Headship and Submission Pt. 4

1 Corinthians chapter 11. Well, we are working our way
through this, what I would call very chewy first half of chapter
11. And you all have been very patient
with me as I’m plotting my way through this very difficult section
of God’s Word. I’ve been encouraged to hear
that even though I have refrained yet from making application of
the head covering portion of this, God’s people have found
plenty of nourishment and personal application from these verses.
These are some of the things people have acknowledged to me. The reminder from verse 2 about
verbally noting the positive things that you see in other
people’s lives. That’s what Paul does there in
verse two. The reminder from verse three
of the principle of biblical headship and submission. It’s
there in every sphere of our life. The reminder from verses
four through nine of divine order. that this is God’s design from
the beginning of creation. And so we come again to this
section of Scripture, chapter 11 verses 2 through 16, and we’ll
make a little more headway this morning. Paul, as we have seen,
is dealing with problems in the Corinthian church. In chapters
7 through 14, it’s nothing but problems. And the specific problem
that he’s confronting in the first half of this chapter is
that of his concern regarding headship and submission. And
this problem was manifesting itself in Corinth by means of
the insubordination of some of the church’s members. Frankly,
some of the female members. Paul was always greatly troubled
at the report or the sign of any kind of disunity in his churches. And if you realize that he speaks
to disunity in nearly every epistle he writes. The church of all
places in the world should be a place of unity. It should be
a place of joyful submission to the God-given leadership. There should not be strife and
acrimony and self-seeking, not in the church. But the problem
in Corinth was worse than anywhere. Here, some of the women not only
wanted to preach and teach, they wanted to direct the church.
And so Paul, once again, has to address a fresh cause of disunity. In order to begin to correct
his errant church, he reminds them at the outset of his discussion
of the principle of headship and submission. The principle
affects every sphere of our lives. And so at the outset of his discussion,
he reminds them of the principle in verse 3. Christ is the head
of every man, the man is the head of the woman, and God is
the head of Christ. He employs the very simple metaphor
of the human body, which is directed and controlled by the head. And
he uses three examples. Out of a myriad of potential
examples he could have selected, he chooses the institution of
the church, the institution of the family, and the collective
idea of the Godhead, the Trinity. Each of these organizations,
if you will, has its given head to which the body is to submit. The head, the head is the governing
portion. The body of each of these groups
is expected to submit to the leadership of its given head. It’s a simple metaphor. Paul’s
point in all of this is that there is supposed to be divine
order in everything, and the natural functioning of headship
and submission is supposed to be evident. Both are necessary. A body is nothing without its
head, and a head is nothing without its body. Neither is a body without
a functioning directing head, or a head without a yielded,
submitted body. A lack of leadership or rebellion
in any organization produces chaos and ultimately destruction. God designed order. God desires order, and He desires
order in every sphere of life. And so no matter the size or
purpose of the organization or institution, it functions best
when it functions according to headship and submission. And
we’ve seen again and again that we will invariably find ourselves
in one of these two roles. We will either be in a position
given the responsibility to lead or the responsibility to follow.
There is no third option. The third option is anarchy.
Divine order means headship and submission. That’s God’s design. And so Paul says the man, every
man, is subject to Christ, the head of the church. And every woman, every woman,
is subject to man, both in the home to her own God-given husband,
if married, and to the leadership of the church. That’s God’s design. And the Corinthians knew this,
at least in theory. This wasn’t new information to
them. But they were having a very difficult
time because they were not living according to the principles of
headship and submission, at least in the church. And the most blatant
example of this was in the church. Now, let’s pause. This may be a bit overdue. I’ve said it a few times, I’ve
alluded to it a number of times, but let me, before I say even
another word, men, about insubordination, lack of submission, I want to
reiterate the idea, the need of headship. Heads of a body,
leaders, if you will, need to lead. That’s their function.
That’s their God-given function. One of the things that promotes
insubordination is a lack of leadership. It happens in civil
government. It happens in the workplace.
It happens in the church and it happens in the home. A lack
of leadership, the failure of the head to lead creates a vacuum. And it’s a vacuum that must be
filled and it will be filled. May I say it as plainly as this? If we men aren’t doing our duty
Our God-given duty, either in home or in the church, by leading,
by providing good and godly direction, by functioning according to our
design as heads, whether of our individual families
or as leaders in the church, if we are not doing and fulfilling
our duty, then someone will. Even if it’s our wives in our
homes, or the women in the church. The vacuum of leadership will
be filled. For good or for ill, the body
will be led. And that evidently was exactly
what was going on in Corinth. The men could not have been fulfilling
their God-ordained calling by leading either in the home or
the church. And so there was a void. It was
an unfortunate void, and because of that, the divine order was
upside down. God’s mandate for male leadership
in the home and in the church was being disregarded. Weak,
negligent, ineffective male leaders were being pushed aside by the
women of the church who ought to have been in supportive
submission. The absence of leadership by
the men didn’t make what the women did right, but it does
help to explain the situation. Nonetheless, the hostile takeover
by the women was weakening their homes, weakening the church,
and even worse, it was damaging the church’s witness. And this
is why Paul so passionately addresses this matter here in 1 Corinthians
11. And so in verse three, he reminded them of the principle
of headship and submission. And in verses four through nine,
he presented a masterful lesson on divine order, addressing the
protocol for prayer along the way. And here in verse 10, And
following, Paul begins to apply his teachings. For our purposes
this morning, let’s dial it down to verses 3 through 16. If we
could, read along with me verses 3 through 16. But I want you to understand
that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head
of the 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 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. And so we noted that lengthy
section, verses four through nine, the outline was exactly
the same for women as it was for the men. We went through
this last week. And that is because Paul addresses
each gender separately, the women he addresses in verses five and
six, the man he addressed in verse four, and then in seven,
eight, and nine, Paul has something to say to each of those groups,
men and women. The outline is identical. Just
walk through it with me if you would. First of all, we saw the
violation of divine order. We saw the men’s violation in
verse four. We saw the women’s violation
in verses five and six. And then you have in verse seven,
the significance of the divine order for men and women. The man is the image and glory
of God. The woman is the glory of man.
Then you have the origin. Where did this come from? The
origin of the divine order in verse 8. Man does not originate
from the woman, but the woman originates from the man, hearkening
back to Genesis 2. And then finally the grounds
of the divine order. How do you support this Paul?
For indeed, man was not created for the woman’s sake, but the
woman for the man’s sake. The woman was created for the
man’s sake, not the least of which was to populate the earth. And so before we even begin to
look at the verses before us, I want to remind you that it
is an application based on divine order. And be careful how you
hear that word order. I’m not using it in the sense
of a command. I’m using it to refer to God’s
appointed organization, that there is to be a sense of order,
that it is a divine order that has been provided. And once again,
it’s important to remind you that the divine order which Paul
is dealing with in this section is not the head covering. The
head covering is not the divine order. The divine order is male
headship and female subordination, especially in the church. Well,
we want to get into this practice that Paul is commending, beginning
here in verse 10. Paul is beginning to apply. And so as we consider the practice
that Paul commends regarding this issue of head covering,
let’s be honest. This chapter, this section, and
this particular passage are not light fare. That’s why I’ve tried
to take my time with this. I’ve looked at many. I’ve seen
good men who spent one Sunday on this passage. The entire first
half of 1 Corinthians 11 handled it in one message. This is a very difficult subject.
One of the hardest sections of scripture that I’ve studied,
one godly pastor called it the Rubik’s Cube of biblical exegesis. And I have never figured out
the Rubik’s Cube. He went on to exclaim, this is
probably the most complex, controversial, and opaque, that is unclear,
of any text of comparable length in the New Testament. Well, that’s
saying something for somebody that you have high regards for. By now, this shouldn’t come as
a surprise. I’ve not only studied and pondered
and mulled over this chapter for years, but now intensively
for the last 10 to 12 weeks. And still I was stirred this
week by new cautions by some commentators. One commentator
said, this passage has sorely perplexed the commentators. You think? And then there was
this one. There is scarcely a passage in
the New Testament which has so much taxed the learning and ingenuity
of commentators as this. After all that has been written,
it remains just as obscure as ever. Well, a lot of people would
dismiss an alarming statement by that, but that was Charles
Hodge. I mean, that’s a heavy hitter. And that’s no way to
start a Monday. Nevertheless, this is God’s word.
And this is the portion of God’s word laid out before us this
morning, beginning in verse 10. Therefore, the woman ought to
have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angels. Now, for the last several weeks,
I have repeatedly told you that I am not going to apply this
passage yet. I’ve intentionally restrained
myself from doing so. To me, it is far more academically
honest to do a thorough examination of this passage prior to throwing
down indiscriminately some direct application. And I’m not trying
to be cute or ornery in holding back application. But I do have to tell you once
again that even today, I am not going to make application of
this passage, yet. In the first place, we have a
full service already today and celebrating the Lord’s table.
But two, we’re not finished with our study. We’ll only make it
through verses 10 through 12 today, looking to round out our
study next Lord’s Day in verses 13 through 16, Lord willing. And Lord willing, we’ll make
application of these things once we have considered this entire
difficult section of scripture. But I will call your attention
to the fact that while I personally am not prepared to make application
of these things, Yet, Paul does. It’s exactly what he does in
verse 10. If you would glance down again,
you’ll see that it begins with the word, therefore. There are
a number of words that could potentially be translated, therefore,
but it really is not a big issue. Paul uses two words here, actually,
dia tuta, literally through this or for this, and these two words
themselves end up being translated in a number of ways in Paul’s
epistles. For this reason, Translated that
way 10 times in Paul’s epistles. In fact, we’ll come across these
two words again in this very chapter in verse 11 or verse
30 of chapter 11. It’s translated for this reason.
Three times it’s translated therefore, once it’s translated for because
of, and once it’s translated so then. But any way you slice
it, however you want to interpret or translate that particular
phrase, Paul is drawing a conclusion here. That’s what he’s doing.
He’s applying what he has already said. And you can already imagine in
a section of Scripture that is replete with difficulties, that
there were many theories put forth about what it was from
what Paul was drawing his conclusion. Here in verse 10, some commentators
tied it back exclusively to the very end of verse seven. Just
glance at it. That the woman is the glory of
man. while the man is the glory of God. And so the conclusion
was that since woman is only a reflection of the glory bestowed
on man, she should have her head covered. That’s the argument.
Others tied it to the end of verse eight. The woman originated
from man. And since woman is created from
man, she should have her head covered. There is that argument. Others go so far as to blend
the arguments of verses 8 and 9. Since woman is created from
man and for man, she should have her head covered. By now you
should already detect that I am not fully comfortable with any
of those explanations. In my humble opinion, Paul is
drawing upon everything that he said in verses 4 through 9.
He’s talking about the violation of the divine order, disregarding
the principle of headship and submission, which was demonstrated
by their head covering practice, both the men and the women. The
significance of the divine order, we have already talked about.
The woman is the glory of man. The origin of divine order, woman
originates from man. And the grounds of divine order,
woman was made for the man’s sake. All of that comes into
play as Paul begins to apply this passage. Paul isn’t alluding
to some portion of what he said. He’s referring to the totality
of it. Things were out of order in Corinth,
and so Paul calls his church back to order, and he states
his conclusion. Therefore, the woman ought to
have a symbol of authority on her head. And wouldn’t you know it, there’s
confusion even about this word ought. A woman ought to have
a symbol of authority. The verb itself is not an imperative. It doesn’t even really need to
be. The meaning of the verb itself
presents the idea to owe or to be obligated, to be indebted
to someone, to be responsible. Ladies, Paul concludes, based
on everything that he said, that you owe it to the church. You
ought to wear a head covering. That’s what Paul says. And he
used the same word, in the same sense, speaking to the men in
verse 7. A man ought not to have his head
covered. But here in verse 10, let’s go
back to that. Paul’s conclusion is that a woman, all women, every
woman, ought to have a symbol of authority on her head. And
that word authority could appropriately be rendered power. That’s what
the word means. But since it’s power that’s exercised,
authority is a good rendering there. And if you’ll notice,
I’m sure there are some words in your Bible that are in italics. You see that? And you know that
if the words are in italics, as good Bible students, you know
that that means that those words are supplied. They weren’t there
in the original. But in order to make the translation
more understandable, we’ve got to supply some words to get us
through to the other side. They’re not in the Greek text.
They’ve been supplied in order to make the translation smoother. Literally, the sentence reads,
a woman ought to have authority on her head. What sense does
that make? And so in keeping with the overall
thrust of the passage, translators import the idea of a symbol,
a symbol of authority. Not her own authority, mind you.
but a recognition of God’s authority, the church’s authority, and if
married, the husband’s authority. All of those elements are gathered
up in this wearing of a symbol of authority. It is a silent
acknowledgement that she is under another’s authority. And the
symbol of authority, which Paul speaks of, is the head covering,
as mentioned in verse five. So given all that Paul has discussed
in verses five through nine, he concludes that the way to
honor the divine order is for the woman to have a head covering.
It’s appropriate, he says. She is obligated. And Paul backs
up this admonition with yet another reason, as if we needed one by
now. It is because of the angels. What can that possibly mean?
The only possible thing that that can mean is that those created
spiritual beings, angels, are present as fellow worshipers
in the gathered worship service of the church. Angels are also exemplary in
their own submission to authority. Angels don’t do their own thing.
And so the implication is that these holy angels could potentially
be offended by the irreverent behavior of human worshipers. You didn’t know that, did you?
Angels come to church. That’s why we have so many seemingly
empty seats today. You can’t see them, but they’re
here. And you’ll think twice now about coming late, or leaving
early, or falling asleep, won’t you? Can you imagine getting nudged
in the side by an angel if you nodded off? Paul says, as part
of his conclusion, that women surely don’t want to offend holy
angels by causing a ruckus in their failure to show proper
submission to God-given authority. So he says, the woman ought to
have a symbol of authority on her head. However, and that’s a rather
abrupt turnaround, isn’t it? Here is the potential problem,
as I understand it, there in verse 11. Occasionally, those in positions of authority
allow that authority to go to their head. Can you imagine such
a thing? Of course you can. Even men, even husbands. And so Paul wants to deal with
that element decisively and quickly. And to do so, he introduces the
proper context of the situation. He says, in the Lord, This is no enigmatic phrase for
us. It just means as Christians.
And his purpose is to remind especially the men that in the
Lord, that is in Christ as Christians, men and women are not qualitatively
different. As Paul set forth this truth
in Galatians 3 28, there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither
slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are
all one in Christ Jesus. There is no spiritual pecking
order. From a nationality standpoint,
from a gender standpoint, men are no better than women, so
there shouldn’t be anything like arrogance. I love the way Tennyson,
one poet, stated it. He said, either sex alone is
half itself. Isn’t that beautiful? Either
sex alone is half itself. Each fulfills defect in each. And always thought and thought,
purpose and purpose, will and will, they grow, the two-celled
heart beating with one full stroke, life. That’s a beautiful description
of the husband-wife relationship. Women may indeed be called to
be subordinate by God’s design, but they are not inferior to
men. And men should not despise or
belittle their female counterparts, fellow heirs of the grace of
life, as Peter calls them. They are before God on an equal
footing. And toward one another, there
is mutual dependence. And because of that, there is
need of humility. As Paul says it in the fullness
of this verse, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man,
nor man independent of woman. They are mutually dependent,
and they should live like it. Look at verse 12, if you would,
the reasoning that Paul provides there. For as the woman originates
from the man, which Paul provided a beautiful illustration and
explanation back in verse eight, as the woman originates from
the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman.
Verse eight established the woman as man’s wife. Verse 12 establishes
the woman, if you will, as man’s mother. we can and we ought to
be thankful for our mothers. But there is one more to whom
we, man or woman, we owe all our gratitude. And that is to
God Himself. Because as Paul says at the end
of the verse, all things originate from God. Woman came originally
from man. We looked at that, Genesis 2,
taken from Adam’s rib. After that though, all come by
way of woman, both women and men. But both men and women have their
ultimate source in God himself. As Paul declared, to the heathen
in Athens. God gives to all life and breath
and all things. In Him, that is in Almighty God,
we live and move and exist. Paul’s point is to bring them
back to a place of humility. Who are you to be arrogant about
the position that God has put you in? Who are you to be arrogant
about the authority that He has gifted to you? Who are you to
browbeat your God-given wife over the authority that you possess
only by His grace? All creation, men and women,
owe their gratitude to God. Would you humble yourself before
Him? O merciful King,