1 Corinthians 11:3-16 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.… A broad principle laid down by Christianity was human equality: "there is neither male nor female, but ye are all one in Christ Jesus." We all know how fruitful a cause of popular commotion the teaching of equality has been in every age, and at Corinth this doctrine threatened to lead to much social confusion. A claim was made for a right in woman to do all that men should do — to preach and pray, e.g., in public, and therefore to appear as men, unveiled in public. This latter the apostle here prohibits — I. ON THE GROUND THAT IT WAS A RASH DEFIANCE OF ESTABLISHED RULES OF DECORUM. The veiled head is a symbol of — 1. Modesty; for to pray unveiled was to insult all the conventional feelings of Jew and Gentile. The Holy Ghost, however, has not imposed on the Church this particular fashion, but the principle contained in it is eternal; and it is impossible to decide how much of our public morality and private purity is owing to the spirit which refuses to overstep the smallest bound of ordinary decorum. 2. Dependence. St. Paul perceived that the law of Christian equality was quite consistent with the vast system of subordination running through the universe (vers. 3, 11, 12). He distinguishes between inferiority and subordination; each sex exists in a certain order, not one as greater than the other, but both great and right in being what God intended them to be. II. BY AN APPEAL TO NATURAL INSTINCTS ANN PROPRIETY (vers. 14, 15). Fanaticism defies nature. Christianity refines it and respects it. It develops each nation, sex, and individual, according to their own nature — making man more manly and woman more womanly. But let us not forget that here, too, there are exceptions. Beware of a dead, hard rule. There have been many instances in which one man standing against the world has been right, and the world wrong, as Elijah, , Luther, and others. But in questions of morality, propriety, decency, when we find our own private judgment contradicted by the general experience, habit, and belief of all the best around us, then the doctrine of this chapter commands us to believe that the many are right and that we are wrong. (F. W. Robertson, M.A.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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