Honoring Your Head

Welcome

Well good morning, Park | Forest Glen! It’s good to be back with you after two weeks! I had the opportunity to travel over to the Middle East with a few other FG folks to visit some of our Global partners.

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PICTURE

Introduction

We’re continuing in our series through the New Testament letter of 1 Corinthians; a letter written by the Apostle Paul, one of the earliest leaders in the church. He was traveling around the Roman empire, going to major cities and starting these new communities of followers of Jesus called, ‘churches’.

The city of Corinth was a strategic place for Paul to visit. It was a port city where people from all over the empire converged to trade goods and ideas. So it was the perfect place for Paul to share the message of Jesus because it would be from the city of Corinth that the message about Jesus would spread through the rest of the area and well beyond the city itself.

Today we’re coming to, what I think, is one of the most challenging passages in this letter to make sense of. It has so many different rabbit trails for us to go down—it’s going to raise a bunch of questions—most of which we won’t even begin to answer today! But I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. Actually, it’s one of my goals in preaching…that I wouldn’t just share answers and reflections on things that I’ve been studying during the week…but that, together, we would encounter God’s word in a way that it makes us think…and ask hard questions…and stay curious about what it means to follow Jesus in a world that doesn’t!

This is a passage that brings up gender distinctions, hierarchy…it will lead to to wrestle with how we know when the bible is giving a culturally isolated command verses a universal principle…and how to tell the difference. For those of you who like a deep dive, that’s what we’re doing today. And so this is going to feel a little bit different from how we normal preach at Park. Fair warning.

So if you’re not there yet, open with me to 1 Corinthians 11. We’ll be in verses 2-16 today. 1 Corinthians 11:2-16. If you need a bible, you can grab one from the seat in front of you and we’ll be on page ***.

I’ll read the passage, pray, and then we’ll get started.

1 Corinthians 11:2–16 ESV

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 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 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. 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.

PRAY

Road Map

Okay, so what do we do with a passage like this? And here’s what makes this complicated—when you read though it, it actually seems fairly straight forward, doesn’t it?

It seems like there is an issue in the church with some women who are supposed to be wearing a head covering but for some reason, they’re not. And Paul’s instruction is: “Hey, this what we do in all the churches of God…” So Corinth needs to fall in line with women wearing the head coverings.

But there are some big questions that come up almost immediately, right?

Like if that’s Paul’s point…should we be doing that now?

Look around…we don’t.

But, why?

Maybe it’s just a cultural issue he’s dealing with that doesn’t apply any more.

But if that’s true, couldn’t there be other portions of the bible that are just cultural issues back then that don’t apply any more? What about the stuff Paul says about sexuality and marriage…maybe it’s just outdated and doesn’t really matter anymore. How do we tell the difference between something that is a culturally isolated principle that applies to a specific time and place and a universal principle that is still in effect for the church today?

This is a big part of why 1 Corinthians 11 is so challenging! Not just because of what this passage says, but because our interpretation of it might set a president for the how understand so many other parts of the bible!

So where do we go from here? How do we go about making sense of a passage like this?

The Art of Understanding

Well, in the theological world, we have a word for the method we use to find meaning in a biblical passage: hermeneutics.

I love this definition, “Hermeneutics is the art of understanding.”

The thing is, when we’re asking what a passage means, we’re actually asking a fairly complicated question. Because we naturally want to jump to “what does this means for me today in 21st century Chicago.” But before we can get there, we actually have to do the hard work of understanding what it meant for the original audience.

Remember, 1 Corinthians is a real letter Paul wrote to a real church that had real people with real issues. So how would they have understood his words?

Look with me again at v. 2 (1 Corinthians 11:2-5)

1 Corinthians 11:2–5 ESV

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 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 who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven.

What would they have thought about head coverings? How would they have understood Paul’s idea of “Headship?” These are the questions we need to start with! And it takes some hard work in a passage like this to get to those answers. But when we do, it helps us SO MUCH in knowing what we’re supposed to do with this today!

So let’s start there with those two questions…what would the Corinthians thought about Head Coverings and How would they have understood Paul’s idea of Headship in verse 3?

What would the Corinthians have thought about Head Coverings?

Let’s start with the head coverings, because this one seems to be big thing Paul’s talking about in this section. Look again at v. 4 (1 Corinthians 11:4-5)

1 Corinthians 11:4–5 ESV

4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, 5 but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven.

First thing we notice: this is a passage about something both men and women are supposed to be doing. It’s not just about women.

need to understand is that this passage is talking more broadly about men and women and not specifically about husbands and wives. I know v. 5 says “every wife” in the translation we’re using but in the original language here, Greek, not english, the same greek word means woman and wife. In fact, of the commonly used english translations today, the ESV is one of the only ones that translates that word as wife instead of woman. As we keep going it will make more sense why.

And what Paul wants them to do is pretty clear: in the church gathering, men are to pray and prophecy with uncovered heads…and women are to pray and prophecy with covered heads. And if you jump down to v. 16, Paul says, (1 Corinthians 11:16)

1 Corinthians 11:16 ESV

16 If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.

In other words, this is they way it is. Men are uncovered and women are supposed to be covered. This is part of the visible posture they take as they enter into the church gathering.

Now, today, you read that and I’m willing to bet your response is something like, “What the heck, Paul! That doesn’t seem fair.” Right? And we almost read into this a back story about a group of women who are fed up with the head-covering business and they’re refusing to take part in it any more.

But what if that is a uniquely modern, western response to the passage? What if we have a very different reaction to Paul’s words than his original audience would have?

It’s interesting when you look back at the historical evidence from this time period because you actually find that instead head coverings being a symbol of oppression of women, it was actually a symbol of honor.

And it worked like this: At that time, women of higher social status would wear head coverings as a symbol that they were a respectable—or even of a more noble social class. It was reserved for women known as matrons…or those who kind of represented the ideal Woman…married, wealthy, and powerful.

For a woman to be in public without a head covering would also communicate that they were single and ready to mingle. It was kind of the ancient equivalent to being on Tinder…or something like that.

But here’s the catch...

Roman society was very good about intentionally reinforcing class distinctions. So there were laws in place at the time that would prevent certain kinds of women from taking on this symbol of honor. Prostitutes, slaves, and former slaves were actually banned by Roman law from wearing head coverings in public because it would put them on the same level as these noble women.

In fact, on the books at the time, was a law that stated if a woman was not dressed like a matron—which included wearing a head covering—and a man would not be held liable for prosecution for assault…and so all of a sudden now you have this whole class of women who actually banned from taking on a symbol of honor and value in the culture…and who are even more vulnerable in society because they’re not able to wear a head covering.

Now…let’s put some of the pieces together here. Remember what Paul already said in chapter 1 (1 Corinthians 1:26)

1 Corinthians 1:26 ESV

26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

In other words, most of the church, men and women, were made up of the lower class…and for the women, it means that several of the could have been under the this cultural ban from wearing a head covering.

And you see, what when we understand that is that this situation flips on head, doesn’t it? Instead of this being an example of Paul trying to reinforce a some type of oppressive structure within the church…he’s actually saying something extremely counter cultural, right?

He is not chastising a group of women who refuse to wear a head covering…he’s actually saying that, in church, there is a very different kind of social order! That in the Gospel, women of all classes, women of all backgrounds and experiences to be seen as honorable, valuable, and protected! All of them take on the head covering because that is the symbol of that kind of honor.

And to answer that original question, what would the Corinthians thought about head coverings, they would have been floored by Paul’s words here! I mean this is so backwards from everything else they were used to…it’s so backwards from everything else engrained in in them from before they were born. I mean the Gospel is shattering what was actually an oppressive system for the majority of women in Corinth…and in the church, they were to find the honor, dignity, and value that was stamped into them by virtue of being created in the image of God but robbed from them by the culture at large.

This was a shocking thing for the Corinthians to read! Not because they were confused by it but because Paul is so directly undermining the larger cultural structure and value system!

So they can all come and pray, prophecy—which we’ll spend a lot more time on in a few weeks—they come into the worship gathering with honor and dignity and value and protection…and this is how they approach God…this is the posture in which they worship. It is actually a beautiful picture of the Gospel affirming and confirming honor on women.

So that’s head coverings…what about the other part of this?

This idea of headship.

How would the Corinthians have understood the word “Head”?

Look again at v. 3 (1 Corinthians 11:3)

1 Corinthians 11:3 ESV

3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.

So here’s the question we need to ask, “How would the Corinthians have understood this “head” idea?

Well what we know is that whatever Paul means by the word, “Head” it’s clearly some kind of metaphor, right? To say one thing is the head is to say the other part is the body, right? That’s pretty straight forward.

The question is, did Paul come up with this metaphor or is this a more common metaphor that other people were using at the time?

Again, just like with head coverings, when we look at the historical evidence in the city of Corinth and the Roman empire around this time period, we find some really interesting context.

Actually, a lot of times this head and body metaphor was used to talk about politics. Just like today, in Chicago, we use a metaphor to talk about the political system here, right? Every four years in Chicago, when we start talking about “the machine” we know we’re not just talking about a physical machine working somewhere, right? We’re talking about “the way it works in Chicago.” If you know, you know.

It’s the exact same idea in Corinth around this time period. People would talk about the government, the political leaders as the “head” of the city, or the empire. Caesar was the “head” he’s on top. He’s the one who calls the shots…he’s the important one. In fact, you have the Roman historian, and contemporary of Paul, Seneca, wrote that the body—or the people of Rome—should be willing to do whatever it needed to for the benefit of the Head…that the body should be willing thrust itself into fire or jump into a chasm if were to benefit the Head.

The bottom line is that in every time this metaphor is used, it talks about authority structures in the Roman empire and the body sacrificing itself for the sake of the head. It’s all about the head! So when Paul started talking about one being the head the other, he’s just borrowing a familiar image from the culture.

But…just like with the head coverings, Paul takes this idea and turning it on it’s head! Because he has a very different model of headship. It’s like he’s saying, “You’ve grown up think about it this way, but in the church it actually works this way.

And he doesn’t go right into this here in 1 Corinthians 11—probably because he’s already talked with them about this when he was with them—but we find Paul’s thoughts about Headship in his letter to the Ephesian church.

Look with me real quick at Ephesians 5:22-27

Ephesians 5:22–27 (ESV)

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Remember, they are used to hearing all the time that the “body” sacrifices itself for the sake of the Head. The body does whatever it can for the head. And yet here is Paul saying something profoundly different. And what happens today is that we get caught up on this ‘submission’ language as if that’s what this passage is about…when in reality, Paul’s taking a spotlight to this wild idea that, in the church, headship work the opposite way! It’s not about power and authority, but about self-sacrifice, care, and love!

That’s what it means to be a head. That’s what Paul means here in 1 Corinthians 11…he is talking about the way in which men in the church model headship in following Jesus by loving and serving and sacrificing like Jesus in the church…and that works specifically in the husband and wife relationship, but also in the general relationships between men and women in the church.

How do we “Honor our ‘Head’” today?

Okay, we just covered a lot ground…we talked about head coverings and how they show honor…we talked about headship and how it supposed to display self-sacrifice…but I think the question we have to ask is, why is Paul talking about any of this at all?

Why does this matter for him?

Well, look again at v. 4 (1 Corinthians 11:4-5

1 Corinthians 11:4–5 ESV

Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven.

You see, what he’s talking about, ultimately is the way that we, both men and women, posture ourselves as we come into the the worship gathering. Uncovered heads for men and covered heads for women communicated something in that cultural moment about the honor and even the reverence that they were showing up with in that space. It was a posture seeking to show honor, ultimately to God who is the ultimate head.

This is what Paul is concerned with—that we show up in the corporate gathering of God’s people with honor and reverence for what is taking place as we gather. You see that. That what happens here when we gather on a Sunday morning as a church family is about so much more than just going through the motions of listening to a sermon, singing some songs, praying and giving some money.

No, you see we actually dare to believe the miraculous is happening when we gather! We believe that we are actually meeting as a family in the presence of God, Himself. The holy, majestic, perfect, righteous, and Good creator of all things. Who actually desires to meet with us! Who invites us into His presence, to come before Him, to bring our requests to Him, to be in relationship with Him as a son and daughter in His family. This is what we are saying happens when we gather together NOW in THIS moment!

Friends, Paul’s words to Corinth were: how you show up in this space matters. For them, it was issue of head coverings. For us, his point is the same. How we show up here matters.

There is an amazing amount casualness in the church today.

And some of it’s good and fine…it’s a course correct for generations and generations of people who have functionally been that God is more like their angry grandfather who is easily disturbed by loud noises and flashy clothes…

But the the pendulum swings the other way too…and in becoming too casual, we start to loose any sense of God’s transcendence…His majesty. He’s just a buddy.

Course Correct:

we show up ready. we show up on time. We show up prepared. We show up looking to serve…we show up looking to care. We show up to meet with God.

And don’t hear me saying that we need to pretend to be perfect when we enter this space. No! God invites us to himself in our brokenness in our frailty…he invites us with our sin…to come to him and once again celebrate the good news of the Gospel, that in Jesus, we find forgiveness…we find healing…and we find new life. We don’t come with our OWN righteous perfection because we don’t have it…we come to him in Jesus’ righteous perfection—proclaiming that we are spiritually needy people!

Friends, this first part of 1 Corinthians 11 is all about the posture we take as we come before our God. And the question I want to leave us with is simple: what posture do we bring when we’re here? What posture do I take when I enter the gathering of God’s people? Do I see this as a sacred moment…a mysteriously beautiful moment…a holy moment? Or have I brought with me something that is far more casual—and maybe cheap.

Conclusion

Friends, 1 Corinthians 11 is famously tricky passage. And I know there is a lot we didn’t discuss…I know there are more questions that you’ll be asking about how this may continue to play out…and I want to encourage that…keep asking questions! Stop by after the service…email me and let’s talk! The Bible is never a boring topic and God invites our curiosity here. But when we get to the root of what was going on the Corinth, it helps us understand the bottom line issue of the posture they were approaching God with and invites us to ask the same question about our own posture.

Let’s pray.