Piety, Patriarchy and Parity

Series on I Corinthians

VI Meeting for Worship

A Authority in Worship, Text: 11:2-16

Title: Piety, Patriarchy and Parity

Introduction

Here in I Corinthians 11, to the end of chapter 14, Paul talks about worship. As if that were not a hot enough topic because everybody has opinions about it, he begins with a controversial discourse on the relationship of men and women in worship. There are lots of Christian people who wish this passage was not in the Bible. In fact they explain it away as outmoded and irrelevant to us. To expect no contention over this is absurd since Paul encountered it in the first century. Our job is to see what Paul is talking about and how it applies to us. About 25 years ago I wrote an article based on this passage which appeared in the “Reformed Presbyterian Advocate.” It was entitled, “The Mad Hatter.” In it I insisted that women should have their heads covered in worship. Believe it or not 25 years ago there were still women who wore hats to worship. The humorous aspect of this is that the editor mistakenly put the name of Roger Hunt, another minister, at the bottom of the article. I don’t know if he’s forgiven me yet for all the flak he got over that article. My understanding of the passage has evolved since then, but unlike some, i still am not intimidated by the women’s lib movement and I seek for the eternal truth that is embodied in this apostolic advice. As the title indicates i believe that there are three important principles embodied here: piety, patriarchy, and parity.

I Piety

In applying this passage to the present, one thing is clear. The apostle Paul encourages piety in worship. He wants us to honor God. When he talks about the relationship between men and women in worship in verses 2 and 3 he emphasizes that the head over both is Christ, the Mediator, and then God, the Father, I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the teachings, just as I passed them on to you. Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. The behavior of both men and women is related to the headship of Jesus Christ over his church, and this in turn is related to the submission of Christ himself to God, the Father. We are not called to regulate our worship according to our culture or our private opinions, but according to the Word of God. The heart of true piety is submission. There can be no worship without it. Jesus said, i come to do thy will O God. We have a hard time honoring the right people. As A.W. Tozer said, “Christians have fallen into the habit of accepting the noisiest and most notorious among them as the best and the greatest. They have learned to equate popularity with excellence, and in open defiance of the Sermon on the Mount they have given their approval, not to the meek, but to the self-assertive; not to the mourner, but to the self-assured; not to the pure in heart who see God, but to the publicity hunter who seeks headlines.” In worship God is the audience. Do we want to honor him? The pitiful way in which Scriptures like this have been twisted or ignored is indicative of an impious refusal to allow the Bible to dictate the terms of our life and worship. In fact it is an assault on the authority of God, but it is precisely the authority of God and His Word that is at issue here in this discussion. We need to discover what it is about the behavior of both men and women in worship that will demonstrate the headship of Christ.

II Patriarchy

Paul first establishes the leadership of the man in the church. the persistent use of the word “every” in verses 3-5 demonstrates that Paul is talking here not about marriage and the home, but about the relationship of man and woman in the body of Christ, the spiritual temple which is the Church. Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head-it is just as though her head were shaved. In Paul’s society women ordinarily wore a veil which was a full head covering and this is reflected in verse 6, If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head. To pray without the veil was a deliberate declaration of leadership The head covering is called authority or a symbol of authority in the Greek, “exousia.” Now Paul’s argument goes far beyond culture and custom. Unbelieving anthropologists may assert that the difference between a matriarchal and patriarchal society is a matter of choice, but it is not. The principle Paul enunciates is based on the created difference between men and women. It is anchored in God’s purpose and plan and we must follow it and show it in our demeanor whatever the cultural norms.

A God’s Purpose

In verses 7-10 Paul says God made Eve to be a suitable helper to Adam, but both are made in the image of God, A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head. Because of the God ordained order the man reflects the glory of God directly and the woman reflects the glory of God through recognizing that God has set the man first in the home and in the church. Manifestly this situation may be reversed in business and industry. Paul’s point is that it must not be reversed in the home and in the church, and in verse 10 he adds “because of the angels” which is a mysterious comment. Angels are involved in the worship of the Lord. However you will remember that Jesus said to the Pharisees in Matthew 22:30 that At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage: they will be like the angels in heaven. In other words the gender distinctions will be eliminated. Fascinating isn’t it? And so the additional point Paul is making here is that while we are on this earth, we are not like the angels. We retain the gender distinctions that God purposed in creation.

B God’s Plan

Paul says in verses 13-15 the very nature of things teaches us that men and women are different because this is God’s plan, Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. Hairstyles change but the differences will not go away. There are books today to teach women how to succeed in the male dominated world of business and industry. Examples are: “Sweet Success,” “How to Understand the Men in Your Business Life,” or, “Dress for Success.” They teach women how to combat sexual and economic exploitation. We ought to hate such exploitation, but we ought to realize that the answer is not in women becoming men but in women and men being treated fairly even though they are different. The ironical part about such manuals is that many probably perceive them to be saying something other than what Paul says here, but in actuality books like this exist because men and women are different. Women think differently, react differently, and have different interests. Neither of us is inferior to the other, just different, and that difference says Paul is inseparable from God’s unchangeable purpose in creating man and woman and is not a passing cultural fad. R.C. Sproul reminds us that there is a good reason for the traditional vows of marriage when the man promises to love, honor, and cherish, and the woman promises to love, cherish, and obey. I have had several women ask me to omit the “obey” and I refused. There was a cartoon where the groom was reciting his vow. He said first you’re born, and then you’re buried. in between, let’s get married. The bride is thinking, why did i suggest we write our own vows? Sproul’s point is that the pastor should have reviewed the vows before the ceremony because It takes two to make a marriage a success and only one to make it a failure.

III Parity

But Paul quickly enunciates a third principle of paramount importance. in maintaining the created order Paul is also anxious to protect the woman from exploitation in verses 11 and 12, In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God. The Declaration of Independence says, “All men are created equal.” Usually, the term “men” means “all human beings,” yet women were denied the right to vote until the 20th century. And so Paul cites the dependence of the man upon the woman in the order of creation. His intent is to declare the essential equality of male and female. In Christ there is “neither male or female.” In the Lord we are not independent of one another, and in a practical way spiritually we need to submit to one another. It is written, “A braid appears to contain only two strands of hair, but it is impossible to create a braid with only two strands. If the two could be put together at all, they would quickly unravel. Herein lies the mystery: What looks like two strands requires a third. The third strand, though not immediately evident, keeps the strand tightly woven. In a Christian marriage, God’s presence, like the third strand in a braid, holds husband and wife together.” In Ephesians 5 :22-33, where the Apostle declares that husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the Church and wives are to submit themselves to their own husbands as unto the Lord, Paul also says we are to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Those who desire to twist the Scripture to their own way of thinking suggest that this means that Paul is not really asking wives to submit in any way that husbands shouldn’t submit. If we were to apply the idea consistently in the passage then when Paul says the Church should submit to Christ, we would also have to say that Christ should submit to the Church which is nonsense. Paul is saying that men need to realize that being the leader in the home and the church is not a declaration of innate superiority. Billy Sunday once said, “Try praising your wife even though it frightens her at first.” The man who is forever criticizing his wife’s judgment never seems to question her choice of a husband. When a man sins against his wife, he is not to pretend he’s always right; he’s to submit to her by repenting and asking forgiveness.

Conclusion

We must follow the Apostle’s advice according to verse 16, If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice-nor do the churches of God. This means that, in the final analysis, true piety recognizes the spiritual equality of men and women in the Lord but does not use that equality to obliterate the created differences between men and women. True piety recognizes that in this present age the gender distinctions created by God are to govern our behavior in the home and in the Church. Whatever our roles are in the world of business and industry we need to express our respect for the authority of God in worship by acknowledging and obeying the order that he has established, that is the same as the order in the Trinity.