“1 Corinthians 11:1-16”

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

“Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you. But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head. But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head, for she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved. For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head. For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man; for indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake. Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. However, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as the woman originates from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman; and all things originate from God. Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him, but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her? For her hair is given to her for a covering. But if one is inclined to be contentious, we have no other practice, nor have the churches of God.”

---End of Scripture verses---

Okay now this… This section really boils down to a lesson about submission. “Christ is the head of every man” (verse 3). It doesn’t matter whether people choose to admit this truth or willingly submit their will to the authority of Jesus or not. Christ is the head of the human race, and all of His creation is subordinate to Him. And, “the man is the head of a woman” (verse 3). It is a part of God’s divine order that women are to be subject to the authority of men. People don’t like that arrangement any more than they like the idea of subjection to Christ, but the opinion of the majority will never change God’s truth. Whoever rebels against this arrangement rebels against God the Father who is the head of all.

I believe that Paul was teaching the brethren that a woman’s submission to man is not nullified when she becomes a Christian. I believe the context teaches that there was a custom in Corinth for women to wear a “covering” or “veil” when in public as a “symbol of her submission to the authority of man (verse 10), and that custom did not change when they obeyed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If this is true, then the issue was not that women should PUT a veil over their head while “praying or prophesying” (verse 5), but that they must KEEP their veil on in such settings.

Here are some of the reasons why I believe that Paul was writing about a local custom and not a command for all women everywhere in every assembly. First and foremost, he actually called it a “custom” in verse 16. Also, the lesson that he was teaching us could be learned from “nature” and not by any law that God had previously enacted (verse 14). Paul also based the “nature” argument upon whether it is “proper” for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered (verse 13). The word “proper” means that which is proper or decent in terms of the customs of man.

Notice also that the women could do the same things the men could do, only they must have their head covered when they did it. In some setting, these Christian women could “pray and prophesy”. I don’t believe this was in the assembly because Paul stated clearly that the women must “keep silent” in that setting just a few chapters later (1 Corinthians 14:34). But it seems clear that some women received the gift of prophecy and there was a venue in which they could properly exercise this ability. Maybe it was in a small gathering, much like some of the Bible class or Bible study settings that we have today. Another good argument against the “covering” applying to all women universally is that the need for it ceased to exist when the age of miracles ceased, along with a woman’s ability to “prophecy”.

Some people take the stance that Paul settled the issue by saying that that God gave women their hair and that is all the covering they need, but that argument just doesn’t hold up at all. Paul argues that consistency would insist that, if women prayed or prophesied with their heads uncovered, they might as well shave their heads as well (verse 6). But he is not arguing that a woman’s hair was a suitable enough covering for them to properly express their submission to man while praying and prophesying (verse 15). That would completely negate the need to argue in favor of keeping their covering on in the first place. He is just saying that the uncovered head is just as shameful as the shaved head (verse 5).

Please read 1 Corinthians 11:17-22 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

- Louie Taylor

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