WWUTT 1566 A Prelude to Head Coverings (1 Corinthians 11:1-3)

The Controversy Over Head Coverings in 1 Corinthians 11

Head coverings! There's a section of Scripture that everybody loves to study and apply, right? Well, do we understand the instruction that's given in 1 Corinthians 11 correctly when we understand the text?

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When We Understand the Text is an online ministry dedicated to teaching the Word of God in context, promoting sound doctrine while exposing the faulty.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the book of 1 Corinthians, and this week we are up to chapter 11. Some of you know exactly what we're getting into here at the start of 1 Corinthians 11.

Paul’s Opening Reading and the Order of Headship

So, I'm going to begin by reading verses 1 through 16 out of the Legacy Standard Bible the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. 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 shames his head.

But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying shames 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 short.

But if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut short 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 the woman for the man's sake. Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.

Nevertheless, 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. But 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. So, you know the controversy that's surrounding this particular section.

Are we talking about head coverings or not? Is this passage telling women that they need to wear a covering on their head when they go to church? Is it telling just wives, just a married woman, that she's supposed to have a covering on her head when she goes to church?

Honestly, if that's the debate, if that's the way that we're approaching this particular section, then we've missed the point. What is the point of this passage? Well, Paul says it right in verse 3. 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.

The point is that God has created everything to have a certain structure, to have a certain order to it. There is a hierarchy. Yeah, I know that word has become taboo in our culture today, even among certain evangelical circles.

They hate that word hierarchy. Patriarchy is even talked about here in this particular passage, but they hate the concept of patriarchy, down with the patriarchy. Smash the patriarchy is the slogan that you'll hear, sadly, even among some preachers.

But what Paul is clearly laying out here is that God has ordered everything a certain way. Everybody has somebody in charge of them. There is always someone over everybody else, even to the point that God is the head of Christ.

The father is given all things to the son. Everything belongs to him. All things were made by him and through him, and he holds all things together, as it says in Colossians 1. And yet, even the son is submissive to the will of the father.

So just as there is a head to everything, so we must be in submission to whoever is the head over us. And God has even established an order and a structure in the church, because that's what we're talking about here.

We're talking about worship in the church. He's established an order and a structure in the family. There is a there's an order to society. And we as Christians need to live according to the pattern that God has set.

That's first and foremost, what we need to get out of this passage before we get into the debate over whether or not Paul is specifically instructing. Therefore, God is instructing if women should wear head coverings in church.

That's the quick yes or no answer that we want from this passage. Is Paul saying and therefore is God saying that women have to wear a covering on their heads when they go to church? We're going to come to a deeper understanding of what is truly being communicated in this passage.

And you will even know how to answer those skeptics who use this passage as a weapon. By the time we get to the end of this, we're planning on spending the three days this week in 1 Corinthians 11, 1 through 16.

So we're looking at a little bit of this today, tomorrow and Wednesday. And by the end of it, you'll know how to respond to somebody who weaponizes this passage. Oh, yeah. You say we should keep all of the parts of the Bible.

Well, do the women at your church wear head coverings as if they automatically know that's exactly what's being prescribed in this particular section? I say give to them 1 Corinthians 11, 3. And here I'm already providing the response for you.

Show them. 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. Do you submit to that first? Do you believe that first? Because if you're not there, then you're not going to understand the rest of what Paul is communicating in this passage.

And there are some questions. The debate surrounding this passage is a legitimate debate. It's not that, you know, we'll just go read the verses. It just says straightforwardly what it says. No, there are some reasons why some of these things tend to be confusing to us.

And we need to explore that and view all of the different options here. Part of the reason why this section is confusing is because this is the only place in the Bible where this is talked about. Genesis to Revelation.

There is nothing anywhere else in the Bible that prescribes that a woman must have her head covered and a man must have his head uncovered. That's part of the reason for the confusion, because we're looking through other parts of Scripture, trying to find the cross references.

Right. How does this section relate to another part of the Old Testament? Is Paul drawing from the Old Testament? Is he drawing from something cultural? And that's what we need to explore as we go through this over these three days.

Why 1 Corinthians 11 Belongs With the Chapter 11 Transition

So First Corinthians 11 .1. Now, first of all, this verse looks kind of like a standalone verse. It looks like the chapters have not been sectioned out properly, and some pastors will dismiss this verse that way.

They'll say some expositors will say that verse one really needs to go with chapter 10 so that you have 31, 32, 33, 34. Verse 34 would be the imitators of me just as I also am of Christ. And that should go with the previous section that Paul was talking about.

I actually don't agree. I think that this has properly been placed in chapter 11. Even though the clear transition is not given until verse two. Now, I praise you because you remember me and everything and hold firmly to the traditions just as I delivered them to you.

OK, so as Paul shifts to talking about a tradition, we think of that as being the subject change. And therefore, 11 .1 should actually go with chapter 10. We've seen some clear transitions previously.

So in chapter seven, verse one, the transition begins this way. Now, concerning the things about which you wrote chapter eight, verse one now concerning things, sacrifice to idols in the Greek. These are the words Perry day now concerning P .R .I., which is concerning day, which is now concerning.

Now, the things about which you wrote that we translated in English now concerning. Right. Well, we'll kind of switch the words back and forth. This transition is not as clear, but there is a transition.

So 11 .2 says now I praise you because you remember me and everything and hold firmly to the traditions. So then he talks about a tradition regarding head coverings. That's verses two through 16. Then we get to verse 17 and we start talking about the tradition of the Lord's Supper.

But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you. Paul says in verse 17, because you come together, not for the better, but for the worse. Now, see, that transition does not include the word day. Or D .E. in Greek, which would be translated now.

So you see how the transitions in chapter 11 are not as clear as what we've seen in chapter seven one and in chapter eight one, although there is a transition. So the heading of this section, since it's not a quick transition from the subject that he was talking about in verses eight through 10.

The heading of the section is rather 11 .1. Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. That's the heading. Then the first tradition regarding head coverings versus two through 16. And the next tradition is regarding the Lord's Supper versus 17 through 34.

But the heading over these two instructions is the imitators of me. What you have seen Paul do, the instructions that have been given by Paul are to be received as if Christ is the one who has given those instructions.

And so what Paul says here, even in verses two through 16, come not from a man. This is not an opinion like previously he has said in this letter to the Corinthians. I offer this to you not from the Lord, but as an opinion from one who is trustworthy.

We saw that quite a bit in chapter seven, for example, a couple of times. It came up there in chapter seven. This is not an opinion. This is not just, you know, Paul's fancy here. This is the word of Christ.

This is an instruction that comes from the Lord that we read here in chapter 11. So that's prefaced with Paul saying, be imitators of me. I am of Christ. What you have heard and seen and received in me, you also are to do.

So then he started with that as the heading. He starts here in chapter 11 with now. I praise you because you remember me and everything. So imitate me and everything because I am of Christ. I praise you because you remember me and everything.

Right. So you see how those two verses plainly go together. Then when we get to 17, he doesn't praise them. Right. But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you. So he has something commendable to begin with.

And then he has a matter of correction that he needs to get to next. This doesn't put head coverings and the Lord's Supper on the same plane. Don't think that just because they're both in chapter 11 and they're both something that Paul is issuing as an instruction for the church.

It means that head coverings are an ordinance like the Lord's Supper is an ordinance. That's not the that's not how Paul is regarding these two issues. So we shouldn't put them together either. There's one matter that's being addressed here in two through 16.

There is another matter that he needs to confront. That's a much more serious issue in verses 17 through 34. This is still important. It's just not as serious a matter as what he has to address regarding the Lord's Supper because their improper practice of the Lord's Supper is leading to people's deaths.

If they don't get this head covering issue right, nobody's dying from that. But there there is a way that the Corinthians have been mishandling the Lord's table that has led to some getting sick and dying.

Now, we've seen this from the Corinthians that they seem to major well in those things that are minor, but then they don't do so well with those things that are major, especially when it comes to how they love one another.

And Paul is really going to get to this in chapter 13 where we have the love chapter. It's a stern rebuke against the Corinthians because they have not been loving one another properly. Whatever Paul says love is in that chapter, the Corinthians have been doing the opposite.

And Paul has had this in mind the entire letter. It's not that he gets to chapter 13 and goes, oh, well, hang on a second. I need to address you about your love problems. He has thought of this from the start of the letter, has been confronting a certain arrogance in the Corinthians and not considering one another.

We even see their inconsideration at the Lord's table. And there's a certain inconsideration that's going on here with regard to head covering. So Paul begins by saying, I praise you because you remember me and everything and hold firmly to the traditions just as I delivered them to you.

Though they are practicing this tradition of head coverings, do they really know the reason for it? And so that's what that's what Paul establishes here in this particular section, that they understand and remain in submission to the authority that is on their head.

Every man has an authority. Every woman has an authority, not just wives. And so the church has an authority and even Christ is in submission to God. So we come again to first Corinthians 11, one be imitators of me just as I also am of Christ.

Verse two. Now, I praise you because you remember me and everything. The instructions that I've given to you, the traditions that I've delivered to you, you've been practicing those things, though they have been misusing the Lord's table.

And Paul is going to correct them in that. Nonetheless, they still practice the Lord's table, right? Preaching is still going on here in the church. The singing of songs is still going on. There is a church that is still gathering, but they have wrong motives in a lot of these things.

So that's the course correction. Paul is issuing over the course of this letter. So I praise you because you remember me and everything and hold firmly to the traditions just as I delivered them to you.

But I want you to understand. So you're practicing the traditions. Do you understand them in the right way? To know that you are truly practicing this tradition rightly is to know the reason for it, the meaning of it.

And that's what's going to sustain you in the practice of that tradition. The Lord's table is a tradition. There's nothing wrong with traditions. Traditions are very good if they are traditions that have been given to us by God.

There are even some traditions that God has not given to us that are likewise good. For example, your order of worship. What is the what's the order by which you go through things in church on a Sunday morning?

Probably start with a song or do you start with announcements or do you start with prayer or a scripture reading? All of those elements are in there somewhere that just church different churches differ in the order in which those things go.

Right. You may want. Hey, everybody comes in in submission to the authority of the word of God. So we're going to begin with a scripture reading. We're going to begin with prayer. And then we have a song.

And then maybe you have a time of confession. You also have the pastoral prayer. You have the offering plates that get passed around. There are songs in any number of order. You have the preaching of the word, which is usually the second half of the service.

Right. And then at the conclusion, you have some sort of benediction or a final song or a doxology. And then everybody is dismissed. There's nothing in scripture that lays out for us exactly the order of worship the way it's supposed to happen in a church service.

But you have a traditional way that you do that. And it's probably a very good way, even though it is not been specifically outlined or structured by God. So some of those traditions, even though it's not word for word given to us by the Lord, can be very, very good.

And so Paul says, I praise you for the traditions that you've received. Now, the traditions, of course, that come from Paul, they are from the Lord, just as I delivered them to you. And then he says in verse three, but I want you to understand what is the reason why we have these traditions.

And Paul sets this forward with regard to head coverings in this section. I still think that this even applies. What he says in first Corinthians 11, three applies even to when we get to the Lord's table, because there is a submission that that we're all committing ourselves to.

When we come to the Lord's table, we submit to Christ and even Christ himself. God is the head of Christ, as Paul says here in verse three. So 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.

Now, as we get into these instructions regarding head coverings, we already have we already have debate over the instruction about head coverings, because how is this supposed to be understood in verse three?

Some translations like the ESV, it says this in first Corinthians 11, three. 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.

Is that the right context? Is that exactly the way that we should see it here, the way that it is translated, taking taking the extra step of translating woman into wife, because that's the right context.

So is that the way that we're supposed to understand this, according to the way that the ESV has laid it out? Or do we see this in first Corinthians 11, three, the literal translation being woman, that man is the head of woman, and so therefore that man has a certain authority over woman that woman does not have over man.

I think the way to answer this question is just simply by looking at the articles of the passage. So let's look at it again. First Corinthians 11, three, but I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man.

Now that can be confusing. Are we talking about every man, male? Are we talking about every single human being? Well, it could apply either way. Christ is certainly the head of every single human being.

But look at the articles of the next clause. OK, and the man is the head of a woman. So now we're not just talking about all of mankind. We're talking about a specific man is the head of a specific woman, right?

The man is the head of a woman. So this is clearly the context of marriage. We're talking about the man being the head of his wife. Not that all men have headship over all women. That's not what's being demonstrated here.

But then the last clause is, and God is the head of Christ. So just as Christ himself, who is ruler over all, he submits to the Father so that we who are in Christ also have one that we must submit to.

The picture of Christ's headship over the church is in marriage. And the man becomes the head over the woman as Christ is the head of the church. When it says, when the instruction is given in Ephesians chapter five and in Colossians three, for wives to submit to their husbands, to submit means to yield to authority.

Christ does not yield to the authority of man. So that only goes one way. Christ does not yield to the church. Rather, the church yields to Christ. So also a wife yields to her husband. The husband does not yield to his wife.

If you go back and look at Ephesians five, we're not there. We're in First Corinthians 11. I'm running out of time for this devotional. But anyway, the if you go back and you look at the context of Ephesians chapter five, everybody there, even the way that Paul lays that out, has someone that they must submit to.

A wife is to submit to her husband, but the husband must submit to Christ. So just because he has headship over his wife doesn't mean that he doesn't have a responsibility of submission. He absolutely does to Christ, whom he is supposed to imitate in his marriage by laying down his life for his bride, just as Christ has done for the church and as Christ sanctifies the church through the washing of water with the word.

So the husband is to do that for his wife as an imitator of Christ. And that brings us right back to First Corinthians 11, 1. Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. Remember that Christ submitted to the father and everything.

Philippians 2, 11. And so we must, as imitators of Christ, submit to God in all things as well. The order that he has established by which things are supposed to operate, the order of the family, the order of the church, and even living out these things in the culture.

And we'll discuss this more tomorrow in our study of First Corinthians 11. Heavenly Father, thank you for what we've read here. And I pray we would submit to this text. We would yield to the authority of God's word, even tough passages to digest, such as this one.

We don't shrug them off, walk away from them. Look for something easier for us to study, because that would be the equivalent of just cutting this out of our Bible, pretending this is not there and it's not important for me to learn.

Even difficult passages such as this, we must train our minds to understand that we may obey and submit to in honor and in glory of the Lord. So as we continue this study of First Corinthians 11, lead us according to your wisdom in submission to your word as the authority over us.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.

The Lord’s Supper, Love, and the Need for Course Correction

Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog, sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers, and offering commentary on the church and social issues. You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com.

Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's word, when we understand the text.