I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the traditions just as I passed them on to you. But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is the same as having her head shaved. For if a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should cover her head.
A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. It is for this reason that a woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.
Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God.
- 1 Corinthians 11:2-16
The next few chapters of Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth deal with issues related to worship in the church. Paul uses a small Greek conjunction to start off this section, which indicates that he’s bringing up this topic on his own rather than answering a question that they had asked him. This passage has become one of those highly-contested passages among churches because many believe it addresses one aspect of the role of women in the church.
Rather than do my usual verse-by-verse commentary on this passage, I want to look at this passage as a whole and look at some overall concepts that are discussed here. One of the key words in this passage is the word for “head,” as both head coverings (or a lack thereof) are discussed as well as the idea of headship and authority. The word “head” can mean multiple different things depending on its context, including a physical head on a body, a source or origin, a person in authority, completion, and other meanings. Which meaning Paul intends here is the crux of the argument.
In verse 3, we see what first appears to be a hierarchical structure; God, then Christ, then man below Christ, then woman below man. The fundamental argument of this passage actually goes back to the Creation account (particularly the creation of man and woman in Genesis 2) and how a person interprets that passage. If you interpret creation as being hierarchical (i.e., man created first and then woman in a subordinate role), then you will also likely see this passage as being hierarchical. But if you see man and woman as created to be equals, then you will likely not see a headship hierarchy here in this passage but rather stating different but complementary roles. Whether man and woman were created in a hierarchy depends on how you interpret some words that even scholars dispute.
Verses 8-9 appear to support this hierarchy, by stating that woman came from man, and woman was created for man. But then Paul appears to change his mind in verses 11-12 where he indicates that man and woman are not independent of each other, and he implies equality by saying that “everything comes from God.” These statements are hard to reconcile with each other, and entire books have been written on this topic!
One view is that while men and women were viewed to have different (and often hierarchical) roles and statuses within society, Paul tells the believers that those in the church should behave differently. While verses 8-9 reflect the worldly view, verses 11-12 (which start with “Nevertheless, in the Lord…” reflect God’s design for the church, which states that the genders are distinct but equal in authority. It is important to note that when these Biblical texts were originally written (or, at least the most reliable manuscripts we have), they were not written with clear punctuation or other literary cues we may see today. Therefore, it would not have necessarily been clear from the written text if Paul was stating worldly thoughts and then contrasting them with Christian thoughts. That would have been clear to Paul’s original audience of the first-century church in Corinth because they were living in that culture, but there is too much historical and cultural distance between then and now for us to understand clearly.
For example, the idea of head coverings in worship is not really a big issue in the modern church, where it clearly was an issue for the Corinthians since Paul addresses it. It is not a key point of the whole of Scripture whether men or women should wear head coverings when praying or worshiping God, or whether men or women should have long hair or short hair. Of all the things that God instructed the human authors of Scripture to write and preserve for the Church, this is clearly not a key issue regarding living our lives as believers.
Many scholars agree that one point Paul is making here is that being proper and orderly is essential for worship. If there are distractions and disorder, whether due to head coverings or weird haircuts or anything else, then we will not be able to focus on God, which is not only our point in a worship service but also the point of our existence as humans. We honor God by focusing our lives on worshiping Him.
As with any Biblical text, it is important for us to interpret it in light of what it meant for its original audience. The letter of 1 Corinthians was not written directly to us in the 21st century; it was written in the first century to a specific body of believers in Corinth. Not every detail shared in Paul’s letter will apply directly to us, but the key theological principles do apply to us. The big question in this section of 1 Corinthians is, what are those key theological principles that cross over the historical and cultural distance?
The answer to that question depends on how various Biblical passages are interpreted, and this is one of those times that scholars basically agree that we do not have a clear answer. The argument can be made that this passage indicates that women should be subordinate to men in the church, but an equal argument can be made that this passage indicates that men and women are equals in the church. Where any individual person (or church) lands on this is a matter of interpretation. God doesn’t always make everything clear-cut and easy for us to understand, and this is one of those passages where that is evident.
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
0 comments:
Post a Comment