1Cor 11:4-5 | KingComments | STEP | . Paul says that we should imitate him, just as he also imitated Christ. How he did that, he said in the last verse of the previous chapter. His aim was to win many people for Christ. In no way he wanted to be a hindrance for people to accept the gospel. In this way Paul imitated his Lord and you can imitate Paul in your turn. . Paul already had given a lot of exhortations. That was necessary. We also need to be exhorted. But yet there is also something for which he praises them. The Corinthians have not forgotten him, they even remembered him in everything. That has pleased him. Besides that, they kept the traditions just as he delivered them to them. He really appreciated that. You can also look positively at the fact that he had to correct them in their way of dealing with these traditions, like the Lord’s Supper, about which he speaks later in this chapter. The positive thing is not to justify the wrong, but it is the fact that they were approachable. He could correct them in their wrong doings and trust that they would listen to him. Anyway, Paul saw good things with the Corinthians. . Then he speaks about an issue that currently is one of the most widely discussed matters, namely the role of man and woman in everyday life. In the world around you, things are dealt with quite differently than what you read in the first part of this chapter. You may even have to reread it several times before you get a clear mind on that. The ranking which is indicated in has been totally done away with in the world around you. God and Christ, people do not believe in. And the thought of the man as the head of the woman is totally out of fashion and wrong so that people make every effort to destroy this thought. I said that indicates a ranking. I mean this: God is at the head, then Christ, then the man and then the woman. To many people the impression arises because of this ranking – and that is what people vehemently oppose – as if the woman is just dangling at the bottom of this list and therefore has the position of being neglected totally. But that is absolutely not the case! Paul actually refers to the creation of man and woman. There you see that the man is created first and that the woman originates from him. She came out of his side, which means as one who is placed at his side. The man is the head of creation, but he himself also has a Head above him and that is Christ. He is responsible to Him. In all things he needs to ask his Head how to behave himself toward his wife, in the family, in society and in the church. Christ is not only his Head, but also his Example, for you read that the Head of Christ is God. That of course doesn’t refer to Christ as the eternal Son, but to Him as Man. As Man the Lord Jesus has fully subjected Himself to the will of God. ‘To be subjected to’ may sound quite subservient, but it is about a position of submission toward another person. By paying attention to his Head, Christ, a man can be ‘head’ of the woman in a right way. In that way he will not manage her, but he will instruct her in a way that makes her heed easily. . How can this ranking be made visible? How can it be made visible that people observe the order of creation? Christ is not on earth anymore as Man, but the creature ‘man’ is. Man is the image of God. Therefore he is also called to represent this ranking. This is best seen in praying and prophesying. At praying man addresses himself to God and at prophesying God addresses Himself to man. In both cases that happens through the mouth of man. If we compare praying with prophesying, then it is clear that it is about praying out loud in the presence of other people. After all, prophesying is not useful when there are no listeners. If a man prays to God or prophesies to people, he ought to consider the place God gave him as a visible head of this creation. Therefore he is not allowed to pray or prophesy with his head covered. In the visible creation there is no creature he is submitted to, for that is what the head covering indicates, as it is indicated in the following verses. In case he has his head covered, he would then dishonor his invisible Head, Christ in heaven. Do you know why? Because by covering his head he would give the impression that he is submitted to another head besides Christ. . Regarding woman it is quite something else. She ought to have her head covered in case she prays or prophesies in the presence of others. In that way, she declares that she doesn’t abandon her position of submission to man when she does something a man is supposed to do. This regards cases when there are no men. When men are present, it is their responsibility to pray or to prophesy. When it regards praying, the instruction for men is written in 1 Timothy 2 that they should pray everywhere ( ). It is important to always remember that it concerns everybody’s official place in creation. The place for public performance is for the man. The woman has a more modest place. In case she comes forward by praying or prophesying, than she is supposed to cover her head to give not the impression that she takes the position of the man. Otherwise she would dishonor her head, the man. By the way: this praying or prophesying by the woman is somewhere else than in the church. In 1 Corinthians 14 it is said in an unmistakable way, that women are not allowed to speak in the church ( ). It may seem to you that this is all going a bit too far to relate so many things to whether or not to cover the head. Nevertheless it is really important, simply because God says so. To the visible and invisible world He wants a testimony of His order in the creation. It is like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in paradise. What was the reason that Adam and Eve were not allowed to eat from that? Its fruit was not worse than that of the other trees, was it? But it was simply because God said that. That must have been sufficient not to eat from it. God wants us to accept what He says; He connects a blessing to it. We lose that blessing by doing things willfully and do not listen to Him, like Adam and Eve acted willfully and lost the blessing. . There is one more thing related to the head covering of woman and that is her hair. If she doesn’t want to cover her head, let her have her hair cut off. Why is that? Because her long hair is her glory ( ). If she prays or prophesies with her head uncovered, she places herself in the position of the man. In that way she doesn’t honor him as her head. The Old Testament deals with the hair of the woman in two verses. Both verses are in a section dealing with the relationship between husband and wife. The first verse is in Numbers 5 where you read that ”the priest shall then ... let [the hair of] the woman's head go loose” ( ). It is about a case in which a man suspects his wife is unfaithful to him. The second verse is in Deuteronomy 21 where you read that her head has to be shaved ( ). There it is about a woman who is taken captive. In both cases the hair of the woman is related to dishonor and shame. Do you know that right after the Second World War (1939-1945) women, who were suspected of having had a relationship with German soldiers, were shorn also? With this in mind the first part of also becomes clearer. Nevertheless Paul wants to assume that a woman is aware of the shame when she has her hair cut off or even her head shaved. He reverts the terms in the second part of directly and says that if it is a shame for a woman to cut her hair off, she should therefore cover her head. You see here how closely head covering and hair are connected to each other. Now read 1 Corinthians 11:1-6 again. Reflection: Why is it important that each person stands in his own place and also takes up his position?

‏ 1 Corinthians 11:4-5

Head Covering and Hair (I)

1Cor 11:1. Paul says that we should imitate him, just as he also imitated Christ. How he did that, he said in the last verse of the previous chapter. His aim was to win many people for Christ. In no way he wanted to be a hindrance for people to accept the gospel. In this way Paul imitated his Lord and you can imitate Paul in your turn.

1Cor 11:2. Paul already had given a lot of exhortations. That was necessary. We also need to be exhorted. But yet there is also something for which he praises them. The Corinthians have not forgotten him, they even remembered him in everything. That has pleased him. Besides that, they kept the traditions just as he delivered them to them. He really appreciated that.

You can also look positively at the fact that he had to correct them in their way of dealing with these traditions, like the Lord’s Supper, about which he speaks later in this chapter. The positive thing is not to justify the wrong, but it is the fact that they were approachable. He could correct them in their wrong doings and trust that they would listen to him. Anyway, Paul saw good things with the Corinthians.

1Cor 11:3. Then he speaks about an issue that currently is one of the most widely discussed matters, namely the role of man and woman in everyday life. In the world around you, things are dealt with quite differently than what you read in the first part of this chapter. You may even have to reread it several times before you get a clear mind on that. The ranking which is indicated in 1Cor 11:3 has been totally done away with in the world around you. God and Christ, people do not believe in. And the thought of the man as the head of the woman is totally out of fashion and wrong so that people make every effort to destroy this thought.

I said that 1Cor 11:3 indicates a ranking. I mean this: God is at the head, then Christ, then the man and then the woman. To many people the impression arises because of this ranking – and that is what people vehemently oppose – as if the woman is just dangling at the bottom of this list and therefore has the position of being neglected totally. But that is absolutely not the case! Paul actually refers to the creation of man and woman. There you see that the man is created first and that the woman originates from him. She came out of his side, which means as one who is placed at his side.

The man is the head of creation, but he himself also has a Head above him and that is Christ. He is responsible to Him. In all things he needs to ask his Head how to behave himself toward his wife, in the family, in society and in the church.

Christ is not only his Head, but also his Example, for you read that the Head of Christ is God. That of course doesn’t refer to Christ as the eternal Son, but to Him as Man. As Man the Lord Jesus has fully subjected Himself to the will of God. ‘To be subjected to’ may sound quite subservient, but it is about a position of submission toward another person. By paying attention to his Head, Christ, a man can be ‘head’ of the woman in a right way. In that way he will not manage her, but he will instruct her in a way that makes her heed easily.

1Cor 11:4. How can this ranking be made visible? How can it be made visible that people observe the order of creation? Christ is not on earth anymore as Man, but the creature ‘man’ is. Man is the image of God. Therefore he is also called to represent this ranking. This is best seen in praying and prophesying. At praying man addresses himself to God and at prophesying God addresses Himself to man. In both cases that happens through the mouth of man. If we compare praying with prophesying, then it is clear that it is about praying out loud in the presence of other people. After all, prophesying is not useful when there are no listeners.

If a man prays to God or prophesies to people, he ought to consider the place God gave him as a visible head of this creation. Therefore he is not allowed to pray or prophesy with his head covered. In the visible creation there is no creature he is submitted to, for that is what the head covering indicates, as it is indicated in the following verses. In case he has his head covered, he would then dishonor his invisible Head, Christ in heaven. Do you know why? Because by covering his head he would give the impression that he is submitted to another head besides Christ.

1Cor 11:5. Regarding woman it is quite something else. She ought to have her head covered in case she prays or prophesies in the presence of others. In that way, she declares that she doesn’t abandon her position of submission to man when she does something a man is supposed to do. This regards cases when there are no men. When men are present, it is their responsibility to pray or to prophesy. When it regards praying, the instruction for men is written in 1 Timothy 2 that they should pray everywhere (1Tim 2:8).

It is important to always remember that it concerns everybody’s official place in creation. The place for public performance is for the man. The woman has a more modest place. In case she comes forward by praying or prophesying, than she is supposed to cover her head to give not the impression that she takes the position of the man. Otherwise she would dishonor her head, the man. By the way: this praying or prophesying by the woman is somewhere else than in the church. In 1 Corinthians 14 it is said in an unmistakable way, that women are not allowed to speak in the church (1Cor 14:34).

It may seem to you that this is all going a bit too far to relate so many things to whether or not to cover the head. Nevertheless it is really important, simply because God says so. To the visible and invisible world He wants a testimony of His order in the creation. It is like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in paradise. What was the reason that Adam and Eve were not allowed to eat from that? Its fruit was not worse than that of the other trees, was it? But it was simply because God said that. That must have been sufficient not to eat from it. God wants us to accept what He says; He connects a blessing to it. We lose that blessing by doing things willfully and do not listen to Him, like Adam and Eve acted willfully and lost the blessing.

1Cor 11:6. There is one more thing related to the head covering of woman and that is her hair. If she doesn’t want to cover her head, let her have her hair cut off. Why is that? Because her long hair is her glory (1Cor 11:15). If she prays or prophesies with her head uncovered, she places herself in the position of the man. In that way she doesn’t honor him as her head.

The Old Testament deals with the hair of the woman in two verses. Both verses are in a section dealing with the relationship between husband and wife. The first verse is in Numbers 5 where you read that ”the priest shall then ... let [the hair of] the woman's head go loose” (Num 5:18). It is about a case in which a man suspects his wife is unfaithful to him. The second verse is in Deuteronomy 21 where you read that her head has to be shaved (Deu 21:12). There it is about a woman who is taken captive. In both cases the hair of the woman is related to dishonor and shame.

Do you know that right after the Second World War (1939-1945) women, who were suspected of having had a relationship with German soldiers, were shorn also? With this in mind the first part of 1Cor 11:6 also becomes clearer.

Nevertheless Paul wants to assume that a woman is aware of the shame when she has her hair cut off or even her head shaved. He reverts the terms in the second part of 1Cor 11:6 directly and says that if it is a shame for a woman to cut her hair off, she should therefore cover her head. You see here how closely head covering and hair are connected to each other.

Now read 1 Corinthians 11:1-6 again.

Reflection: Why is it important that each person stands in his own place and also takes up his position?