The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Timothy — Section 54

wo11Mln m IM GhrisU(Jlfl, amrmblies, which ought not to be showy or con.~picuou,i, calcn- lrtted either to swell the heart of the wearer with pride, or to attract the eyes of others in forgetfulness of the solemnity of public worship. 2. While adornment is expressly allowed, according to age and station, to the exclusion of anything slovenly, there must be nothing in the attire or deportment inconsistent with modesty, self-restraint, or Christian simplicity. There must be no excessive care bestowed upon the adjustment of the hair, and no adornment with gold, or pearls, or costly array inconsistent with the attire previously recommended. Plaiting the hair may be the most convenient way uf arranging it, and wearing ornaments is no more sinful in itself than wearing apparel. The injunction is that women should not seek such adornl"\ents as would either endanger piety or draw away their affections from higher things. II. THE TRUE ADORNMENT OF WOMEN. "But (which becometh women prnfessing godliness) through good works." 1. Religion is external as weU as internal. There is the form which must be clothed with the power of godliness; religion must not be secret, but manifest to the world. Therefore women must profess the Christian name, and take part in the worship of the Church. 2. There must be a harmony between the prnfession of godliness and those deeds of mercy and piety which, Dorcas-like, shuw the true disciple of Jesus. 3. The highest distinction of women does not spring from dres., or decoration, but from the lustre that is thrown round their character by works of goodness. '£hey will thus " adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour" (Titus ii 10). -T.C. Vere. 11-15.-The proper sphere and behaviour of women. The apostle is still thinking of the public services of the Church. I. THE WOMAN IS FORBIDDEN TO TEACH OR PREACH IN THE CHURCH. .. Let a womau learn in silence in all subjection. But I permit not a woman to teach, nor to lord it over the man, but to be in silence." This injunction has a threefold relation-first to herself, then to her husband, then to the Church. 1. She is to learn in silence. Thi. duty concerns herself. She is to be a learner, not a teacher. She is to give all devout attention to the public instruction, so as to learn more and more of Christ and his gospel. And if what she heard was either difficult or doubtful, she was to ask her husband at home (1 Cor. xiv. 34); and, in case of his inability to meet her difficulties, she could resort privately to the authorized teachers of the Church. This learning !\ttitude was to be "in all subjection" both to her husband and to the rulers of the Church. Yet it did not imply that she was to accept false teaching, or forego her just right to prove all things and reject what was unsound. 2. She is not to lord it over the man. As teaching or preaching is the act of those in authority, her assumption of this function would imply a lordship over her husband. Husband and wife are "heirs together of the grace of life," but the gospel has not exalted woman to a posit10n of authority over her husband. 3. She is not to teach in the Church. (1) This injunctio1: of the apostle does not forbid her teaching privately, either her children, as Timothy WRS taught by his mother, or her servants, or the younger women (Titus ii. 4), or even her husband privately on fit occasions, or even strangers, as Priscilla taught Apollo, (Acts xviii. 26). (2) It forbids her teaching in public. (a) It is suggestive that the words usually translated in the New Testament "to preach" (1<71p6.,-.,-.,, ,v11yyelu(o,, 1<aTayyh1.11.0>) are not used in connection with this prohibition, as if women were merely forbidden to preach, but still allowed to teach. The word used here is " to teach " (6,Bdcrtcw), and the word used in 1 Cor. xiv. (11.a,1,,.,)-" to talk, chatter, babble "-is even more comprehensive. These words all include preaching as the greater includes the less; therefore preaching is also forbiuden to women. (b) Prophesying was for- bidden to women as well as teaching. This was a supernatural gift enjoyed both by men and women in the primitive Church, but is not enjoyed now by either men or women. lt is never in the New Testament used for preaching, or for mere speaking in meeting. But wore there not wulllen who prophesied in the Corinthian Church? (1 Cor. xi. 4, 5.) (a) The gift of prophecy being connected with the gift of tongues, and both being now obsolete,the title of women to the exercise of such a gift in this age utterly foils. (IJ) The apostle, in his discussion concerning prophecy and the gift of tongues, forbids women to speak at all in the Churches (1 Cor. xiv.). It was in the very midst of his injunctiona respecting the use of supernatural gifts that he says, "As 11  THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. [CB. Il, 1-16.