{"id":113,"date":"2007-05-27T18:45:13","date_gmt":"2007-05-28T01:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/strivetoenter.com\/wim\/2007\/05\/27\/1-corinthians-113-and-head\/"},"modified":"2017-06-18T20:20:29","modified_gmt":"2017-06-19T03:20:29","slug":"1-corinthians-113-and-head","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/2007\/05\/27\/1-corinthians-113-and-head\/","title":{"rendered":"1 Corinthians 11:3 and “head”"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Corinthians 11:3 and “head”<\/h1>\n

In the last post I summarized the foundational points from chapter 10 that is necessary to the understanding of chapter 11. If you haven\u2019t read it already, it can be read by clicking here<\/strong><\/a>. In this post I will continue our verse by verse discussion from 1 Corinthians 11:3. I will be using the New American Standard Version for most of these posts unless otherwise indicated. I Corinthians 11:3 –<\/p>\n

\n

But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In 1 Corinthians 11:3 Paul commended the Corinthians for holding firm to the traditions that he had delivered to them and now Paul is going to help them to understand some of these traditions. In the fall of 2006 I heard a Pastor give an excellent sermon on the traditions that the Jewish people hold to this day that actually symbolize the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus even though they do not even know what they are doing with their traditions. At Passover they take a piece of unleavened bread and fold it into a white napkin and then they hide it in their house for 3 days. When the 3 days are over, the children look for the napkin and when they find it they bring it out and uncover the bread. They keep the tradition but never understand what the tradition is all about. The tradition of the unleavened bread in the white napkin being revived after 3 days is symbolic of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. In verses 2 and 3, Paul says that the Corinthians were holding to the traditions that he gave them but he wanted them to understand what the traditions meant.<\/p>\n

Context of “head”<\/h2>\n

There has been much scholarly debate about the meaning of the word \u201chead\u201d in 1 Corinthians 11:3. Some have given a meaning to \u201chead\u201d as \u201cauthority over another person\u201d or simply \u201cboss\u201d as in a hierarchal order. Others say that \u201chead\u201d means source or origin. However the only way that we can know for sure is to read the context surrounding verse 3 as well as to pay close attention to the inspired word order regarding \u201chead\u201d.<\/p>\n

In verse 3 Paul sets up the order of the relationships that he lists in a very unusual order if he had meant a hierarchal ordering. If we come to the passage with the presupposition that God has completely inspired it including inspired words, inspired grammar and inspired word order, then we can clearly see a different pattern presented. If Paul had wanted us to believe that he was constructing a hierarchal ordering, then he made a grave error. He should have listed man as head of woman first, then Christ as head of men second and lastly God as head of Christ. The hierarchy would be woman at the bottom with man over her, Christ over all men and God over Christ.<\/p>\n

Yet this is not the way that the word was inspired. Instead we have Christ listed first as head of all men, then the man head of woman, then God head of Christ. In this ordering we have God as Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end and an ordered list of origins. In the ordering we have Christ as the origin of all men, the man as origin of woman, and lastly Jesus Christ (as the one born through a woman) having his origin through God.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t just the order that tells us that \u201corigins\u201d not \u201chierarchy\u201d is the meaning of the word \u201chead\u201d. The context of the passage also tells us that Paul is referring to our origins.<\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 11:8 says:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cFor man does not originate from woman, but woman from man;\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Here Paul teaches about the origin of woman. Woman originates from the man. This fits perfectly with verse 3 where the man is the \u201chead\u201d of woman.<\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 11:9 says:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cfor indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The woman’s origin<\/h2>\n

Here again Paul is referring to origins and the reason<\/u> for the woman\u2019s origin.<\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 11:12 says:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cFor as the woman originates from the man, so also the man has his birth<\/span><\/em> through the woman; and all things originate from God.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Paul repeats the fact that woman originates from the man (remember that Paul said that repetition is for our safety \u2013 Philippians 3:1) and he sums it up by saying that all<\/u> things originate from God. This is the Alpha and Omega of origins. Christ is the source of all men (He is the Alpha) and God is the source of Christ (the Omega). All things begin and end with God as the ultimate source.<\/p>\n

However if we are to interpret \u201chead\u201d as \u201cauthority over\u201d or \u201cboss of\u201d in a hierarchal ordering we will find no repetition of this concept in the passage. In this passage Paul is silent regarding any authority that the man has over the woman or any authority that the Father takes over Jesus Christ. Why is that? It is because the interpretation of \u201chead\u201d as \u201cauthority\u201d or \u201cboss\u201d is completely out of step with the rest of chapter 11 and it is something completely out of kilter with the subject of the passage.<\/p>\n

\"Confused\"
\nIf we interpreted it this way, we are left scratching our heads wondering what Paul could possibly mean by sticking verse 3 in amongst this passage. We could be left thinking, \u201cWhat does authority or being boss over someone have to do with this passage? What has this to do with the price of rice in China?\u201d It is completely foreign to the context.<\/p>\n

Paul should define his own term<\/h2>\n

Instead of trying to force the text to mean what we would like it to mean, we must let Paul define his own terms for himself. When we come to the passage with a hierarchal mindset, we miss Paul\u2019s connecting the relationship of man to woman with the importance of origins. There is also more to see about the importance of origins that we will be discussing later on in the chapter.<\/p>\n

The next thing that we need to pay attention to is the inspired words of verse 3. Here Paul uses the word for man twice which is \u201caner\u201d. Let\u2019s look at the second phrase\u2026the man is the head of a woman. Now if we interpret it as \u201corigin\u201d or \u201csource\u201d as Paul repeats in verses 8, 9 and 12, we can understand that Paul is talking about the first man \u201cthe man\u201d Adam and the first woman – Eve. Eve literally had her origin from the side of the man. Also wherever man and woman are placed in a relationship to each other in a biblical passage it is a sound practice to interpret this as husband and wife not just any man as head over any woman. That it is the husband that is the head of the wife is repeated by Paul in Ephesians 5:23 so we can know by repetition that this is what Paul is talking about. Paul said:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cFor the husband is the head of the wife\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Now the curious thing about this verse is that the inspired word used in the first relationship is that Christ is the \u201chead\u201d of every \u201cman\u201d. Man here is \u201caner\u201d meaning a male or a husband and it is not the generic word for mankind. This is the inspired word used and it is not by accident that God has inspired it this way. If \u201caner\u201d means husband in the second set of relationships, then we can logically give the same meaning to the first set of relationships where the very same term \u201caner\u201d is used.<\/p>\n

Christ then is the \u201chead\u201d of all husbands. Christ is the \u201csource\u201d or \u201corigin\u201d of all husbands. Now Paul is not saying that Christ is \u201chead\u201d only of men or husbands because Christ certainly is \u201chead\u201d of the wives too, but I believe that Paul is emphasizing a special relationship between Christ and the husband. We will talk more about the implications of this later, but for the time being perhaps you would like to give your thoughts on why God inspired the word \u201caner\u201d to be used twice in verse 3 instead of the generic term for mankind that would normally include women.<\/p>\n

Next post we will be discussing the cultural and spiritual \u201cshames\u201d that are brought about by the \u201chead\u201d relationships.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 Corinthians 11:3 and “head” In the last post I summarized the foundational points from chapter 10 that is necessary to the understanding of chapter 11. If you haven\u2019t read it already, it can be read by clicking here. In this post I will continue our verse by verse discussion from 1 Corinthians 11:3. I will be using the New American Standard Version for most of these posts unless otherwise indicated. I Corinthians 11:3 – But I want you to…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n1 Corinthians 11:3 and "head" - Women in Ministry<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/2007\/05\/27\/1-corinthians-113-and-head\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"1 Corinthians 11:3 and "head" - Women in Ministry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"1 Corinthians 11:3 and “head” In the last post I summarized the foundational points from chapter 10 that is necessary to the understanding of chapter 11. If you haven\u2019t read it already, it can be read by clicking here. In this post I will continue our verse by verse discussion from 1 Corinthians 11:3. I will be using the New American Standard Version for most of these posts unless otherwise indicated. I Corinthians 11:3 – But I want you to... Read More Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/2007\/05\/27\/1-corinthians-113-and-head\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Women in Ministry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-05-28T01:45:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-06-19T03:20:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/confused3.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cheryl Schatz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cheryl Schatz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/2007\/05\/27\/1-corinthians-113-and-head\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/2007\/05\/27\/1-corinthians-113-and-head\/\",\"name\":\"1 Corinthians 11:3 and \\\"head\\\" - Women in Ministry\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-05-28T01:45:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-06-19T03:20:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/#\/schema\/person\/d7a33503fddaf9e8c392972b2801441a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/2007\/05\/27\/1-corinthians-113-and-head\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/2007\/05\/27\/1-corinthians-113-and-head\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/2007\/05\/27\/1-corinthians-113-and-head\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"1 Corinthians 11:3 and “head”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/\",\"name\":\"Women in Ministry\",\"description\":\"This blog is for dialogue on the issue of women in ministry and the freedom for women to teach the bible in a public setting. It is also for questions and answers on our DVD entitled \u201cWomen in Ministry: Silenced or Set Free?\u201d This 4 DVD set answers the hard passages of scripture that seem to restrict women\u2019s ministry.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/#\/schema\/person\/d7a33503fddaf9e8c392972b2801441a\",\"name\":\"Cheryl Schatz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e19c4eee7accb8e3a07173a2c17c808?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e19c4eee7accb8e3a07173a2c17c808?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Cheryl Schatz\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/author\/cheryl-schatz\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"1 Corinthians 11:3 and \"head\" - Women in Ministry","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/2007\/05\/27\/1-corinthians-113-and-head\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"1 Corinthians 11:3 and \"head\" - Women in Ministry","og_description":"1 Corinthians 11:3 and “head” In the last post I summarized the foundational points from chapter 10 that is necessary to the understanding of chapter 11. If you haven\u2019t read it already, it can be read by clicking here. In this post I will continue our verse by verse discussion from 1 Corinthians 11:3. I will be using the New American Standard Version for most of these posts unless otherwise indicated. I Corinthians 11:3 – But I want you to... Read More Read More","og_url":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/2007\/05\/27\/1-corinthians-113-and-head\/","og_site_name":"Women in Ministry","article_published_time":"2007-05-28T01:45:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-06-19T03:20:29+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/confused3.gif"}],"author":"Cheryl Schatz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cheryl Schatz","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/2007\/05\/27\/1-corinthians-113-and-head\/","url":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/2007\/05\/27\/1-corinthians-113-and-head\/","name":"1 Corinthians 11:3 and \"head\" - Women in Ministry","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-05-28T01:45:13+00:00","dateModified":"2017-06-19T03:20:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/#\/schema\/person\/d7a33503fddaf9e8c392972b2801441a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/2007\/05\/27\/1-corinthians-113-and-head\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/2007\/05\/27\/1-corinthians-113-and-head\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/2007\/05\/27\/1-corinthians-113-and-head\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"1 Corinthians 11:3 and “head”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/","name":"Women in Ministry","description":"This blog is for dialogue on the issue of women in ministry and the freedom for women to teach the bible in a public setting. It is also for questions and answers on our DVD entitled \u201cWomen in Ministry: Silenced or Set Free?\u201d This 4 DVD set answers the hard passages of scripture that seem to restrict women\u2019s ministry.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/#\/schema\/person\/d7a33503fddaf9e8c392972b2801441a","name":"Cheryl Schatz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e19c4eee7accb8e3a07173a2c17c808?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e19c4eee7accb8e3a07173a2c17c808?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Cheryl Schatz"},"url":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/author\/cheryl-schatz\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p30ZFw-1P","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":112,"url":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/2007\/05\/26\/verse-by-verse-through-1-corinthians-11\/","url_meta":{"origin":113,"position":0},"title":"Verse by verse through 1 Corinthians 11","date":"May 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Because I have received several questions posed to me on 1 Corinthians 11, I think it best that we go through the passage verse by verse and that should help deal with each question in context. As we go through each set of verses, please feel free to comment or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "1 Corinthians 11"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":106,"url":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/2007\/05\/16\/paul-and-the-head-from-1-corinthians-11\/","url_meta":{"origin":113,"position":1},"title":"Paul and the “head” from 1 Corinthians 11","date":"May 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"1 Corinthians 11 has been a hotly disputed passage regarding the meaning of \"head\"\u009d. While some have seen a hierarchy of authority in this passage, others say that Paul is explaining the importance of origins. Is it possible that those who see male authority in the metaphor of \"head\" are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "1 Corinthians 11"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":104,"url":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/2007\/05\/02\/1-corinthians-11-and-paul\/","url_meta":{"origin":113,"position":2},"title":"1 Corinthians 11 and Paul","date":"May 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"1 Corinthians 11 has been a difficult passage because of several elements that have been hard to interpret.\u00a0 Some of the disputed elements are the meaning of \"head\"\u009d in verse 3, whether head coverings are necessary in verse 5, the woman being the glory of the man in verse 7,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "1 Corinthians 11"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":119,"url":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/2007\/06\/17\/shaming-the-head-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":113,"position":3},"title":"Shaming the head – 1","date":"June 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"1 Corinthians 11:4-6 lists three \u201cshames\u201d and verse 7 lists two glories. Two of these shames and glories relate directly back to the \u201chead\u201d and one shame relates to the person themselves. Let\u2019s find out about the contrasting \u201cshames\u201d and \u201cglories\u201d because they are vital to understanding this difficult passage.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "1 Corinthians 11"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":110,"url":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/2007\/05\/23\/why-was-the-woman-created-for-the-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":113,"position":4},"title":"Why was the woman created for the man?","date":"May 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The woman was created for the man: Is she inferior? One question that was posed to me last week was on 1 Corinthians 11:9 regarding the creation of woman for the man. Does this mean that the woman is somehow inferior to the man because she was created for him?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "1 Corinthians 11"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":115,"url":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/2007\/05\/30\/is-there-support-for-universal-male-headship\/","url_meta":{"origin":113,"position":5},"title":"Is there support for universal male headship?","date":"May 30, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Before we continue with our verse by verse discussion through 1 Corinthians 11, I wanted to add a note about what some consider to be the universal role of male headship. In universal male headship the male is the head over every woman. Recently I got an email from a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "1 Corinthians 11"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3670,"href":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113\/revisions\/3670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmoutreach.org\/wim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}