Brief History of the Dawn Christadelphians
The Role Of Women Part 2
There are some things you can only learn by doing; like riding a bicycle, hammering a nail, or playing a piano. God knows this, and therefore He often teaches through enacted parables in which His spokesman, or all believers, learn something because of doing something. Jeremiah bought a piece of land, buried a garment, and saw a potter work on the wheel since it was teaching him something. (Jeremiah 32:6-44, 13:1-11, 18:1-6)
To understand the role of sisters in Christ, we must realize these commandments are enacted parables to teach us lessons.
First, let us look at the role of a sister in Christ towards her husband. There can be no doubt that sisters are told to obey their husbands. Paul said in Ephesians 5:22-23, "Wives be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church. He Himself being the savior of the body." This teaching is so obvious that those who do not want to follow its plain teaching of Scripture have had to resort to slandering Paul by saying he hated women. However the verse explains that a wife must obey her husband because this is a working model in which the husband represents Christ, and the wife represents the church. The church should obey Christ just like the wife should obey her husband.
The verses that follow continue in this theme. "But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be subject to their husbands in everything. Husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church, and gave HImself for her." (verses 24-25) In other words, Paul is saying the love of a husband for his wife should be so great that he would be willing to die for her if he had to, because that is how strong the love of Christ is for the church. These are not the thoughts of someone who hates women!
The role of women in the church is also an enacted parable. "But do not allow a women to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet, for it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived but the woman being quite deceived fell into transgression." (1 Tim 2:12-14 See also 1 Corinthians 14:34) Here we see the reason women are not allowed to speak in church is symbolic.
The leadership in the Old Testament was also of divine appointment, showing lessons that apply to women in the church today.
Before the Jews entered the Holy Land, God chose Moses to be their leader. God's choice of Moses was challenged by others on several occasions. In Numbers 12:1-2 Miriam and Aaron, siblings of Moses, challenged Moses' God-given authority. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram did the same thing at a later date. (Numbers 16:1-3) In both cases, those who resisted God said they could do just as good a job as Moses, just like modern women say they can preach from the pulpit as well as any man, but God teaches by having us act things out, and we can only learn by doing this His way.
Modern women need to walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8) by submitting to their husbands, and by being silent in church so that they will learn symbolic lessons.
(Quotations from the New American Standard Bible)
