Why? You may ask. Well... I'll tell you. I am the least naturally submissive person that was ever born. This is not a joke. Ask my husband. Heck, ask my parents. If you tell me I'm supposed to do something I don't think will be highly enjoyable, I will fight you the entire way kicking and screaming and screaming obscenities. Okay... not the last part... I don't really have a potty mouth... but maybe screaming insults at you. That's probably more realistic.
Anyways, the idea that a woman needed to be submissive to her husband and that God MADE us that way was the suckiest concept in the world to me. What the heck?!?! Isn't God supposed to be loving and just? Why would that kind of God expect me to kowtow to another human being, a man, who is just sinful like me?? No way could that be right.
Oh, and did I mention that this chapter in the Bible specifically discusses this topic centering around how a woman wears her hair? How superficial is that??!! There's no way that how a woman wears her hair, long vs. short, covered vs. uncovered, should have any reflection on her spiritual discipline. That's so... ugh... I don't even know a word to describe how turned off I was by this chapter the first time I read it.
Well... I'm happy to say that in the month I've been preparing for this lesson, my eyes have literally been opened to so many new truths God is sharing in this passage. After studying this and teaching on this topic, I am so much more comfortable with the idea of submission, and even with how a woman should wear her hair. I now view God's calling for women to be submissive to their husbands as a beautiful opportunity to reflect how Jesus was submissive to the Father when he died on the cross. Now, tell me I can learn how to be more like Christ, and you have my attention, because, that's what living the Christian life is all about, right?
Now, lest you fear that I've fallen off my rocker and have made a 180 degree turn and you will now find me dressed only in floor length mumus and never taking scissors to my hair again, there's no need for alarm. No. I don't necessarily think this passage is literally saying all women should wear their hair long and covered, or else!! What I do now realize is that God made women differently than men for a reason, and God doesn't make mistakes, so we might as well embrace the differences!!
So, instead of ranting further on this topic, I decided to instead post my notes that I used to teach this morning... I pray you enjoy, contemplate, and glean something of how God made you uniquely beautiful (if you are a woman, of course -- if you're a man, you're obviously uniquely "handsome" :-))
* A disclaimer -- many of these conclusions are not mine, and are instead a culmination of study from respected theologians (especially The MacArthur Commentary, which is fabulous) who actually have degrees in this stuff... so don't worry -- I won't make you a heretic if you choose to embrace any of these thoughts!!
The Word of God
1 Corinthians 11:1-16
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
Head Coverings
2 Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. 3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife[a] is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. 4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, 5 but every wife[b] who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. 6 For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. 7 For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. 8 For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9 Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10 That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.[c] 11 Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; 12 for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.13 Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14 Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, 15 but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. 16 If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.
My Notes:
Theme: Women are EQUAL in the kingdom as far as value, spiritual potential, intellect, etc., HOWEVER -- they function uniquely in God's created order and are best suited to live that way based upon the following points:
1) Pattern in the Godhead (vs. 3)
2) Divine design of male vs. female (vs.7)
3) The order of creation (vs 8)
4) The purpose of woman in regard to man (vs 9)
5) The concerns of angels (vs. 10)
6) characteristics of natural physiology
We as women need to resist the temptation to pick and choose what scripture says about women just because it seems offensive at first.
Breakdown:
Verse 2 - "Traditions" refers to God's word in the OT -- Paul is praising them for asking for guidance and not just trying to interpret God's word for themselves .
~ The Corinthians were caught between theology, morality and the harmful pagan culture they were escaping
~ Corinthian women were seen as sub-human and were often enslaved, abused and forced into prostitution, so now that they found freedom in Christ, they didn't want to be told they needed to be submissive to ANYONE, even their husbands.
Verse 3 - Paul tries to show that submission isn't inherently a bad th ing.
~ If Jesus hadn't submitted to the will of the Father, He wouldn't have been able to save mankind by dying on the cross.
~ Word "head" means 'controlling part' -- this is used in three different) ways.
1) Christ is the 'head' of every man
2) Man is the 'head' of woman
3) God is the 'head' of Christ -- again, he ends on this positive example that all men & women can understand and embrace.
Key point -- Our challenge is to see our role of submission as an opportunity to be like Jesus
Verse 4-6 -- We DO have to take Corinthian culture into consideration when literally reading this passage
~ Culturally, even today, a man would not have worn a veil on his head at any time. If he were to do that, he would be a visual distraction.
~ Likewise, culturally at the time, "normal" women had long hair and wore veils.
~ In Jewish culture, an adulteress was the only women who wore short hair -- to distinguish her from godly society.
~ So, for a woman to wear her hair short would have been a cultural distraction and would not have made her an effective witness to others about the Gospel.
~ We need to be cognizant of our audience as believers. (i.e., I wouldn't wear a bathing suit to women's Bible study because my teaching would be ineffective due to the distraction of my appearance)
Key Point -- Macarthur and other respected theologians thus conclude that Paul wasn't stating a permanent universal necessity for women to always wear their head covered, just that it made sense in that society. HOWEVER, the principle behind it (submission) still applies today -- we can't just say that only applied in those times and not live by the reasoning behind it.
~ One way the Corinthian women were trying to assert their newfound equality in Jesus was to cut their hair and wear it uncovered to look like men to show they weren't "owned" by any man. Paul is discouraging this practice, and now goes into a defense as to why women should act like women, and not try to resemble men.
Verse 7-10 -- Paul reminds us the order in which God created us. We are equal in value to Him, but we demonstrate different sides of His glory than man.
~ Man is both the "glory" and "image" of God, because God created him out of nothing.
~ Likewise, women are made in the "image" of God, but Paul differentiates by saying women are the "glory" of man.
~~~ I see it like this -- God showed one of his majestic abilities -- creating something out of nothing -- when he created man. Whereas when he created woman, he created something uniquely beautiful from one of his creations. It showed a different side of His creativity. Thus -- we were intended to be different from men. (this is sometimes tough in our society to be told we're not "the same" as men)
~"Because of the angels" -- this is sort of a random statement in the passage, but Macarthur explains the following thought --
~~~ Angels are created as completely submissive beings. And they were also witnesses to Creation and the order in which it happened. So, they "know" we are supposed to be man's helpmate - not his superior. If we don't act that way, then we're setting a bad example for the angels, and they'll be offended, and even possibly tempted to be insubordinate themselves, of course, a dangerous thing.
Vs. 11-12 -- Christianity helped liberate women, and here, Paul reminds men that although the first woman came from a man, subsequent men come from the body of a woman, so the two go hand in hand and are equally as important.
~ But if we're not careful -- Satan can tempt us to ignore the physiological differences between women and lose our uniqueness.
Vs. 13-16 Paul gives a biology lesson
~~ Hair growth happens in three stages 1) Growth 2) Rest 3) Fall out.
~~~~~Men reach the fallout stage earlier than women because of their testosterone. Contrarily, women have more estrogen, which lengthens the "resting" stage.
~ so, if you sent a man and a women into the desert each with a shaved head and left them there for a few years, when they came back, the woman's hair would be noticeably longer than the man's.
Key Point: God created us to be biologically different, and for women, he emphasized our hair. It's intended to be longer and fuller than a man's. If we ignore those biological differences and try to claim that we're "the same" in every way as man, we're denying the fact that God intended us to be different, and thus implying that God made a "mistake" in creating Woman the way He did.
Final Thoughts -- God intended for women to be man's helpmate. So He created us second. This naturally makes man the "head" of the woman. But, man cannot exist without woman, so there's a mutual dependence in that relationship. God has given us a unique opportunity as woman to learn the art of submission as a way to model Christ's submission to the Father on the cross. The literal covering of a woman's head can be seen as taken within the historical context because a woman with shorter hair was either an adulteress, or trying to deny the womanhood God gave her -- both no-no's!! So, Paul isn't literally saying (vs. 16) that the church is demanding that women should cover their heads at all times. What he IS saying, however, is that a woman should be mindful of the culture in which she lives in and take precaution to not be a distraction from spreading the Gospel. Also, she needs to examine her heart if she finds herself not wanting to be submissive -- God made us different for His divine purposes, and God doesn't make mistakes so we shouldn't try to be just like men. Biologically, we're different from men and we should embrace and thank God for that!
