Question: I have often wondered what it meant by a woman prophesying, since she was forbidden to speak in an assembly of people.
Answer: Philip had four daughters that prophesied (Acts 21:8-9; 1 Cor. 11:5). The Scriptures were not completed then, and God could and did reveal His mind on certain occasions, such as Acts 11:28; 21:10-11. God made an unconverted priest, Caiaphas, to prophesy (John 11:49-52). In none of these cases was it speaking in the assembly, and these communications of Philip’s daughters could be conveyed to the assembly if it was given for that purpose by their father or by any brother.
Question: Please explain: “If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” 1 Peter 4:18.
Answer: The first Epistle of Peter shows the privileges of the saints under the government of God in their earthly journey. Peter wrote to the converted Jews, who, with all the other Jews, were driven out of Palestine and scattered among the Gentiles (1 Peter 1:1) by the Romans. Their spiritual blessings are spoken of (verses 2-9, 18-19, 23; and many other passages), so that their eternal salvation was secured without a doubt.
The Jew had all to suffer banishment, but the Christians had, as well, to suffer for well doing (2:20; 3:17), and also for Christ’s sake (4:13-16), and with this last, a reward of heavenly glory was promised (4:13; 5:10; Matt. 5:11-12). And already the spirit of glory and of God rested on them (4:14).
But they were allowed to go through troubles and fiery trials in the judgment of God’s house, upon them in discipline, and in it, they were to commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing as unto a faithful Creator, and if this judgment began with the Christian, what would the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? It is thus, the righteous were saved through difficulties; the trials and judgments which beset them, as of the Jewish nationality; and the poor unsaved had the sufferings, but nothing but eternal woe at the end as Christ rejectors.