# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1956_S565
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

INTERSYNODICAL AND DOCTRINAL MATTERS 565

Scriptural subordination. Christ’s subordination to God in His
mediatorial work guards against any such misconception. Sub-
ordination is not synonymous with inferiority, or superordination
with superiority. In many cases the wife towers over her husband
both intellectually and spiritually. This, however, does not cancel
his headship. The church’s message concerning the “subjection
of woman” and its practical implementation through application
of the principles set forth in the Pauline passages treated above
does not arise from a desire to suppress woman or from a low
estimate of woman; it shows concern for the fulfillment of the
will of the divine Creator, for in the doing of the will of God the
deepest nature of the human being is unfolded. (On this whole
question of “subordination” Zerbst’s treatment is classical. See
his treatise, pp. 69—81.)

4. Do the Pauline injunctions infringe upon the privileges and
responsibilities of the royal priestess?

No more so than is the case with the Christian layman by
reason of the public preaching office of the pastor. A rich life of
witness and service was unfolded by women in the very earliest
days of the church, including teaching, yes, religious teaching in
the home and elsewhere in situations that did not compromise the
headship-subordination principle. Vast areas have opened and
more, no doubt, will open for the royal priestess of our day. By and
large in our Synod they have responded nobly to their oppor-
tunities, often to the shame of their spiritual brothers.

5. What lesson for all lies in the picture of “woman learning
in silence in the church”?

Besides the constant reminder of the wisdom and goodness
of God to us poor sinners in His Creation Order, particularly in
the blessings of home and family, there is also this unmistakable
reminder: the “silent listener” is the representative of the hearing
congregation to which all must belong, including the preacher.
The two Marys in the Gospel serve as a prototype of this con-
gregation of hearers: Mary of Nazareth, storing up precious treas-
ures (Luke 2:19,51) and quietly taking her place in the post-
Ascension gatherings (Acts 1:14); Mary of Bethany choosing the
good part as she sits at the feet of the Master listening to His
words (Luke 10:39). These “hearing Marys” throughout the ages
have been the conservators of the truth as they trained their chil-
dren in their most impressionable years. The “prophetesses” have
left no mark on history. But eternity alone can tell the full story,
chapters of which we have all experienced, of the incalculable
effects of the “silent listener” — the Christian wife and mother.