- 1 Corinthians 11:1-11
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- 1 Corinthians 11:1
Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.
The Apostle Paul is now asking the Corinthians to be a follower of him. Now
he is not seeking a following as the word “followers” in the Greek is the
word for “imitate.” He is asking the people to note his obedience and
dedication to the Lord Jesus Christ and he wants these Corinthians to be
followers in the same manner. He just laid down some strong principles in
the preceding chapter and is now desiring these Christians to adopt them as
he has adopted them into his own life. He wants them to realize that
following Christ is not something which is done half-heartedly. His life
testifies of his full dedication to Christ.
- 1 Corinthians 11:2
Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and
keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
Paul now commends these Christians in that they need to remember what Paul
has delivered to them. The word “ordinances” is the Greek word for
“traditions.” He is not speaking of anything such as the tradition of the
elders which would be placing apostasy into the church. He is stating that
they are to keep in mind the traditions which he brought them, which would
be specifically for the new church. It would be more like an apostolic
direction for the new church. That direction comes in either oral or written
form such as this letter to the Corinthians. Since there were many new
Christians in this church, much direction was needed to bring order and a
semblance of Christian discipline to the assembly as we will see in the
following chapters.
- 1 Corinthians 11:3
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is
Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of
Christ is God.
Head - Authority
Here Paul introduces the first of two main subjects in this chapter. The
first section deals with authority and the second half deals with the Lord’s
Supper. First, this verse has been used by those who oppose the deity of
Christ. They try to use this verse to prove that Christ was less than God
and that is why He was in submission to the Father. What is being taught
here, and for our benefit, is a chain of command.
(Luke 2:51 KJV) And he went down with
them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept
all these sayings in her heart.
When the Lord Jesus was a child, He was subject unto Joseph and his mother.
He was under their authority as his earthly parents.
(Heb 5:8 KJV) Though he were a Son, yet
learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
Here we see another verse which teaches that the Lord Jesus was obedient.
This obedience was to the Father and to the written word of God that the
Messiah should come into the world and die for the Elect. This teaches us
that the Lord Jesus Christ was obedient unto the point of death as we see in
the revealing verse below.
(Phil 2:8 KJV) And being found in
fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross.
The obedience of Christ, in no way took away from his deity. His obedience
unto the point of death was an example to us. It established an earthly
chain of command. God is the head of Christ, then we see that the head of
every man is Christ, and the head of every woman is man. This does not mean
that women are inferior to men but God is establishing a line of command for
the purpose of order in the churches. He has already established the
authority order in marriage as far back as the Garden of Eden.
(Gen 3:16 KJV) Unto the woman he said, I will
greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring
forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule
over thee. Now since the church was new, a pattern
of authority had to be established in the church. The word “head” in 1
Corinthians 11:3 means “authority or governing” in the Greek and is used
three times so there is no mistaking that there must be an authority chain.
If women were allowed to have authority roles in the church, and the husband
of the woman was part of that church, then he would be under her authority,
which would violate the rules of marriage which God had already established.
- 1 Corinthians 11:4
Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered,
dishonoureth his head.
As a sign of deference to the Lord Jesus Christ, it would be dishonoring to
Him if a man who was praying, prophesying, or even preaching had some type
of hat on his head. It is like a man comes into the presence of a nobleman
and shows him honor by removing his hat in his presence. It is the same way
that a man who publicly ministers, removes his head garment as a sign of
honoring the Lord Jesus Christ. For many years, whenever a man walked into a
public building, they would remove their hat. Why? Because the public
building represented the government which was appointed by God. Those
religions where men keep their head garments on are showing their contempt
for the authority of God. By keeping their head garments on, they are
showing that they are the authority.
- 1 Corinthians 11:5
But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered
dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.
Here we have a situation whereby if the woman is praying or prophesying,
then she is to have her head covered. This covering means that she is in
submission to her head, which is her husband. It also showed that she was
modest. Her ultimate head is the Lord Jesus Christ but through the order
which God has set up, she would be dishonoring her husband. If she
dishonored her husband, than that dishonor would pass back on to her. When a
woman has her head shaved, it is a sign of dishonor to her. If she had her
head shorn, it would show the entire church that she was disobedient to her
husband.
- 1 Corinthians 11:6
For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be
a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.
Paul now states plainly, that if she refuses to cover her head, then she
should be shorn as a sign to the community and to her that she is a
disobedient woman. A shorn head on a woman was also a sign of dishonor, yet
many women in modern times have almost all their hair cut off and many of
them look very masculine because of it.
(Deu 21:10-12 KJV) When thou goest forth
to war against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into
thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive, {11} And seest among the
captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest
have her to thy wife; {12} Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house;
and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;
To have a head shorn was akin to being taken as a slave from among a
defeated people. To shave the head was a sign of forced humiliation among
the women. If she has had her head shorn in humiliation, she can still show
deference to her husband by wearing a veil over her head.
- 1 Corinthians 11:7
For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the
image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
Now Paul goes back to the time of the creation that man was originally made
in the image of God and that creation represented the glory of God. However,
since the fall of man, that image has been marred because of sin. When a
person becomes saved, they are then born again in the image of God and that
salvation of the individual is the glory of God. This is why men are never
to preach or teach with anything on their head so there is no marring of the
relationship between God and his children. In like manner, the woman is the
glory of man. As man reflects the glory of God, the woman reflects the glory
of the man in her subjection and modesty, since she was formed from Adam and
for him.
- 1 Corinthians 11:8
For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
Here we see the order of creation. Man did not originally come from the
woman but Eve was taken from Adam. (Gen
2:22 KJV) And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a
woman, and brought her unto the man.
- 1 Corinthians 11:9
Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the
man.
God did not originally create the man for the woman but He created the woman
to be a help meet for the man. (Gen 2:18
KJV) And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I
will make him an help meet for him.
- 1 Corinthians 11:10
For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of
the angels.
This is one of those mysterious verses which we can gain some understanding
by looking at some other verses. The beginning of this verse states, “For
this cause.” For what cause? It goes back to what we have been looking at,
the fact that a woman is to have her head covered so she will not be
disobedient to the divine chain of command which God has set up. Notice also
in this verse we are told that she must do this because of the angels. The
word “power” in this verse is the Greek word for “authority.” We saw that
when a woman coves her head when praying or prophesying, she then is under
the authority of her husband. That is the authority she has over her. In the
case of a single woman, she remains under the authority of her father. Keep
in mind that the ultimate authority that she is under is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now let us look at why the angels have been mentioned.
(Job 1:6 KJV) Now there was a day when
the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came
also among them.
Notice in this verse in Job, that the sons of God came to present themselves
before the Lord and Satan came also. In this instance the sons of God are
the angels. If you notice, the angels came but the conversation God had was
only with Satan. The conversation centered on the obedient nature of Job.
Job was a saved man, therefore God showed Satan that the redeemed Job was an
obedient and righteous man. Now it seems that the reason the angels were
present, was to be a witness to this event. They may have had some part in
this scenario with Job and Satan but the Bible is silent on it. Now it seems
that the angels have an interest in the salvation which God grants to His
Elect and we see this in the next verse in 1 Peter.
(1 Pet 1:12 KJV) Unto whom it was
revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the
things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the
gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the
angels desire to look into.
The word “desire” in this verse carries with it the meaning of a lusting or
very strong desire. However, the word is not used in a sexual context. It
speaks of the good type of desire or lust. For example, a true Christian
lusts for righteousness and holiness. That is the way this word is used. It
seems that in this verse, as in the Job verse, the angels were desirous to
understand God’s salvation plan. This is because Christ died for the ungodly
and not for them, because they were the Elect angels who did not rebel with
Satan. (1 Tim 5:21 KJV) I charge thee
before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels,
that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing
nothing by partiality. In the Job verse, we see
that God was showing Satan a righteous man by reason of salvation and the
angels were there. In 1 Peter 1:10, the Bible tells us that the Prophets of
old had also searched the matter of salvation which was to come through
Christ.
(Gen 19:1 KJV) And there came two angels
to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose
up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;
In the above verse, we see that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by two
angels but before the destruction took place, they were sent to get Lot and
his family out of there. We see then that angels were not only interested in
salvation, they were also dispatched by God for various purposes.
Back to 1 Corinthians 11:10, we see that the angels are also interested in
the local church where all the true believers meet. They are there looking
into the things which pertain to salvation. They are there for the purpose
of looking at the obedience of the women in the congregation as they observe
their obedience to God in the matter of the divine chain of command. If the
congregation lacks obedience, then Jesus will remove the candlestick. Those
churches which have women preachers will have their candlestick removed.
Women preachers preach with their head uncovered, which is rebellion before
God. Before we leave this subject, there is one more interesting verse to
look at.
(Rev 3:5 KJV) He that overcometh, the
same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out
of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and
before his angels.
Those who overcome, the true believers, will have their name confessed by
the Lord Jesus Christ before the Father and His angels. Just like Job was
confessed by the Father as being upright in the presence of the holy angels,
we too will be confessed in front of the Holy Angels.
- 1 Corinthians 11:11
Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman
without the man, in the Lord.
Paul was just discussing the divine order of authority and he wants us to
know that both men and women are on an equal footing in the eyes of God.
They each have different callings but that does not mean one is inferior or
one is superior to the other. (Gal 3:28 KJV) There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are
all one in Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed both men and
women and has been building his true eternal church since the first
salvation took place, whether it be Adam and Eve or Abel.
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