In Awe of the One Who Gave It All

This morning started like any other morning that had come before it, well, perhaps a bit happier. I had just gotten back from business travel in upstate NY and was more than eager to get back into the swing of things, back in my favorite place on the globe: Fredericksburg, Virginia. Now I know I will get some chuckles for this one because so many of my friends have spent their whole lives trying to pry themselves away from it, but I have a certain fondness for the tree and suburb filled chunk of dirt. This probably stems from a tendency to gravitate toward the familiar.

So, to continue in my well worn pattern, I wake up in the morning and read my Bible. I start to flip back to the place where I had left off (Ephesians 4, for those curious) on my quest to read the New Testament by the start of August, and I realize something. I have been spending too much time with Paul. I miss Jesus.

Now, just to make it clear, I am well aware that I was no further away, this morning, from Christ himself from the moment of my salvation, to the heights of the life defining mountaintop experiences throughout my life, but after reading so much good scripture about Jesus' death and resurrection, I really wanted to hear something from Jesus himself (this in and of itself testifies to the worth of Paul's writings). So I did what anyone who wants to find some red letters, and wants to find them fast, does: I flipped to Matthew and landed on chapter 13.

Now, do I believe that the most accurate way to get what God wants you to know is through "random" bible page flipping? Not a chance (of course, true random chance does not exist in this universe, but that's a discussion for another time) . If God spoke purely though "chance" or arbitrary page flipping, I would carry a set of Boggle dice in my pocket to make decisions. But I am sane, and I know that we come to God on His terms, not ours, so I don't. But that does not mean, that sometimes, God does not speak to us though means that seem "chance like" upon first inspection.

Here is what I flipped to:

He who has ears, let him hear. "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

After the immediate feelings of the sheer happiness (no I am not trying to be overly fakey spiritual about this, I am telling the truth) of hearing the words of the immortal creator in human flesh, I had realised something. "I think I've been getting this passage wrong for awhile!". Every time I read a passage again, I usually will notice something else will stand out since last reading, but this was different, and it wa something that helped me immensely, and you will see why as I explain:

In previous readings I had understood the one to find the treasure and the field to be the believer, the one who sells it all to gain the kingdom of God. But, presently, I am pretty sure that I was wrong before, and that Christ was talking about himself in this instance. Now, would it be good for a person "sell it all" and gain the kingdom of God, ideally? Yes.

But that would be great, if it was not impossible.

Because I have nothing.

I started with nothing.

All of my work to amass worth of my own even to transfer to God's cause will amount to no more than nothing. Even the work that I do for the kingdom is not mine to give, but is done in His name, meaning I am permitted to do the work while the glory of the job completely bypasses myself and goes directly to God.

Christ is not teling us what to do in this passage (Matthew 13), He is simply giving us the current state of things, telling us how things are (Christ does command us to follow Him in certain ways, but this passage does not appear to be one of these). And this becomes fairly clear when the verses in question are not removed from the context ofthe other paravles in this passage: the sower, the wheat and the tares, the mustard seed and the dividing of the fish. (We are clearly not the sifters or the fish sorters)

Now the reason that I am sharing this with you: I believe that we can get so caught up in trying to do things that only God can do properly, that we miss the point, that we cannot do this on our own, we cannot buy His favor, or earn His fondness. The works will naturally (new-naturally, that is) come out in us through the Holy Spirit's changing work in us, but that is all Him and in no way ours.

I want to remind you that He found us. In the dirt. From clam's mouth in the mucky part of the shallows. And that we are His treasure and He hold's us very dearly. Dearly enough to give up what was entitled to Him and take on what He did not deserve.

I think that sometimes, it is easy for a Christian to forget that He loves us so much.

Idea for some new Worship helper software

After a few years of doing the whole leading Worship music thing, I have noticed that getting a set list organized and together can be a little bit of a chore. I know that some churches and ministries have enough of a division of labor to adequately deal with this: one person is in charge of the music, another in charge of doing the slides or lyrics ordering, another who does the video and audio media organizing, but I would imagine, that in some smaller ministries, there are a few people who wear a lot of these hats simultaneously.

Now don't get me wrong, I love doing it all, but there are a few steps in the process that could be eradicated altogether with a correctly written piece of software. I actually write software for a living, solving people's problems by way of better way of getting computers to kill repetitive dumb tasking by humans, and freeing them up to make decisions.

To illustrate this point, here is something I do every time I need to get a piece of music together:

1. Get a chord sheet, either off of the Internet or some that has come with a companion cd from a book. Sometimes, I just type them up myself because they are needed for the instrumentalists.

2. Next I ether use an existing key, guess a good alternate key, or whip out the acoustic guitar and sing by trial and error for the purpose of establishing a good key that the song should be in (basically, a sanity check on the chords picked, making sure they fit my vocal range)

3. Transpose the song to the new key, usually using a little free online app made for that purpose (http://logue.net/xp)

4. Next, I usually do another transposition, to adjust the chords to more same ones using a capo.

5. After this, I print music for all of the people who will need it, most of the times, I print differently transposed versions: one for the guitarists using a capo, and the others for everyone else.

6. Next, I take the chord sheets and strip out all of the chords and use them to paste into slides for presentation use.

7. Then, I format the slides for presentation (using dreambeam)

As you can see this process uses a few pieces of things in different places. It is my desire, to pull all of this functionality into one piece of software, so that I can save the time, not just for myself (hopefully, the effort will eventually pay for itself in reclaimed time for just myself alone) but optimistically for other people as well. I hope to also make it as professional as any other bit of work that I normally do, hopefully, I want to outdo other applications that do little parts of this process, such as dreambeam, or commercial packages like PowerPoint(tm) and MediaShout(tm)

Now to be up front, if this software really became useful, I would probably want to market it, but I would probably sell it for a little cheaper (possibly hundreds of dollars cheaper) than software that handles just the presentation portion of this.

Here are some things that I have brainstormed up that I would want in a worship helper program, let me know if you can think of any other things that would be helpful:

Brainstorming For Worship Helper Program

• Set Planner mode (all bout getting the overrching music set up and running, user will go into song planning mode from her for the purpose of adding new songs to the the setlist, If there are songs in the setlist already, then song planning mode will not need to be entered )

  • Easy theme construction (with quick updating preview)

  • Automatic song set planner based on certain song parameters.

  • Calendar for sets / personnel management

• online component, for consumption by band members,

  • might publish files to existing services, like blogs or other pre-existent online calendars

  • worse comes to worse, this might need to be its own web script, one that takes in XML files and then parses them

• Song Planning mode (all about getting a certain song ready for playing)

  • Transposition

  • Chord sheet parsing

    • use of lyrics in presentation slides (Create song from Chord sheet)

    • Clickable chord sheets, allowing a the user to look up chords or hear the chords when clicked on

  • Song sheet / Chord Sheet printing (selective, accounting for capo use on guitars)

  • Allowing the order to be set properly for the chord sheets to match the slides and vice versa

  • Saving attachments to songs, like pdf or gif or jpeg chord or music sheets.

  • Guitar chord library

  • Piano Chord library

  • Simple Mouse Clickable keyboard, for the purpose of establishing proper range of a song

• Worship Planning Mode (final presentation step, this is the mode that will control how things go to the screen will show how things will work in presentation mode)

• slide types – that can be placed inside of the order of worship:

  • Intro (Countdown + music) mode

  • Worship Music Mode (“slidesets” songs will be grouped as a collection of slides, not just a single slide)

  • Graphical Mode

  • Video mode

  • Teaching notes mode / Bible verse mode

• Easy rearrangement of slides and slidesets

• possible printing of lyrics only songsheets and order of worship bulletins

• Presentation mode (this mode will control all that goes to the screen during a worship service)

  • Dual monitor Support

  • Easy and intuitive control allowing the use of either mouse, keyboard, or other types of controls that are used especially to control presentation software (power point does this well, but dream beam does not do as good of job with this)

  • easy backtracking to certain points in a song, such as the ability to immediately go back to a chorus or a certain verse. This needs to not require use of the mouse / touchpad as dream beam does.

• Secondary requirements (things that might be nice to have in a program):

  • Slide transitions

  • Really pretty nonstandard interface, maclike (possibly black and shiny and glossy?)

  • Potential Mac OSX compatibility (or at least, not making any design decisions that would preclude the future use of the OSX platform)

Sunday, Lessons Learned through Songwriting

Another Sunday has come and nearly passed and I am sitting down in the Southpoint Starbucks, waiting for everything to draw to a close and trying to use up the rest of this day in the most productive way possible. This is probably not a fitting attitude for someone who I running off of 3 hours of sleep (yes, my last post was written in one night, last night. And no, you don't have to tell me, the sudden urge to write a research paper on ones own initiative in one sitting, at midnight is “un-normal” at best), a Red Bull, and a cup of chai, but I can dream cant I?

Anyway, I have a song to finish writing, which is part of an album project that I want to get finished by the end of this year. It's mostly done, the bridge and the chorus are fully formed, but I am hoping to get at least one repeatable verse in there in time to have the song ready for band practice on Tuesday. It is actually, a little more “hard hitting” then the previous two works, and I hope that others are able to appreciate it in the same way that I do.

I am finding that the songs that “I” write (I use quotes because I am still not fully convinced that I am allowed to take full credit for the songs, they just kind of “come out”) are getting stuck in my own head, which seems weird to me, because I would have assumed that a songwriter gets sick of the song during the writing process. I guess I had figured, that after holding it's hand through the whole process, smoothing out all of the faults, rough spots, and shaping it into something that still defied perfection, that I would some how “fall out of love” with them. That ultimately, the songs would be something that I wake up to in the morning after a night of writing and playing, look at the lyrics and chord sheets wondering if I am making the right choices or if I had gotten caught up in the moment, and given my time, energy, heart and soul to something that was going to be a waste of time. I am overjoyed that this has not been the case so far. That even though I might have fleeting feelings that put themselves in the “what have I done” or “you are so not pulling this off” category, I am still able to pick things back up and continue the work of creating “messages encapsulated within song” that others can carry around with them, continuing to praise God through mental replaying, long after the song's last note had been played and the PA and guitar amps have been powered down for the night, letting me briefly rest in the satisfaction that I have been used to achieve something that points others to Christ.

This process of writing has taught me an important lesson that I believe can be used in all aspects of my life: That I can do nothing unless I trust God. Will I feel stupid sometimes? You bet. Will I mess up? Yup. But the only way that I can hope to achieve a true sense of confidence that is not founded in a distorted perception of my own abilities is to simply throw the stones which God places in my hand at the intended target as hard as I possibly can. I have to remember that God does not need my help, and that the reason for my involvement in the whole process is to spend quality time with the Lord Himself: to draw me further into a relationship with Him.

I have become well aware that there is no way to enjoy the life which God has given to me to the absolute fullest unless I am willing to trust him in all areas.

However, this seems to be easier said than done.

Probably because I cannot do it all by myself.

But I take comfort that there is always hope.

Because there is always help.

-Joey

The Biblical Role of a Woman Within the Church (A Word Study)

By Joseph B. Payton

Introduction

During my time of learning about the word of God from various teachers, Biblical commentators, pastors and other servants of God that were placed in my life, I have heard many variations on the dynamics of how men and women in the church should relate to one another. There are some who seem to cling to the letter of the English translations of the written word of God, following in the mindset that women in general should be submissive to men in general (most often times citing 1 Timothy 2 or 1 Corinthians 14) despite whether the women in question are married or not. There are also those who throw the clear and written word of God to the four winds, dismissing the clear God given order of things as an anachronism, something that was meant for a different time and cultural context.

Upon inspection of God's holy and inerrant and infallible Word. I would have to conclude that both camps might possibly have a flawed understanding of the scriptures that pertain to this topic.

Being myself a man, I find it to be my duty to treat all of God's image bearers with the respect that I am commanded to. As far as I am concerned, every man has the responsibility to uphold justice in whatever sphere he has been given the ability and direction by God to do so. It is my goal that a woman who reads this is encouraged to perform with more confidence all that God has given her to do. It is also my goal that all men who read this are reminded of their responsibilities to encourage their fellow sisters in Christ to shine the brightest that they can for the Lord's service and that those men who are married, or plan to be some day, will see the importance of their leadership roles.

Therefore, I have tried, with every best effort in retaining objectivity, to perform a fair analysis of the Greek texts that are available to me (for those who follow such things, the text I used is a hardbound copy of the United Bible Society's Greek New Testament Revision 4) as well as a piece of Bible software called e-Sword that has within itself, advanced searching functionality and a copy of the King James Version of the Bible annotated with references to the word listings in “Strongs Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible”. In the following illustrations that will be used to support this argument, all scripture examples include this annotation (green numbers). Simply put, this is so that you, the reader, can line up the Greek word with it's English translated meaning within the verse.

The words that were most closely examined in this study were the following words:

G435 ἀνήρ anēr an'-ayr

A primary word (compare G444); a man (properly as an individual male): - fellow, husband, man, sir.

G1135 γυνή gunē goo-nay'

Probably from the base of G1096; a woman; specifically a wife: - wife, woman.

Uses of words other than Aner and Gune where they are translated as Man and Woman (in the KJV)

In the following passages, words other than the word pair of Aner and Gune are used to describe a relationship in the passage between a man and a woman. It is fairly clear, in all of these instances, even those which the word Gune (Strong's # 1135) is used to mean woman, that it refers, as the word often does, to a woman in general, and the meaning is not constrained to mean a “wife” specifically.

The Greek word “Aner” (Strong's # 435) is not and instead “Anthropos” (which is the most common word used to describe a man in the NT) is used along with other words and masculine gendered pronouns.

(Act 13:50) But1161 the3588 Jews2453 stirred up3951 the3588 devout4576 and2532 honorable2158 women,1135 and2532 the3588 chief men4413 of the3588 city,4172 and2532 raised1892 persecution1375 against1909 Paul3972 and2532 Barnabas,921 and2532 expelled1544 them846 out of575 their848 coasts.3725

(Rev 14:4) These3778 are1526 they which3739 were not3756 defiled3435 with3326 women;1135 for1063 they are1526 virgins.3933 These3778 are1526 they which follow190 the3588 Lamb721 whithersoever3699, 302 he goeth.5217 These3778 were redeemed59 from575 among men,444 being the firstfruits536 unto God2316 and2532 to the3588 Lamb.721

(Luk 7:39) Now1161 when the3588 Pharisee5330 which had bidden2564 him846 saw1492 it, he spake2036 within1722 himself,1438 saying,3004 This man,3778 if1487 he were2258 a prophet,4396 would have known1097, 302 who5101 and2532 what manner4217 of woman1135 this is that3748 toucheth680 him:846 for3754 she is2076 a sinner.268

(Joh 4:27) And2532 upon1909 this5129 came2064 his846 disciples,3101 and2532 marveled2296 that3754 he talked2980 with3326 the woman:1135 yet3305 no man3762 said,2036 What5101 seekest2212 thou? or,2228 Why5101 talkest2980 thou with3326 her?846

(Joh 8:10) When1161 Jesus2424 had lifted up352 himself, and2532 saw2300 none3367 but4133 the3588 woman,1135 he said2036 unto her,846 Woman,1135 where4226 are1526 those1565 thine4675 accusers?2725 hath no man3762 condemned2632 thee?4571

(Joh 16:21) A woman1135 when3752 she is in travail5088 hath2192 sorrow,3077 because3754 her846 hour5610 is come:2064 but1161 as soon as3752 she is delivered1080 of the3588 child,3813 she remembereth3421 no3756 more2089 the3588 anguish,2347 for1223 joy5479 that3754 a man444 is born1080 into1519 the3588 world.2889

(1Co 7:1) Now1161 concerning4012 the things whereof3739 ye wrote1125 unto me:3427 It is good2570 for a man444 not3361 to touch680 a woman.1135

(1Ti 5:16) If any1536 man4103 or2228 woman that believeth4103 have2192 widows,5503 let them relieve1884 them,846 and2532 let not3361 the3588 church1577 be charged;916 that2443 it may relieve1884 them that are widows5503 indeed.3689

(Rev 12:13) And2532 when3753 the3588 dragon1404 saw1492 that3754 he was cast906 unto1519 the3588 earth,1093 he persecuted1377 the3588 woman1135 which3748 brought forth5088 the3588 man730 child.

Use of the words Aner and Gune where they are translated as Husband and Wife (in the KJV)

In the following passages, the word pair of Aner and Gune are used to describe a relationship in the passage between a man and a woman. It is fairly clear, in all of these instances, that the words Aner and Gune, used together in this manner, mean “Husband” and “Wife”. They are translated as such by the KJV translators.

(Luk 16:18) Whosoever3956 putteth away630 his848 wife,1135 and2532 marrieth1060 another,2087 committeth adultery:3431 and2532 whosoever3956 marrieth1060 her that is put away630 from575 her husband435 committeth adultery.3431

(1Co 7:2) Nevertheless,1161 to avoid(1223) fornication,4202 let every man1538 have2192 his own1438 wife,1135 and2532 let every woman1538 have2192 her own2398 husband.435

(1Co 7:3) Let the3588 husband435 render591 unto the3588 wife1135 due3784 benevolence:2133 and1161 likewise3668 also2532 the3588 wife1135 unto the3588 husband.435

(1Co 7:4) The3588 wife1135 hath not power1850, 3756 of her own2398 body,4983 but235 the3588 husband:435 and1161 likewise3668 also2532 the3588 husband435 hath not power1850, 3756 of his own2398 body,4983 but235 the3588 wife.1135

(1Co 7:10) And1161 unto the3588 married1060 I command,3853 yet not3756 I,1473 but235 the3588 Lord,2962 Let not3361 the wife1135 depart5563 from575 her husband:435

(1Co 7:11) But1161 and2532 if1437 she depart,5563 let her remain3306 unmarried,22 or2228 be reconciled2644 to her husband:435 and2532 let not3361 the husband435 put away863 his wife.1135

(1Co 7:14) For1063 the3588 unbelieving571 husband435 is sanctified37 by1722 the3588 wife,1135 and2532 the3588 unbelieving571 wife1135 is sanctified37 by1722 the3588 husband:435 else1893, (686) were2076 your5216 children5043 unclean;169 but1161 now3568 are2076 they holy.40

(1Co 7:16) For1063 what5101 knowest1492 thou, O wife,1135 whether1487 thou shalt save4982 thy husband?435 or2228 how5101 knowest1492 thou, O man,435 whether1487 thou shalt save4982 thy wife?1135

(1Co 7:34) There is difference also between3307 a wife1135 and2532 a virgin.3933 The3588 unmarried woman22 careth for3309 the things3588 of the3588 Lord,2962 that2443 she may be5600 holy40 both2532 in body4983 and2532 in spirit:4151 but1161 she that is married1060 careth for3309 the things3588 of the3588 world,2889 how4459 she may please700 her husband.435

(1Co 7:39) The wife1135 is bound1210 by the law3551 as long as1909, 3745, 5550 her848 husband435 liveth;2198 but1161 if1437 her848 husband435 be dead,2837 she is2076 at liberty1658 to be married1060 to whom3739 she will;2309 only3440 in1722 the Lord.2962

(Eph 5:23) For3754 the3588 husband435 is2076 the head2776 of the3588 wife,1135 even2532 as5613 Christ5547 is the head2776 of the3588 church:1577 and2532 he846 is2076 the savior4990 of the3588 body.4983

(Eph 5:33) Nevertheless4133 let every one1538 of you5210 (2532) in particular2596, 1520 so3779 love25 his1438 wife1135 even as5613 himself;1438 and1161 the3588 wife1135 see that2443 she reverence5399 her husband.435

(1Ti 3:2) A bishop1985 then3767 must1163 be1511 blameless,423 the husband435 of one3391 wife,1135 vigilant,3524 sober,4998 of good behavior,2887 given to hospitality,5382 apt to teach;1317

(Tit 1:6) If any1536 be2076 blameless,410 the husband435 of one3391 wife,1135 having2192 faithful4103 children5043 not3361 accused1722, 2724 of riot810 or2228 unruly.506

(Eph 5:22) Wives,1135 submit yourselves5293 unto your own2398 husbands,435 as5613 unto the3588 Lord.2962

(Eph 5:24) Therefore235 as5618 the3588 church1577 is subject unto5293 Christ,5547 so3779 let the3588 wives1135 be to their own2398 husbands435 in1722 every thing.3956

(Eph 5:25) Husbands,435 love25 your1438 wives,1135 even as2531 Christ5547 also2532 loved25 the3588 church,1577 and2532 gave3860 himself1438 for5228 it;846

(Col 3:18) Wives,1135 submit yourselves5293 unto your own2398 husbands,435 as5613 it is fit433 in1722 the Lord.2962

(Col 3:19) Husbands,435 love25 your wives,1135 and2532 be not bitter4087, 3361 against4314 them.846

(1Pe 3:1) Likewise,3668 ye wives,1135 be in subjection5293 to your own2398 husbands;435 that,2443 if any1536 obey not544 the3588 word,3056 they also2532 may without427 the word3056 be won2770 by1223 the3588 conversation391 of the3588 wives;1135

Use of the words Aner and Gune where they are translated as Man and Woman (in the KJV)

In the following passages, the word pair of Aner and Gune are used to describe a relationship in the passage between a man and a woman. It is not a stretch by any means, based on the context, and not to mention the pre-established language patterns used in the Greek of the NT, that all instances of “Aner” and “Gune” used in the same verse/sentence can be translated respectively as “Husband” and “Wife” or in some instances without destroying or even slightly eroding the meaning of the sentence. If fact, I believe that the meanings, in light of other examples, are ones pertaining to people who fall within marital relationships.

(Mat 14:21) And1161 they that had eaten2068 were2258 about5616 five thousand4000 men,435 beside5565 women1135 and2532 children.3813

(Mat 15:38) And1161 they that did eat2068 were2258 four thousand5070 men,435 beside5565 women1135 and2532 children.3813

(Act 5:14) And1161 believers4100 were the more3123 added4369 to the3588 Lord,2962 multitudes4128 both5037 of men435 and2532 women.)1135

(Act 8:3) As for(1161) Saul,4569 he made havoc3075 of the3588 church,1577 entering into1531 every house,2596, 3624 and5037 haling4951 men435 and2532 women1135 committed3860 them to1519 prison.5438

(Act 8:12) But1161 when3753 they believed4100 Philip5376 preaching2097 the things3588 concerning4012 the3588 kingdom932 of God,2316 and2532 the3588 name3686 of Jesus2424 Christ,5547 they were baptized,907 both5037 men435 and2532 women.1135

(Act 9:2) And desired154 of3844 him846 letters1992 to1519 Damascus1154 to4314 the3588 synagogues,4864 that3704 if1437 he found2147 any5100 of this(5607) way,3598 whether5037 they were men435 or2532 women,1135 he might bring71 them bound1210 unto1519 Jerusalem.2419

(Act 17:12) Therefore3767 many4183 (3303) of1537 them846 believed;4100 also2532 of honorable2158 women1135 which were Greeks,1674 and2532 of men,435 not3756 a few.3641

(Act 22:4) And I(3739) persecuted1377 this5026 way3598 unto891 the death,2288 binding1195 and2532 delivering3860 into1519 prisons5438 both5037 men435 and2532 women.1135

(1Co 11:3) But1161 I would2309 have you5209 know,1492 that3754 the3588 head2776 of every3956 man435 is2076 Christ;5547 and1161 the head2776 of the woman1135 is the3588 man;435 and1161 the head2776 of Christ5547 is God.2316

(1Co 11:7) For1063 a man435 indeed3303 ought3784 not3756 to cover2619 his head,2776 forasmuch as he is5225 the image1504 and2532 glory1391 of God:2316 but1161 the woman1135 is2076 the glory1391 of the man.435

(1Co 11:8) For1063 the man435 is2076 not3756 of1537 the woman;1135 but235 the woman1135 of1537 the man.435

(1Co 11:9) (1063) Neither2532, 3756 was the man435 created2936 for1223 the3588 woman;1135 but235 the woman1135 for1223 the3588 man.435

(1Co 11:11) Nevertheless4133 neither3777 is the man435 without5565 the woman,1135 neither3777 the woman1135 without5565 the man,435 in1722 the Lord.2962

(1Co 11:12) For1063 as5618 the3588 woman1135 is of1537 the3588 man,435 even so3779 is the3588 man435 also2532 by1223 the3588 woman;1135 but1161 all things3956 of1537 God.2316

I find it very curious, then, that the meaning of the following verse, which follows the same pattern as the others previously listed, is disputed in its translation.

(1Ti 2:12) But1161 I suffer2010 not3756 a woman1135 to teach,1321 nor3761 to usurp authority over831 the man,435 but235 to be1511 in1722 silence.2271

This verse is used in many churches to limit the involvement of women in general, married or unmarried, in their acceptance into certain roles within the Lord's service. I would argue that such a use of the scripture is completely and utterly non-Biblical. This verse has no application whatsoever to the station of an unmarried woman and should not me construed in such a way to distort the scope of the passage itself. The text should have clearly been translated (or should at least be read with understanding) in the following manner:

(1Ti 2:12) But1161 I suffer2010 not3756 a wife1135 to teach,1321 nor3761 to usurp authority over831 the husband,435 but235 to be1511 in1722 silence.2271

There is no question in my mind or any shadow of doubt that the Bible is very clear in its presentation of the role of a wife in regards to her own husband: A woman is to submit to her own husband. This can be seen very clearly in the example passages above and below. A woman is not to do anything for the purpose of undermining the original and natural order that is present at the creation of mankind. This is to mean that she is not to undermine her husband's authority, or to engage in any sort of activity whatsoever that would diminish the headship of her husband. But if she is not placed under a man's leadership by way of marriage, verses that relate to the husband and wife dynamic (at least in a human relational context) do not apply to her at this stage, except for instruction in the proper way that she should behave when/if she is to be married.

Now, to be perfectly fair in this argument, the examples used thus far are taken from an exhaustive search of the word pairings in question (man, woman; men, women; husband, wife; husbands, wives) but they do not account for other instances where the two words are used in close proximity such as the following example:

(1Co 14:34) Let your5216 women1135 keep silence4601 in1722 the3588 churches:1577 for1063 it is not3756 permitted2010 unto them846 to speak;2980 but235 they are commanded to be under obedience,5293 as2531 also2532 saith3004 the3588 law.3551

(1Co 14:35) And1161 if1487 they will2309 learn3129 any thing,5100 let them ask1905 their2398 husbands435 at1722 home:3624 for1063 it is2076 a shame149 for women1135 to speak2980 in1722 the church.1577

Nonetheless, There is no question here, that the word “they” refers to a pluralized form of the word “Gune” that is being used in relation to her husband. So it is safe to say that the word that is translated as “Women” in general, is more suited to a translation of “wives” due to it's context, and cannot be extended to mean all women in general, because all women simply do not have husbands.

So where do we place a single, unmarried woman in the grand scheme of service to the Church? The answer is contained in a verse that is contained in the set of examples that were previously used in this writing:

(1Co 7:34) There is difference also between3307 a wife1135 and2532 a virgin.3933 The3588 unmarried woman22 careth for3309 the things3588 of the3588 Lord,2962 that2443 she may be5600 holy40 both2532 in body4983 and2532 in spirit:4151 but1161 she that is married1060 careth for3309 the things3588 of the3588 world,2889 how4459 she may please700 her husband.435

An unmarried woman's job is to be submissive, not to an earthly man, but to the Lord himself. A single woman is to strive to serve God in whatever way that she is called. This is not to say that her service to the Lord is not needed and should not be sought when/if she is taken by a husband, but that she will continue to serve the Lord in her submission to her husband in her new duties: assistance of a man who is serving the Lord, encouraging him and enabling him to serve the Lord better with her help as well as participation in other scripturally established roles that do not minimize her husband's authority.

I draw the following conclusion based on my research:

If we are not to add to the scriptures, is that the only authority within the church that has any power over a woman who remains unmarried, is that which also has power over the men in the congregation.