{"id":16159,"date":"2008-08-25T20:18:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-26T01:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=16159"},"modified":"2019-11-28T20:25:08","modified_gmt":"2019-11-29T02:25:08","slug":"does-the-whole-church-refer-only-to-the-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-whole-church-refer-only-to-the-men\/","title":{"rendered":"Does “the whole church” refer only to the men?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

I am so appreciative of all the information from your studies of God\u2019s word that you make available on your web site. I have recently been studying, teaching and preaching on the subject of the Christian woman\u2019s role and her silence or quietness. The information on your web site has been so helpful<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

I have a question which I don\u2019t see covered on the web site (that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not there, just that I don\u2019t see <\/b>it). In Acts 15 the apostles and elders are said to be considering this matter of circumcision and law-keeping for salvation. However, the whole church<\/em>\u00a0is assembled and it is hard for me to follow the progression of apostle-elder talks vs. whole congregation assembly. It is apparent that in v. 12 they are all assembled for the speeches of Barnabas and Paul and v. 13 indicates the whole congregation is assembled for James\u2019 speech.<\/p>\n

My question is about v. 22:<\/p>\n

Then it pleased the apostles and elders, with the whole church,<\/em>\u00a0to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas,<\/em>namely, Judas who was also named Barsabas,\u00a0<\/em>and Silas, leading men among the brethren.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This decision to send men to Antioch is said to have the approval of the\u00a0whole church<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Does this term ever apply to\u00a0only<\/em>\u00a0the\u00a0men<\/em>\u00a0of the congregation?<\/li>\n
  2. If not, do we not infer from this that the women of the congregation had some means of expressing their approval?<\/li>\n
  3. How would they do this and not violate the command to \u201ckeep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak<\/em>\u201d (I Corinthians 14:34)?<\/li>\n
  4. Could this indicate that their \u201csilence\u201d is not absolute but means something else (cf. the prophet who has something revealed to a neighboring prophet in I Corinthians 14:30. Does this mean that he cannot utter a sound or is his \u201csilence\u201d just\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0prophesying?)<\/li>\n
  5. Might these women of the Jerusalem congregation have whispered their approval of this idea to their husbands without violating the command to be silent and to be in subjection?<\/li>\n
  6. Does \u201csilent\u201d mean absolute silence (i.e., no sound whatsoever)?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I know you have probably already had this question posed to you and you may have even covered it in the material on the web site and I just missed it. I would appreciate any thoughts you have from the Bible.<\/p>\n\t

    Answer:<\/h2>\n

    When the last indexing said there are over 5,200 pages of information on the site, I’m not surprised you (or I for that matter) have trouble finding just the item of information you’re looking for. I addressed the topic of Acts 15 a few times, but probably the one you will find most useful is the one titled “Business Meetings<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

    The phrase “whole church” is used several times in the New Testament<\/p>\n