Women in Ministry Silenced or Set Free? Part 3: Head Coverings and Authority - 1 Corinthians 11

Video: https://youtu.be/Pm-iZxh7ZQc

[Music] 1 Corinthians 11 has been a difficult chapter throughout church history there are some things that are hard to understand about this passage but using an understanding of the Jewish mindset will help us unravel Paul's reasoning let's start at verse three 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 every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head Paul says that Christ is the head of every male or husband the wording is specific to males Paul then says that every every male that prays or prophesies with something on his head disgraces his head Paul has just told us that the head of every male is Christ so this dishonoring of the male's head would be dishonoring of Christ John Lightfoot gives us a glimpse into the mindset of the Jewish culture of that day Lightfoot was a Hebrew scholar who lived from 16002 to 1675 and during his day there was a Revival of the study of the Hebrew Bible as well as other Jewish Works Lightfoot scholarly writings produced several volumes called commentary on the New Testament from the talmud and hraa in these books Lightfoot ties in the Jewish culture and traditions from the talmud with the scriptures and helps us to understand the culture and history of the Bible Lightfoot says it was the custom of the Jews that they prayed not unless first their head were veiled and that for this reason that by this right that they might show themselves reverent and ashamed before God and unworthy with an open face to Behold Him men therefore veiled themselves when they prayed partly for a sign of reverence towards God partly to show themselves ashamed before God and unworthy to look upon Him Paul had already instructed the Corinthian Church in verse two to hold firmly to the the Traditions that he had taught them and he wanted them to discard Traditions that were not Christ honoring covering of the head because of our shame was not honoring Christ who died to take away that shame it put the emphasis on our sinful position before God instead of honoring our position in Christ Our Savior in Christ we are able to come before God with unveiled faces because of the completed work of Christ who is our righteousness but what about women Paul then moves on to the Dilemma of the woman and her head covering but every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head for she is one and the same as the woman who head is shaved for if a woman does not cover her head let her also have her hair cut off but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved let her head be covered Paul understands Something In this passage that our culture has a difficult time understanding Paul understands that the woman is the only one who has two heads Christ is her spiritual head as Christ is the spiritual head for everyone in the body of Christ but the husband is also called her head we will be discussing the meaning of head shortly but for now let's just discuss the veiling and the hair issue Paul also understands that the woman is in a difficult position in regards to veiling if she veils for the purpose of her shame then she would be dishonoring her spiritual head which is Christ however if she unveiled herself in public she would shame her husband it was the custom of women and that prescribed them under severe cannons that they should not go abroad but with their face veiled let not a woman go with her head uncovered the Jewish law was that women who were married were required to cover their hair the telet interprets this custom as a sign of a woman's shame guilt for Eve sin Lightfoot elaborates and they fetch the shame of the woman then that she first brought sin into the world that was their view that the woman brought sin into the world and her veiling at her marriage was a sign of shame because the woman led the man into sin the talmud said that as a result of Eve's curse women must go about covered as mourners in the Jewish culture when a woman got married from that day on she was under compulsion to Veil herself and if found in public without her veil the talmud prescribed strict consequences should a woman walk bareheaded in the street her husband could divorce her without payment of her dowy although the Greek women also wore head coverings in public the tradition for the Jewish women caused more problems because of the severe punishment for the wife who was found unveiled in public Paul understood that the veiling was a cultural tradition that Dishonored Christ but an unveiled wife also Dishonored her husband in that culture if Paul insisted she unveiled herself in public worship she honored her spiritual head which is Christ but if she unveiled herself in public worship she put herself in the position of shaming her non-Christian Jewish husband if she was forced to unveil she could be divorced without support and thus left destitute Paul identifies her dilemma every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head for she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved Paul gives the cultural view in verse 5 and the reason for shaming the husband is found in the talet some rabbis compared the exposure of a married woman's hair to the exposure of her private parts since they felt that a woman's hair could be used for erotic excitement they forbid the recital of any blessing in the presence of a bareheaded woman Paul says that for a married woman to remove her veil in public was equivalent in the culture to the shame a husband felt whose wife was unfaithful additionally in Paul's day there were only two reasons why a woman had her head shaved one was a very bad reason and the other was a very good reason the bad reason was that a shaved head was the sign of an adulteress also the only ones who appeared in public without their veils were prostitutes so Paul is saying in verse 5 that a woman should be allowed to wear a veil if by not wearing the veil she shames her husband this would especially be true for a Jewish husband who is not a believer in the finished work of Christ and not open to the removal of the veil Paul now switches to the reason why a woman could be allowed to wear a veil to keep from experiencing her own shame this second reason why Paul allows a woman to wear a veil is the second reason why a woman would have a shaved head there was an honorable reason for having a shaved head and it was necessary when she had completed a Nazarite vow to God the completion of the Nazarite vow required her to shave off her hair and offer her hair as a sacrifice to God men and women were allowed to take a special Nazarite vow those who took this vow had to abstain from wine and strong drink and they must not cut their hair during the entire time of The Vow when The Vow was complete the person must shave off his or her hair and set sacrifice it as a peace offering the Nazarite shall then shave his dedicated head of hair at the doorway of the tent of meeting and take the dedicated hair of his head and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of Peace offerings a Jewish believer was allowed to take a Nazarite vow and Paul himself took this vow at least on one occasion Paul having remained many days longer took leave of the brethren put out to sea for Syria and with him were Priscilla and Aquilla in Centuria he had his hair cut for he was keeping a vow if a Jewish woman who was a Believer wanted to take a Nazarite vow she was allowed to do so and at the end of The Vow she would have to shave off her hair in that culture this may have caused her shame to appear in the congregation with no hair and no Veil because of the connection a shaved head had with an Unfaithful wife Paul gives her permission to Veil herself if it is a shame for her to appear with a shaved head for if a woman does not cover her head let her also have her hair cut off but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved let her cover her head if a woman had the freedom to appear in the word ship service without her head covering Paul says she is also free from the custom of long hair Paul uses the words of permission let her he says let her wear the veil or let her have her haircut the inspired word usage is one of permission not of restriction Paul is not telling the Corinthians that a woman must cover her head he could not do that after after all he had just told them that the covering of the head shamed Christ wearing head covering that symbolizes shame for sin is not a Christian custom but on the other hand Paul could not tell women that they must uncover their head that would violate the sanctity of many of their marriages women presented a different dilemma in the congregation because of the custom of that day it would be wonderful if all women could follow men into the full uncovering of their heads and honor Christ but many couldn't and Paul respects women and the customs of that day that stopped them from having full freedom of an unveiled head in Christ today for the most part we don't have these cultural mandates that require us to wear a head covering but there are still some places where a woman must honor her family and her Culture by wearing the veil I did an interview a while back with a woman who is in a culture that still teaches the women to wear the veil let me share with you some of that interview with Carolyn Martin how does head covering with your culture well my culture is primarily menite I was born and raised at a menite home and menites have their roots and history with a man named menos Simons who uh in the late 1500s was a priest who became a Christian when he came to understand that it was wrong to baptize babies that baptism had to be upon confession of Faith thus they were known as the anabaptist uh part of the the teachings in that culture are based on First Corinthians 11 where it talks about women being uh wearing the head covering in scriptures is there a difference in your culture with the veil between a married woman and a single woman that's an interesting question it's a question people ask me very often there isn't uh I after I became a Christian I accepted the Lord I chose to wear the veil and usually for most women they accept the Lord and then they choose to to wear the veil can you tell us a little bit about uh how long it's been really since women have mostly stopped wearing veils hats Etc can you give a little history well I would say less than 70 years ago it was common practice for women to always wear hats to church and I believe it was based on 1 Corinthians 11 maybe they didn't know that that scripture referred to that but tradition had taught them that they need to have their heads covered during church because men still take their hats off when they go to church they're still it's still expected as a cultural courtesy to remove your hat when you're entering a church service I understand that you're a woman that has a Ministry and I'd like to uh you to tell us what you do in Ministry yes I do have a Ministry it's called Tell the Truth Ministries and it's a a resource for people want to witness to Jehovah's Witnesses I have some very unique resources some postcards that can be sent to Witnesses uh anonymously to Kingdom Halls as just some helpful tools to help people to witness powerfully thank you Carolyn we can see from Paul's example that we can still have Grace and allow for circumstances where a person's conscience is violated by removing the veil Carolyn's upbringing in church is Orthodox but there are many other groups that are very cult-like that hold on tightly to a strict interpretation of 1 Corinthians chap 11 our friends Mna and Don Galloway were part of such a group for many years their group known to Outsiders as the 2 by tws taught that it was a Biblical requirement for the women to not cut their hair and to wear their long hair pinned up they were not even allowed to cut their bangs because of 1 Corinthians chap 11 failure to comply would bring a punishment or a reprimand from the church leaders such as withholding the privilege of baptism or disallowing the privilege of having a Bible study or fellowship meeting in one's home Mna and Dawn left that group several years ago and are now Christians since that time Mna has found freedom from the legalism that controlled many areas of her life she now has the Liberty to have her hair cut without feeling that she will be reprimanded for this act Mna and Dawn are presently witnessing of their faith to many still in the group but who have become disillusioned by some of the actions of those who are in Authority let's go on to the short summary of head coverings that Paul gives starting in verse 7 for a man ought not to have his head covered since he is in the image and glory of God but the woman is the glory of man the inspired word usage here is very revealing Paul says that a male ought not to have his head covered the Greek word means to be under obligation to what Paul is saying is that men do not have an obligation to have their head covered there are no serious repercussions for a man to go without a head covering in the Christian Community a man will not suffer loss by being divorced if he does not cover his head his only obligation is to Christ a man who takes a Nazarite vow and then shaves off his hair is not shamed by having a bald head Paul says that there is no reason at all for a man to be under obligation to cover his head next Paul introduces the fact that the man's glory is his Creation in the image of God this was another reason to remove the veil Paul brings out a very important fact that the woman is the glory of man note that Paul does not say that the woman was made in the image of God or that she is the glory of God his Omission does not mean that the woman is not the image of God or that she is not the glory of God Paul reminds us in second Corinthians but we all with unveiled face beholding as an air the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as from the Lord the spirit all of us have the glory of the Lord male and female are in the image of God and all Christians have the glory of God yet there are those who deny that the woman reflects the glory of God brother MacArthur says this but though a woman is in the image of God the woman is not the glory of God she is not the outshining of God she is the outshining of man the man has the glory of God and so does the woman however the woman is the only one to be created that has two glories she is the glory of God and the glory of man Bruce wear from the Council on biblical manhood and Womanhood says that only males have God's glory because Man was created by God In His Image first man alone was created in a direct and unmediated fashion as the image of God manifesting then the glory of God in man that is male man Bruce wear says only males were made in the image of God God directly I will here propose that it may be best to understand the original creation of male and female as one in which the male was made in the image of God in a direct unmediated and unilateral fashion while the female was made image of God through the man and hence in an indirect mediated and derivative fashion we respect Mr wear as a brother in Christ but we have to say that he is wrong in the very Basics the creation of mankind not only are women made in the image and glory of God but all of the body of Christ has God's glory it is not limited to the men when Paul focuses in on the second Glory he is focusing in to make a point her first glory is that of God As she is made in the image of God her second second glory is that she was made from the man and he can glory in her Paul focuses on the glory of man because the head covering dilemma has to do with the social obligation for a certain modesty required of married women only to say that 1 Corinthians chap 11 denies that the woman is the glory of God is to take the chapter out of context Paul never says that the woman is not the glory of God just as his omitting saying that the woman is in the image of God does not mean that she does not have God's image what is implied is that the woman has to consider both her heads when making a decision Paul then explains the natural order of creation for man does not originate from woman but woman from man for indeed man was not created for the woman's sake woman for the man's sake the origin of the woman is through the man and she was made for the man to complement him and to complete him and to rule with him therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head because of the Angels verse 10 has been a difficult verse to execute because most people have no idea what Paul is getting at in this verse let's take the verse apart and study it word by word to understand Paul's Logic the words a symbol of are not to be found in the Greek the original says the woman has authority over her head John Lightfoot fully agrees in his commentary that which commonly here obtains is that by power is understood aail a sign of power above her or of her subjection but it is to be inquired whether to have have power does not properly ye always denote to have power in one's own hand not a power above one John Lightfoot says that the authority is in the woman's hands nowhere else is the word for Authority used as a symbol of a veil Paul is not talking about the veil in this verse but the right or authority of a person to do something John Lightfoot also says that the veil is never a sign of subjection where I beseech you is a veil propounded as a sign of such subjection it is but indeed as a sign of true modesty Genesis 24: 65 and of disassembled modesty Genesis 38:4 but where is it used as a sign of subjection Paul says that the woman has authority over her head to make a decision whether she wears a veil or she doesn't wear a veil she has a right to cut her hair or shave her head or leave her hair long Paul insists she has the right to make her own decision over her own head because of the Angels now many have speculated what Paul means by saying because of the Angels but to understand the inspired reason not a mere speculation we need to go back into Paul's letter in chapter 5 Paul talks extensively about judging in the body of Christ he says that we must be able to make righteous judgments for what have I to do with judging Outsiders do you not judge those who are within the church Paul continues on the subject of righteous judgment in chapter 6 does any one of you when he has a case against his neighbor there go to law before the unrighteous and not before the the Saints or do you not know that the Saints will judge the world if the world is judged by you are you not competent to constitute the smallest Law Courts do you not know that we will judge Angels how much more matters of this life Paul is saying look grow up stop being immature and passing on these matters to the worldly system you need to learn how to judge for yourself elves don't you know that in the next stage we are going to be judging the world don't you know that we will be judging the Angels learn how to make your own decisions so the reference to the angels is about judgment and decisionmaking let's put that information into the proper context in 1 Corinthians chap 11 Paul is saying the women have the authority to make their own decisions as to what they do do or don't wear on their head because in the next age they will be judging the Angels if a woman is going to judge the angels in the next age surely a woman should be allowed to make her own decision on the relatively little matter of head coverings even though a woman has the authority to make her own decision and will also be judging the angels in the next life Paul says that the woman is not independent of a man however in the Lord neither is woman independent of man nor is man independent of woman for as the woman originates from the man so also the man has his birth through the woman and all things originate from God why does Paul put women first here because he has just told us that women have authority to make their own decisions yet in the Lord Paul says there is equality and interdependence what started out with the preeminence of the man being the origin of the woman moved to the importance of woman as the origin of all men but ultimately all things have their beginning their origin in God so all are equal in the Lord now Paul tells the Corinthians to make up their own mind from the example that he has just set judge for yourself is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered Paul is asking is it right or proper for a woman to pray to God without the veil that symbolizes her sin by this point in Paul's argument they should be able to judge that yes it is right for a woman to go unveiled before God because she too has her sins forgiven next comes another judgment call does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair it is a dishonor to him but if a woman has long hair it is a glory to her for her hair is given to her for a covering the Greek was written without punctuation and the international Standard Version gives the rendering without the question mark nature itself teaches you neither that it is disgraceful for a man to have long hair nor that hair is a woman's glory for hair is given as a substitute for coverings now let's think about Paul's argument nature can teach you a lot of things but can it teach you that there is a standard for length of hair for a man and a different standard for a woman to understand Paul's argument let's consider our arm hair what does nature teach us about our arm hair we all have arm hair but it doesn't grow very long why because nature teaches us that arm hair is designed to grow to a certain length and then stop now if we compare our arm hair to our head hair what does nature teach us about the difference between our arm hair and our head hair nature teaches us that our head hair was designed to keep on growing and growing until we cut it our arm hair is different it was designed to grow a certain length and then stop now let's apply this to Paul's argument what does nature teach us about the hair on the head of little boys and the hair on the head of little girls is there a difference no both of them have hair that grows Paul is asking the Corinthians to reason and then to decide does nature teach that there is a difference between the hair on the head of a male and that of a female that necessitates a rule that one can cut their hair and the other one cannot no Paul says because not even nature teaches us that there is a difference next Paul is asking the Corinthians to reason another way is it a shame for a man to have long hair the answer has to to be no why because God himself required some men to leave their hair long a man who took a Nazarite vow did not cut his hair and God wanted it that way in a similar way the most Orthodox Jews did not cut the sides of their hair the longer the hair on the sides of their head the more spiritual they were was it a shame for a man to have long hair no it wasn't and the religious Jewish men proved that Paul himself would have had to have long hair at one time because he took a Nazarite vow if Paul let his hair grow because of the vow how could Paul tell the Corinthians that it was a shame for a man to have long hair it wasn't a shame and what Paul is saying is look the Customs surrounding hair are not from God you can't appeal to nature for the custom because nature doesn't distinguish between male and female you can't appeal to shame because God required both male and female nazarites to grow their hair and then later to shave their hair equally Paul is saying look guys the Customs surrounding hair are not God's Customs they are man's Paul gives another argument for her hair is given to her for a covering in the original Greek the inspired word does not say given to her but given to one's own self male or female Nature has equally provided hair to all of us for a covering and nothing additional is needed but if one is inclined to be contentious we have no other practice nor have the Churches of God Paul's last argument against Customs dealing with hair is his statement that neither do we the apostles nor do the Churches of God have this custom now let's go back and finish off the last piece of the puzzle to what used to be a difficult passage let's look at Paul's usage of the term head the word for head means ahead literally or figuratively phal of Alexandria one of the early church fathers said that head meant Source in 1 Corinthians 11 thus we can say that the head of every man is Christ for he was made by him as God but the head of woman is the man because she was taken out of his flesh likewise the head of Christ is God as he is of him by Nature as the God man Christ already had God's nature but he lived his human life by relying on his father as his Source instead of exercising his right to act independently as God he did this so that he could live fully as a man here on Earth both John MacArthur and the Council on biblical manhood and Womanhood say that head In this passage means a hierarchical order yet there is nothing in the context that implies rulership head coverings are not a sign of subjection but a sign of modesty and humility because of the shame of sin for a man to wear a head covering does not show subjection and honor but the very opposite it shows dishonor John Lightfoot a Hebrew scholar and expert in Jewish history said that the head covering was never a symbol of subjection in this entire passage we found not even one verse that speaks about Christ's authority over the male odd don't you think for a passage that is supposed to be about the levels of authority we also found no verse that speaks about the authority of a man over a woman the only mention of authority is in verse 10 where Paul says that the woman herself has the authority over her own head Now isn't that strange a passage that is supposed to be discussing Authority and subjection has nothing to say about either Authority or subjection what we do find In this passage is teaching on making wise decisions authority over one's own head Source or origin and are interdependent equality verse 16 ends the passage by saying that the apostles and the Churches of God do not have a custom that requires head coverings our covering is Christ and because he is our sin Bearer we need no other covering let's go through some of the conclusions on this passage from Bruce wear one thing that is clear from verses 8 and n is that Paul is arguing for the priority of man over woman there's no question about that man is not to cover his head while the woman should because the woman came from the man not the reverse we do regard our brother in Christ but we respectfully say that he has misinterpreted Paul Paul is not saying that the woman should wear a veil but he allows her to wear the veil remember Paul said let her that's permission not restriction what does brother John MacArthur say that the veil symbolized because covering is a Divine watch it a Divine symbol of submission if the covering is a Divine symbol of submission why isn't the man told to wear the covering to symbolize his submission to Christ instead he is told he must not wear the covering why because it is not a Divine symbol of submission it is a symbol of the shame of our sin and not appropriate for Christians freed from sin I can understand that while complementarians want 1 Corinthians 11 to be a man's preeminent rule over woman they cannot create a meaning for the veil that isn't historic the Veil for man and woman was only for modesty and because of the shame of sin there is no purpose of submission in the custom and I repeat John lightfoot's challenge show me where the veil was a symbol of subjection now let's hear John MacArthur talk about God's principle of hair but basically the god-given universal is that your hair is to be distinct isn't that interesting God has given man short hair that he might manifest the Divine Dominion of God in the visible openness of short hair the Bible says absolutely nothing about short hair being a symbol of divine Dominion that is reading into the passage something that is not there if God's principle is that men and women must have distinct hair then how do you explain God's ordinance that commands men and women alike who take the Nazarite vow to stop cutting their hair and then later both of them to shave their hair there is no commandment by God on the length of hair except for the Nazarite vow Mr MacArthur discusses whether it is proper for a woman to pray to God uncovered should a woman pray Uncovered what's the answer no can't can't do it that's the only answer they could have the answer is no how is it possible to read into this passage that it is a Divine mandate established that creation and then say we don't need to follow this pattern today if it is a mandate from creation let the complementarians be consistent and keep their women's heads covered you can't have it both ways is it a mandate from creation or not am I following scripture now is God demanding this of me let's be consistent in our interpretation and understand the inspired words in context let's listen to John MacArthur talking about the man's head covering having his head covered dishonors his head head in other words he be 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 me like me today preaching with an Easter bonnet on you would say why is he doing that and I have the Liberty to wear an Easter bonnet if I want I do not take that Liberty however because you would misconstrue the meaning of it sh I hope you don't mind if I take my head covering off it was getting hot in there again we appreciate our brothers in Christ but we need to make a point that brother MacArthur's research is faulty there was a Jewish population in Corinth and their oral laws require the men and the women to wear head coverings you can't can't use a 20th century frilly hat and place it in Bible times both men and women wore a covering and because it signified the shame of sin Paul put a stop to this tradition let's allow John MacArthur to finish the topic of hair you say what are you trying to say to me John trying to say what the Bible says men are to have shorter hair than women say well what does that mean to me I don't know what that means to you maybe it means to go home and measure your hair against your husbands you need to apply that scripture does not say that the man's hair must be shorter than his wife's Paul had long hair and no hair at different times because he also took a Nazarite vow Paul said that not even nature teaches us that God has a rule for the length of our hair if God hasn't given us a standard for the length of our hair then to judge one another by how long or short the hair on our heads is sounds suspiciously close to a legalistic misinterpretation of scripture now let's summarize this section with some questions in 1 Corinthians chap 11 did Paul ever demand that women wear a veil did Paul ever say that the husband's hair must be shorter than the wives or that short hair is a sign of divine Dominion does Paul tell us in this passage that the woman does not have the glory of God how does Paul's discussion of the origin of man and woman show that all things ultimately originate with God what custom does Paul say that all the Churches of God do not have if 1 Corinthians chap 11 is about chain of command how come there are no verses discussing the chain of command [Music]