The Role of the Godly Woman
1 Corinthians 11:7-16
Turn to I Corinthians 11. We're going to get back to this very interesting text that we've entitled "The Subordination and Equality of Women." I thought of a subtitle for this morning, "Hair, the Long and Short of It," but I (Laughter) decided not to use that just now.
This chapter is very interesting. I want all of you to please remain until I'm finished this morning and not duck your head or be inclined to leave until I'm finished. This is a very interesting passage. We're going to find some very interesting truth, I'm sure, applied perhaps in a way you'd never really understood it before.
As we remember from last week, we began a look in our ongoing study of I Corinthians at the 11th chapter, beginning with verse 2 and going through verse 16 as a unit a Scripture dealing with the subordination and equality of women in the church. Let me begin with some introductory remarks, a brief review, and then get into the text that we didn't cover last time.
I think all of us are very much aware from what we have learned together in the Scripture that women have a vital place in the life of the church. There's no question about this. They're indispensable to the ministry of the church. They are exalted in their role in the church. In Psalms 68:11, as far back as that, it talks about their usefulness in evangelism as it tells us "the women that publish the tidings are a great host."
In Romans 16:2 we learn about their ministry to the saints. Speaking of Phebe, Paul says, "I commend unto you Phebe our sister who is a minister--or the akenon--a servant of the church at Cenchrea." In I Timothy 3:11 we learn about deaconesses, a group of women approved of and set aside for spiritual service within the church. Further on in the Word of God in that same letter, I Timothy 5, we read about widows. There were groups of widows, over 60 years of age, who because they had washed the saints' feet and because they had been hospitable and because they had done good works and had proved themselves spiritually in the eyes of the church community, were added to a list of such widows to be used in ministry to others within the church.
It has always been a vital part of the church, both in evangelism and in the ministry of the saints to one another, that women be involved. Immediately after our Lord's ascension, women gathered along with the apostles and the disciples in the upper room and as such were involved, surely, in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the proclamation of the speaking in tongues and in the declaration of the wonderful works of God. So they were used there in a proclaiming ministry.
In Acts 5:14, in response to the teaching of the Word, it says, "A multitude were added to the church, both of men and women." They are vitally connected to the life of the church. They are gift of the Holy Spirit with the spiritual gift as well as men are, to be used in interchange with the body of Christ for the ongoing life and maturity of the saints.
One of the early converts, Mary, the mother of John Mark, gave her house as meeting place for the saints in Jerusalem. Lydia, another lady who lived in Philippi, also opened her home in the same fashion. There was hospitality that was granted through the ministry of women. In the last chapter of Romans, where Paul names 26 individuals who are singled out for a very significant service to Christ, 8 of them are honored women.
Women have always had a vital place in the life of the church. In Acts 21, we read that the daughters of Philip were used to prophesy. We read that Aquila and his wife, Priscilla, were used to instruct Apollos more perfectly in the knowledge of the Lord in Acts 18. We even hear in our own passage that "the woman is man's glory." I Corinthians 11:7
There's no question about the fact that there is an equality among men and women in a spiritual dimension when in the life of the church. Galatians 3:28, as we saw last time, says, "In Christ there is neither male nor female." There is that equality there.
And yet even though there is a spiritual equality, and even though there is an essential equality--that is in terms of essence or personhood--there is a difference in role that God has divinely assigned to men and women. God is careful to maintain this difference and this distinction both in the church and in the home and in society in general.
I believe that we need to abide by these principles. We do not conceive of women as anything less than men. Quite the contrary. Women are in every sense equal to men. In every sense there is equality there except in the area of the assignment of a role or a duty within the framework of society. I feel, too, that when we put women in responsibilities or when women usurp responsibilities meant for men they thus misuse their divine design and forfeit the use of their highest capacity.
In spite of what the Word of God says, and in spite of what the Bible teaches very clearly about this, some people in the church today are fighting for so-called equality of women. We're not even denying that. That isn't even the debate. I think the fact that anybody would fight for the equality of women assumes that once they didn't think there was such a thing, or at least it's a condescending act. We don't even discuss whether women are equal or not. That's obvious.
What we must maintain in this is that there is equality but a difference in the assignment which God has given to a man and a woman. Each is equally important. Each is vitally important. Authority can't function without submission, and submission can't function without authority. They are mutually dependent.
Such a doctrine as this doctrine of authority and submission--men are in authority, women are in submission in general--is not a confining thing for women but rather is designed by God to accommodate the makeup of a woman, which God Himself has created. Interestingly enough, in its time, when Christianity arrived on the scene, women were thought of as slaves or as animals. In fact, a male Jew used to pray that he was thankful that he hadn't been born one of three things--a Gentile, a woman, or a slave. They all fell into similar categories.
In the Roman and the Greek world, it takes very little study at all to determine that women were thought purely as slaves, purely as animals and nothing more--not allowed to make any contribution beyond that of servitude. When Christianity came along and announced equality of women spiritually, equality of women in personhood, equality of women in capacity and so forth, this was liberating. This was not confining. When it maintained the distinction in roles, it was also not confiding women, but it was helping women and men to see their God-ordained design and therefore be able to fulfill it with a commitment.
It is true that in ancient Rome, as in many different periods of history in Western culture, there have been feminists or women's liberation movements. In America, we have gone through several of them, historically known as "suffrage" movements. Modern terminology is different. It's the same idea. It comes about in these cases, because there is a misunderstanding or not a true teaching of Christianity, and consequently, there are abuses that occur in society.
In the Roman society, for example, women were definitely abused. Out of the abuses there grew a feminist movement. In some senses, we would agree that it was justifiable. When Christianity came along and truly liberated women, that feminist attitude should never have carried into the church, but it did. In fact, if you study the feminist movement of ancient Rome, you will find that they had all of the characteristics of the feminist movements of all of the times in history, most all of them, and of today.
For example, women were stating their independence in those days by leaving home, by living with other men, by refusing to have children, or if they had children refusing to care for them, by demanding jobs always held by men, by wearing men's clothes and discarding all signs of femininity, by violating their marriage vows, by seeking independence in general, etc., etc. All of the things that were characteristic of that time in feminist movements are pretty much what's going on today.
So it was that culture had brought abuses to womanhood, and womanhood was reacting to the cultural abuses. Christianity came in and truly set women free to be what God designed them to be, recognizing their equality in every dimension except in the assignment of a role within society's framework. Consequently, when that is understood, there should not have been any feminist movement within the framework of Christianity. There never should be. It's ridiculous.
If you're going to deny that women are to be submissive to men, then you must deny the church is to be submissive to Christ, and that Christ was to be submissive to the Father in His incarnation, because that in I Corinthians 11:3 is the statement that lays at the basis of all of it.
A woman's liberation movement had filtered into the church at Corinth, and it was a reaction to the abuses that even when they became Christians, they had somehow dragged that into the church. They were demanding their own independence, and they were sort of plotting their freedom in the church--certain Christian women abusing Christian liberty.
Remember, there's one key to keep in mind in this whole thing. We're going to cover a lot of ground this morning, so you're going to really have to get your head screwed on tight so nothing leaks out. Remember this: Apparently in their society, a veil or a covering of some kind over the head was regarded by the people as the common, ordinary, customary symbol of modesty and submission, OK?
To the Corinthian society, a woman was seen as submissive and modest and feminine when she was covered in public assembly. Removing that covering in public assembly was a sign that she was making a statement. Women who did that were falling into one of two categories generally, for the most part. No. 1, they were feminists making a protest. We know in those days that feminists did two things in that culture--discarded their covering and shaved their hair short like a man. They were thus making a statement about their wanting to be equal to men. Feminists threw away their veils.
Secondly, prostitutes did. Obviously, prostitutes couldn't drum up a lot of business unless somebody knew what they looked like, so they discarded their veils for the sake of their occupation. When the Christians came along and said, "Look, we're equal in Christ. We can throw our veils away," they therefore were outwardly identifying themselves with either a feminist protest or prostitution. It was a very tragic thing to bring such a reproach upon the church. Paul writes this chapter in the main part to say to the Corinthian women, "Keep your veils on, ladies. This is a very important thing that you do in your culture, because it is making the statement to your culture that you recognize that a woman is to be modest and submissive and that she is under the authority of a man. Identify with that in your society."
It's interesting enough. This is a very broad point. We don't have veils in our society, but there are certain things in our society that identify people. The way you dress, and the way you appear, you identify with a certain aspect of our society, and you want to be sure that you're identifying with the one that will bring honor to you and to Christ, not reproach upon both. Right.
Let's look at verse 3. We're going to just review very quickly, and then we're going to get into the part we didn't cover last time. I want to make some further comment as we review that we didn't cover as well.
There are many points here dealing with this principle of authority and submission. Let's go to verse 3, the principle stated. We discussed this last time. The principle stated: "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."
Here Paul says, "Look, there's something new that I want you to know." What it is, is this--that built in to every dimension of personality relationships is an authority-submission principle. It's true on a human level. Man is the head of woman. It's true on the human-divine level. Christ is the head of the church. It's true on the totally divine level. The Father is the head of the Son.
God has designed it in every aspect of relationship from the lowest level of humankind to Himself that there be some in authority and some who respond in submission and subjection. It does not have anything to do with inequality. It does not have anything to do with inferiority. It has only to do with a different assignment in terms of function.
The woman is not inferior to the man. The man is not inferior to even Christ, his head, because God sees the man in Christ, and Christ is certainly not inferior to God. He is God. There is a different in assignment.
So he says, "There is a principle here. The principle is that there is authority and submission. When it gets down to our level, the man has authority, and the woman is to be in the place of submission." Further, remember that I said this: It is an authority-submission concept based on love, not tyranny. The Father loved the Son, the Son loved the Father. Christ loves the church, the church loves Christ. The husband loves the wife, the wife loves the husband. The authority and submission interchanges on the basis of love. Very important to recognize.
All right. The principle stated. The principle applied--verse 4. We went into this last time. I'll just remind you of it. Here he applies it to the Corinthian situation. "Every man then, praying or prophesying--" That's speaking to God about men or speaking to men about God. Any time he has any kind of ministry. It's assuming it's in a public assembly of some kind, not necessarily all Christians but some public assembly.
"The man, having his head covered, dishonors his head." In other words, he brings reproach on himself when he wears a covering on his head while he's ministering. Why? Because to the Corinthian mind, that is what a woman did. That would be like me today preaching with an Easter bonnet on. (Laughter) You would say, "Why is he doing that?" I have the liberty to wear an Easter bonnet if I want. (Laughter) I do not take that liberty, however, because you would misconstrue the meaning of it.
In a society like theirs, where there wasn't a difference in the particular style of clothes. They just threw something on. Women were identified as being covered and men were identified as being uncovered. For a man to cover himself was a shame to him. Incidentally, this is a brand-new thing for the Jewish men, who customarily had always prayed covered. The rabbis had taught them to wear a talif, and they always wore a prayer shawl when they prayed. The men did.
Paul is saying, "If you Jewish men do that, you are really going to confuse that society. They're going to think you are effeminate." For a man then to appear with a social sign of subjection, a social sign of submission on his head, submission to a man is a disgrace to that man. On the contrary, in verse 5, "A woman that prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head." In fact, at the end of verse 5 and verse 6, he says, "She might as well go ahead and shave herself bald for that matter." In other words, if she's going to be shameful about it, she might as well go the whole route and look like a protester, because the women in that day who were protesting in the feminist movement had clipped their hair short like a man.
"If you're going to take your veil off, go the whole route. You might as well identify with the whole deal, because in effect, that's the way people read it." He says, "Look, in your society, God wants the distinction clear. Men are men, and they are in authority. Women are women, and they are in submission. If your society has a norm by which that is manifest in a custom, then you abide by that custom." That's what he's saying.
That's very practical. All right. The principal stated and applied. Now let's pick it up where we left off--the principle defended, verses 7-10. The principle defended.
Verse 7. Now watch. Paul's given this principle. He's applied it to them, and now he's going to have to defend where it came from. "Where'd you get this idea, Paul? Why should we believe you?"
"For a man," verse 7, "indeed, truly, ought not to cover his head." "All right, you men, don't cover your heads. Don't do it." Why? "Because he is the image and glory of God."
Now stop. Now listen. This goes beyond a cultural thing. This goes beyond something that is custom. "Men, don't cover your head in general, because you are the image and glory of God." That's a very strong, very broad statement. Man is to be uncovered in public, in praying, prophesying, ministering, acting in public, he is to be uncovered because of a divine reality connected with his creation. He was created to be the image and glory of God, and that glory is manifest as man is uncovered. Why? Because covering is a divine--watch it--a divine symbol of submission.
Covering means to be humble. It's a sign of humility. You're not bold-faced. You're not taking a leave. You're not stepping out. You're diminishing. Covering is the sign of that submissiveness.
"Man, you are to be uncovered. You are made in the image of God." Man when he was originally created was created in the moral image of God. He was created in the intellectual image of God. That is, he was created in righteousness and true holiness as Ephesians 4:24 says is restored when he comes back to Christ. He was created with intellect and will and emotion and knowledge and righteousness and holiness and as thus, he received the stamp of God's image.
"You are made in the image of God." Now watch this. "To be the glory of God." "What do you mean by that, John?" "I mean this: A man is the highest manifestation of God in the earth." Why? Because man has been given divine dominion. Man has been given divine dominion in the world.
In Genesis 1:26, I'll just read it to you. It tells us regarding this. "And God said let us make man in our image after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, and the cattle, over all the earth, over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." God created man in His own image. "In the image of God created He him. Then male and female created He them."
God created man initially to rule over everything in His world. He gave him dominion. Man is king of the earth. Throughout the history of humankind, men have ruled the world. They have run the governments. They have run the businesses. They have run the economics. They have run the education. They have run the social aspect. Men have been the ones in charge, because God originally invested within them dominion.
Man then becomes--and I don't mean generic man, I mean sexually male man, just the male