Cheryl Schatz

Lastly for tonight, I had wanted to take Mark through the issue of the head covering as a symbol of honor and ask him why if the head covering honored the man when the wife wore it, then why doesn’t it honor Christ when the man wears it? If it is a consistent symbol of honor, then one would think that wearing the “sign” that one is under the authority of their head (which is what comps have taught) then for the man to wear the symbol that he is under the authority of his head (Christ), you would think that Christ would be honored by that. But the fact is that Paul very specifically says that the man wearing the the head covering during spiritual service to God or man shames Christ. That should tell us right there that there is a huge problem with making the head covering as a sign of honor since it clearly does not honor Christ. So what does the symbol mean during spiritual service? Push comps to answer this. They must answer because the glory of Christ and shaming Christ are key to understanding the passage.

I believe that Paul is one who consistently answers his own hard passages. He has given us the answer in the second letter to the Corinthians. Our purpose is to reflect Christ. We are not to follow human traditions that distort God’s purposes. The fact is that the woman was also made to reflect Christ and so her spiritual service is not restricted but she is to fully reflect Christ in service to God and service to man. When we hold women back from using their God-given gifts and refuse to let them serve in full reflection of their glory obtained from Christ, we are forcing the head covering of shame on the ones who have been bought by Christ, cleansed of shame by Christ and empowered to fulfill their calling to reflect Christ by His work in them and His gifting them for the common good. A godly husbandly head will allow his wife to shine forth God’s glory with her God-given gifts and calling and he will not hold her back as if she belongs solely to him. She was also created for spiritual service to Christ’s spiritual body and this honors Christ.