Paula

Thanks for the plug TS!

A little background: A comp asked, “Why, if in the 1 Cor. passage, head means origin or source, we don’t go on then to read in verse 5: “but every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her ‘origin’ uncovered dishonoureth her ‘origin'”? Or “For this reason a woman ought to have power over her own ‘origin’ because of the angels?”

My rebuttal went something like this: Okay, let’s try it your way. “Why, if in the 1 Cor. passage, head means BOSS, we don’t go on then to read in verse 5: “but every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her ‘BOSS’ uncovered dishonoureth her ‘BOSS'”? Or “For this reason a woman ought to have power over her own ‘BOSS’ because of the angels?”

In other words, the comp’s charge against egal is one comp is also guilty of. And in either case, the answer is in the fact that Paul is using one of his characteristic plays on words when he introduces the whole question of head coverings with the 1st century Greek metaphor. Then, as in any language, he switches to the literal meaning. He even defines the metaphorical as ‘source’ by talking about who COMES FROM whom. So we have ample contextual warrant right there for the metaphor being ‘source’ and not ‘boss’.