This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Considering the Church” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, April 24, 1994.

We are looking this morning at 1 Corinthians 11, and we are beginning at verse 2. Give your attention to the reading of God’s word. I am reading from the New American Standard Version this morning. Now, I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions just as I delivered them to you. But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.

Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head. Every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head, for she is one and the same with her whose head is shaved. For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off. But if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head.

For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of man. For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man. For, indeed, man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake. Therefore, the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angels. Neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.

For as the woman originates from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman, and all things originate from God. Judge for yourselves, is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not even nature itself teach us that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? that if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for a covering.

But if one is inclined to be contentious, we have no other practice, nor have the churches of God. Do help us, our Father, to submit to you, and help us especially, Lord, where we are confused, where passages are complex and difficult and seem to stand beyond our ability to penetrate. We pray for your help, that we might prove to be obedient in all things, and give us a submissive spirit, each of us, that we might be known as the servants of the Lord. Surely our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the perfect servant, to him we are united, and being united to him, how is it that we ought to behave? should not we be following in his steps, should not his attitudes be ours. We pray this through Christ. Amen.

Our Lord continues to build his church through the ministry of men whom he calls and endures with special gifts for teaching, ruling, and serving, it is proper to speak of such a publicly recognized function as an office, and to designate men by such spiritual titles of office and calling as evangelist, pastor, teacher, bishop, elder, or deacon.

Now, I don’t expect all of you to know where I got that quote, but I have just read to you from the former government of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and that, for the purpose of being quite direct with you about the position of this Church on the issue, the very volatile issue, of women in ordained office within the Church. The Orthodox Presbyterian Church’s position is not bound by the traditions of men or the decisions of the Churches throughout their histories. Rather, the position of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church is bound by the Word of God. is bounded by the scriptures, and those traditions inscribed in the scriptures by God’s servants, his inspired servants. The critical texts ordinarily discussed in this regard are these.

First of all, 1 Corinthians 14, verse 34. not too far from where we read this morning, which says in part and says emphatically, let women keep silent in the churches, a passage which relates specifically to the issue of teaching, if you read the context there in 1 Corinthians 14. The next text is 1 Timothy, chapter 2, verse 12, which says, I do not allow a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. This passage then, taking us beyond specific reference in 1 Corinthians 14, since it bears equally upon the matter of ruling, the matters of ruling and teaching. Next, just a few verses further in 1 Timothy, chapter 3, verses 1 and 2.

If any man aspires to the office of bishop, that is, the office of overseer or the office of pastor, It is a fine work he desires to do. Reading on, a bishop or a pastor must be the husband of one wife. A passage there dealing also with matters pertaining to rule, but if you look at the end of verse 2, you will note that it also deals specifically with teaching. These who are here described must be apt to teach. You drop down to the eighth verse of that third chapter in 1 Timothy, you read these words, “…deacons must be men of dignity.” A passage that may concern—I say may—may concern rule or the special function of service, depending on the way that term, deacon, was used by the early Church and in the setting to which Paul was addressing himself.

Finally, Titus, the book of Titus, chapter 1, verses 5 and 6, these words, “…appoint altars in every city.” from the fifth to the sixth verses in Titus chapter one. Appoint elders in every city as I directed you, namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife. Obviously, the elders in view are male. This passage, likewise, in keeping with the others that we have read, we have something of a cumulative effect here, dealing with the matters of ruling and teaching. Now, these are all passages from Paul.

We must not think that this matter of women in office is something to which only the Apostle spoke, as if he alone, in the course of salvation, addressed himself to it. Indeed, Paul is making his point explicitly and directly. because, in some cases, the consistent point of view on gender and office expressed throughout the entirety of the history of Revelation, Old Testament to New, namely that the ordinary, the ordinary ordained officers of the Church are to be male, whites being challenged. Indeed, that position was being specifically challenged in the Church at Corinth, and it was also being specifically challenged in the Church at Ephesus, where Timothy was laboring as an evangelist. Now, I want you to note, particularly, how carefully I have chosen my words. When I was speaking about the consistent point of view expressed throughout the history of Revelation, Old Testament to New, with regard to this matter, I stated the case this way, that the ordinary ordained officers of the Church are to be male. Hold on to that statement. I do, in fact, mean to exclude those extraordinary, unique, charismatically endowed women raised up by God for special times within the history of salvation.

You think of Miriam, the sister of Aaron and Moses. You think of the judge, Deborah. whose story is recorded for us in the book of the Judges, chapters 4 and 5. You think of the prophetess Holdah in relationship to the reign of King Josiah. She mentioned in 2 Kings 22, verse 14.

But you also think of the four virgin daughters of Philip. all of whom are described as prophetesses, mentioned for us in Acts chapter 21 verse 9. Now, concerning this last passage, Acts 21 verse 9, Philip’s daughters here, as I have already indicated to you, are described for us as prophetesses.

They have the office of They have the function of a prophet amongst the people of God. These people, these women, are especially supernaturally inspired by God, as all prophets are. They are agents of God’s special revelation. These women were possessed of a gift that was but temporary for the Church, since the gift of prophecy has ceased within the Church.

There are neither women nor men who presently, living among us, lay claim to this office or this function. At least, there should not be any, for if there were, we, in recording their words on paper, would have infallible words from God, in addition to what we have in Scripture.

But it may well be now that it is specifically this issue of the supernaturally endowed woman within the Church that is specifically in view In the enigmatic text that we have read this morning, 1 Corinthians 11, and even more particularly the 5th verse of that 11th chapter. In the year 1919, Benjamin B. Warfield said that no one knows the precise meaning of 1 Corinthians 11, those opening verses, and particularly that 5th verse.

This package has proved to be especially difficult, not just because of head coverings, but because of comments concerning long and short hair and all of that business that we have taken into account when we have gone through that test. But there are some even weightier issues here for us to consider as we look at this test. You see, on the surface, it seems to be suggested that women, here in this 1 Corinthians 11 passage, that women were both praying and prophesying publicly at Corinth. It seems to be something of the natural reading of the text.

But does this not then fly in the face of what Paul says later in 1 Corinthians 14.34, where he commands that the women are to keep silent in the churches? There’s the problem, there’s the difficulty. Are we faced here with an obvious contradiction? Now, every line has been pursued for the sake of resolving this apparent contradiction in 1 Corinthians, including the line that suggests to us that Paul is blatantly and even deliberately inconsistent.

I hope I don’t have to argue with any of you that that position is out of bounds. Our commitment is to the authority of Scripture and to its inherent integrity. However, with respect to this text, let me at least make two proposals to you that may be helpful in resolving the dilemma. First, look at the phrase, praying and prophesying, and concentrate, first of all, on the word prophesy.

Are we not here dealing with a unique and temporary gift given to these women, if in fact they are possessing of gifts from the Spirit. Are we not here dealing with unique and temporary gifts, not ordinary continuing ordained office? It seems very likely that what we have at Corinth, referred to here in chapter 11, are women much like Philip’s daughters, mentioned in Acts chapter 21. Women wonderfully blessed by the Holy Spirit as instruments of divine revelation.

But we have praying also mentioned with the prophesying in 1 Corinthians 11.5. It would be my suggestion that the latter element, namely the prophesying, controls the previous element, the praying. In other words, both the praying and the prophesying, in view, belong to the same order of phenomena. Both the praying and the prophesying are equally charismatic. They are equally supernatural.

This being the case, they are phenomenon that had ceased with the first Christian century, and they have risen up for a specific purpose in God’s administration, only then to be removed according to his providence, when the process of revelation was complete and the Bible was a settled matter.

This means that Paul is not here talking about an ongoing or even ordinary state of affairs. Further, it has been pointed out that Paul may not be dealing in 1 Corinthians 11.5 with the assembling of the people of God at all. He may not have in view here the actual congregating of the people of God in a worship setting. That is a circumstance in which the congregation has now come together for the express purpose of giving worship to God.

If this is the case, the women of 1 Corinthians 11, and particularly that fifth verse, exercise a private, non-assembly ministry for which Paul has given now special instructions for its carrying out. In 1 Corinthians 14, he has the public ecclesiastical situation in view.

And here, women, inspired by the Holy Spirit and otherwise, are not permitted to speak within the assembly. Not only does this approach confirm Paul’s consistency and thus help us to maintain our confidence in his inspiration, infallibility, and authority, but it also greatly strengthens the case against female-ordained leadership within the Church. You see, if Paul, by the Holy Spirit, forbids even those women who have been supernaturally endowed, blessed by the Holy Spirit, and are agents of God from speaking in the Church, then what must we say about those women who have not been so endowed? If inspired women are not to speak in the assembly, then surely non-inspired women are not to speak in the assembly. But having dealt now with 1 Corinthians 11 and that fifth verse in relationship to the general line of Paul’s argumentation, the early halfway home, there is another text that those favoring women’s ordination appeal to, and that is Relations 3, verse 28.

They say those favoring women’s ordination, if 1 Corinthians 11.5 doesn’t prove that Paul was inconsistent or, as one writer has put it, plagued by an inner conflict about the place of women generally within the Church, let alone in office, then Galatians 3.28 does, in fact, introduce this matter of inconsistency and that with a vengeance.

At first, Galatians 3.28 says, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Now, supporters of women’s ordination say this verse alone mitigates whatever Paul says elsewhere on the subject of women in office.

But their argument is stretched at best, and at worst, utterly fallacious. Paul, by the admission of all, including those who are the most clear-sighted, Even though they be the defenders of women’s ordination, in looking at this verse, admit that Paul is not talking about the order in the Church or even the offices within the Church.

Therefore, it is only by way of a stretch, an extreme stretch of that, It is only by way of the application of a principle that is supposed to be found in the text that it can, in any sense, be applied to the matters of office and gender. What is the principle that is thought to be perceived in this text? The principle is this. Gender is meaningless in Christ, and when applied to office and ordination, this means that it cannot make any difference whether a minister, an elder, or a deacon is male or female. But it is strange to say the least.

Paul himself never recognized this principle to be at work in his very own words in Galatians 3.28.

Or else he would have never written, you see, 1 Corinthians 14.34, or 1 Timothy 2.12, or 1 Timothy 3.1, 2, verse 8, Titus 1, verses 5 and 6. Now you can say, as some of those who have been supporters of women’s ordination, that Paul never wrote some of these texts that we have referred to this morning. But I think that you can see what is happening, and what, in fact, is in the balance. The matter of inconsistency is introduced once more, and that with the greatest amount of insistence.

Paul is actually being discredited, and if he is not being discredited personally, the Bible itself is being discredited. the line that is suggested by those who have supported women’s ordination on the basis of Galatians 3.28. The Bible is an infallible witness. But these now are becoming increasingly insistent, if you are listening to what they are saying, they are becoming increasingly insistent that the Bible is but a fallible witness. In fact, its fallibility is noticed at any number of points throughout its entirety, not just in matters pertaining to specific verses, that we find here in Paul’s letters, but running things now back into the Old Testament, the Bible must be found fallible in what it records for us specifically in Genesis 1 and in Genesis 2, and the account that is given there with respect to creation and the witness that it bears with regard to the ordering of the sexes and their roles within the created order.

Called into account now is not just merely the matter of women in office and Paul’s attitude with regard to it. Called into account and placed in jeopardy is the biblical doctrine of creation. For you will note in a number of those texts that we cited from Paul, he builds his argument on the basis of the created order. Now, if this was all that we had before us with respect to this matter, it would be bad enough.

But you see, there is more still. The enemy is not just Paul, who is serving as a roadblock to women in office. The enemy is not just Moses as he writes about the creation in Genesis 1 and 2. The enemy is Jesus himself. Paul’s point of view, Moses’ point of view, rises out of their commitment to a patriarchal ideal. There was never one committed to the patriarchal ideal as Jesus. In fact, he makes that the centerpiece of his ministry. Matthew 6, 9, where Jesus has the audacity to suggest to us that God is specifically identified as Father, our Father.

Do you know what’s going on? There are groups now meeting all over the world that are rewriting the Bible. And the method that they are using is called the method of inclusivist language. That means that these renderings of Holy Scripture are thought to be free of all gender bias.

So if we are going to call God our Father, we must also as well call Him, or, excuse me, call Her Mother. And there are actually churches in this country right now where the alternate forms of the Lord’s Prayer are being used in worship. But it’s not just a matter of how we call God.

You see, the reference to God at the opening of the Lord’s Prayer has specific reference to how God is in heaven. He is our Father. who is in heaven. This then is reflective of the eternal state of affairs. God is eternally and forever Father. But women’s ordination is but a portion of a program that is now directed in its attacks upon biblical authority, directed in its attacks upon the creation itself, directed in its attacks upon the Church as ordered by Christ through His Apostles, and even directed in its attacks upon the biblical vision for heaven.

With respect to Galatians 3.28, it can be said there are few more glorious texts in all of Scripture. This text, as we have already indicated, is not about office in the Church, rather it is about the inheritance of the promise. Note verse 29 in Galatians 3, as Paul continues his argument.

And if you, Jew or Greek, that is, slave or free man, male or female, belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs of the promise. That’s the specific point at issue as Paul is making his argument to the Galatians. If you are heirs of the promise, then you are called sons. Yes, Jews and Greeks are called sons, slaves and freemen are called sons, and males and females are called sons. Verse 26, For you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

And according to another text, Romans 8.17, if sons then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ.

Personally, I would be much more willing to listen to those who were arguing in favor of women’s ordination if I could be convinced that they were as much concerned about the crew point in Galatians 3.28, namely having God as their inheritance, as they are about what they’re supposed to find in that text, namely that all offices must now be opened to women.

But the odd thing is, and the tragic thing, And the thing that now breaks the hearts of those who truly love the Lord Jesus Christ, and love his Word, and love his Church, is that these two approaches which I have outlined for you here are mutually exclusive and completely antithetical. I am saying this without embarrassment, and I am saying it without hesitation. Women’s ordination have already decided against the God of Scripture, against the Father, against the Son, against the Holy Spirit as their inheritance.

In fact, they have much better things with which to preoccupy themselves. It wouldn’t be so bad if you could perceive in the rhetoric a hunger for God, but that is not what you perceive. A desire for God, an interest in Him, a desire to have God and to be possessed by Him, but that is not what you find. It seems as if that thought is the furthest thing from the minds of those who pursue this agenda. There are even greater things with which to be concerned than God and his infallible, inherent Word. the fact that he has made himself the inheritance of his people.

May God, our Father, have mercy upon his Church through Jesus Christ, his eternal Son, that we might be brought finally into the heavenly arena, there to worship our God and the Lamb, together with and in the presence of the twenty-four male elders. Our Father, your church is going straight to hell. And there are many who don’t care even though they profess their faith in you. And there are others who are doing all they can in order to ensure that destination. Father, we ask that our interest may not be the concern for the pride of place, that we who have office in the Church are not concerned to continue to maintain our power over others.

Rather, O God, may it be our concern and our love and submission to you, to live by every word that proceeds out of your mouth. Bind our consciences, Lord, and then, Lord, bind our actions. This for your glory, this for the strengthening of your church, your people, in this world as they wait for the great day in which our Savior, your Eternal Son, will appear.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.