In a Fallen World, Part 4

Living as we do in a fallen world, we look to the example of how the church of the first century served God in a hostile environment.

We continued our examination of the relationship of men and women from the week before in 1 Peter 3:1-7 and Ephesians 5:18-26, and turned out attention to 1 Corinthians 11:3.

There we discovered the absolute equality of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (what theologians call the Ontological Trinity, referring to what God is in himself) that is expressed in unique roles (the Economical Trinity), where the Son submits himself to the Father in order to win salvation for us.

This helps us understand biblical authority: The Father is the head of the Son, the Son is the head of the man, and the man is the head of the woman.

When a woman is under proper male authority, and expresses that symbolically (1 Corinthians 11:4-6), she is permitted to pray and "prophesy" in public worship.

Acts 21:9 mentions Deacon Philip, the Evangelist, as having four virgin daughters who exercised this gift.

And the Prophetess Huldah, the wife of Shallum (2 Kings 22:14-20), was the person to whom the greatest king of Judah turned for guidance when he read the curses recorded against God people (Deuteronomy 28).

This prophetess was so honored by the Jewish people that they named a gate after her when they rebuilt the Temple after returning from Babylonian captivity.