Paul on Women Speaking in Church by B. B. Warfield

I have recently received a letter from a valued friend asking me to send him a “discussion of the Greek words laleo and lego in such passages as 1 Corinthians 14:33-39, with special reference to the question: Does the thirty-fourth verse forbid all women everywhere to speak or preach publicly in Christian churches?” The matter is of universal interest, and I take the liberty of communicating my reply to the readers of The Presbyterian.

It requires to be said at once that there is no problem with reference to the relations of laleo and lego. Apart from niceties of merely philological interest, these words stand related to one another just as the English words speak and say do; that is to say, laleo expresses the act of talking, while lego refers to what is said. Wherever then the act of speaking, without reference to the content of what is said, is to be indicated, laleo is used, and must be used. There is nothing disparaging in the intimation of the word, any more than there is in our word talk; although, of course, it can on occasion be used disparagingly as our word talk can also — as when some of the newspapers intimate that the Senate is given over to mere talk. This disparaging application of laleo, however, never occurs in the New Testament, although the word is used very frequently.   Continue at Eric T. Young

Spiritual Disciplines

Almost two decades ago I wrote an essay titled " When Is Spirituality Spiritual? Reflections on Some Problems of Definition ." 1 I would like to follow up on one aspect of that topic here.

The broader framework of the discussion needs to be remembered. "Spiritual" and "spirituality" have become notoriously fuzzy words. In common usage they almost always have positive overtones, but rarely does their meaning range within the sphere of biblical usage. People think of themselves as "spiritual" because they have certain aesthetic sensibilities, or because they feel some kind of mystical connection with nature, or because they espouse some highly privatized version of one of any number of religions (but "religion" tends to be a word with negative connotations while "spirituality" has positive overtones). Under the terms of the new covenant, however, the only "spiritual" person is the person who has the Holy Spirit, poured out on individuals in regeneration. The alternative, in Paul's terminology, is to be "natural"—merely human—and not "spiritual" (1 Cor 2:14). For the Christian whose vocabulary and concepts on this topic are shaped by Scripture, only the Christian is spiritual. Then, by an obvious extension, those Christians who display Christian virtues are spiritual, since these virtues are the fruit of the Spirit. Those who are "mere infants in Christ" (1 Cor 3:1), if they truly are in Christ, are spiritual inasmuch as they are indwelt by the Spirit, but their lives may leave much to be desired. 2 Nevertheless the NT does not label immature Christians as unspiritual as if the category "spiritual" should be reserved only for the most mature, the elite of the elect: that is an error common to much of the Roman Catholic tradition of spirituality, in which the spiritual life and the spiritual traditions are often tied up with believers who want to transcend the ordinary. Such "spiritual" life is often bound up with asceticism and sometimes mysticism, with orders of nuns and monks, and with a variety of techniques that go beyond ordinary Joe or Mary Christian.   Keep Reading >>>

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Too Much And Too Many

Let me remind you of where we are at so you can get your bearings.  “The Mute Christian” is written is show Christians that it is their duty to refrain from complaints and murmuring in trials.  We are now on the last main division where he gives answers to ten objections to this silence.  Today we will cover two objections and Thomas Brooks’ answers because, as both objections are really similar, so are the answers.  When told that it is their great duty to refrain from murmuring against God in afflictions, some will say “my afflictions daily multiply and increase upon me; like the waves of the sea, they come rolling over the neck of one another; and how then can I hold my peace” and others will say though “they were many, yet if they were not great I would be mute, but alas! they are very great”.  If you have a copy of “The Mute Christian” yourself and try to follow along it is going to be tough because I am going to weave together some of his answers to both of these objections.  The following is taken from pages 359-364 of volume 1 in my Banner of Truth edition.    Continue Reading>>>

On Silence and Sinful Prudence