Garth Engwall

Here I go again. No, I am not going to go down the same rabbit hole as before.

Not sure if you are monitoring Cheryl, but I AGAIN am devouring these posts as I have some women in a bible study who are inclined to think that God did institute a hierarchy in humankind. (They don’t like it, and aren’t abusively subject to it, but never-the-less think there is something to it.) I suspect that the teaching they received stems from this passage so I am familiarizing myself again with your arguments, which I have found so convincing in regards to 1 Cor 11.

As I was going through, another epiphany hit me regarding verse 3. Prepositions! The text of verse 3 is clear – so and so is the head “OF” such and such. Not “over”, and not “above”. These are different prepositions – ones of which Paul is well aware and ones that he uses quite often (compare “authority OVER” in vs. 10). In fact, I believe that Paul even uses “over” in relation to “head’ in Ephesians 1. So Paul certainly knows how to declare a relationship of position if he needs to. But he doesn’t in vs. 3. To me, that is as compelling as any evidence that “head of” means something different “authority over”. Since the preposition in vs. 3 is “of”, “origin of” makes perfect sense in context here.

I hope you are doing well. I miss hearing your insights on these topics. God bless!