THE KING’S BUSINESS
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(/) It is contrary to Universal Christian Practice (xi. l 6 )\ “But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.” The Corinthian church, which was in a particularly favored sense the recipient of many spiritual gifts, seems to have been guilty, more than other churches, ip the abuse of these gifts. Such ostentatious display as manifested by the women of the church at Corinth did not exist in the other Christian assemblies. (g) It Miist Be borne in Mind, in View of All that Hap Been Said, That There is Equality in Mutual Dependence and Spiritual Blessings (xi. 10 , 1 1 ). The social subordination of woman is not at all inconsistent with her personal equality with 'man. In her relation to Christ, woman, like man, can come directly to God. In her relation to the world, she manifests herself through her husband and children. She is thus equal with man in the greater thing in life—her relation to God; she is dependent and subordinate to man in the lesser—her relation Jo the world. . Of course, even among men, where we are taught the equality" of all men, we find subordination amid equality. When woman appears before Christ in private worship, she is equal to the man; when she appears in public, she has social relations and is subordinate to father and husband. A woman’s relation to Christ does not dis solve her relation to society. (See notes on 1 Corinthians xiv. 34, and compare 1 Timothy, ji. 12). 2. Abuses in Connection w ith th e Lord’s Supper (xi. 17-34 ). In order that we may properly appreci ate the abuses here reprimanded by the apostle, we must understand the conditions that surrounded the observance of the Lord’s Supper in the primitive church, »and particularly in the church at Corinth. The observance of the Lord’s Supper proper was preceded by what is known as the Agape, or love-feast, a feast made up of contributions of food and drink participated
(c) This is the Truth Clearly and Dis tinctly Taught ïn the Order of the Creation of Adam and Eve (xi. 8 , 9 ). Man, not woman, is the glory of God. A woman is to find her highest glory in the glorification of father or husband. No mother or wife should consider that she has lost her dignity in glorifying father or husband. Just as Christ glorified God, just as man’s duty is to glorify Christ, so woman’s duty is to glorify the man. Nor should man forget in this connection that it is his duty to approximate The Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, in life and character, so that the woman may have a father, husband, son ip whom she may justly glory. (d) It is also According to the Natural Order of Things (xi. 14 , 15 ). “Woman’s shorter stature, slighter frame, higher and gentler pitch of voice, more graceful movements”—all indicate that her sphere is to be private rather than public. This was particularly true in oriental coun tries where the veil was worn as the sym bol of modesty,, subjection, and subordina tion, indicating (as it does today when the bride wears the veil, even though she may not know its significance) that woman’s sphere is the home. For a woman, there fore, to renounce the veil would be the equivalent to disclaiming modesty and refusing to recognize the divinely ordained subordination to the husband or father (Ephesians v. 22, 23; 1 Peter iii. 1). Does not the fact that woman has long hair, which, in a , sense, is nature’s veil, cor roborate the lessbn the apostle is teaching? It is as if the apostle said, If a woman refusés to be veiled, then let her fling away nature’s sign—let her cut her hair and become consistently masculine. (e) It is Contrary also to the Sense of Propriety (xi. 13 - 15 ). ' “Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him ? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.” ,
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