Thanks Cheryl,

As usual much to ponder from your words.

Thank you Kerryn for pointing us to this link!

Verse 10 in the ESV:

10That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.

Is there any significance that the word ‘wife’ is used here instead of woman as in the NIV?

We have always been taught that this ‘authority’ on her head was man ruling over her. No one could ever explain to me about the ‘angels’ but it makes sense based on Paul teaching earlier about us judging the angels.

But I have to tell you the verses before and after the above are very confusing to me based on the interpretation:

2Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. 3But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife[a] is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. 4Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, 5but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head–it is the same as if her head were shaven. 6For 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….

…13Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, 15but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. 16If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.

Thanks for your questions. I will be going through 1 Corinthians 11 for several more posts and will try to cover it as thoroughly as I can to get rid of the misconceptions. These verses have been difficult to interpret throughout church history mostly because of the preconceptions that we have brought to the text. In my DVD series I spent about 45 minutes on this section on 1 Cor. 11 going through the context verse by verse. One pastor who previewed WIM said that the exegesis of mine on this passage was the best that he ever heard and it made the most sense in context. Keep watching the posts here and I will try to make it understandable without having all the visual aids that I had in my DVD. As we go through these posts on 1 Cor. 11 keep asking questions whenever anything doesn’t make sense. God’s word was meant to be understood and I believe that in context it can be understood without contradiction.

Blessings!
Cheryl

Cherly, I ordered the DVD so that may cut down on many of my questions!

Lin,

Good for you! I think you will find it very helpful because of the visual presentation. There is still a lot of information there jam packed into 3.5 hours and many people say that they need to watch it 3 times to grasp all the information but then it “clicks” for them and it has changed many lives. I look forward to other questions that you have as well as we go through 1 Corinthians 11 verse by verse.

Cheryl,

You speak incorrectly when you state that men are not to rule over the woman. Read the entire bible before quoting your favorite verses which enbolden your feminism. Try this verse for starters:

Genesis 3:16
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and
thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and
thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over
thee.

Sorry to burst your bubble but it would appear that God demoted the woman and put her under the rule of man because of her inability to be rational. Also note, in Genesis, that God when to Adam (the head) to ask what had happened and never asked the woman even though she was the one who ate from the tree first. The day women start preaching in church is the day the church begins to die. Perhaps that’s why God gave the commandment, “women obey your husbands” to women and to men He said, “Men love your wife”(notice wife…singular). Obedience implies submission. Love simply implies commitment….something most men have a problem with, hence the commandment from God to man.

Don’t take it personally – it’s just the way it is. There are certain things that need to be in order if things are to work properly. In heaven we will all be equal in absolute terms because Satan will not be there to take advantages of our weaknesses and human flaws. Meanwhile, obey God – submit and obey your husbands.

No matter how hard you women try to be like men or be “equal” to men it will never happen because it is not God’s will and God’s will is above all of us. His will cannot and will not be undone. Amen and Amen!

It is interesting that you quote Genesis 3:16 as if God were commanding Adam to rule over Eve. Yet this is a prophecy not a command. And if it was a command, then why did God give it to Eve and not Adam? God doesn’t tell Eve to be ruled over. And He doesn’t tell Adam to rule his wife.

On the contrary most complementarians educated on the Hebrew will admit that the “rule” that is in Genesis 3:16 is a harsh rule and they admit that it is a result of sin. They do not say that God has commanded man to rule their wives in a harsh manner as the word “mashal” suggests.

No my friend, we cannot put words in God’s mouth and he nowhere says that woman is demoted from her original position. And he also did not ask Adam what Eve had done.

Lastly if in heaven we will be equal, then you at least are not as unbiblical as some like CBMW who say that women will be restricted from teaching or having authority as long as we are descended from Adam and Eve (and we will always be humans even in the resurrection so in essence they say the restrictions are eternal).

It is imperative that we do a better job when reading the scripture so as to not misrepresent God or misread God’s commands.

The bible commands man to not be harsh with the wife, but it is clear from the verse I gave you above that God did punish Eve and all women after her by having man rule over her. To rule is to rule – there’s no way to water down that word, but man is supposed to love, cherish and be kind to his wife. God did not do it to spite the woman but to rather keep the woman from losing herself by having the man lead. Just look at all the households where women take the place of the man – it is almost always total destruction. This is what happens when you take things out of the order that God meant to put them in.

Also, keep in mind the verse which states: ” God is the head of Jesus, Jesus is the head of man and man is the head of woman. You can no easier say that woman should be the head of man than you can say man should be equal to or the head of Jesus. There is an obvious heirarchy here and there is a reason for it. There is also another verse in the bible which commands the woman to no speak in church – but rather to wait until she gets home to discuss any questions she may have with her husband. Over and over again the bible is clear of the man’s duties as well as the woman’s and as long as we all follow God’s commandments there will be harmony in our homes and in our churches.

Of course man wants to be God and woman, likewise wants to replace the man. Inversion of the hierarchy. Standard rebellion of the spirit. Be careful – there is a reason Jesus Christ chose only men as his apostles and it wasn’t because he was a sexist. Women are too easily influenced by their emotions and will, inevitably, stray from the “truth”. God knew this which is why he asks the man to be the lead in the church and the head of the family. God chose only one man to start the Jewish nation while using various women – some of which were concubines. Just look at how bad it has gotten with men leading…..imagine the chaos and destruction if it were the woman. Good luck to you….

Oh, one more thing. It was not a prophecy but a curse which is why God said it to eve. God also cursed man by cursing the ground saying that only by hard labor will he be able to sustain himself and his family.

Paul said: “but it is clear from the verse I gave you above that God did punish Eve and all women after her by having man rule over her.”

You can say that it is clear but my friend, you need to look at the words. They are not a command. It says “he shall rule” not “he must rule over you” or I command him to rule. It is a fact.

It is also not a curse. God does not directly curse the man or the woman. The only thing that he curses is the ground and the animals. If you are going to misread even the basics in Genesis, what will you do with the rest of scripture?

Oh really – God does not curse the man or the woman? What does God mean when he says: ” I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and
thy conception”?

It sounds to me like God himself curses and punishes Eve….as well as Adam. God does curse and God does punish people…personally….or have you forgotten about that small punishment called, “the great flood”? See, this is the problem with women interpreting the bible….you cannot do it without feeling emotion towards it…therefore you dilute it so it’s not so personal cause you can’t handle the truth.

No God does not curse the man or the woman. Not only does scripture not say this, this would make having children a curse and tilling the soil a curse.

Instead of a curse, God promises a Redeemer to take care of sin. He had already told Adam and Eve that they would die if they ate the fruit. Nothing else was a curse, it was a result of their now mortal bodies and the curse of the land.

It is better to read what God actually says then to “read into” scripture by reading a curse when God nowhere says such a thing. i.e. the land was cursed and the result was that Adam would have to fight the weeds and work the soil to get anything to grow. The result of the soil being cursed was hard work for Adam. Adam’s work was not the curse but the result of God’s cursing something else. The same thing for the woman. She would bear many more children as God increased her ability to conceive. That brought along hard work with all those children and the change in her cycles brought extreme pain. It was a hard thing to them to bear, but it was never called a curse.

I think this is the third time you have posted a misreading of the scriptures. What gives with this?

He said : there is a reason Jesus Christ chose only men as his apostles and it wasn’t because he was a sexist. Women are too easily influenced by their emotions and will, inevitably, stray from the “truth”

Jesus chose 12 (Jewish) men because of the 12 tribes of Israel, he was trying to show the people of Israel that he is doing something NEW!At that point in time Men (Jewish) didn’t listen to women for that matter. Once enough Jewish Men or Men came to faith in Christ the Women would come along side and rule together with them equally, we see this in Creation of Adam & Eve! Yes God is a God of order but not in the way your thinking. I see a pattern here that the Lord is using but can in no way stop women from teaching Truth!

Scripture No where said women are easily influenced. That would make God look bad, almost saying Eve (The Woman) was made badly. We know from Scripture She was made Perfect Every Thing Was Very Good! I’ve studied these issues greatly and have degrees to back up my studying. I have alittle Jewish blood running through my veins from my mothers side of the family. So that got me to learn more about my Jewish roots so to speak. Just take an honest look at scripture with out reading anything into it. Please pray for God’s Truth Not Man’s!

Evangelist Michael Joseph Terran D.D.