Assembly: Women — Joel Portman

I said last night though, my exercise for tonight had to do with the subject having to do with our sisters in the assembly. Now there are three aspects of that truth that I want to touch on as the Lord gives me help.

Because these are three things that are definitely under attack and are denied or are rejected totally so far as our religious world in which we live. One is the fact of the question, shall I say, whether women sisters should be silent in assembly gatherings.

Why? And I want to try to touch on that subject. The second thing is, why do our sisters wear a covering upon their head? We need to look at that subject too because that's the truth that has been totally set aside by every place you might go for the most part.

I know very few places that would practice that anymore. And the third thing is, what about the adornment? How should we dress? Not only sisters but also brethren. Now those three things are very closely tied together.

The Three Questions of Assembly Practice

So I'm not going to try to look at them as distinct subjects but we'll just blend them in together. Because they seem to intertwine themselves and they seem to touch one upon the other. So let's read at least two, maybe three passages of the Word of God and begin that in 1 Corinthians chapter 11.

I'm very conscious of the fact that I'm likely not teaching you anything you don't know. I'm likely nothing that you don't believe. But just to reinforce truths in our mind, I believe it's very practical and very important to go over the truth of God and reiterate it and reteach it for the sake of our preservation today.

Read with me from chapter 11 and verse 2. Now I praise you brethren, that ye remember me in all things and keep the ordinances. That's an interesting word because that is really the word traditions. Now don't let anyone tell you that traditions are bad things.

Because Paul gave them traditions as well. And if a tradition is taught in the Word of God and substantiated by principles of the Word of God, it's the right thing to do. Even though it might be called a tradition.

There are those who would say, well that's just a tradition of the brethren. And it is, it was a tradition of Paul and he was one of the brethren. And so we can go along with it and seek to carry it out today.

So he says, you keep the traditions as I deliver them to you. But, now I take it that Paul had taught them the practice of the covered head or the uncovered head and how it is to be carried out in the assembly gathering.

But now he's given them the teaching behind it. He's given the instruction that they might be confirmed in it. But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ. That is the spiritual head in God's order.

And the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying having his head covered or literally having something upon his head. A covering upon his head. Dishonoreth his head.

And every woman that prayeth or prophesying with something upon her head or with her head covered. Dishonoreth her head for that is even all one. As if she were shaven. For if a woman be not covered, let her also be shorn.

But if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head for as much as he is the image and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of a man.

The man is not of or out of the woman, but the woman out of the man. Neither was the man created for or on account of the woman or the woman on account of the man. For this cause ought the woman to have power or a sign, a symbol of authority, a covering on her head because of the angels.

Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also through or by the woman and all things, but all things of God.

Judge it yourselves. Is it comely, is it seemly that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not even nature itself teach you? For 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 covering, her hair is given her for a covering.

Women's Dress and Silence in the Assembly

But if any man seem to be contentious, we, that is the apostles, have no other custom, no other practice, neither the churches of God. Now let's join with that and read in 1 Timothy chapter 2. This is again in the context of a local assembly gathering.

He has been speaking about the subject of prayer in the first part of the chapter. God's will that men should pray. Now coming down to verse 8, chapter 2 of 1 Timothy verse 8. I will or I desire therefore that the men, that is the males, pray everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.

In like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broided hair or gold or pearls or costly array, but which becometh women professing godliness with good works.

Let a woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer, I permit not a woman to teach, nor to exercise or usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. And he gives two reasons. For Adam was first formed, then Eve.

And secondly, Adam was not deceived, but the woman having been deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding, she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety or self-restraint.

I could read in 1 Peter chapter 3, but I think I'll leave that because of time's sake. We won't really have enough time to look at all of these verses together. I think the best way to handle this and give the reasons is to try to explain the passage.

Creation Order and the Meaning of Headship

And I think it's very important for us to appreciate the fact that God always has an order. It's a divine order. It's not Paul's order. It wasn't the apostle's order that was instituted. God is very definitely one who has instituted an order from the very creation.

You'll notice, I hope, that in both of these passages, in 1 Corinthians 11 as well as in 1 Timothy chapter 2, Paul goes back to what is true from creation. In chapter 2, he reminds them of what, in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, he takes them back to the original aspect of things in relation to the fact that man is not of the woman, the woman of the man, and neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man.

So, we have creation brought in, and as well in verse 14, he speaks about nature itself. So, I would take it that the truth that is imparted to them as well as to us is based on God's creatorial order, first of all.

It also is a means God has of depicting a blessed spiritual truth. It has to do with the relationship of Christ and the church that is typified in the appearance and this particular aspect of things in a local assembly gathering, the covered and the uncovered head.

Now, if we could comprehend something of the depth of truth that God sees and is interested in and imparting to us in relation to this particular picture, we would appreciate it very deeply. I take it a very precious thing in the heart of God, how he desires to depict this and set it before the hearts and minds of man.

But in addition, in both cases, you'll find that it's connected with this aspect of speaking publicly, who will take the public part, and as well, of course, in addition, it's connected with adornment, how we're to dress and how we're to behave.

Headship as Representation and Submission

Let me look at the first thing first, and that is the subject of the covered head of our sister, and why is that particular practice evidenced among us? Notice that Paul is teaching them the fact that there's an order in relation to headship.

Now, I don't know if you comprehend, I'm not sure that I totally comprehend the principle of headship, but it's a fundamental truth in the word of God. If we understand that God looks at headship in relation to the aspect of representation, the aspect of submission, and a divine order that is being expressed.

Headship has to do with one who is the head over the other. That does not, of course, as we repeatedly say, denote superiority and inferiority in any way. It is simply an expression of God's order, because God has depicted and designed that it would be a matter of order.

So, he begins by reminding them in verse 3 that there is a spiritual order, a spiritual aspect of headship that is in the mind of God. He says, the head of every man is Christ. The head of every woman is a man.

It's interesting to me, he starts at that point and he goes into a more subjective point of view, but then he comes back and he says that the head of Christ is God. So, what he is all the way pointing out to us is that in the order of a local assembly, visibly expressing the purpose of God is the man.

The brethren in the assembly have that responsibility. The head of every man is Christ. And so, we see that he is depicting or teaching to us that there is a spiritual headship that is to be expressed and acknowledged in the face of God.

We need to remember, brethren, that the head of every man, every person, actually is Christ himself. He is the one that has the right to absolute authority and supremacy. He is the one that God has placed in preeminence.

And one day it's going to be expressed completely and unreservedly. So, the head of every man is Christ. He is the one that represents man in the presence of God. He is the one in whom we are seen, even as the head is that which controls the body.

And here we are in relation to this one who is the head of every man. That is primarily in the local assembly, in this present day, expressed in the local assembly as true of all who belong to the body of Christ.

Ultimately, it will be true of every man, no matter who he is. But the head of every man is Christ. The head of the woman is the man. And the head of Christ is God. Now, obviously, that doesn't imply inferiority because Christ is in no way inferior to God.

And you know that. But yet he took a place of voluntary subjection. And I take it that he has indicated to us that that's God's desire for you and me. A voluntary acknowledgement of the place that God has given me.

Whether it be a brother in the assembly or whether it be a sister. It's not a matter of having an obligation of doing something. It's a matter of voluntarily recognizing this is something that God places as being very important.

In a world of disorder. A world of confusion. A world of rebellion. From the very beginning, man has been characterized by rebellion against the order of God. God desires and he delights in seeing a company of believers, I take it, that have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ and have a desire to be in subjection to the will of God and to take the place that God desires them to have.

Going down the chapter to that little verse that says, For this cause ought the woman have a power upon her head, a sign of authority upon her head, because of the angels. I've thought in my own mind, and perhaps you would agree with this or not, that the angels saw man's sin in the first place.

The Covering as a Sign Before the Angels

In fact, the angels that are holy, elect angels, saw Satan rise up against God and desire to usurp a place that God had for himself. And they've seen men fall, they've seen angels fall because of rebellion and a desire to be out of order.

They take delight in looking at a company of believers that are voluntarily seeking to express an order not only symbolically, but actually in terms of what God desires them to demonstrate. So, he says this is the order of headship insofar as God is concerned.

Then in verse 4 he speaks about the public aspect of it. Now, I know that we get into a sphere of a little bit of difficulty in the minds of many here because he speaks about men prophesying or praying with their head covered, dishonor of their head.

And then he takes up sisters, he says, of their trade in prophesying with their head uncovered, they dishonor their head. I would agree with my brethren that have written different things on this passage and others that have spoken on it, that Paul, as he often times does, he takes things up in order.

And very likely there was a situation that existed in Corinth in which there were sisters that were seeking to take part publicly. We don't know that for sure, but when you come over to chapter 14, Paul clearly reiterates the same truth.

There he teaches the fact that they are to be silent in the assembly gatherings. That's not because they are not intelligent. That's not because they're not spiritually exercised. We would not want to even imply that.

It's simply because that's the way God designed it. That's the way God wants it to be carried out. So, he says this is the aspect of a man standing up in the assembly gathering and he's got a covering on his head.

That would have been the practice in the Jewish synagogue. That would have been characteristic of those rabbis as they stood before the audience of the people in the synagogue and they would have had a covering on their head denoting the subjection of the nation of Israel to the God of heaven.

But you notice in verse 32 of the previous chapter, he says give none offense neither to the Jews nor to the Gentiles nor to the church of God, indicating that God's assembly is distinct from the Jewish synagogue.

So, here are these men, possibly anyway, are not sure about what they ought to do and they were apparently speaking publicly, praying and prophesying having their head covered. He says they're dishonoring their head.

What's their head? I take it they're dishonoring the Lord Jesus. They're dishonoring the one that they're representing because let me just give you the summary of the picture that he's given us here. Now that is that the uncovered head of the man indicates that whatever that head represents spiritually is being displayed, is seen in its exalted position.

And the covered head of our sisters indicates that whatever that head represents is being, is in a position of subjection and is indicating the fact that it's being put out of sight. So, the head of a brother, head of a man in the assembly represents Christ.

This physical head represents Christ. The sister's head represents the man. In a sense it represents the whole company of believers. Now what is being displayed here is that God wants us to understand that in this typical manner, in this typical presentation of a symbolic truth that God is showing that Christ is absolutely preeminent with no covering upon him, nothing to hide him, nothing to minimize his greatness.

And those brethren in the assembly, your brethren in this assembly, you are here representing Christ and the company in a typical way before those that look on. It indicates, of course, there ought to be a behavior that is suitable to that.

But also it indicates the fact that in that uncovered head of our brethren, they are expressing the fact that Christ in the midst of his people is the one that deserves to be displayed in all of his glory, the one that is worthy to be honored and praised.

And he is the one that God says he is above all and he will one day receive all the glory and honor. So if that is the case, then we notice that the sisters come to the assembly gathering with their heads covered.

That's no white matter, that's a very important thing. Because what they're displaying is that that head which represents man or mankind, or maybe in a more particular way the local assembly gathered in that particular place, that they are, our sisters coming in this assembly are representing the individuals, the company of believers that are in it and perhaps even in the wider spheres as well.

I'm not trying to limit that. And so they come and you come and you put a cover on your head because you're showing that in the presence of Christ man has to be in a place of subjection. It's not just that the sisters are in subjection, but mankind itself and all the assembly is wanting to express the fact that Christ himself is preeminent in a gathering such as this.

And that is a lovely picture. That is very precious. I hope that we can appreciate it. I truly hope that we can enter into what God sees in that. That in a world that casts off restraint, in a world that has rejected authority, in a world that has no time for God's order, that there are redeemed souls that have a desire to truly honor Christ in every possible way, whether it be typically or even in practical matters, in obedience to his word.

So he says that. That's a matter of the order. He says in verse 6, if the woman be not covered. Now, first of all, let me deal with a few little issues here. There are some that believe that this covering ought to be worn at any time when there's any prayer made.

I was in a home once back in West Virginia, and at every time that we came together for a meal, the sister in that home, the wife of the husband, she had a little napkin by her head, by her plate, and she covered her head whenever thanks were given for the food.

That's the way she believed. I'm not against that. I'm not going to reject that. I'm just saying that's not what's really taught in the passage. I would admire her exercise that if she believed that, she carried it out.

And there are some that would teach that. But what is in the context of the passage is a local assembly gathering. Now, what is important is to realize the fact that this is something that is typically being portrayed in the gatherings of God's people whenever they come together.

Now, I have some questions in my own mind. I won't deal with them, but I wonder about verse five because it is a difficulty. In some people's minds, it's a matter of a sister praying or prophesying how it just fits into this passage.

I've asked the question different times, what about Philip's daughters? You know, they were prophets, prophetesses. And we find that they prophesied in the book of Acts. I take it it wasn't in the assembly.

It wasn't publicly. But I have wondered in my own mind, would they have covered their heads when they did that? I don't know. But nevertheless, he's teaching the context of a local assembly gathering.

The Meaning of the Head Covering

Now, another thing that's interesting is the fact that this word covered in this passage, some would take it, well, that just simply means her hair, the normal cover. Because down the chapter, you know, it says that her hair is given her for covering.

The word of God is very specific, isn't it? And Paul carefully chooses his words, and you'll notice if you look it up in Strong's Concordance or other books like Mr. Vine's, that the word that is used in verse six and verse five is really the indication of something that is put on the head.

Something that is put over the head that can be taken off. It can be put on, it can be taken off. Well, you know, it has to be that way in the context of the passage. Because if it were her hair, and the brother is going to be uncovered, he's going to have to be like, well, I'm almost that way, but not quite.

Not have any hair. No, that's not what he's saying. He's not saying that a brother has to remove his hair when he comes in the assembly to have an uncovered head. He's speaking about something that is put on, such as a hat or some kind of covering of that nature.

So the covering in the first part of the chapter is something that can be put over or put on the head in that day it was available. Very obviously in the days of Corinth it was like a shawl, shall we say, that was put over the head that was very substantial, a definite covering that was, there was no question about what it was.

This covering is not really for the purpose of being on display in its beauty and its attractiveness like some hats can be. It's simply a depiction, it's a typical, symbolic putting on something over the head.

Now, I should have said also that this can't be in the everyday setting of having a covering on their head all the time because that would mean the brother would have to leave any coverings off their head all the time.

You have to be consistent, you know, in handling the Word of God, don't you? So that the brother in the middle of the winter, he'd have to go around without a cap on. But that's not what the Word of God is teaching.

This is in a local assembly gathering. And that's what is important to see. So he says in verse 7, Let the man indeed not to cover his head forasmuch as he is the image that means he is the visible representative and he is the glory of God, the outshining of his moral excellence, but the woman is the glory of a man, not the image of a man, but she is the glory of man.

And you see, Paul is tracing this back, not just to Calvary and not just to the day of Pentecost, it goes back to creation. He says, God had a purpose in the way he created men and women in this world.

He had an order in that. He created Adam first. He says, Adam, the man is not out of the woman, but the woman out of the man. So one is derived from the other. You know how God brought that about. And as well, he says, the man was not created on account of or for the woman, but the woman for the man.

She was created for the purpose of fulfilling being a complement to him. So God gives us this lovely picture. And I know you've heard it, likely so, that this is something Paul wrote because of a problem that existed in Corinth.

And it was a cultural thing. And you know, that is just something they had to take care of right there. It only applies to Corinth. It has nothing to do with us today. You know, Paul does begin this passage by telling them that they keep the ordinances even as I deliver them unto you.

And down in verse 16, he says we have no other custom, no other practice, neither the churches of God. So Paul has indicated this is not a cultural thing in Corinth. It's not just a local setting. It's something that is being taught in the entirety of all the assemblies of God's people.

And let me just say one more thing about this covering before I move to another subject. And that is to explain what it means in verse 15 where it says, if a woman have long hair. Now that word covering in verse 15 is a different word.

It's not the idea of something that can be put on or taken off. It is that which flows down. It's the idea of a vesture. But it really is that which is permanent. If she have long hair. And that is a very unfortunate translation.

If you don't mind writing in your Bible, or you can write in the margin or write on a piece of note paper, the more correct translation of that expression in verse 15 is if a woman nourish long hair or simply put this way if she let her hair grow.

I'll say that very definitely because you can look it up and verify that. That it is not an adjective as it is in our Bible. Long is an adjective here, but it is not a long, it is not an adjective in the original.

It is a verb. It's an active verb. In other words if she encourages the growth of her hair if she allows it to grow God says that's a glory to her. It's not the length of the hair. It's not the hair itself so much.

It's the act of letting it grow. Why? Because that is an acknowledgement of her subjection to the order of God that is seen in everyday life. And she can display that in her desire to honor the Lord Jesus.

Christian Testimony Through Appearance

You know when I think about Christian testimony I thought about it this way and I hope it might be helpful to some here and that is that brethren have the responsibility of all verbal testimony in what they say and what they do of course too.

I say that because you know if you were to see a brother in Christ on the street of Blue River or Muscadet or wherever you might be he would not be in any way distinctive from any other person normally speaking.

I've seen some that I hope are distinctive from. I saw some the other day that I hope that brethren don't appear like them but anyway nevertheless outwardly normally speaking a man walking down the street, a Christian man is not any different in his appearance from anyone else.

So you and I brethren have the responsibility for being open in our oral, our speech, our verbal aspect of testifying for the Lord Jesus. We are responsible to take the lead in that. It's not exclusively our sphere but that is one thing that is true.

But you know a Christian sister a sister in the Lord who is attired and who is allowed her hair to grow who has the outward expression of the adornment that is according to Scripture she bears a testimony by what she appears to be.

What she sees. I think that's a beautiful picture. I've seen some ladies in traveling around, I don't know if they're really Christians or not but they just appeal to me as being the epitome of a sister in Christ.

You almost want to go up to them and ask them directly you know, and speak to them. Sometimes that's possible, sometimes it isn't. So the brethren have that responsibility because there's no visible outward expression of that testimony but the sisters have that privilege.

And you can speak loudly by how you appear. And part of it is allowing your hair to grow. I know sisters up in the prairies in Canada they complain to me he says their hair won't grow long because of the weather conditions up there.

It's harsh and very dry and difficult and they do everything they can to nurture the long hair but it won't grow very long. It breaks off. I'm not going to get into that. But I do know this. It's the attitude of the heart that is being expressed in the act of allowing it to grow regardless of how long it might be.

Now I'm not going to get into the technicalities of that but he says her long hair is given to her for her God gives that. One of the things that we find in the New Testament that God has given and it's a gift from Him.

Public Prayer and the Roles of Men and Women

Let me go over to 1 Timothy chapter 2 because time is going to run away from us again. Let's look at the subject of silence. Sisters not taking part publicly because you know that's an obvious thing that is being disregarded today.

I was just as I told you, I don't know if you know this but I just returned from Italy where I hadn't been for 42 years. I was there four years in the service in Naples, Italy and I wanted to go back and a brother offered me the privilege of going with him on a trip to Italy and I ended up in England as well.

But I learned very quickly before I ever went there that it wouldn't be very enjoyable for me to go to an assembly for the most part in Italy because my brother that I knew when I was there before told me that in almost every assembly in Italy the women take part publicly.

That's a deterioration from what used to be and it grieves his heart as well as mine. So nevertheless it may be through a lack of teaching it may be through a desire for more liberty in other things and conformity to the pattern that is seen in churches in the world around us.

You know what exists. But notice what Paul is picking up in 1 Timothy chapter 2. It's in the context of public prayer. First of all he says in verse 8, I desire I will that the males pray everywhere or in every place.

That is that they are to take the lead when there is a mixed audience, when there is a mixture of men and women. The brethren are the ones that are to take the part of the public prayer. The males. It's not just men in general, but it's the males in their gender lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.

Now I could go into that verse quite a bit but just notice this. The three characteristics that are marked to mark those men when they are representing the company in prayer are first of all a holy life.

Secondly, a proper relationship with their brethren without wrath and a proper relationship with God without doubting. Confidence in God, proper relationship with their brethren and holiness of life and righteous living.

Now you know that's not just when they come together. That's to be characteristic of their lives. That's a daily expression of their conversation or their behavior. Holy living. Right relationships with their brethren.

How can they pray on behalf of their brethren if they're angry with their brethren if they're not in the right relationship with them? And thirdly, a right relationship with God with confidence in God and ability to trust Him.

Now verse 9 in like manner. In like manner Paul is teaching of the same importance, in the same context in relation to a local assembly gathering and also in the aspect that it characterizes their daily living.

In like manner he says also that women adorn themselves. Now that's a lovely word. Adorn simply means that they have themselves in an orderly way. They're presenting themselves with dignity. There's an attractiveness that is proper in the mind of God and what is suitable to them.

They adorn themselves. It's the word cosmos. And the word cosmos is the word that is used for the ordered, arranged world that is seen in a particular way in the eyes of God. He says they adorn themselves.

In other words, things are in order. Things are suitably arranged. Properly presented. They adorn themselves, he says, in modest apparel. Now that modest apparel is a definition of it. If you have Mr. William McDonald's commentary of the New Testament, you go home and read this passage in that book and you'll find that he quotes John Christos from way back in the early centuries.

What he says cannot really be improved on. What he is depicting is that they adorn themselves in suitable apparel that gives a proper presentation of what a Christian ought to appear to be. In other words, with restraint and with a certain sense of sensitivity, with a desire to represent Christ in a proper way, and to do it in a way that is consistent with God's purpose.

You know, we're living in a very immodest world. And immodesty is increasing on every hand and even among God's people. It's amazing what you see sometimes in spite of what you might not want to see. But nevertheless, in the midst of an immodest world, God desires that our sisters and brothers as well should adorn themselves in modest apparel.

He says in a sense, if you look over in 1 Peter 3, I'm going to have to abbreviate my comments here, but if you look at 1 Peter 3, it's evident that it's not to one extreme or the other. It's not extremities that we look for.

God says just to be consistent. As Mr. McDonald puts it, middle of the road. You know, not going to one extreme or the other. The passions of the world really are under the control of very immoral men.

If you want to look that up, you can verify that. The fashion designers of this world are men that for the most part have no regard whatsoever for principles from the Word of God. I don't want to go any further than that.

So, modest apparel should be our characteristic. And that modest apparel is a covering because God instituted covering in the very beginning. He goes back to that. I take it when you look at what we have in this passage.

Covering, Modesty, and the Fall

You know, by the way, let me just say in the background of this that God, when man fell in the Garden of Eden, he instituted two things. You know what they are? God gave man a covering that was suitable.

The fig leaves weren't suitable, but God gave man a covering that was suitable, durable, and intended to cover his nakedness. But also, God also did another thing. He put the woman into subjection to the man.

That's in the passage that we're looking at here, the suitable covering going back to creation and also to subjection, the silence of our sisters. So, he says with modest apparel, with shamefacedness, that is, with a restraint or moral abhorrence of all that is base and unseemly.

To abhor anything that is of an immoral nature or sensual nature or of any kind of thing that would present the body in a very wrong way. So, he says with shamefacedness and sobriety. Sobriety means self-restraint or self-government, inner control.

And he says not with broided hair or gold or pearls or costly array. That is not meaning braided hair, that means broided hair. Broided hair was the practice of those who were connected with temple prostitution, in which they would try to decorate their hair in such a way as to be very attractive to the eyes of men.

He says that should not be the case. To use those devices that are natural are a part of man's society to decorate or to be physically, in that way, very attractive to individuals. In fact, in 1 Peter chapter 3, he mentions very clearly that the wife, the Christian wife there should be adored with the good works.

That is more important, he says, that expression of the inner man that is so pleasing in the sight of God. So he also emphasizes that in verse 10. Not with those things but which becometh women professing godliness with good works.

So in verse 9, there is the snare of physical emphasis in relation to display and decoration. In verse 11, there is the snare of spiritual accents where it has to do with the woman desiring to have a place that is not according to God's mind.

So he leaves the matter of adornment and he goes into verse 11, let a woman learn in silence with all subjection. Now when you come to 1 Corinthians chapter 14, you'll know very clearly, if you've read what different ones have said, that some say, well the woman being in silence means that she shouldn't chatter.