhom He commissioned to preach there was not awoman.

Brethren, do you appeal from the authority of thisdivine book? If you do not the question is settled, andthe uniform practice of the churches from the apostlestill now must stand.

It is due to the Christian women of the nineteenthcentury, that only a few of them comparatively, have

joined this rebellion against Gods order. The great massof them are content to remain in the sphere prescribedfor them by the precepts of the Bible, and the laws oftheir own nature.

In the field of Christian activity there are tasks for

woman that are great enough to tax her utmost capac-ity, and high enough to satisfy every lawful aspirationof her soul. Within the great circle of her own sex, she ispermitted to teach, admonish and exhort to her heartscontent.

I have always had some sympathy with Adam, be-cause I know the bewitching power of female eloquence.It requires a desperate struggle of the will to overcome

it. Women are naturally so much better than men, somuch gentler and kinder and sweeter, that men are aptto think it a virtue to yield to them, even when theyknow them to be in error.

But he is womans best friend who dares to opposeher in a wrong course. He is most loyal to womanswelfare, happiness and honor, who is most persistentand determined in his efforts to deter her from thoseundertakings that are incompatible with the laws of herbeing. Woman, self-willed, contentious, arrogant, noisy,combative, is a hideous monstrosity. There is nothingon earth, or under the earth that has less attraction for aright-minded, true-hearted, manly man. But womanclothed with purity, modesty, humility, a gracious tem-per and a calm spirit; woman cultured in mind and heart,and lovingly and loyally moving in her divinely ap-pointed orbit, is exalted to her highest estate, and inthat estate is mans angel, a wayside sacrament, a hand-writing of God, a window opening towards a world ofcherubims.

Whence comes this new craze? Whence comes thischallenge of apostolic inspiration and authority? Whencecomes this clamor for the transmutation of woman?Whence comes this new slogan, Down with Paul andup with woman? Whence comes the cry that calls

woman to the pulpit, the rostrum, the political caucus,the ballot-box, and the legislative hall? It comes fromthe same region where every ism that has cursed thecountry for the last century. It comes from a sectionwhich applauded theodore Parker for saying, If JesusChrist did teach the doctrine of eternal punishment, Ido not believe it. It comes from a community so toler-ant of heresy that a man can be elected to a chair oftheology in a college once distinguished for its ortho-doxy who says that are three ways to God and heaventhe way of the church, the way of the Bible and the wayof reasonand that man is perfectly safe in choosingany one of them. It comes from the birthplace of the

new theology, whose liberality is another name for infi-delity. I confess I would be less suspicious of it, if it hadfirst seen the light of day on a soil less prolific of evil.

From the birth of the republic to the present day, thissunny Southland has been singularly free from thatlatitudinarianism in religious belief, and that irreverentspirit towards Gods word which has been the blightand mildew of other sections. There has been nothingin our Southern soil and atmosphere to give nutrimentto these noxious weeds. Let us abide in the spirit of loy-alty to God and His truth. Let us present to these propa-

8/9/2019 Women Speaking in Mixed Assemblies

4/4

Women Speaking in Mixed Assemblies by J. B. Hawthorne- Page 4

gandists of a diluted and perverted Christianity an un-broken front and calmly and trustfully to Him, whogiveth us the victory, stand with the deathless devotionof martyrs by the old flag of the old faith.

It has been my fear of the sources from which thesemischievous innovations come, that has made me, forfive years a persistent advocate for the creation of aSouthern Baptist literature for Southern Baptist Sunday

Schools. Such a literature would do much to keep theSouth solid for all time to come. The South needs tobe solid; solid not for sectionalism, but against it; solidfor the union our fathers framed; solid for good govern-ment; solid against class legislation; solid against lawsthat are golden girdles for the rich, and galling shacklesfor the poor; solid for peace and fraternity on the basisof mutual respect and confidence, and equal protectionand freedom; but above all solid against looseness ofreligious belief and practice; solid against every appealfrom Gods book to the tribunal of human reason, orhuman consciousness; solid for a living ministry of menwhose lips and lives are pure, and who will know amongmen, but Christ, and Him crucified; solid for Gods or-der in the church and the whole social economy; solidagainst the folly and sin of robbing woman of her natu-ral modesty, humility, loveliness and dignity by thrust-ing her out of her native sphere into unnatural relations,and clothing her with functions which she was not bornto wear; in a word, solid for God and against every-thing that is false, and wrong and hurtful to man. Heavengrant that my life be lengthened to see the time whennot only the South, but the North, the East, and the West,all this bounteous birth-land of the free, shall have nocreed but the Bible, and no Savior but Christ, and when

this great people shall consecrate their magnificent re-sources to the worlds redemption!