This series on the Bible from Greek perspective is based off my written notes, which I took as I attended a church conference on this topic in Apr 2025.

Speaker: Ps Memos

The God of history:

• We think we can see everything sometimes, and unless the Bible opens our perspective we can’t see clearly
• Alexandra the Great in 12 years managed to conquer the whole world
• When the Jews came back from Babylon, Nehemiah saw they didn’t manage to finish building the second temple / walls, and felt worried
• So they started praying
• Then the great king Alexandra saw the crowd from a distance, walked towards them and kneeled down before Nehemiah
• They brought Alexandra to the temple, and read him the first 8 chapters of Daniel, about prophecy of the goat (Macedonia) attacking the ram (Persian empire)
• And Alexandra said Daniel was talking about me, the king of Macedonia
• He was then converted, and spared taking Jerusalem
• When Daniel was writing that, the Macedonian city (whose name means goat), didn’t even exist at that time
• God is our god of history, who knows everything before it happens

Should women be permitted to teach:

• 1 Cor 14:34-35: Women should be silent in church, they are not authorised to speak, if they want know something, they should ask their husbands
• 1 Tim 2:11-12: A woman must learn quietly with all submissiveness, I do not allow (strong Greek word) a woman to have authority over a man
• Should women not preach in pulpit? What about women teaching in Sunday school?
• Let’s look closely at whether women have the authority to teach and preach in the church
• In Corinth, the culture was that if any part of your body was sick, they would isolate it from the rest of the body, and bring it to the temple and pray for it to be healed
• If you read 1 Cor 12, how God has arrange the parts in the body that they fit, so that the whole body is one
• If you have a single member of your body that is isolated, because it is sick, then the body is incomplete
• Similarly, if I isolate myself pull myself out of the local church, I may say I’m safe, and part of the kingdom of God
• But we have to be connected with the rest of the body
• If you are just a finger, or foot, you can accomplish nothing
• You have to be connected, so the whole body can move ahead, to what God wants to do through it

Corinthian contextual background:

• So when the Corinthians heard Paul talking like this, they knew what he was talking
• Corinthian was a very wealthy city, because they extracted copper polished it for a long time, and turned it into a mirror
• That’s why Paul says we see ourselves in the mirror dimly, as we see our reflection in God (1 Cor 13:12)
• The Corinthians also used the Diolkos which is a shortcut track to pull boats through land, instead of letting it circle long around the waters
• That saved a lot of cost, and brought wealth, but also corruption
• And it was so bad because they had so many sailors from all nations, ploughing through the city
• Women were shaving their head, which was the pride of women, their head covering, to serve other gods
• That was why Paul wrote to Corinthians about head covering
• Another group of women were prostitutes mainly serving the sailors, who painted their toenails red
• The last group of women were those who talked and flirted with men in the streets, where back then in their culture it is not customary for women to walk out on the streets
• In Greek the word for ‘speaking’, ‘teaching’, ‘preaching’, ‘prophesying’, etc, are all different terms
• So in 1 Cor 14 Paul actually say this that the woman should be silent, and not allowed to speak, is referring to this group of women who may give others wrong impression, making church look like a filthy place
• Today we also tell church members to be careful how they conduct themselves outside
• In 1 Tim 2:11-12, Paul says he doesn’t allow a woman to teach (verb) or exercise (verb) authority over a man, but to remain quiet
• The verbs are in this verse are in the infinitive, meaning Paul has a purpose behind what he say
• Paul is saying it is not permitted for woman to preach or teach, but as long they are given permission and authority by the church to do so
• We do have the authority of the local church, which we all submit to
• So if 50% of the church are woman, and don’t allow them to teach, then we have missed half the body of Christ in the church
• There are times I discipline my kids and my tone changes, they know I still love them, but I have to tell them no you don’t go there, because it is good for you
• Similarly, we must respect and submit to the authority of the church
• That was what Paul was talking about women, they have to submit to church authority
• They can do any kind of ministry in the church that are authentic, but they cannot bring in new teachings the Bible does not talk about
• You know in Greece we never had any visitation of the Holy Spirit like from the days of Paul?
• Through the church age, we struggled and died, we don’t listen to the gospel, and today we are so focussed on pleasure

Coming under our covering:

• It may be difficult for woman to come under covering, because of all the deception going in the world that they may bring in new doctrinal teachings, which are the business of apostles
• And when a woman comes like this to the church, they bring forth false doctrines
• Just like in Gen 6, the fallen angels, also called men of renown, came and took women on the earth for themselves, and they bore them children
• So we believe in women preachers, women are God’s secret weapon
• Eve was exposed in the garden of Eden to deception from Satan, without his covering Adam
• So women need to make sure to come under proper covering, their husbands, and church