THE WOMEN IN GOD'S PLAN FOR SPREADING THE GOSPEL

What does Paul Say About Women...and Why Did He Say It? 1 Corinthians 14:33-36, ³³"For God is not a God of disorder but of peace - as in all the congregations of the Lord's people. ³⁴ Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. ³⁵ If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. ³⁶ Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached?"

No man ever rose completely above the background of the age in which he lived and the society in which he grew up; and Paul, in his conception of the place of women within the Church, was unable to rise above the ideas which he had known all his life.

In the ancient world...the time in which Jesus lived...and Paul lived, the place of women was low.

Women, unless they were very poor or very loose in their morals, led a very secluded life in Corinth...Greece.

The Jews had an even lower idea of women.

• A Rabbinical saying concerning women, "As to teaching the laws to a woman one might as well teach her profanity."
• To teach the law to a woman was "to cast pearls before swine."
• It was even forbidden to speak to a woman on the street.

Again, Paul grew up where women, if considered a virtuous woman, was humble, meek, and sought all knowledge from man (her husband). It is better now...but women still are lower and less important than man in the Jewish tradition.

Paul had many women friends....Priscilla (Aquilla's wife) and Lydia....favorites of Paul to carry the gospel of truth...as well as do it with meekness and a quiet spirit. But...Paul was hearing of trouble in the Church at Corinth...

Women were involved in gossip and other talk that was not pleasing....nor promising to Paul. Paul reverted back to his Jewish culture...and made a blanket statement for women to "be quiet in the church services and to be in submission to the men...asking questions and receiving answers from their husbands only."

What does God say about Women?

To find out, look at His Son's feelings for the women that came into His Life!
First...no sin toward the women were ever found in Jesus.
Elementary....but, fact!

What will adorn the woman of beauty in God's sight is found in 1 Peter 3:3-5,
"Let not your beauty be external only-braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, and putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves."

"Never mind the features and figure you were born with," says Peter. "What will adorn you with an illusion of beauty is a meek and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God."

Under this umbrella of characteristics, she can have all kinds of personalities and still be beautiful.

She can be vivacious or shy, colorful or cool, and administrator or a follower.
She can be a corporation president or she can bake delicious chocolate pies - or both.

When a woman has God's beauty - a meek and quiet spirit - she isn't threatening to those around her. She doesn't compete; she doesn't "demand her rights," because she's secure.

Her trust is in God to exalt her in His own way and time, and He does! He can afford to expand her gifts and increase her place in the world, because she's not grasping for it. That's God's kind of beautiful woman.

We spoke of culture in Jesus' and Paul's time, causing one to think women were on a lower scale than man.

However, this culture did not keep God from:
          Honoring Anna, a beautiful woman, with the sight of the new-born Messiah.

This culture did not keep Jesus from:

Healing Peter's mother-in-law...or the woman who was hemorrhaging, or the Canaanite woman's daughter, or the woman who was bent double; or raising to life the synagogue official's daughter. It didn't keep him from freeing the woman caught in the act of adultery, or commending the woman at the well.

Yes...Jesus had some of God's beautiful women as some of his best friends:
          Mary and Martha, Mary Magdalene, Joanne, Susanna, and others.

Beautiful women were the closest to the cross when he died, and the first to see him when he came back to life.

Remember...never think that meekness is weakness.
          Meekness is strength under control.

God's beautiful women have been used even in mass turnings that have affected whole nations and generations.

Paul heard the call to come to Europe for the first time and preach the gospel there. He traveled to Philippi, a key center, and found his way to a group of key women holding a prayer meeting, (Acts 16:13).

From this small group Christianity spread out until the whole known world was affected by it.
If you are a woman...my sister in Christ...I want you to know that you're an important key to revival in our day.

God's longest description of His ideal woman, in Proverbs 31, ends with these words:
"These good deeds of hers shall bring her honor and recognition from even the leaders of the nations" (v. 31)

When a woman is wise, and full of kind words, and hard-working and conscientious, and helpful to her man if she has one, and deeply reverent in her love for God - in other words, if she is a "beautiful woman with a meek and quiet spirit"...she can do anything in this whole wide world, and the world will praise her for it.

God bless the women who love God...and tries to please the Savior with a God-fearing, loving spirit...
For when you do, you will be blessed abundantly according to God's Holy Word!