The Church is somehow misrepresented to mean the assembly of believers, or the building where Christians worship God. However, the true meaning of the Church is simply the body of Christ, not the buildings, but the believer as the body of Christ. Therefore, whoever believes in Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the Church. Christ Jesus is the head of the body (believers) as the temple of the Holy Spirit, referred to as followers of Christ or Christians. When believers come together in a place or building to worship or fellowship with God, it is the assembly of believers, or upright, also could be referred to as the congregation or as in old times the synagogues. The universal Church or the collective body of Christians or believers in Christ Jesus (Christ Fellows) is the Catholic Church, not the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church broke away from the early central governing authority of the Catholic Church (Orthodox) formerly in the Greek empire, and gave full authority or autonomy to the Bishop in Rome, referred to as the Holy See or the Pope during the rise of the Roman empire. Just as during the rise of the British empire, the Anglican Church broke away from the Roman Catholic Church.
Our issue on review is a very contentious one as it splits the universal or Catholic Church into those who support and disagree. Here are the spiritual realities. Apostle Paul was a great evangelist, teacher, pastor and writer, who planted lots of Churches in different cities in and around the Greek territory, even in the midst of great persecutions. Timothy, whose father was Greek, was converted to Christianity by Apostle Paul, and he later accompanied him in much of his missionary journeys and Church plantings. Apostle Paul was his mentor and spiritual father. Hence, when Timothy was left in Ephesus to administer the assembly of believers there, Apostle Paul found it necessary to give his young minister some pastoral guidance on ministry leadership and organization through letters. In one of these guides was that women should keep silent in the Church and should not usurp authority over men. On one side of this issue, is the traditional view. These are believers who take this verse literally as it was written, based on the historic context, which dates back to the beginning of creation by God, where the man was first created before the woman. This has also followed the ordinances in the Old Testament, where the woman is under the man. This has led to the situation where in some Ministry denominations or settings, women are not allowed to hold official pastoral offices, preach, administer other ministry functions like baptizing new converts, lead in prayer services and a host of other spiritual services. In some cases, they are separated from the male folks and somehow reduced to second class citizens in the assembly of faithfuls.
On the other side are those who rely more on spiritual insight of the whole context of grace and the ministering gifts from the Holy Spirit as it relates to all believers, whether male or female. They do not see anywhere in the faith of Christ Jesus that supports or shows that grace or the gifts are subjective based on race, sex and color. This spiritual understanding stretches the reality that “the Lord is the Spirit and where His Spirit is there is liberty.” It is paramount to state that God is a God of peace and not of confusion. This means, whatever He does is always to set things in proper order. Therefore, during creation, when God said “let us (Godhead) create man in our own image and likeness, and let them (Plural) have dominion…in the image of God created He him; male and female created He (God) them.” That verse tells us that the consciousness of the human person, which is the soul, was created in the image and likeness of God at the same time, both the male and female. However, during the physical manifestation on earth of the human person, the male or man was first made, then because he needed coordination or help, God made the woman out from the man’s ribs. This simply tells us that both in the spiritual and physical, they are one and the same, only separated by the order of responsibility, though not in the consciousness of their being. The man Adam was before the woman Eve, not because he is superior but was primarily to set things in order that would enable the good coordination of human events. When Apostle Paul took from this revelation to expound the necessity of order in the Church, he found it spiritually expedient or appropriate to push for the harmony of the young and fragile Christian congregation by strengthen their collective focus against the bigger enemy, which was to diffuse the series of attacks from false doctrines pervading the faith.
In another stretch of spiritual understanding, the God that blessed the seventh day and said we should not work on that day but only to worship Him, is the same God that said, now is the time the true worshipers must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. He is the same God, who gave us the commandments by Moses, and through Christ Jesus said, He is not abolishing the laws, but to fulfill them. Some would call these and many more contradictions. Yes, they may look contradictory on the surface, but in the deep sense of God they are the dispensations of order. God in Christ Jesus, who gave us salvation by grace knows that in His free gift of love and truth to every human soul, whether male or female there is no discrimination, no superiority of one sex, there is no subjection of His anointing by ordinances on one individual for a specific ministry, whether male or female. Even Apostle Paul through his writings did express these facts that in Christ Jesus we are all equal and made free. When the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples of Jesus Christ and others with them including women in their location on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit was not selective by touching some or just the disciples only, rather on the very first day of the birth of the Church (Body of Christ), when the Holy Spirit came upon them, they were all ministering, including the women, by speaking in tongues. The 12 disciples of Christ Jesus were all men because of setting things in order, but the inner circle of His spiritual journey were mostly women, who were not silent but active, even with the anointing of His body by one Mary from the city of Magdala, referred to as Mary Magdalene. In the hierarchy of significance, after the transfiguration of Jesus Christ, the anointing of His body by this woman was next to that great event because she quietly with tears signified His Messiahship, who would take away the sins of humankind through death. No wonder, even Jesus said what she had done would be in eternal memory to her name. The first evangelist of the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead was a woman, whom the risen Jesus spoke to directly outside the tomb He was buried, and instructed her to go and pastor the first sermon of His resurrection from the dead to His followers (12 disciples and others) where they were hiding. What about the woman Jesus met at the well, whom He preached to about her seven husbands and the Kingdom of God? She believed He was the Messiah and went back to her city of Samaria and evangelized about Jesus to the whole city.
The message of silence in the congregation by Apostle Paul is actually the spiritual insight for women to focus on their noble responsibilities within the assembly with a meek or quiet, gentle, patient, humble, obedient, peaceful or well mannered spirit and not the boisterous, rowdy, unrestrained and disorderly spirit that would hamper the good course of the gospel of Christ Jesus. In addition, the message was not meant to debase womanhood, rather it was to project their peculiar virtues as the custodians, keepers, stewards or caretakers of internal harmony and stability to the soul of the human center. As the nurses or midwives of life, they should with dignity symbolize the compassion, strength and decency as the beauty of their being and not be carried by the deceptive streak of distress to abuse the atmosphere of worship, or even within the family and society settings
Glory to God in Christ Jesus for His mercies that endures forever. Amen