Headship and Head Coverings

This sermon is from Grace Fellowship Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. To access other sermons or to learn more about us, please visit our website at graceedmonton .ca.

The Shift from Idols and Christian Freedom to Worship Order

We've now, for several weeks, been looking at Paul's teaching to the Corinthians, looking at issues related to idols, food offered to idols, the heart attitudes that the Corinthians are to have concerning idolatry and food offered to idols and Christian freedom.

And having completed that now, Steve completed that last week, in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 1. Beginning in verse 2, 1 Corinthians 11 -2, we're looking at a completely new topic. So it's a totally new topic.

And Paul, what he's doing now is he's shifting gears. He's going from Christian freedom and idolatry now to issues related to worship. And so if you look at chapters 12, 13, and 14, he gets into issues of, in this case, headship within the church and family, the Lord's Supper, spiritual gifts, love in the spiritual gifts, orderly worship.

And then in 15, he's going to get into the resurrection and shift gears again. So this is the beginning of Paul's teaching, Paul's writing on worship. And as we saw from PJ who read the text, thank you brother, we're looking today at chapter 11 verses 2 -16.

And what Paul is going to do in this passage, these 15 verses, 16 verses, is he is going to deal with issues of headship, Christian headship, I'm not sure if that's a peculiar word to you, but headship and head coverings, both in the local church, in the worship of the local church, and in the life of the family.

I don't know about you guys, but do you find that exciting, that idea of looking at headship and head coverings? I don't know. As you might expect, this is a text that has perplexed many people, many scholars who have looked at the Bible, and it's perhaps a passage, if you've read it, I know that's why I would be excited to hear a text like this.

It's a passage that has probably perplexed many of you as you've read and studied the Bible. What do I do with head coverings? Do I ask my wife to wear a head covering next Sunday when we go to church?

Do I make sure that I don't wear my toque at church? Not to pick on you brother, but what do we do with, I said it was going to be a bit more interactive, what do we do with head coverings? And one commentator writes this, he says, at least if you've had some difficulty with this passage, you're at least in good company.

One commentator says this is probably one of the most difficult passages in 1 Corinthians, definitely in 1 Corinthians 11. And this commentator said that there are as many interpretations of this passage as there are interpreters.

The reality is it's just a difficult section of 1 Corinthians, and it's something that's far removed, honestly, from our cultural context, our practice, and our understanding. But as I prepared, when I saw, Steve and I have a little schedule that we lay out as we're looking at texts that who's going to preach on what, and when I saw that I got to preach on 1 Corinthians 11, 2 to 16, I was overjoyed.

And it's not because I love, or I do love, biblical background studies, cultural context, historical context. It's not because I'm a sadist. It's not because I want to torture anyone with a topic that seems to be almost irrelevant to our life today.

No, I was excited because I love to show Christians, and even those who aren't Christians, but especially Christians, that even these types of difficult, obscure, perplexing passages, not only are they interesting and exciting to study, at least I find it so, but they're actually relevant to our lives today, and they hold real bearing.

There's real application. They're thoroughly instructive for our lives as we seek to do the will of God in the world, because that's what we're trying to do, right, is to read the Word of God and to conform ourselves to that Word.

And there's lots here for us to read, understand, and conform to. So today we're going to study this difficult passage, and although it's completely foreign to us, I think that what we'll find, if we study these verses carefully, just like any other text in the Bible, if we study these verses carefully, if we rightly divide the Word of God in 1 Corinthians 11, 2 to 16, not only are we going to come to the end of it with a greater understanding, a real, true understanding of what Paul is writing, but we're going to see this.

We're going to see that Paul addresses these worship customs that he addresses. In doing so, this is what I'm trying to say. I'm going to try that over again. Paul addresses, as he addresses the worship customs of his day, he unveils a timeless principle that transcends cultures, that transcends languages, that transcends geographical barriers.

And what we're going to see is here Paul shows us how we are to order our churches, how we are to order our families in our relationships, not according to our own whim and will, but according to God's design at creation, God's order of creation.

So here we learn about something that has come to be known as Christian headship. Like I said, what is that idea of Christian headship? And what it is, is this. We're going to learn about God's divine structure for authority, for leadership, and for responsibility in the world.

And it's here that God fully and finally deals with the battle of the sexes. If people would only read 1 Corinthians 11, maybe Ephesians 5, and some of these other texts, they would understand God's intended design for men and women.

And God will show us how we can live in harmony with each other. Not only live in harmony, but actually thrive as men and women of God. And so I'm excited for this text because it teaches us how to thrive as a church.

And it will teach you how to thrive as a family and husbands. It will teach you how to thrive as a husband and as a wife. And so we're going to get right into the text. I'll contain my excitement. And we'll look where Paul begins in verse 2.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11, 2, he says, Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. So Paul begins this section, verse 2, with a commendation for the Corinthians.

Perhaps it was because it was something they wrote. We don't really know. That's one of the challenging things that makes, or one of the areas of this text that makes it challenging to understand, is we don't know the context.

But maybe it was the Corinthians that wrote to them. You'll remember in chapter 7, 8, 9, when Paul's saying, Now concerning, now concerning, he's dealing with issues that they have written to him about.

And now we don't know if it's something that they have written, or maybe it's a report, maybe from Chloe's household, if you remember Chloe, all the way from chapter 1. But what we do know is this. Paul is genuinely pleased with the church's practice in at least one area, with their efforts to remember him, and as he says, to follow the traditions that he had taught them.

Probably traditions that he had received as well. And this is in stark contrast. I like pointing these things out. In verse 2, he says, Now I commend you. This is in stark contrast to verse 17, when he deals with the Lord's Supper, where he says, Now I do not commend you.

And so this is something sincere. What Paul is doing is, with a true pastor's heart, he is rejoicing in the Corinthians' honest efforts to follow his instructions. But, there's a word but. The very next phrase, the next verse, is the word but.

But Paul is going to offer some gentle correction and encouragement in an important area. Like I said, we don't know what the situation was like in Corinth, but it appears that there had been some type of gender confusion in the church.

So when the church met for worship, there was confusion around gender roles, about the attire that maybe the men and women were wearing during worship, specifically head coverings. And these head coverings, as we'll find, reflected the distinct gender roles of that culture.

And then what we're going to see is that these new believers, really, are learning what it means to live as men and women of God. They're still new Christians, and they're asking the question, what does it mean to be a man of God, to be a man of God in my family, to be a man of God at church?

And the women, likewise, what does it mean to be a new woman in Christ? And so in verse 3, Paul writes this,. But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ. The head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.

So he commends them, but there's a but. And the issue is related to this whole idea of Christian headship. And so Paul sees that the Corinthians are putting forth a sincere effort. But even in the midst of this effort, there's a legitimate issue that needs to be addressed.

The Corinthians need to understand something. I don't know if you find that interesting, but right at the beginning of verse 3, But I want you to understand something. The Corinthians need to understand more about God to live properly.

And I want us to see this right off the bat. Paul is writing to Corinth. There is an issue that needs to be dealt with, a legitimate issue. He's going to deal with it. Where does he start? In God's economy, theology must always drive the bus.

Theology must always precede life, living, and practice. And so good theology will result in good living. And I think that a lot of people get this verse wrong because they put the cart before the horse.

They put practice. They put my philosophy, my life, before theology. And so when they approach text like this, they think to themselves, it can't possibly mean what it says because I don't think that way.

My church doesn't do it that way. I don't practice it that way. But what Paul wants them to see is this, that the first remedy to their issue is a theological issue. Theology is truth about God and it's truth from God and it must always inform our living and our thinking and never the other way around.

So Paul here helps them to put the horse before the cart and he deals first with a theology of headship. Now I was supposed to have a good handout to provide but I didn't provide it because of my own error.

So I'll give you this whole line. It's a long line. But here, point number one is this. Paul provides a theology of headship and that is God's earthly structure for authority and responsibility. And so Paul begins this whole or this brief theological overview by pointing out that the head of every man is Christ.

It's interesting when we think, for those of us that know anything about male headship, Christian headship in the church and home, we often think about men. Men's relationship with women. But Paul doesn't start with men.

He doesn't start with women. Paul starts with Christ. With Christ. And he uses the word head. It's the Greek word kephale. And he's speaking about both origin and authority. And so he's saying that from Christ comes our origin.

From Christ comes our authority. Even before he gets to relationships between men and women, he starts with man's relationship with God the Son. And if we're going to get our theology of headship right, if we're not going to skew one way or the other, we need to have a Christocentric theology.

Christ must be at the center. Christ must be at the head. Christ must have supremacy. Now, man, if you have an understanding of male headship, that is excellent. But you need to understand this as well, that you're not at the top of the food chain.

Christ is at the top. Think about what Christ said when he issued the Great Commission, Matthew 18. We remember that, right? Go, therefore, and preach the gospel to all nations, to make disciples, excuse me, of all nations.

But he said this before. In Matthew 28 .18, he says, And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Then he says, Go, therefore. Live in light of this authority.

Preach the gospel in light of this authority. The first thing that we need to understand in headship, to have a good theology of headship, is Christ is at the top. And you'll see at the beginning of verse 3, Christ is at the top.

And at the end of verse 3, we have the Godhead, Christ, and God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit,.

At the top.

And so headship, from beginning to end, really and truly, is all about Christ. It's all about God. When we do think about this, men, when we do headship well, who does it glorify? What does it point to?

It's about Christ. In Colossians 1 .16 -18, we read this, For by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Kids, do you know who Paul is talking about here? For by Him all things were created, visible, God, and specifically God the Savior, God the Son.

This is about Jesus. So we could say, For by Jesus, through Christ, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him.

And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body of the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent.

And so in headship, in the church, what Paul starts with is this. Authority starts with Christ. Authority exists for Christ. It's from Him and through Him and to Him. And as we've pointed out, from beginning to end, it's all about Jesus.

Now, why am I making a big point of this? Because this has tremendous implications for everything else as we think about headship, as we think about the rest of God's framework for leadership, for authority, for responsibility in the Christian life.

It's completely intertwined. And so not only does that mean that we are under authority, we're going to talk about how men have been given God-ordained authority in the home and in the church and in the Christian life.

Not only does it mean that we are under authority, but it means that that authority is a delegated authority. Now, I'll give you an example of what this is. So my employer, I work for a body. I won't say exactly what, but you know.

But I work for a large body that has authority. And my employer has given me a letter of delegation. And what that means is this, that they have given some of their authority to me to carry out a task.

And when you receive delegated authority, what that means is that the giver of that authority, in this case, Christ, Christ, the triune God, the giver of that authority determines who gets the authority, the scope of that authority, and how that authority is exercised.

And so in my job, I have a very specific scope. If I start scoping out drug houses in North Edmonton and trying to make arrests, that authority is not going to stand because that is outside. Steve knows what I do, so he's laughing.

That is outside of my scope of authority. And so God, as the delegator of authority, gets to determine who uses and exercises that authority. And that means that it's God, and not man, and not woman, and not children, who get to determine a place of authority.

So Paul begins this whole theology lesson by pointing us to Christ. And he shows us that Christ is the pinnacle of authority. I know I'm really hammering hard on this, but he also shows, and we're going to look at it later, that Christ is the model for how that authority is exercised.

And this is not some new position that Paul has concocted in his own mind. It's not a new theological item that he is now hammering home to the Corinthians, but this is a point when, oftentimes, when Paul makes this point from Scripture, he goes back to the created order.

He goes back to Eden. He goes back to Adam and Eve. He goes back to the beginning. And so we'll look back there. He doesn't do it now, but we'll look back there together to Genesis 2. Genesis 2 and verse 15, we see this, that even before Eve had been formed, God had given Adam, he had given the man, his mandate to work and to keep the garden.

He was to have dominion and a place of privilege and responsibility to carefully steward God's creation. And you'll know that from our men's group. We've looked at that now for a few months, but this idea that God had given man a role, a responsibility to provide, to protect, to keep, to maintain.

In Genesis 2 .15, we read this, the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it. And then a few verses later, we see something or someone specifically was missing from that garden.

And we read about the origins of women in Genesis 2 .18, three verses over. Then the Lord God said, it is not good that man should be alone. I will make a helper fit for him. So man had been given a place of privilege and responsibility and dominion, but he needed help.

And so what did God do? He needed a companion. So God gave him a dear helper. And that's what it says. I will make him a helper fit for him. And they were to be joined together as one flesh, husband and wife, a man with a stewardship responsibility, a leadership responsibility, and a wife who was to come alongside him and help him in that.

But the task specifically had been given to Adam. Now, for some of us, we may feel like recoiling at that idea that God would put men in a position of leadership over their wives, or that God would put men in a position of leadership in the church, that man would have a specific responsibility.

There are many churches, as I've already mentioned today, when they get their practice and their philosophy before their theology, they go in this route. And we shouldn't be surprised by that because God actually tells Adam and Eve, and Eve specifically in Genesis 3 .16, that this would happen.

He says in Genesis 3 .16, Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you. And so this loving and peaceful relationship, a man leading his wife, wife loving and even submitting to her husband, would be blemished by sin and the curse of the fall.

And God says that the woman would essentially resist her husband's leadership. There would be attempts, maybe frequent attempts, to usurp the male's role. And the man would either rule harshly, as it says, and he will rule over you, or he would just fade away into passivity.

And we see that too. A harsh rulership or a fading into passivity. So nevertheless, we see this pattern lay out continuously in the Bible. And Steve made mention of a course that we've been taking in the Grace Institute classes.

And they spoke about that in one of the classes. But we see, as an example, that when God used a single man to preserve mankind, that man, Noah, I've given it away, was a man. When God chose patriarchs, individuals that were to form the beginnings of the nation of Israel, their names were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

They were men. The 12 tribes of Israel were named after the 12 sons or grandsons of Jacob. Moses, who delivered the Israelites from Egypt, was a man. The judges of Israel were men. Now someone might say, hey, but wasn't Deborah a judge?

Yes, Deborah was a judge. And as we're learning in Grace Institute, one of the things that we learn when we see Deborah as a judge in the nation of Israel, is that it was actually a condemnation of the nation, that there were no qualified and able men that could lead the people of Israel.

And so Deborah stepped up to the shame of the nation and to the shame even of Barak. We see that the kings were all men, except for one queen, if you remember. There was one queen, a murderous queen, who killed all the descendants that were to be king, and eventually herself was killed.

The most notable prophets in the Bible were men. John the Baptist was a man. Jesus was a man. The seven servants in Acts 6 that we read about that were identified to serve tables were men. The Apostle Paul, a man.

Did I mention the 12 disciples were men? Even God is used describing masculine pronouns. So you might not like it. You might disagree, but God, God created man and he created woman equal in the sight of God, equal in value, equal in their ability to approach God, and yet different.

It's okay that God would create men and women equal and yet different, and that's what God has done. And probably one of the best ways to describe that, we've actually put in our statement of faith, and I'm not gonna read the whole thing, but I've put it actually on the back of our bulletins for today.

And it reads something like this. Men and women are together created in the divine image. This is our statement of faith. We wholly affirm this, and are therefore equal before God as persons possessing the same moral dignity and value and have equal access to God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Men and women are together the recipients of spiritual gifts designed to equip and empower for ministry in the local church. And beyond, we believe that God has created men and women to fulfill different and complementary roles in the life of the local church.

I'm reading it all. I said I wasn't. God has ordained the principle of male headship in both home and local church, and that certain governing and teaching roles are reserved for man. This is a summation of the doctrine of headship.

And this is what Paul is getting at in one verse that Christ is the head of man, that man is the head of woman, and that the head of Christ is God, this sandwich of headship. So now that we have this idea of headship, we have this view, we'll look on at how this is practiced beginning in verse 4.

Headship in the Church and the Meaning of Head Coverings

So 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 4, Paul writes this. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. What does that mean? We're going to find out. But every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven.

For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man.

What do we do with all of that? How do we make sense of all of that? That's a tall order. But this is what we'll see. We'll see the application of the principle of headship in this, the timeless principle, first, of headship in the church.

So if you're taking notes, this is the second point. Headship in the church. We have the theology of headship, now headship in the church. And what Paul shows us is that God has ordained male leadership, male authority, male responsibility in the church, not only as a creational norm, which it is.

We see that in Genesis, but as a rule for leadership in the local church. And in Corinth, this reality is demonstrated by a particular cultural custom that was practiced at that time and place. So there was a particular practice, a particular custom that the church could and should use in that time.

And it was common in this particular culture for a woman to wear a shawl or a veil. I'm not sure if anyone's seen that. If you've been to a church where they have a head covering, but essentially a cloth or fabric covering over their head once they were given in marriage.

And so it's kind of like if you go to the Hutterite community and you see a man with a big beard next to a man with no beard, you can say, that guy's married and that guy isn't. And that's exactly what was happening in Corinth.

Whenever a woman would be married, when a woman would be married, she would put a head covering on to signify this. And it had particular, excuse me, cultural significance because it communicated not only that a woman was married, but that that woman was in willing submission to her husband.

That was important to communicate in this culture. And this might seem odd to us at first, but like I said, we think about the Hutterites. They do something very similar. They grow their beards. For those of you who are married, you probably have a ring on the fourth finger of your left hand, something like that.

We have similar customs today. And in Corinth and in the Greco-Roman world, this was one of their customs. Women would be married, and they would have a head covering on. And they were conveying that they were in a committed relationship before God and government.

And this custom of wearing a head covering essentially said, I am my husband's wife, and I am committed to following his lead. And so when someone would refuse, when a woman would refuse, a married woman, I should say, would refuse to wear a head covering, it would communicate to those around them that this woman is insubordinate.

I am rebelling against my husband. I am no longer putting myself in subordination under my husband. I'm no longer respecting his leadership. This was a source of great shame, not only for the man, but also for the woman.

And you see Paul says that in this text. And so as an example, if you were a married woman, and you lived in the Greco-Roman world, if you lived in Corinth in this day, you were married, and you decided one day, I'm going to go out and get groceries, or I'm going to go to church today, and I don't really want to bother myself with that head covering.

I'm just going to leave it on my dresser. I'm not sure if they had dressers back then, but I'm going to leave it there. And you walk out into the street, and your neighbors know that you're married, and the people at the market know that you're married.

You would be communicating one of three things. You'd be communicating that, one, I am now a radical feminist. Can you imagine a first century radical feminist? I have rejected my husband's leadership, and therefore I have rejected the symbol of authority and the symbol of marriage to him.

If you were to do that and cut your hair short, you'd be saying, I am most likely a temple priestess. This is part of my identity. I worship pagan gods. I'm a priestess at the temple. I do not wear a head covering.

I have short hair to show you that that's what I do. And if you were to shave your head, remove your head covering, and shave your head, you'd be communicating that I am a prostitute. This is my livelihood.

I am easily identifiable. And so if you're a woman in that culture, to remove your head covering, to cut your hair short, which Paul addresses, or to shave your head, conveys very, very strong messages to the people around you.

So as we look at this, in discussing this principle, it's not surprising that Paul brings up such a prominent cultural custom. And while we don't know exactly what was happening in Corinth, Paul wants to convey this, that these men and women have, even though they've been made new creatures in Christ, this does not disrupt or alter God's creation mandate for male headship.

Nor does it give them any reason to jettison the cultural practices that symbolize this dynamic of leadership and submission in the home. And so what Paul's saying, even though you're a new creature, even though you're a Christian now, the creational norm still stands.

The man is to lead. The woman is to help. Together they will become one flesh. And if in your culture, that means wearing a head covering to communicate that for the sake of your husband, for the sake of the gospel, then wear a head covering.

That's what Paul is getting at. And so when women go to church, they should participate, Paul says, they should pray and prophesy, but with their heads covered to show that they are under the authority of their husbands and to show in a broader sense that they are under the authority of the male eldership, the male leaders of the church.

And this, what we see here, if you guys can understand this, is we see it play a timeless principle, a principle that we found in Genesis 1 and 2 and 3 and all through the Old Testament and now all through the New Testament, we see a timeless principle and a cultural custom applying that timeless principle.

And so as an example, imagine that we were to get on a plane. Who wants to go to Africa with me? Kids, who would get on that plane? Okay, Noah's on the plane with me. Okay, and PJ as well. He's been reading Through the Gates of Splendor and he's thoroughly challenged by it.

And so we hop on a plane, we go to Africa, we find a new culture. And in that culture, one of the ways that the women show their submission to their husbands when they're married, they're given a bracelet.

We share the gospel with them. Praise God, they believe. We're discipling them. We show them how to live the Christian life. We get to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. How do we apply it? Well, it doesn't say wear a bracelet.

It says wear a head covering. Throw away the bracelet, wear the head covering. Now there's confusion in the village. Why did she throw away her bracelet? She's married to that man. She committed to him.

No, what we would say is this. If you want to obey the spirit of 1 Corinthians 11, sister, wear that bracelet. Wear that bracelet to church. Wear that bracelet in the community. If it's a skirt,.

If you go to a village.

And it's a head covering, 1 Corinthians 11, obey it exactly as it reads. Sister, wear your head covering in the church. And in our culture, what does that look like? I mean, I think for most of us, what that looks like is that is the women loving and in a public way respecting their husbands.

Maybe it's a big deal that your wife wears her wedding ring. Maybe you have a tattooed wedding ring. Maybe you don't have a wedding ring. But whatever that looks like in your context, that is what the woman is to do to show that she is under authority.

And so we can see here the timeless principle and the cultural practice, the cultural custom that is at play.

And sister,.

What I would say is if you're really convicted, as there are people that are convicted about wearing a head covering, whatever is not a faith is sin. And so wear that head covering if that is your conviction.

And so, I've got to find my place here. And the next thing that Paul deals with, he dealt with it in verse 4 and 7 is men.

PJ,.

What are we going to do about your toque? You're in worship wearing an item of clothing on your head. Well, in the Greco-Roman world, I hope you don't mind me doing this. Brother, it's a small group, but in the Greco-Roman world it was a common practice for men to take their toga.

They would go into a pagan sacrifice, pagan worship, and they would take their toga and if they were in the role of a priest, they would take that toga and pull it over their heads. And what they did in pulling that over their heads, it was part of, I think, the reverence of their pagan sacrifice, their pagan worship, but they were also conveying, because only the priests.

Could be,.

Sorry,.

Only the elite in the social class could be priests, they were conveying that I am part of the upper echelon of society. And so, by pulling their togas over their heads, by putting a covering on their heads, they were distracting people from the actual act of pagan worship and attracting attention, in a sense, to themselves.

And so, if men were to go to church and as they're meeting, imagine this, a newly converted pagan man goes to church, he's only ever worshipped at the pagan temples, and during the worship, he is a man of high society, he pulls his toga over his head.

If we just transported ourselves into that culture, we would have no idea what he's doing. But his contemporaries, his peers,.

Would go,.

Oh,.

He's posturing, this man, he's the elite, he's one of the pagan priests. And so, what Paul is doing when he says, don't dishonor your head by covering your head, he's saying, don't dishonor Christ by replicating these pagan practices in the worship of the church.

That's how you acted in the world, leave that in the world. Don't dishonor Christ by drawing attention to yourself in worship.

Christ, who is the head,.

Is to get the glory.

Christ,.

Who is the head, is to get worship.

He says,.

To the contrary, you are the image and the glory of God. And so, what he's saying is, you create an image and likeness of God, the glory of God, reflect that glory for the glory of God. Glorify him, reflect his majesty, don't attract attention to your physical head by pulling a covering over your head, but attract attention to your spiritual head, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so, brother, you can wear your toque if you so desire, but this whole view at the end of the day, as we've already said, begins and ends with Christ. And so, if covering your head dishonors Christ, then uncover your head.