You are to imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:1 Berean Standard Bible
Now there’s a tall order seemingly impossible for any worshiper: Imitate an Apostle. But the humble Apostle Paul addresses the different roles of men and women in prayer and worship of the church.
Roles of men and women
Maintaining the Traditions
Now I commend you for remembering me in everything and for maintaining the traditions, just as I passed them on to you.
- 1 Corinthians 11:2 BSB
Paul compliments the Corinthian church for remembering him in everything, including his teaching as an Apostle of Christ, from going back to when he ministered personally to the Corinthian church.
The apostle specifically addresses what he expects of the Corinthian believers.
Yet centuries later we may wonder:
To what ‘traditions‘ is Paul referring? Jewish traditions? Local Hellenist Corinthian traditions?
So let's take a more formal from the King James in order to clarify who Paul addresses in the Corinthian church.
Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
In his Apostolic authority of these ordinances, Paul first and primarily addresses the men of the Corinthian church — a cultural consideration expected by both Jew and Hellenist gentile believers.
An Illustration of Leadership
Paul employs a common metaphor we won’t want to miss.
κεφαλή – kephalē – head
metaph. anything supreme, chief, prominent
- of persons, master lord: of a husband in relation to his wife
- of Christ: the Lord of the husband and of the Church
- of things: the corner stone
Paul uses this metaphor of the head ten times in his first letter to the Corinthian church.
So IF you tend to shun authority, you may question what the Apostle humbly orders by way of this ordinance of relationship and roles.
Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head.
The idea here is that man was made in the glory of God and it would be dishonoring to God for him to cover his head while he prayed or prophesied. Now that is interesting coming from Paul considering that in Orthodox Jewry today, they all wear their little hats whenever they come into any sacred place of prayer.
So where where is the Apostle headed?
Paul naturally points to the creation of mankind by God.
"Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man." 1 Cor 11:9 KJV
But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved.
1 Cor 11:5 NKJV
Paul does not tell the men of Corinth that women should neither pray nor prophesy publically, only that she should have her head covered out of respect to the authority over her.
Thinking it through
What is Paul’s reasoning?
He uses hyperbole with irony here (pointed in the KJV):
- 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.
Again the Apostle emphasises:
- For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
- Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
- For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.
"Because of the angels?"
Where did angels enter into roles of worship in church?
You may not accept this on either, but the Apostle has already made mention in this letter to the Corinthians of such authority.
Apostles at the end of the procession
.. like prisoners appointed for death.”
Picture the ranks of all authority: Kings and captive prisoners of other kings.
AND above all, God the Father, with Cherubim and Seraphim, ARCH-ANGELS and countless ranks of Angels — all spirits as gods serving the LORD with power to the glory of the Almighty — servants and messengers of God interacting with mortal men of dust and souls quickened in His Image with His Holy Spirit.
We have become a spectacle [theatron] to the whole world [kosmos],
to angels [angelos] as well as to men
[anthrōpos {both men and women}].
– Paul’s reference to Apostles viewed by the world and angels
Wearing your Symbols of AUTHORITY with humility and respect
head-covering, the emblem of “power on her head”; the sign of her being under man’s power, and exercising delegated authority under him.
Paul had before his mind the root-connection between the Hebrew terms for “veil” (radid), and “subjection” (radad).
BENGEL explains, “As the angels are in relation to God, so the woman is in relation to man. God’s face is uncovered; angels in His presence are veiled ( Isa 6:2 )
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown :: Commentary on 1 Corinthians 11:10
In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For just as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.
A head uncovered
13 Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?
Now the Apostle addresses the opposing sign of a head uncovered.
14 Doesn’t nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, 15 but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering.
Again, a helpful overview of this Greek word for uncovered or unveiled [11:5 & 11:13].
ἀκατακάλυπτος – akatakalyptos
“uncovered” (a, negative, katakalupto, “to cover”), is used in 1Cr 11:5, 13, RV, “unveiled,” with reference to the injunction forbidding women to be “unveiled” in a church gathering. .. and in the phrase “because of the angels,” intimating their witness of, and interest in, that which betokens the headship of Christ. – Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words
The Apostle has not yet reached his final point on the matter, but for our purposes consider it now:
For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. Let your women keep silence in the churches..
.. the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. 1 Cor 14:37b
we have no other practice
The Apostle Paul concludes this section definitively as a segue into Holy Communion in this way:
If anyone is inclined to dispute this, we have no other practice, nor do the churches of God.
NEXT: Holy Communion and Worship
