Head Coverings & Gender Roles?
Intro:
I. The Principle of Submission (v.3)
I(A). Christ is the head of every man
I(B). Man is the head of a woman
God established the principle of male authority and female subordination for the purpose of order and complementation, not on the basis of any innate superiority of males.
An employee may be more intelligent and more skilled than his boss, but a company cannot be run without submission to proper authority, even if some of those in authority are not as capable as they ought to be. Elders and deacons are to be chosen from among the most spiritual men of the congregation, but there may be other men in the church who are even more spiritual. Yet, for the very reason that they are spiritual, those who are not in positions of leadership will submit to those who are.
A church may have some women who are better Bible students, better theologians, and better speakers than any of the men, including the pastor. But if those women are obedient to God’s order they will submit to male leadership and will not try to usurp it-simply because that is God’s design. A wife may be better educated, better taught in Scripture, and more spiritually mature than her husband. But because she is spiritual, she will willingly submit to him as head of the family. That proper relationship is specifically described in Ephesians 5:22–33
I(C). God is the head of Christ
Jesus made nothing clearer than the fact that He submitted Himself to His Father’s will (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38; cf. 1 Cor. 3:23; 15:24–28; etc.). Christ has never been—before, during, or after His incarnation-in any way inferior in essence to the Father. But in His incarnation He willingly subordinated Himself to the Father in His role as Savior and Redeemer. He lovingly subjected Himself completely to His Father’s will as an act of humble obedience in fulfilling the divine purpose.
II. The Application of the Principle (v.4-6)
In Paul’s day numerous symbols were used to signify the woman’s subordinate relationship to men, particularly of wives to husbands. Usually the symbol was in the form of a head covering, and in the Greek-Roman world of Corinth the symbol apparently was a veil of some kind. In many Near East countries today a married woman’s veil still signifies that she will not expose herself to other men, that her beauty and charms are reserved entirely for her husband, that she does not care even to be noticed by other men. Similarly, in the culture of first-century Corinth wearing a head covering while ministering or worshiping was a woman’s way of stating her devotion and submission to her husband and of demonstrating her commitment to God.
Dress is largely cultural and, unless what a person wears is immodest or sexually suggestive, it has no moral or spiritual significance. Throughout biblical times, as in many parts of the world today, both men and women wore some type of robe. But there always were some clear distinctions of dress between men and women, most often indicated by hair length and head coverings.
It is the principle of women’s subordination to men, not the particular mark or symbol of that subordination, that Paul is teaching in this passage. The apostle is not laying down a universal principle that Christian women should always worship with their heads covered.
We know from secular history that various movements of women’s liberation and feminism appeared in the Roman empire during New Testament times. Women would often take off their veils or other head coverings and cut their hair in order to look like men. Much as in our own day, some women were demanding to be treated exactly like men and they attacked marriage and the raising of children as unjust restrictions of their rights. They asserted their independence by leaving their husbands and homes, refusing to care for their children, living with other men, demanding jobs traditionally held by men, wearing men’s clothing and hairdos, and by discarding all signs of femininity. It is likely that some of the believers at Corinth were influenced by those movements and, as a sign of protest and independence, refused to cover their heads at appropriate times.
covering the head appears to have been a customary symbol of subordination in Corinthian society, as in much of the ancient world. But the principle of male headship is not a matter of custom but a matter of God’s order and creation and should never be compromised.
III. The Defense of the Principle
III(A). Based on Creation (v.7-9)
Man is also uniquely created to bear the image of God as a ruler, who is given a sphere of sovereignty. In that sense, he was also created to be the glory of God. God gave man dominion over all the created world, to care for according to His divine plan. Man was given rulership of the world. Both men and women are created in God’s image, but as Paul points out in verse 8, the original creation from the “dust from the ground” was of Adam only (Gen. 2:7). Eve was created later from part of Adam himself (2:21–22). The male was given the dominion and authority over God’s created world, and is by that fact the glory of God.
To further defend that truth Paul points out that man does not originate from woman, but woman from man. Adam was created first and was given dominion over the earth before the woman was created; and when she was created she was created from him. She was given the very name “Woman, because she was taken out of Man”
Woman not only was created from man but for man. For indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake. She is not intellectually, morally, spiritually, or functionally inferior to man. She is unique from him. Her role is to come under the leadership, protection, and care of man, and she is to be “a helper suitable for him” (Gen. 2:20).
III(B). Based on the Angels (v.10)
*Principle of Equality
From the earliest history of God’s people women have had a vital role in His work and ministry
III(C). Based on the Natural Order (v.13-15)
Men and women have distinctive physiologies in many ways. One of them is in the process of hair growth on the head. Hair develops in three stages—formation and growth, resting, and fallout. The male hormone testosterone speeds up the cycle so that men reach the third stage earlier than women. The female hormone estrogen causes the cycle to remain in stage one for a longer time, causing women’s hair to grow longer than men’s. Women are rarely bald because few even reach stage three. This physiology is reflected in most cultures of the world in the custom of women wearing longer hair than men.
Nature (phusis) also carries the idea of instinct, an innate sense of what is normal and right. This is an appeal to human consciousness. Paul is saying that as man looks around himself he recognizes that, but for rare exceptions, both nature and human instinct testify that it is normal and proper for a woman’s hair to be longer than a man’s. Beautifully dressed hair is a glory to a woman