Jesus was the head of every man

JESUS WAS THE HEAD OF EVERY MAN
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
1 Corinthians11:3 3But 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.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
The Headship of Christ
J. Waite
1 Corinthians 11:3
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the
head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
The head of every man is Christ. It may be of the man as distinct from the
woman that the apostle here speaks,but the truth assertedis one in which all
human beings, without regardto sexualor any other distinctions, are alike
interested. The relation in which we eachand all stand to Christ, or rather in
which Christ stands to us, is one that surmounts and absorbs into itself every
other relationship. As the vault of heaven surrounds the world, and the
atmosphere in which it floats envelops everything that lives and moves and
has its being in it; so does the authority of Christ embrace all that belongs to

the existence ofevery one of us, and from it we cannever escape. The
supremacy here indicated has certaindistinct phases.
I. EVERY MAN SEES HIS OWN HUMAN NATURE PERFECTEDIN
CHRIST. Manhoodis perfectly representedin him. He is the Crownand
Flowerof our humanity; its realized ideal, the Man - the complete,
consummate, faultless man - "Christ Jesus."Nota development from the old
stock, but anew beginning, the Head of the "new creation." The ideal of
humanity, defacedand destroyedby the Fall, was restoredagainin the
Incarnation. "The first man is of the earth, earthy: the secondman is the
Lord from heaven" (1 Corinthians 15:47). Adam was formed in the image of
God - a sinless, symmetrical, perfect man. But he lost the glory of his first
estate, and became the father of a degenerate humanity that could never of
itself rise againto the original level, howeverlong the stream of its succeeding
generations might roll on. Christ, the God Man, in the fulness of time, appears
- true, perfect manhood linked in mysterious union with Deity, the "Firstborn
among many brethren;" "Partakerwith the children of flesh and blood," that
he may "leadmany sons to glory." We must look to him, then, if we would
know what the possibilities of our nature are, what we ourselves may and
ought to be. It is curious to note how different, as regards physical form and
feature, are the artistic conceptions one meets with of the person of Jesus;
what various degrees ofserene majestyand tender sorrow they express. Some
of them, perhaps, exaggerate the element of tenderness at the expense of that
of power. They none of them, it may be, answerto our own ideal. And we
conclude that it is vain to think of representing upon canvas the mingled
splendours - the heavenly lights and earthly shadows - of that wondrous face
in which
"The God shone gracious through the Man." But we are scarcelyin danger of
error in any honest and intelligent moral conceptionof Christ. The glorious
Original appears too plainly and luminously before us. "Behold the Man!" -
the consummate type of all human excellence. Do we really admire and adore

him? Do we admire everything that we see in him; every separate lineament
and expressionof his countenance? Wouldwe have all men, speciallythose
with whom we have most to do, to be like him? Is it our desire to be ourselves
fashionedat every point exactly after such a Model? This is involved in a true
recognitionof the headship of Christ over ourselves and every man.
II. THE SPRING OF THE HIGHER LIFE FOR EVERY MAN IS CHRIST.
Howeverwe may dealwith the subtle questions suggestedhere respecting the
original constitution and prerogatives ofman's nature, one thing is plain - that
nature now has no selfrecovering powerof life in it. It has in it rather the
seeds ofdecay and death. "In Adam all die." The secondAdam, the Lord
from heaven, is a "quickening Spirit." In him the powerof death is
overmastered. Throughhim God pours into our being the streamof a new
and nobler life, a life in which every part of it, both physical and spiritual,
shall have its share (John 5:21; John 6:47-50;John 11:25, 26; 1 John 5:11, 12).
The Fountainhead of a blessed, glorious immortality forevery man is he.
Looking abroad over a languishing, dying world, he says, "I am come that
they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." And there
is not a human being on the face of the whole earth who is not personally
interestedin this Divine revelation of the Life eternal.
III. THE SUPREME LAW FOR, EVERYMAN IS CHRIST. We are all
necessarilyunder law. It is not a question as betweenlaw and no law that has
to be decided. The question is - What shall be the law that we voluntarily
recognize? Whatshall be the nature of the governing force to which we yield
ourselves? Shallit be true, righteous, beneficent, Divine? or shall it be false,
usurping, fatal, Satanic? There is no middle course. Godwould have us make
our own free, unfettered choice. Our whole daily life is actually a choice of
servitude, and it is emphatically our own. The true servitude is the service of
Christ. All holy law is summed up in his authority. He is the proper, rightful
Lord of every human soul. He demands the unreserved allegiance ofevery
man. His claims are sovereign, absolute, universal. They admit of no

qualification, and from them there is no escape. As well think by the caprice
of your own will to render your body superior to the laws of matter, to defeat
the force of gravitation, to escapefrom your own shadow, as think to shake off
the obligationof obedience to Christ when once you have heard his voice, and
he has laid his royal hand upon you.
IV. THE REST AND HOME OF EVERY MAN'S SOUL IS IN CHRIST.
"Oh, where shall rest be found,
Restfor the wearysoul?" We scheme and toil to surround ourselves with
earthly satisfactions, but the secretofa happy home on earth is that the spirit
shall have found its true place of safetyand repose. And Christ only canlead
us to this. O blessedLord Jesus, thou Friend and Brother and Saviour of
every man, bring us into living fellowshipwith thyself!
"Here would we end our quest;
Alone are found in thee
The life of perfectlove, the rest
Of immortality." W.
The Hierarchy
1 Corinthians 11:3
J.R. Thomson

Before entering upon particular counsels with regard to the attire of the two
sexes respectivelyin the Christian assemblies, St. Paul lays down a great
generalprinciple, from which, rather than from custom or from experience,
he deduces the specialduties devolving upon the members of Christ's Church.
The case upon which he was consulted, and upon which he gave his advice,
has lostall practicalinterest, and is to us merely an antiquarian curiosity; but
the greatprinciple propounded in connectionwith it holds good for all time.
I. THE APPOINTED SUBORDINATIONOF WOMAN TO MAN. There is a
sense in which there is equality betweenthe sexes. In Christ Jesus there is
neither male nor female. The gospelis intended for and is offeredto both men
and women. Both are equally dear to him who died for all. As in Jesus'earthly
ministry he wrought cures and expelled demons for the relief of women, and
as he chose certainwomenas his personalfriends, and as he willingly
acceptedthe affectionate and generous ministration of other women; so in the
dispensationof the Spirit he numbers women amongsthis people, and
honours them by promoting them to his service. There is, so to speak, spiritual
equality. But domestic and socialequality is quite another thing. In the
household and in the congregationthere must be subjection and submission.
"Order is Heaven's first law." "The head of the woman is the man." And this
notwithstanding that many men are base and unworthy of their positionand
calling; notwithstanding that many women are not only pure, but noble and
well fitted for command.
II. THE ARCHETYPE IN SPIRITUAL AND HEAVENLY RELATIONS TO
WHICH THIS ORDER CONFORMS.
1. Man is not supreme, though invested with a limited authority. "The head of
every man is Christ." He, the Sonof man, has the primacy over this
humanity. In wisdom and in righteousness, in powerand in grace, the Lord
Jesus is superior and supreme. The law is revealedin him and administered
by him. Every man is morally bound to subjection and submission to the
Divine Man. And he is Head over all things to his Church. This is the truth,

the ideal, the purpose of eternal wisdom; though, alas!often misunderstood,
or forgotten, or denied by men.
2. Even in the Godheadthere is an officialsubordination of the Son to the
Father; "the head of Christ is God." This language takesus into the regionof
heavenly things, of Divine mysteries. But it reveals to us the factthat the
universe is one greathierarchy, of which not every member is mentioned here,
only certain leading dominant notes being successivelysoundedin the celestial
scale. Menmay suppose that order and subordination in human society, civil
and ecclesiastical, are merely expedients for peace and quietness. But it is not
so;there is Divine archetype to which human relationships and affairs
conform. Let there be nonconformity to this, and there is discord breaking in
upon the harmonious minstrelsy of the spiritual universe. Let there be
conformity, and the sweetconcertproves that earth is in tune with heaven. -
T.
Biblical Illustrator

But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ; and the head
of every woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
1 Corinthians 11:3-16
Christ our Head
E. W. Shalders, B.A.
This important statementis the starting-point for a deliverance on the subject
of the conduct of women in the Church. The apostle often, in dealing with
matters of trifling importance or limited interest, rises to the enunciation of
the grand principle on which it rests. Here he gives the principle first. Let us
look at our relationship with Christ —
I. THROUGH ITS EARTHLY SHADOW.
1. In building the house of the human family God made the man the head of
the woman, the husband or bond of the house. This headship carries with it
responsibility; for if wives are to obey their husbands, husbands are to love
their wives as Christ loved the Church, and so make the wifely duty a joy.
2. In this sense, onlywith deepened meaning, Christ is the head of every man,
i.e., of the race. And just as the wife attains the end of her being on the earthly
side in her husband; as she finds the sum of her womanly ambitions and
duties in promoting his welfare;as she is entitled to look to him for protection,
counsel, tenderness, and example; as she is to seek in him the rounding of her
present life and the fulness of her earthly joy; so the members of the human
family are to look up to Christ as their Head. None of us is complete without
Him. And just as trust and obedience unite a woman to her husband and
enable him to fulfil his obligations to her, so it is by faith and submission that
Jesus is able to accomplishHis saving, life-giving work. There is therefore
deep truth in the representationof the exaltationof the Church to glory as a
marriage supper.

II. IN ITS HEAVENLY ARCHETYPES — God's headship over Christ.
1. In His Divine, eternal essence Christis "the brightness of His Father's
glory," etc., God's realisedideal, a vesselinto which Godhas poured all the
fulness of the Divine nature, a vesselof Godheadeternally equal to that which
it contains and perfectly full.
2. In the light of this look once more at your relationship to Christ. "As the
Father hath loved Me" (John 15:9, 10). We are to reflect Christ just as He
reflects God, and appears, therefore, full of grace and truth.Conclusion: "The
head of every man is Christ."
1. Then Christ is just yourself, idealisedand perfected — the prophecy of
what you are to become. He is not a glorified man merely, but glorified
humanity.
2. This greatfact throws light on the doctrine of substitution. Christ became
man, not a man. Just as we were all in Adam, and are so many multiplied
copies of him, so Christ became the secondAdam, and God looks atus in
Him. Since, then, He was a representative man, all He did and suffered on
earth had a representative character.
(E. W. Shalders, B.A.)
Human and Divine relations
Prof. Godet.

There exist three relations which togetherform a sort of hierarchy: lowestin
the scale, the purely human relation betweenman and woman; higher, the
Divine-human relation betweenChrist and man; highest, the purely Divine
relation betweenGod and Christ. The common term whereby Paul
characterises these relations is "head," or chief. This figurative term includes
two ideas — community of life, and inequality within this community. So
betweenthe man and the woman, by the bond of marriage there is formed
betweenthem the bond of a common life, but in such a way that the one is the
strong and directing element, the other the receptive and dependent element.
The same is the case in the relation betweenChrist and the man. Formed by
the bond of faith, it also establishes a community of life, in which there are
distinguished an active and directing principle and a receptive and directed
factor. An analogousrelationappears higher still in the mystery of the Divine
essence. Bythe bond of filiation there is betweenChrist and God communion
of Divine life, but such that impulse proceeds from the Father, and that "the
Son doeth nothing but what He seeththe Father do." The relation between
Christ and the man is put first. It is, so to speak, the link of union betweenthe
other two, reflecting the sublimity of the one and marking the other with a
sacredcharacter, whichshould secure it from the violence with which it is
threatened.
(Prof. Godet.)
The conduct and deportment of Christian women
F. W. Robertson, M.A.
A broad principle laid down by Christianity was human equality: "there is
neither male nor female, but ye are all one in Christ Jesus." We allknow how
fruitful a cause ofpopular commotion the teaching of equality has been in
every age, and at Corinth this doctrine threatened to lead to much social
confusion. A claim was made for a right in woman to do all that men should
do — to preach and pray, e.g., in public, and therefore to appear as men,
unveiled in public. This latter the apostle here prohibits —

I. ON THE GROUND THAT IT WAS A RASH DEFIANCE OF
ESTABLISHED RULES OF DECORUM. The veiled head is a symbol of —
1. Modesty;for to pray unveiled was to insult all the conventional feelings of
Jew and Gentile. The Holy Ghost, however, has not imposed on the Church
this particular fashion, but the principle contained in it is eternal; and it is
impossible to decide how much of our public morality and private purity is
owing to the spirit which refuses to overstepthe smallestbound of ordinary
decorum.
2. Dependence. St. Paulperceived that the law of Christian equality was quite
consistentwith the vast systemof subordination running through the universe
(vers. 3, 11, 12). He distinguishes betweeninferiority and subordination; each
sex exists in a certain order, not one as greaterthan the other, but both great
and right in being what God intended them to be.
II. BY AN APPEAL TO NATURAL INSTINCTS ANN PROPRIETY(vers.
14, 15). Fanaticismdefies nature. Christianity refines it and respects it. It
develops eachnation, sex, and individual, according to their own nature —
making man more manly and woman more womanly. But let us not forget
that here, too, there are exceptions. Beware ofa dead, hard rule. There have
been many instances in which one man standing againstthe world has been
right, and the world wrong, as Elijah, , Luther, and others. But in questions of
morality, propriety, decency, when we find our own private judgment
contradictedby the generalexperience, habit, and belief of all the best around
us, then the doctrine of this chaptercommands us to believe that the many are
right and that we are wrong.
(F. W. Robertson, M.A.)

The veil
M. Dods, D.D.
St. Paul is now compelled to qualify the generalcommendation of ver. 2. He
heard with surprise and vexation that women presumed to address the
assembledChristians unveiled, to the scandalof all sober-minded Orientals
and Greeks.It is a singular specimenof the strange matters that came before
Paul for decisionwhen the care of all the Churches lay upon him.
I. WHAT WAS THE INTENTION OF CHRISTIAN WOMEN IN MAKING
A DEMONSTRATIONSO UNFEMININE?
1. Throughout this letter Paul is correcting the hasty impressions which the
new believers were receiving regarding their position as Christians. A flood of
new ideas was suddenly poured in upon their minds, one of which was the
equality of all before God and of a Saviour for all alike. There was neither
Jew nor Greek, male nor female, etc., now. And it dawned on the woman that
she was neither man's toy nor slave, but that she had a life to frame for
herself. She was not dependent on men for her Christian privileges; ought she
not to show this by laying aside the veil, which was the acknowledgedbadge of
dependence?
2. Among the Greeks it was the universal custom for the women to appear in
public with the head covered, commonly with the cornerof their shawldrawn
over their head like a hood. It was the one significantrite in marriage that she
assumedthe veil in tokenthat now her husband was her head. This covering
could be dispensedwith only in places where they were secludedfrom public
view. It was therefore the badge which proclaimed that she who wore it was a
private, not a public, person, finding her duties at home, not abroad. It was
the man's place to serve the State or the public, the woman's place to serve the
man.

II. THIS MOVEMENT OF THE CORINTHIAN WOMEN PAUL MEETS
BY REMINDING THEM THAT PERSONALEQUALITY IS PERFECTLY
CONSISTENTWITH SOCIAL SUBORDINATION.The woman must not
argue that because she is independent of her husband in the greatersphere
she must also be independent of him in the less (ver. 3). This principle is of
incalculable importance and very wide and constantapplication.
1. Whateveris meant by the natural equality of men, it cannot mean that none
are to have authority over others. In order to the harmony of societythere is a
gradationof ranks;and socialgrievancesresult, not from the existence of
socialdistinctions, but from their abuse. This gradation, then, involves Paul's
inference (vers. 4, 5). The veil being the recognisedbadge ofsubordination,
when a man appears veiled he would seemto acknowledgesome one present
and visible as his head, and would thus dishonour Christ, his true Head. A
woman, on the other hand, appearing unveiled would seemto say that she
acknowledgesno visible human head, and thereby dishonours her head — i.e.,
her husband — and so doing, dishonours herself. She puts herself on the level
of the woman with a shavenhead, which both among Jews and Greeks was a
brand of disgrace.
2. This subordination has its roots in nature (vers. 7, 8).(1)Man is the glory of
God because he is His image and is fitted to exhibit in actuallife the
excellenceswhichmake God worthy of our love and worship. But while man
directly, womanindirectly, fulfils this purpose of God. She is God's glory by
being man's glory. She exhibits God's excellences by creating and cherishing
excellence in man (vers. 8, 9). The position assignedto woman as the glory of
man is therefore far removed from the view which cyclicallyproclaims her
man's mere convenience.(2)Thatthis is woman's normal sphere is indicated
even by her unalterable physical characteristics. Bynature womanis endowed
with a symbol of modesty and retirement. The veil is merely the artificial
continuation of her natural gift of hair. The long hair of the Greek fop or of
the Englishcavalierwas acceptedby the people as an indication of effeminate

and luxurious living. And nature, speaking through this visible sign of the
woman's hair, tells her that her place is in the home, not in the city or the
camp; in the attitude of free and loving subordination, not in the seatof
authority and rule. In other respects also the physical constitution of woman
points to a similar conclusion— e.g., her shorter stature and slighterframe,
her higher pitch of voice, her more gracefulform and movement. And similar
indications are found in her mental peculiarities. She has the gifts which fit
her for influencing individuals; man has those qualities which enable him to
deal with persons in the mass. Notall women, of course, are of the
distinctively womanly type. A Britomarte may arm herselfand overthrow the
strongestknights. A Joanof Arc may infuse into a nation her own warlike and
patriotic ardour. In art, in literature, in science,feminine names may occupy
some of the highest places. In our own day many careers have beenopened to
women from which they had hitherto been debarred. Conclusion:A woman is
a woman still though she become a Christian; a subject must honour his king
although by becoming a Christian he is himself in one aspectabove all
authority; a servantwill show his Christianity, not by assuming an insolent
familiarity with his Christian master, but by treating him with respectful
fidelity. It forms a greatpart of our duty to acceptour own place without
envying others, and to do honour to those to whom honour is due.
(M. Dods, D.D.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(3) But I would have you know.—Afterthe generalcommendation in the
previous verse, the reprooffor neglecting, ordesiring to neglect, his precepts
in one particular case,is thus introduced. The subject treated of, viz., the

uncovering of their heads by women in assemblies forworship, was of
ephemeral moment, and as we all now would regardit, of trivial importance.
Every circumstance, however, which could in the leastdegree cause the
principles of Christianity to be perverted or misunderstood by the heathen
world was of vital importance in those early days of the Church, and hence we
find the Apostle, who most fearlesslytaught the principles of Christian liberty,
condemning most earnestly every application of those principles which might
be detrimental to the best interests of the Christian faith. To feel bound to
assertyour liberty in every detail of socialand political life is to ceaseto be
free—the very liberty becomes a bondage.
The head of every man is Christ.—The Apostle does not merely treat of the
outward practice on which his advice has been sought, but proceeds to lay
down the principles which are opposedto the principle of that absolute and
essentialequality, which, found its expressionand assertionin the practice of
women uncovering their heads in public assemblies.
The allusion here is not to Christ as the Head of the whole human race and of
all things (as in Ephesians 1:22;Colossians1:16;Colossians2:10), but as the
Head of “the Body,” the Christian Church: and this thought introduces the
generalargument regarding the practical subordination of woman, by
reminding the Corinthians that though there is in the Church a perfect
spiritual equality (as taught in Galatians 3:28), yet that it is an equality which
is of order and not of disorder—that it is an equality which can only be
preservedby remembering that eachis not an isolatedirresponsible atom, but
a part of an organic whole. There is a Head to the Church, therefore it is not a
machine composedof various parts, but a body consisting of various
members. As there is a subordination of the whole body to Christ, so there is
in that body a subordination of woman to man. The lastclause, “the Head of
Christ is God,” gives (as is St. Paul’s custom, see 1Corinthians 3:23;
1Corinthians 8:6; 1Corinthians 15:25)completeness to the thought. As the
Head of the Church—i.e., as the man Christ Jesus—Christis subordinate to
the Father, and, indeed, perhaps the idea is carried farther into the mystery of
the divine nature itself, as consisting ofthree Persons co-eternaland co-equal,

yet being designatedwith an unvarying sequence as “first,” and “second,”and
“third.”
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
11:2-16 Here begin particulars respecting the public assemblies,ch. 1Co 14. In
the abundance of spiritual gifts bestowedonthe Corinthians, some abuses had
crept in; but as Christ did the will, and sought the honour of God, so the
Christian should avow his subjectionto Christ, doing his will and seeking his
glory. We should, even in our dress and habit, avoid every thing that may
dishonour Christ. The womanwas made subject to man, because made for his
help and comfort. And she should do nothing, in Christian assemblies, which
lookedlike a claim of being equal. She ought to have power, that is, a veil, on
her head, because of the angels. Their presence shouldkeepChristians from
all that is wrong while in the worship of God. Nevertheless, the man and the
woman were made for one another. They were to be mutual comforts and
blessings, not one a slave, and the other a tyrant. God has so settledmatters,
both in the kingdom of providence and that of grace, that the authority and
subjection of eachparty should be for mutual help and benefit. It was the
common usage of the churches, for womento appearin public assemblies, and
join in public worship, veiled; and it was right that they should do so. The
Christian religion sanctions national customs whereverthese are not against
the greatprinciples of truth and holiness; affectedsingularities receive no
countenance from any thing in the Bible.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
But I would have you know - "I invite your attention particularly to the
following considerations, in order to form a correctopinion on this subject."
Paul does not at once answer the inquiry, and determine what ought to be
done; but he invites their attention to a series of remarks on the subject, which
led them to draw the conclusionwhich he wished to establish. The phrase here

is designedto callthe attention to the subject, like that used so often in the
New Testament, "he that hath ears to hear, let him hear."
That the head ... - The word "head," in the Scriptures, is designedoften to
denote "master, ruler, chief." The word ‫ׁשאר‬ ro'sh is often thus used in the
Old Testament; see Numbers 17:3; Numbers 25:15;Deuteronomy 28:13,
Deuteronomy 28:44;Judges 10:18;Judges 11:8, Judges 11:11; 1 Samuel
15:17;2 Samuel 22:44. In the New Testamentthe word is used in the sense of
Lord, ruler, chief, in Ephesians 1:22;Ephesians 4:15; Ephesians 5:23;
Colossians 2:10. Here it means that Christ is the ruler, director, or Lord of the
Christian man. This truth was to be regardedin all their feelings and
arrangements, and was never to be forgotten. Every Christian should recollect
the relationin which he stands to him, as one that is suited to produce the
strictestdecorum, and a steadysense ofsubordination.
Of every man - Every Christian. All acknowledgeChristas their Ruler and
Master. They are subject to him; and in all proper ways recognize their
subordination to him.
And the head of the woman is the man - The sense is, she is subordinate to
him, and in all circumstances -in her demeanor, her dress, her conversation,
in public and in the family circle - should recognize her subordination to him.
The particular thing here referred to is, that if the woman is inspired, and
speaks orprays in public, she should by no means lay aside the usual and
proper symbols of her subordination. The dangerwas, that those who were
under the influence of inspiration would regardthemselves as freed from the
necessityofrecognising that, and would lay aside the "veil," the usual and
appropriate symbol of their occupying a rank inferior to the man. This was
often done in the temples of the pagandeities by the priestesses,and it would
appear also that it had been done by Christian females in the churches.

And the head of Christ is God - Christ, as Mediator, has consentedto assume
a subordinate rank, and to recognize Godthe Fatheras superior in office.
Hence, he was obedient in all things as a Son; he submitted to the
arrangementrequired in redemption; he always recognizedhis subordinate
rank as Mediator, and always regardedGod as the supreme Ruler, even in the
matter of redemption. The sense is, that Christ, throughout his entire work,
regardedhimself as occupying a subordinate station to the Father; and that it
was proper from his example to recognize the propriety of rank and station
everywhere.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
3. The Corinthian women, on the ground of the abolition of distinction of
sexes in Christ, claimedequality with the male sex, and, overstepping the
bounds of propriety, came forward to pray and prophesy without the
customary head-covering of females. The Gospel, doubtless, did raise women
from the degradationin which they had been sunk, especiallyin the East. Yet,
while on a level with males as to the offer of, and standing in grace (Ga 3:28),
their subjection in point of order, modesty, and seemliness,is to be
maintained. Paul reproves here their unseemliness as to dress:in 1Co 14:34,
as to the retiring modesty in public which becomes them. He grounds his
reproof here on the subjectionof womanto man in the order of creation.
the head—anappropriate expression, when he is about to treat of woman's
appropriate headdress in public.
of every man … Christ—(Eph 5:23).
of … woman… man—(1Co 11:8; Ge 3:16; 1Ti 2:11, 12;1Pe 3:1, 5, 6).

head of Christ is God—(1Co 3:23;15:27, 28;Lu 3:22, 38;Joh 14:28;20:17;
Eph 3:9). "Jesus, therefore, must be of the same essenceas God:for, since the
man is the head of the woman, and since the head is of the same essence as the
body, and Godis the head of the Son, it follows the Son is of the same essence
as the Father" [Chrysostom]. "The woman is of the essenceofthe man, and
not made by the man; so, too, the Sonis not made by the Father, but of the
essenceofthe Father" [Theodoret, t. 3, p. 171].
Matthew Poole's Commentary
The abuse which the apostle is reflecting upon in this and the following verses,
is women’s praying or prophesying with their heads uncovered, againstwhich
the apostle stronglyargues. His argument seems to be this: That the woman in
religious services oughtto behave herself as a person in subjection to her
husband, and accordinglyto use such a gesture, as, according to the guise and
custom of that country, testified such a subjection; to this purpose he tells us
in this verse,
that the head of every man is Christ. Christ, consideredas God according to
his Divine nature, is the Head of all men and women too in the world; but the
text seemethrather to speak of Christ as Mediator:so the apostle tells us,
Ephesians 5:23, he is
the Head of the church; and the New Testamentoften speaks ofChrist in that
notion, and of believers as his members: in this sense, by every man, we must
understand no more than every Christian, every member of the church.
The head of the womanis the man; the man is calledthe head of the woman,
because by God’s ordinance he is to rule over her, Genesis 3:16;he hath an
excellencyabove the woman, and a powerover her.

The head of Christ is God; and God is the Head of Christ, not in respectof his
essenceand Divine nature, but in respectof his office as Mediator; as the man
is the head of the woman, not in respectof a different and more excellent
essenceand nature, (for they are both of the same nature), but in respectof
office and place, as God hath sethim over the woman. Nor indeed could those
who deny the Divine nature of Christ, easilyhave brought a text more against
their own assertion, than this, which rather proveth, that Godthe Father and
the Lord Jesus Christare equal in nature and essence, thandifferent; for
surely the head is not of a different, but the same nature and essence withthe
members. Nor doth Christ’s subjectionto his Father at all argue an
inequality, or difference from him in nature and essence,more than the
subjection of subjects to a prince argue any such thing. The apostle then
determines this to be the order which God hath set: God is the Head of Christ;
Christ is the Head of his church, and every one that is a member of it; and
man is the head of the woman, he to whom the womanought to be subject. as
the church is subject to Christ, and Christ is subject to his Father; and from
hence he argues as follows.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
But I would have you to know,.... Thoughthey were mindful of him, and
retained in memory many things he had declaredamong them, and keptthe
ordinances as delivered to them; yet there were some things in which they
were either ignorant, or at leastdid not so well advert to, and needed to be put
in mind of, and better informed about: and as the apostle was very
communicative of his knowledge in every point, he fails not to acquaint them
with whatsoevermight be instructive to their faith, and a direction to their
practice:
that the head of every man is Christ; Christ is the head of every individual
human nature, as he is the Creatorand Preserverof all men, and the donor of
all the gifts of nature to them; of the light of nature, of reason, and of all the
rational powers and faculties; he is the head of nature to all men, as he is of
grace to his own people: and so he is as the Governorof all the nations of the

earth, who whether they will or no are subjectto him; and one day every knee
shall bow to him, and every tongue confess that he is the Lord of all.
Moreover, Christ is the head of every believing man; he is generallysaid to be
the head of the church, and so of every man that is a member of it: he is a
common public head, a representative one to all his elect;so he was in
election, and in the covenantof grace;so he was in time, in his death, burial,
resurrection, and ascensionto, and entrance into heaven; and so he is now as
an advocate and intercessorthere: he is the political head of his people, or an
head in such sense, as a king is the head of his nation: he is also an economical
head, or in such sense an head as an husband is the head of his wife, and as a
parent is the head of his family, and as a master is the head of his servants; for
all these relations Christ sustains:yea, he is a natural head, or is that to his
church, as an human head is to an human body: he is a true and proper head,
is of the same nature with his body, is in union to it, communicates life to it, is
superior to it, and more excellentthan it. He is a perfecthead, nothing is
wanting in him; he knows all his people, and is sensible of their wants, and
does supply them; his eye of love is always on them; his ears are open to their
cries;he has a tongue to speak to them, and for them, which he uses;and he
smells a sweetsavourin them, in their gracesand garments, though they are
all his own, and perfumed by himself: there are no vicious humours in this
head, flowing from thence to the body to its detriment, as from Adam to his
posterity, whose headhe was;but in Christ is no sin, nothing but grace,
righteousness, andholiness, spring from him. There's no deformity nor
deficiency in him; all fulness of grace dwells in him to supply the members of
his body; he is an one, and only head, and an ever living and everlasting one.
And the head of the woman is the man, The man is first in order in being, was
first formed, and the womanout of him, who was made for him, and not he
for the woman, and therefore must be head and chief; as he is also with
respectto his superior gifts and excellencies,as strengthof body, and
endowments of mind, whence the womanis calledthe weakervessel;likewise
with regard to pre-eminence or government, the man is the head; and as
Christ is the head of the church, and the church is subjectto him, so the
husband is the head of the wife, and she is to be subject to him in everything

natural, civil, and religious. Moreover, the man is the head of the woman to
provide and care for her, to nourish and cherish her, and to protect and
defend her againstall insults and injuries.
And the head of Christ is God; that is, the Father, not as to his divine nature,
for in respectto that they are one: Christ, as God, is equal to his Father, and
is possessedof the same divine perfections with him; nor is his Father the
head of him, in that sense;but as to his human nature, which he formed,
prepared, anointed, upheld, and glorified; and in which nature Christ
exercisedgrace onhim, he hoped in him, he believed and trusted in him, and
loved him, and yielded obedience to him; he always did the things that pleased
him in life; he prayed to him; he was obedient to him, even unto death, and
committed his soul or spirit into his hands: and all this he did as to his
superior, consideredin the human nature, and also in his office capacityas
Mediator, who as such was his servant; and whose service he diligently and
faithfully performed, and had the characterfrom him of a righteous one; so
that God is the head of Christ, as he is man and Mediator, and as such only.
Geneva Study Bible
{2} But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the
head of the woman is the man; and the {a} head of Christ is God.
(2) He sets down God, in Christ our mediator, as the end and mark not only of
doctrine, but also of ecclesiasticalcomeliness.Thenapplying it to the question
proposed, touching the comelyapparel both of men and women in public
assemblies, he declares that the woman is one degree beneaththe man by the
ordinance of God, and that the man is so subject to Christ, that the glory of
God ought to appear in him for the preeminence of the sex.
(a) In that Christ is our mediator.

EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
1 Corinthians 11:3. “After this generalacknowledgment, however, I have still
to bid you lay to heart the following particular point.” And now, first of all,
the principle of the succeeding admonition. Respecting θέλω … εἰδέναι, comp
on 1 Corinthians 10:1; Colossians 2:1.
ΠΑΝΤῸς ἈΝΔΡ.]note the prominent position of the word, as also the article
before ΚΕΦ.: of every man the Head. That what is meant, however, is every
Christian man, is self-evident from this first clause;consequently, Paul is not
thinking of the generalorder of creation(Hofmann), according to which
Christ is the head of all things (Colossians 1:16 f., 1 Corinthians 2:10), but of
the organizationof Christian fellowship, as it is based upon the work of
redemption. Comp Ephesians 5:21 ff.
ΚΕΦΑΛΉ, from which we are not (with Hofmann) to dissociate the
conceptionof an organized whole (this would suit in none of the passages
where the word occurs, Colossians2:10 included), designates in all the three
caseshere the proximate, immediate Head, which is to be speciallynoted in
the secondinstance, forChrist as head of the church (Colossians 1:18;
Ephesians 1:22; Ephesians 4:15) is also head of the woman (comp Ephesians
5:22 f.). The relation indicated by ΚΕΦ. is that of organic subordination, even
in the lastclause:He to whom Christ is subordinate is God (comp 1
Corinthians 3:23, 1 Corinthians 15:28, 1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:15;
Romans 9:5; and see Kahnis, Dogm. III. p. 208 ff.), where the dogmatic
explanation resortedto, that Christ in His human nature only is meant
(Theodoret, Estius, Calovius, al[1757]), is un-Pauline. Neither, again, is His
voluntary subjection referred to (Billroth), but—which is exactlywhat the
argument demands, and what the two first clauses give us—the objective and,
notwithstanding His essentialequality with God (Php 2:6), necessary
subordination of the Sonto the Father in the divine economyof

redemption.[1758]Much polemic discussionas to the misuse of this passage
by the Arians and others may be found in Chrysostom, Theodoret, and
Theophylact.
Galatians 3:28, indeed, shows that the distinction of the sexes is done awayin
Christ (in the spiritual sphere of the Christian life); but this ideal equality of
sex as little does awaywith the empirical subordination in marriage as with
differences of rank in other earthly relations, e.g. of masters and servants.
κεφ. δὲ Χ. ὁ Θεός]The gradationof ranks rises up to the supreme Head over
all, who is the Head of the man also, mediately, through Christ. This makes it
all the more obvious that, on the one hand, the man who prays or speaks as a
prophet before God in the assemblyought not to have his head covered, see 1
Corinthians 11:7; but that, on the other hand, the relation of the women
under discussionis all the more widely to be distinguished from that of the
men.
[1757]l. and others;and other passages;and other editions.
[1758]Melanchthonputs it well: “Deus estcaput Christi, non de essentia
dicitur, sed de ministeriis. Filius mediator accipit ministerium a consilio
divinitatis, sicut saepe inquit: Patermisit me. Fit hic mentio non arcanae
essentiae,sedministerii.”—Eventhe exaltedand reigning Christ is engagedin
this ministerium, and finally delivers up the kingdom to the Father. See 1
Corinthians 15:28.
Expositor's Greek Testament
1 Corinthians 11:3. θέλω δὲ ὑμᾶς εἰδέναι (= οὐ θέλω κ.τ.λ. of 1 Corinthians
10:1; see note): “But I would have you know”—the previous commendation
throws into relief the coming censure. The indecorum in question offends

againsta foundation principle, viz., that of subordination under the Divine
government; this the Cor[1598], with all their knowledge, cannot“know,”or
they would not have allowedtheir women to throw off the ἐξουσία ἐπὶ τῆς
κεφαλῆς (1 Corinthians 11:10). The violated principle is thus stated: “Of
every man the Christ is the head, while the man is head of woman, and God is
head of Christ”. As to the wording of this sentence:παντὸς ἀνδρὸς bears
emphasis in the 1st clause asserting, like the parl[1599]2nd clause, a universal
truth which holds of the man (vir) as such; the predicate of the 1stclause is
distinguished by the def. art[1600],—“Christis the (proper, essential)head,”
etc. (cf. ἡ εἰρήνη, Ephesians 2:14, and see Bm[1601], pp. 124 f.); ὁ Χριστός, in
James , 3 rd clauses, means “the Christ” in the wide scope ofHis offices (cf. 1
Corinthians 10:4, 1 Corinthians 12:12, 1 Corinthians 15:22); for anarthrous
κεφαλὴ γυναικός, cf. note on 1 Corinthians 2:5. That Christ is “every man’s”
true head is an application of the revealedtruth that He is the “one Lord” of
creatednature (1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:15 f.), combined with the
palpable fact that the ἀνὴρ has no (intervening) lord in creation(cf. 9); he
stands forth in worship, amidst his family, with no visible superior, holding
headship direct from his Maker, and brought by his manhood into direct
responsibility to Him “through whom are all things”. Ed[1602], following
Cm[1603]and Mr[1604](not Hn[1605]), limits this manly subordination to
the Christian order of life; “the man is head of the woman in virtue of the
marriage union, Christ of the man in virtue of union with Him through faith”:
but faith is common to the sexes, onthis footing οὐκ ἔνι ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ
(Galatians 3:28); on the other hand, in Pauline theology, the law of marriage
and the socialorder are grounded in Christ. Paul’s argument has no force
unless the parl[1606]assertions rest ona common basis. The question is one
that touches the fundamental proprieties of life (1 Corinthians 11:8-15);and
the three headships enumerated belong to the hierarchy of nature.—“The
Christ” of the 3rd clause is “the Christ” of the 1st, without distinction made of
natures or states;He who is “every man’s head,” the Lord of nature, presents
the pattern of loyalty in His perfect obedience to the Father (1 Corinthians
15:28, Galatians 4:4; Hebrews 5:5; Hebrews 5:8, etc.);cf. 1 Corinthians 3:22
f., where with the same δέ … δὲ a chain of subordinate possessionis drawn
out, corresponding to this subordination of rule. Submission in office, whether
of woman to man or Christ to God, consists with equality of nature.

[1598]Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.
[1599]parallel.
[1600]grammaticalarticle.
[1601]A. Buttmann’s Grammar of the N.T. Greek (Eng. Trans., 1873).
[1602]T. C. Edwards’ Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians.
[1603]John Chrysostom’s Homiliœ († 407).
[1604]Meyer’s Criticaland ExegeticalCommentary(Eng. Trans.).
[1605]C. F. G. Heinrici’s Erklärung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or1
Korinther in Meyer’s krit.-exegetischesKommentar (1896).
[1606]parallel.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
3. But I would have you know]According to St Paul’s invariable rule, the
question is argued and settledupon the first principles of the Christian
Revelation. In the sight of God all men are equal; yet without distinctions of

rank and office societycould not exist. But equality and order are reconciled
by the revelationof God in Christ.
the head] “In the idea of this word dominion is especiallyexpressed. As in the
human organisationthe exercise ofdominion over all the members proceeds
from the head; so in the family, from man; in the Church, from Christ; in the
universe, from God.”—Olshausen.
of every man is Christ] See Ephesians 1:22; Ephesians 4:15;Colossians1:18;
Colossians 2:19. As the head directs the body, so ought every member of
Christ’s Body to be governedand directed by Christ.
the head of the woman is the man] Cf. Ephesians 5:23. “It appears that the
Christian women at Corinth claimed for themselves equality with the male
sex, to which the doctrine of Christian freedom and the removal of the
distinction of sex in Christ (Galatians 3:28) gave occasion. Christianity had
indisputably done much for the emancipationof women, who in the Eastand
among the Ionic Greeks (it was otherwise among the Dorians and the
Romans)were in a position of unworthy dependence. But this was done in a
quiet, not an over-hasty manner. In Corinth, on the contrary, they had
apparently takenup the matter in a fashion somewhattoo animated. The
women oversteppeddue bounds by coming forward to pray and prophesy in
the assemblies withuncovered head.”—De Wette. Suchpersons are here
reminded that according to God’s word (Genesis 3:16;1 Timothy 2:11; 1
Timothy 2:13) woman was designedto be in subjection, both in societyand in
the family. Of this last, woman’s chief sphere, man was, by God’s ordinance,
the head. Yet (see below, 1 Corinthians 11:5) she is on an equality with man in
her individual relation to Christ.

the head of Christ is God] Cf. ch. 1 Corinthians 3:23, 1 Corinthians 8:6, 1
Corinthians 15:28, and notes. Also St John 14:28. Possiblythis may be added
to prevent the idea from gaining currency that the interval betweenman and
woman was in any degree comparable to that betweenChrist and man. And it
also implies that the whole universe is one vast system of orderly gradation,
from God its Creatordownwards.
Bengel's Gnomen
1 Corinthians 11:3. Δὲ, but) On this subject Paul seems formerly to have given
no commandment, but to have written now for the first time, when he
understood that it was necessary. Bythe expression, I would, he openly
professes his sentiments.—ὅτι, that)Even matters of ceremonyshould be
settled according to the principles of morality, so that they may agree with
those principles. It may be said, How does one and the same reasonin relation
to the head (i.e. of Christ, or of the man) require the man to uncover his head,
and the woman to cover hers? Ans. Christ is not seen;the man is seen;so the
covering of him, who is under Christ is not seen; of her, who is under the man,
is seen.—ἀνδρὸς, γυναικὸς, ofthe man, of the woman) although they do not
live in the state of marriage, 1 Corinthians 11:8, and what follows.—ἡ κεφαλὴ,
the head) This term alludes to the head properly so called, concerning the
condition [the appropriate dress] of which he treats in the following verse. The
common word, Principal,[90]is akin to this use of the term head. The article ἡ
must be presently after twice supplied from this clause.—κεφαλὴ Χριστοῦ, the
head of Christ) 1 Corinthians 3:23, 1 Corinthians 15:28;Luke 3:23; Luke
3:38; John 20:17; Ephesians 3:9, where God is said to have createdall things
by Christ, therefore He is the head of Christ.—ὁ Θεος, God) 1 Corinthians
11:12.
[90] This word is given as it is in the original. In this form, it is not Latin, but
it is probably the German substantive, which signifies head.—T.
Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - But I would have you know;rather, but I wish you to know. That
the head of every man is Christ. St. Paul, as was customary with him, applies
the loftiestprinciples to the solution of the humblest difficulties. Given a
question as to what is right or wrong in a particular instance, he always aims
at laying down some greateternal fact to which the duty or decisionis
ultimately referable, and deduces the required rule from that fact. The
headship of Christ is stated in Ephesians 1:22; Ephesians 4:15;and its
application to the superiority of man is laid down also in Ephesians 5:23. The
subordinate position of the woman is also statedin 1 Timothy 2:11, 12; 1 Peter
3:1, 5, 6, etc. This, however, is merely an ordinance of earthly application. In
the spiritual realm "there is neither male nor female" (Galatians 3:28). The
head of the woman is the man. In Christ the distinctions of the sexes are done
away. It was, perhaps, an abuse of this principle which had led the Corinthian
women to assertthemselves and their rights more prominently than decorum
warranted. The head of Christ is God. That Christ is "inferior to the Father
as touching his manhood," that his mediatorial kingdom involves (so far) a
subordination of his coequalGodhead, has been already statedin 1
Corinthians 3:23, and is further found in 1 Corinthians 15:27, 28. This too is
the meaning of John 14:28, "My Father is greaterthan I."
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
Dr. Jack L. Arnold
FIRST CORINTHIANS
Headship, Hair And Hats

I Corinthians 11:2-16
Today we take on the Herculeanproblem of the relationship of womento men
and to the localchurch. I will attempt to solve in one short lessonwhatthe
church has been disagreeing overfor two thousand years. In the attempt to
deal with the question of whether womenshould wearsome kind of head
covering in localchurch worship, we may forgetthat the main teaching of this
sectionof Scripture is male headship and female submission and how this
relates to women ministering in public. The hat issue, while important, is only
incidental to the main thrust of this passage.
Not everyone is going to agree with me on this subject. My wife has already let
me know she loves me even though she disagrees with my interpretation of a
head covering. Perhaps as we wrestle through this passage, youwill at leastbe
tolerant toward my position. Becausethere is so much disagreementoverthis
issue, I cannotbe dogmatic on the head covering, but I can state that women
wearing a head covering in certain situations is my personalpreference. Each
of us must come to our own convictions on this issue and show love and
tolerance towardthose who disagree.
The matter of a head covering has arousedmuch controversyand emotion,
especiallyin the modern, westernchurch. Some see a head covering as a mark
of orthodoxy and spirituality.
Others see it as a matter of legalismand inconvenience. Still others see a hat
as a matter of fashion and others find wearing a hat is distasteful. Some feel
the issue is inconsequential, for it is only mentioned once in Scripture, and we
should be putting our time on doctrines and practices whichare more life-
transforming. Yet, since I am going verse by verse through the Book ofFirst

Corinthians, I have to deal with it. This may be the first and last time you will
ever be taught on head coverings. You may remember this sermon and forget
all the other sermons I have preached.
Last year, Caroland I went back to Grace Church in Roanoke, Virginia for
its 50th anniversary. I pastoredthis church for 16 1/2 years, and it was
exciting to go back to renew old acquaintances. Whenbeing introduced by a
very faithful elder of that church, he said, “Dr. Arnold preached the Word of
God faithfully to us for years and even preached on hats!” I preached there 16
years and have been awayfor 15 years and what did he remember? My
messageonhats. Please folks rememberme for anything but hats after I
preach this message today!
There are severalpossible interpretations of I Corinthians 11:2-16, but I will
spend the majority of my time on the view I personallyhold. Some
commentators look at this passageas purely a first century cultural practice
which has no relevance to us today. Yet, this page seems to setforth universal
truths which apply to every culture or societyin any age. Still other
commentators believe that a woman’s long hair suffices for a head covering in
our modern culture, especiallyif she has it up in a bun. Yet, if this view is
taken, other verses in the context
seemto be nonsense. Some commentators believe a woman should weara
head covering when attending the official meeting of the localchurch. This
view has support from Scripture and history, for Christians from the very
beginning had their women weara head covering in public worship. Pictures
in the catacombs atRome indicate that up until 400 A.D. women wore head
coverings in the public assemblyof the localchurch and men did not. Up
until about seventy-five years ago, mostdenominations (Roman Catholic,

Protestantand Independent) had womenwear hats in the church services.
Today, most women outside of the USA wearsome kind of head covering
when they go to church. While the vast majority of women do not know why
they do this practice, it nevertheless is a tradition that has been passeddown
through the ages.Still there are other commentators like myself who believe a
woman should have her head coveredonly when she is praying or
prophesying in an official wayin the presence of men inside or outside the
calledmeeting of the localchurch.
BACKGROUND
Much of the Epistle of First Corinthians was written to deal with problems in
the localchurch, especiallyin the area of public worship. Paul’s clearteaching
of the equality of men and womenin Christ had been misinterpreted by the
women in the church of Corinth. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor
free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28). They
were pushing the truth of their spiritual equality with men too far, stressing
their freedom and independence from their husbands and all men. These were
the first century Christian feminists. To express their freedom, they laid aside
their head coverings (shawls)in certainsituations. The shawl was regardedin
the early church as a symbol of dependence and submission. Therefore, Paul
moves to correctthis extreme independent spirit in the Christian womenat
Corinth. Remember, the Corinthians were a carnalchurch, so we might
expectthat women might abuse their feminine liberties and freedoms.
What Paul is going to show in this passageis that the woman is spiritually
constituted subordinate to her husband in God’s creationorder. In view of
this fact, there should be an outward representationof it. The covering for the
head is that outward representation.

WOMEN AND MEN ARE TO RECOGNIZE TRADITION11:2
I praise you for remembering me in everything. Paul is about to bring a
severe rebuke to the Corinthians but before he does he wants them to know he
appreciates that they were willing to obey some truth. They were not totally
denying his teachings but perverting them.
And for holding to the teachings (traditions), just as I passedthem on to you.
There are legitimate Christian traditions. Not all tradition is bad. There were
certain biblical traditions which Paul expected the Corinthians to keepand to
hand down to future generations of
Christians. The tradition in this sectionof Scripture is that of a woman having
her head coveredwhen praying or prophesying.
WOMEN SHOULD BE COVERED BECAUSE OF GOD’S DIVINE
PATTERN 11:3-6
Now I want you to realize... Paul wants to show them why it is important for
the Christian women at Corinth to be coveredwhen praying and prophesying.
The question arises as to when and where women were to pray and prophesy.
Some think that I Corinthians 11:2-16 refers to the public meeting of the
church or the officialworship service. If so, then women, if they are praying
or prophesying in public, are to have their heads covered. Others think this
refers not to the officialmeeting of the church but to meetings outside the
church. It is really not until verse 17 that Paul begins to speak ofthe gathering
of the localchurch. In the following directives I have no praise for you, for
your meetings do more harm than good(I Cor. 11:17).

That the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the womanis man, and
the head of Christ is God. God has establisheda divine pattern of authority in
this world God the Fatherover Christ, Christ over man and man over
woman. Paul is speaking aboutauthority not essenceornature. This has
nothing to do with IQ or job skills or socialskills. A man is no more superior
to a woman than God is superior to Christ. Certainly Christ is not inferior to
God and womanis not inferior to man. The subjectat hand is headship. The
head of the human body runs the body; it is in charge;it is the direction
setter. Headship in this context refers to leadership. Again Paul is speaking
about subordination not inferiority. God is the leaderof Christ. Christ is the
leaderof a man and man is the leader of a woman according to the creation
order.
Does this then mean that every woman is to be subject to every man just
because she is a woman? Absolutely not! The “woman” in this contextis
probably referring to a married woman, but this would also apply to a single
woman who would acknowledgethe headship of her father. For the husband
is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which
he is the Savior (Eph. 5:23). A husband is not better or superior to the wife,
but in God’s creationorder, the husband is the head of the wife. Headship by
the man never means domination nor does it give the husband the right to act
like a dictator while the wife is a brainless slave. A womanin marriage
voluntarily submits to the headship of her husband. The man is the leader and
she willingly assumes the support role to help him fulfill the objectives of his
life in Christ, his head. Now if a woman does not want to do that, she is
perfectly free to
forego that role if she chooses. Ifshe wants to stayunmarried and pursue a
career, she has the right to do so. No woman should getmarried until she has
decided in her mind and heart to acknowledgethe headship of her husband.
In marriage, God has ordained that the man should become the leader of the
two. Yet with the role of leadershipcomes the higher responsibility to love,

protect and provide for his wife and family. In the divine pattern, God the
Father is the ordained head of Christ. In Christ’s mediatorial office as a man,
He voluntarily subjected Himself to God. The Father and the Son are both
one in nature and essence, but in authority the Lord Jesus submitted to the
Father in humiliation. So the womanis to submit to the authority of
her husband. Paul’s point will be that a head covering symbolizes subjection
to some visible
superior in rank, namely one’s husband.
JOSEPHBEET
Verse 3
1 Corinthians 11:3. An important generalprinciple, setup as a platform of
approachto the specific matter of § 20.
The head: placed by God above the body but in closestandvital union with it,
to direct its action. The same word in Ephesians 1:22; Ephesians 4:15;
Ephesians 5:23; Colossians 1:18;Colossians 2:19 suggests thatevery man
refers only to believers, whom alone in 1 Corinthians 11, Paul has in view.
For, although the headship of Christ rests originally upon our creation“in
Him” and “through Him and for Him,” (Colossians 1:16,)yet only those who
believe are vitally joined to Him.

Head of woman: i.e. immediate head. For Christ is Head of the whole Church.
Woman is placed by God under the rule and direction of the man. This is
most conspicuouslytrue of husband and wife. But since marriage is but a
fulfillment of God's purpose in the creationof the sexes, these words are true
of the sexes generally.
Head of Christ: even touching his divine nature. Forthe Eternal Son, though
equal (John 16:15)to the Fatheris yet (John 5:26; John 6:57) derived from
and therefore (1 Corinthians 15:28) for ever subject to, Him. Of this eternal
subordination, the eternal devotion and the historic obedience of the Son to
the Fatherare an outflow. See under 1 Corinthians 3:23; 1 Corinthians 8:6.
Notice that the headship is an objective relationship on which (Ephesians 5:22
f) rests an obligationto obedience.
Before he warns women not to seek to escape, evenin the matter of dress,
from the subordinate position of their sex, Paul reminds them that order and
subordination are a law of the kingdom of God; that the husband is himself
under the direction of Christ; and that even within the divine Trinity the Son
is, in accordancewith the law of His being, obedient to the Father.
WILLIAM BURKITT
Verse 3
Here our apostle answers the query, and resolves the case which the
Corinthians had put to him, and laid before him, about church-order, and
concerning the decent behaviour of men and women in church- assemblies.
And first he reminds them, that a subordination of persons in the church of
God ought to be observedand kept: that as Christ, as Mediator, is inferior to

God the Father, but is the head and lord of all men, as Creatorand
Redeemer;so the man is the head of the woman, and as such she must show
her subjectionunto the man. As Christ, as Mediator, acts in subordination to
the Father, so must the woman actin subordination to the man.
The Socinians would wrestthis text to confirm them in their blasphemous
denial of the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. "Here, saythey, the apostle
declares that the head of Christ is God. Now the most high God can have no
head above him; therefore Christ, who hath an head above him, cannot be the
most high God."
The modern and generalansweris, that God is here calledthe head of Christ
as Mediator, in which relation he receivedhis kingdom from him, and
exercises itfor him; and therefore is elsewhere styledthe Father's servant,
Behold my servant, &c. because he doth all things according to his Father's
will, and with a fixed eye to his Father's glory.
But the ancients reply to this objection thus: "ThatGod is said to be the head
of Christ, as he is the Fatherof the Son, and so the cause of him; and as the
woman is of the same nature with the man, who is her head, so is Christ of the
same nature with God the Father, who is here called his head: The head of
Christ is God."
CALVIN
Verse 3

3.But I would have you know It is an old proverb: “Evil manners begetgood
laws.” (618)As the rite here treatedof had not been previously calledin
question, Paul had given no enactment respecting it. (619)The error of the
Corinthians was the occasionofhis showing, what part it was becoming to act
in this matter. With the view of proving, that it is an unseemly thing for
women to appear in a public assembly with their heads uncovered, and, on the
other hand, for men to pray or prophesy with their heads covered, he sets out
with noticing the arrangements that are divinely established.
He says, that as Christ is subject to God as his head, so is the man subject to
Christ, and the womanto the man We shall afterwards see, how he comes to
infer from this, that women ought to have their heads covered. Let us, for the
present, take notice of those four gradations which he points out. God, then,
occupies the first place:Christ holds the secondplace. How so? Inasmuch as
he has in our flesh made himself subject to the Father, for, apart from this,
being of one essencewith the Father, he is his equal. Let us, therefore, bear it
in mind, that this is spokenof Christ as mediator. He is, I say, inferior to the
Father, inasmuch as he assumed our nature, that he might be the first-born
among many brethren.
There is somewhatmore of difficulty in what follows. Here the man is placed
in an intermediate position betweenChrist and the woman, so that Christ is
not the head of the woman. Yet the same Apostle teaches us elsewhere,
(Galatians 3:28,)that in Christ there is neither male nor female. Why then
does he make a distinction here, which in that passage he does awaywith? I
answer, that the solution of this depends on the connectionin which the
passagesoccur. Whenhe says that there is no difference betweenthe man and
the woman, he is treating of Christ’s spiritual kingdom, in which individual
distinctions (620)are not regarded, or made any accountof; for it has nothing
to do with the body, and has nothing to do with the outward relationships of
mankind, but has to do solelywith the mind — on which accounthe declares
that there is no difference, even betweenbond and free. In the meantime,

however, he does not disturb civil order or honorary distinctions, which
cannot be dispensedwith in ordinary life. Here, on the other hand, he reasons
respecting outward propriety and decorum — which is a part of ecclesiastical
polity. Hence, as regards spiritual connectionin the sight of God, and
inwardly in the conscience, Christis the head of the man and of the woman
without any distinction, because, as to that, there is no regard paid to male or
female; but as regards external arrangementand political decorum, the man
follows Christ and the womanthe man, so that they are not upon the same
footing, but, on the contrary, this inequality exists. Should any one ask, what
connectionmarriage has with Christ, I answer, that Paul speaks here of that
sacredunion of pious persons, of which Christ is the officiating priest, (621)
and He in whose name it is consecrated.
ADAM CLARKE
Verse 3
The head of every man is Christ - The apostle is speaking particularly of
Christianity and its ordinances:Christ is the Head or Author of this religion;
and is the creator, preserver, and Lord of every man. The man also is the lord
or head of the woman; and the Head or Lord of Christ, as Mediatorbetween
God and man, is God the Father. Here is the order - God sends his Son Jesus
Christ to redeem man; Christ comes and lays down his life for the world;
every man who receives Christianity confesses thatJesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father; and every believing woman will acknowledge,
according to Genesis 3:16, that God has placedher in a dependence on and
subjection to the man. So far there is no difficulty in this passage.

THOMAS CONSTABLE
Verse 3
"But" indicates that things were not quite as Paul thought they should be. He
begandealing with his subjectby reminding the Corinthians again(cf. 1
Corinthians 3:23; 1 Corinthians 8:6) of God"s administrative order. This is
the order through which He has chosento conduct His dealings with humans.
Jesus Christ is the head of every male human being (Gr. aner). Second, the
male is the head of woman (Gr. gune). This Greek word for woman is very
broad and covers womenof any age, virgins, married women, or widows. Paul
used it earlier in this epistle of a wife ( 1 Corinthians 7:3-4; 1 Corinthians
7:10-12;1 Corinthians 7:14; 1 Corinthians 7:16). In this chapter it evidently
refers to any woman who was in a dependent relationship to a man such as a
wife to a husband or a daughter to a father. Paul probably did not mean every
woman universally since he said the male is the head of woman, or a woman,
but not the woman. He was evidently not talking about every relationship
involving men and women, for example the relationship betweenmen and
women in the workplace.Third, God the Father is the head of God the Son.
This shows that headship exists even within the Godhead.
The New Testamentuses the term "head" (Gr. kephale)to describe headship
in two ways. Sometimes it describes origin(source), and other times it
describes authority (leader). Some scholars favor one interpretation and
others the other. [Note:For helpful studies, see Stephen Bedale, "The
Meaning of kephale in the Pauline Epistles," Journalof TheologicalStudies
NS5 (1954):211-15;Paul S. Fiddes, ""Woman"sHeadIs Man:" A Doctrinal
Reflectionupon a Pauline Text," BaptistQuarterly31:8 (October1986):370-
83; Wayne Grudem, "Does kephale ("Head")Mean"Source" or"Authority
Over" in Greek Literature? A survey of2 ,336 Examples," Trinity
Journal6NS (1985):38-59;idem. "The Meaning of kephale:A Response to
RecentStudies," Trinity Journal11NS (1990):3-72;and idem, "The Meaning

of kephale ("head"): An Evaluation of New Evidence, Realand Alleged,"
Journal of the EvangelicalTheologicalSociety44:1 (March2001):25-65.]Both
meanings are true to reality, so it is difficult to decide what Paul meant here.
In favor of the origin view, it is true that Christ createdmankind, Eve came
from Adam, and Christ came from the Father in the Incarnation to provide
redemption. In favor of the authority view, humanity is under Christ"s
authority, God createdwoman under man"s authority, and the Son is under
the Father"s authority. The idea of origin is more fundamental than that of
authority. Also "head" occurs later in this passage withthe idea of source ( 1
Corinthians 11:8; 1 Corinthians 11:12), so origin may be the preferable idea
here too. [Note: Barrett, p248.]
ICC New TestamentCommentary
3. θέλω δὲ ὑμᾶς εἰδέναι. ‘But I would have you know’something not
previously mentioned, but of more importance than they supposed, because of
the principles involved. In Colossians2:1 we have the same formula, but more
often οὐ θέλω ὑμᾶς ἀγνοεῖν (10:1, 12:1; 2 Corinthians 1:8; Romans 1:13,
Romans 11:25), which is always accompaniedby the affectionate address,
ἀδελφοι. He feels bound to insist upon the point in question, and perhaps
would hint that the Corinthians do not know everything.
παντὸς ἀνδρός. ‘Of every man Christ is the head’: παντός is emphatic, every
male of the human family. He says ἀνδρός rather than ἀνθρώπου (15:45) to
mark the constrastwith γυνή, and he takes the middle relationship first; ‘man
to Christ’ comes between‘womanto man’ and ‘Christ to God.’By κεφαλή is
meant supremacy, and in eachclause it is the predicate; ‘Christ is the head of
man, man is the head of woman, and God is the head of Christ’: 3:23;
Ephesians 1:22, Ephesians 4:15, Ephesians 5:23, comp. Jdg 11:11; 2 Samuel

22:44. God is supreme in reference to the Messiahas having sent Him. This
was a favourite Arian text; it is in harmony with 15:24-28, and, like that
passage, it implies more than the inferiority of Christ’s human nature; John
6:57. See Ellicott, 1 Corinthians, pp. 64, 65;H. St J. Thackeray, StPaul and
Contemporary JewishThought, p. 49; Godet, ad loc.
JOHN GILL
Verse 3
But I would have you to know,.... Thoughthey were mindful of him, and
retained in memory many things he had declaredamong them, and keptthe
ordinances as delivered to them; yet there were some things in which they
were either ignorant, or at leastdid not so well advert to, and needed to be put
in mind of, and better informed about: and as the apostle was very
communicative of his knowledge in every point, he fails not to acquaint them
with whatsoevermight be instructive to their faith, and a direction to their
practice:
that the head of every man is Christ; Christ is the head of every individual
human nature, as he is the Creatorand Preserverof all men, and the donor of
all the gifts of nature to them; of the light of nature, of reason, and of all the
rational powers and faculties; he is the head of nature to all men, as he is of
grace to his own people: and so he is as the Governorof all the nations of the
earth, who whether they will or no are subjectto him; and one day every knee
shall bow to him, and every tongue confess that he is the Lord of all.
Moreover, Christ is the head of every believing man; he is generallysaid to be
the head of the church, and so of every man that is a member of it: he is a
common public head, a representative one to all his elect;so he was in
election, and in the covenantof grace;so he was in time, in his death, burial,

resurrection, and ascensionto, and entrance into heaven; and so he is now as
an advocate and intercessorthere: he is the political head of his people, or an
head in such sense, as a king is the head of his nation: he is also an economical
head, or in such sense an head as an husband is the head of his wife, and as a
parent is the head of his family, and as a master is the head of his servants; for
all these relations Christ sustains:yea, he is a natural head, or is that to his
church, as an human head is to an human body: he is a true and proper head,
is of the same nature with his body, is in union to it, communicates life to it, is
superior to it, and more excellentthan it. He is a perfecthead, nothing is
wanting in him; he knows all his people, and is sensible of their wants, and
does supply them; his eye of love is always on them; his ears are open to their
cries;he has a tongue to speak to them, and for them, which he uses;and he
smells a sweetsavourin them, in their gracesand garments, though they are
all his own, and perfumed by himself: there are no vicious humours in this
head, flowing from thence to the body to its detriment, as from Adam to his
posterity, whose headhe was;but in Christ is no sin, nothing but grace,
righteousness, andholiness, spring from him. There's no deformity nor
deficiency in him; all fulness of grace dwells in him to supply the members of
his body; he is an one, and only head, and an ever living and everlasting one.
And the head of the woman is the man, The man is first in order in being, was
first formed, and the womanout of him, who was made for him, and not he
for the woman, and therefore must be head and chief; as he is also with
respectto his superior gifts and excellencies,as strengthof body, and
endowments of mind, whence the womanis calledthe weakervessel;likewise
with regard to pre-eminence or government, the man is the head; and as
Christ is the head of the church, and the church is subjectto him, so the
husband is the head of the wife, and she is to be subject to him in everything
natural, civil, and religious. Moreover, the man is the head of the woman to
provide and care for her, to nourish and cherish her, and to protect and
defend her againstall insults and injuries.

And the head of Christ is God; that is, the Father, not as to his divine nature,
for in respectto that they are one: Christ, as God, is equal to his Father, and
is possessedof the same divine perfections with him; nor is his Father the
head of him, in that sense;but as to his human nature, which he formed,
prepared, anointed, upheld, and glorified; and in which nature Christ
exercisedgrace onhim, he hoped in him, he believed and trusted in him, and
loved him, and yielded obedience to him; he always did the things that pleased
him in life; he prayed to him; he was obedient to him, even unto death, and
committed his soul or spirit into his hands: and all this he did as to his
superior, consideredin the human nature, and also in his office capacityas
Mediator, who as such was his servant; and whose service he diligently and
faithfully performed, and had the characterfrom him of a righteous one; so
that God is the head of Christ, as he is man and Mediator, and as such only.
MATTHEW HENRY
How he lays the foundation for his reprehensionby asserting the superiority
of the man over the woman: I would have you know that the head of every
man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is
God. Christ, in his mediatorial characterand glorified humanity, is at the
head of mankind. He is not only first of the kind, but Lord and Sovereign. He
has a name above every name: though in this high office and authority he has
a superior, God being his head. And as God is the head of Christ, and Christ
the head of the whole human kind, so the man is the head of the tow sexes: not
indeed with such dominion as Christ has over the kind or God has over the
man Christ Jesus;but a superiority and headship he has, and the woman
should be in subjection and not assume or usurp the man's place. This is the
situation in which God has placed her; and for that reasonshe should have a
mind suited to her rank, and not do any thing that looks like an affectationof
changing places. Something like this the women of the church of Corinth seem
to have been guilty of, who were under inspiration, and prayed and

prophesied even in their assemblies, 1 Corinthians 11:5. It is indeed an
apostolicalcanon, that the women should keepsilence in the churches (1
Corinthians 14:34; 1 Timothy 2:12), which some understand without
limitation, as if a womanunder inspiration also must keepsilence, which
seems very well to agree with the connectionof the apostle's discourse, ch. 14.
Others with a limitation: though a woman might not from her own abilities
pretend to teach, or so much as question and debate any thing in the church
yet when under inspiration the case wasaltered, she had liberty to speak. Or,
though she might not preach even by inspiration (because teaching is the
business of a superior), yet she might pray or utter hymns by inspiration, even
in the public assembly. She did not show any affectationof superiority over
the man by such acts of public worship. It is plain the apostle does not in this
place prohibit the thing, but reprehend the manner of doing it. And yet he
might utterly disallow the thing and lay an unlimited restraint on the woman
in another part of the epistle. These things are not contradictory. It is to his
present purpose to reprehend the manner wherein the womenprayed and
prophesied in the church, without determining in this place whether they did
well or ill in praying or prophesying. Note, The manner of doing a thing
enters into the morality of it. We must not only be concernedto do good, but
that the goodwe do be welldone.
CHARLES HODGE
Verse 3
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the
head of the woman (is) the man; and the head of Christ (is) God.
Though the apostle praisedthe Corinthians for their generalobedience to his
prescriptions, yet there were many things in which they were deserving of

censure. Before mentioning the thing which he intended first to condemn, he
states the principle on which that condemnation rested;so that, by assenting
to the principle, they could not fail to assentto the conclusionto which it
necessarilyled. That principle is, that order and subordination pervade the
whole universe, and is essentialto its being. The head of the man is Christ; the
head of woman is the man; the head of Christ is God. If this concatenationbe
disturbed in any of its parts, ruin must be the result. The head is that on
which the body is dependent, and to which it is subordinate. The obvious
meaning of this passageis, that the woman is subordinate to the man, the man
is subordinate to Christ and Christ is subordinate to God. It is further
evident, that this subordination is very different in its nature in the several
casesmentioned. The subordination of the woman to the man is something
entirely different from that of the man to Christ; and that againis at an
infinite degree more complete than the subordination of Christ to God. And
still further, as the subordination of the womanto the man is perfectly
consistentwith their identity as to nature, so is the subordination of Christ to
God consistentwith his being of the same nature with the Father. There is
nothing, therefore, in this passage,atall inconsistentwith the true and proper
divinity of our blessedLord. For a brief statement of the scriptural doctrine of
the relationof Christ to God, see the comments on 1 Corinthians 3:23. It need
here be only further remarked, that the word Christ is the designation, not of
the Logos orsecondperson of the Trinity as such, nor of the human nature of
Christ as such, but of the Theanthropos, the God-man. It is the incarnate Son
of God, who, in the greatwork of redemption, is saidto be subordinate to the
Father, whose will he came into the world to do. When Christ is said to be the
head of every man, the meaning is of every believer; because it is the relation
of Christ to the church, and not to the human family, that it is
characteristicallyexpressedby this term. He is the head of that body which is
the church, Colossians 1:18. Ephesians 1:22, Ephesians 1:23.
IRONSIDE

“I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of
the womanis the man; and the head of Christ is God.” Somebody may say,
“But is not Christ the head of every woman?” Yes, in the new creationChrist
is the Head, and men and women are members of His body, of His flesh, and
of His bones, but this verse emphasizes the fact that it is not that of which he
now speaks.In creationthe Head of every man is Christ. When God made
man He said, “Let us make man in our image,” and He had Christ in view,
and when the first man came into the world, he came as the type of Him which
was to come. And so the Head of every man is Christ, and man is to be subject
to Christ and to representChrist. But God did not leave man alone in the
world; He said, “I will make him an helpmeet,” and so He createdwomanand
said to the woman, “Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over
thee” (Genesis 3:16). He gave Eve to Adam, and she saw in Adam her head,
and that relationship still exists. The head of woman is the man. I suspect
there are some women in our modern day who would resent that, they would
like to make the head of the man the woman. They resentthe thought that
God has given to woman anything that looks like a subject or inferior place.
Let us put aside any thought of inferiority. The point is that it is the
responsibility of the husband to care for and to protect the wife-”Giving
honour unto the wife, as unto the weakervessel”(1 Peter 3:7). The woman,
when she agrees to take a man’s name, tacitly consents to what we have here.
Some extremely modern womendo refuse to take their husbands’ names.
They say, “We will not subjectourselves in any way, as we would in taking a
man’s name.” I would say to you, young women, if you have any thought of
getting married, do not marry a man until you are willing to accepthim as
your head and take his name. Otherwise it is far better that you should
remain single where you can run things to suit yourself!
“The head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” Why
does he bring Christ in here? I take it that someone might say, “But I refuse to
take that place of subjection,” and he would say, “Remember, the Lord Jesus
took that place. He humbled Himself, but it is His glory to be in that place.”
When the Son of God became Man, He took the place of subjectionwhich He
will keepfor all eternity-”The Head of Christ is God.”

JAMIESON, FAUSSET, BROWN
Verse 3
The Corinthian women, on the ground of the abolition of distinction of sexes
in Christ, claimed equality with the male sex, and, overstepping the bounds of
propriety, came forward to pray and prophesy without the customary head-
covering of females. The Gospel, doubtless, did raise womenfrom the
degradationin which they had been sunk, especiallyin the East. Yet, while on
a level with males as to the offer of, and standing in grace (Galatians 3:28),
their subjection in point of order, modesty, and seemliness,is to be
maintained. Paul reproves here their unseemliness as to dress:in 1
Corinthians 14:34, as to the retiring modesty in public which becomes them.
He grounds his reproof here on the subjectionof womanto man in the order
of creation.
the head — an appropriate expression, when he is about to treat of woman‘s
appropriate headdress in public.
of every man … Christ — (Ephesians 5:23).
of … woman… man — (1 Corinthians 11:8; Genesis 3:16;1 Timothy 2:11, 1
Timothy 2:12; 1 Peter3:1, 1 Peter3:5, 1 Peter3:6).
head of Christ is God — (1 Corinthians 3:23; 1 Corinthians 15:27, 1
Corinthians 15:28; Luke 3:22, Luke 3:38; John 14:28;John 20:17; Ephesians
3:9). “Jesus, therefore, must be of the same essenceas God:for, since the man
is the head of the woman, and since the head is of the same essence as the

body, and Godis the head of the Son, it follows the Son is of the same essence
as the Father” [Chrysostom]. “The woman is of the essenceofthe man, and
not made by the man; so, too, the Sonis not made by the Father, but of the
essenceofthe Father” [Theodoret, t. 3, p. 171].
HEINRICH MEYER
Verse 3
1 Corinthians 11:3. “After this generalacknowledgment, however, I have still
to bid you lay to heart the following particular point.” And now, first of all,
the principle of the succeeding admonition. Respecting θέλω … εἰδέναι, comp
on 1 Corinthians 10:1; Colossians 2:1.
παντὸς ἀνδρ.] note the prominent position of the word, as also the article
before κεφ.: of every man the Head. That what is meant, however, is every
Christian man, is self-evident from this first clause;consequently, Paul is not
thinking of the generalorder of creation(Hofmann), according to which
Christ is the head of all things (Colossians 1:16 f., 1 Corinthians 2:10), but of
the organizationof Christian fellowship, as it is based upon the work of
redemption. Comp Ephesians 5:21 ff.
κεφαλή, from which we are not (with Hofmann) to dissociatethe conceptionof
an organized whole (this would suit in none of the passageswhere the word
occurs, Colossians2:10 included), designates in all the three caseshere the
proximate, immediate Head, which is to be speciallynoted in the second
instance, for Christ as head of the church (Colossians 1:18;Ephesians 1:22;
Ephesians 4:15) is also head of the woman(comp Ephesians 5:22 f.). The
relation indicated by κεφ. is that of organic subordination, even in the last
clause:He to whom Christ is subordinate is God (comp 1 Corinthians 3:23, 1
Corinthians 15:28, 1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:15;Romans 9:5; and see

Kahnis, Dogm. III. p. 208 ff.), where the dogmatic explanation resortedto,
that Christ in His human nature only is meant (Theodoret, Estius, Calovius,
al(1757)), is un-Pauline. Neither, again, is His voluntary subjection referred to
(Billroth), but—which is exactly what the argument demands, and what the
two first clauses give us—the objective and, notwithstanding His essential
equality with God (Philippians 2:6), necessarysubordination of the Sonto the
Father in the divine economyof redemption.(1758)Much polemic discussion
as to the misuse of this passageby the Arians and others may be found in
Chrysostom, Theodoret, and Theophylact.
Galatians 3:28, indeed, shows that the distinction of the sexes is done awayin
Christ (in the spiritual sphere of the Christian life); but this ideal equality of
sex as little does awaywith the empirical subordination in marriage as with
differences of rank in other earthly relations, e.g. of masters and servants.
κεφ. δὲ χ. ὁ θεός]The gradation of ranks rises up to the supreme Head over
all, who is the Head of the man also, mediately, through Christ. This makes it
all the more obvious that, on the one hand, the man who prays or speaks as a
prophet before God in the assemblyought not to have his head covered, see 1
Corinthians 11:7; but that, on the other hand, the relation of the women
under discussionis all the more widely to be distinguished from that of the
men.
JOSEPHBENSON
Verse 2-3
1 Corinthians 11:2-3. Now I praise you, brethren — That is, the greaterpart
of you; that you remember me — That you bear in mind all my directions;

and keepthe ordinances — Observe the rules of public worship in most
points; as I delivered them to you — Formerly. But I would have you know —
As if he had said, Yet I must further inform you respecting some things
wherein you are defective in your attention to these rules. Consider, in
particular, the subordination of persons appointed by God to be observed;
That the head of every man is Christ — Who was the Creator, and is the
immediate Supreme Governorof all mankind, especiallyof such as believe in
him, being, in a peculiar sense, the head of his body the church, Colossians
1:18. So that every Christian should often recollectthe relation in which he
hath the honour to stand to Christ, as an engagementto observe the most
respectfuldecorum in his whole behaviour toward him. And comparing the
different sexes, it must be observed, the head of the woman is the man — To
whom therefore she ought to be in subjection, and to pay a reverent respect,
as in the Lord. And the head of Christ — As Mediatorand man; is God —
The Father, from whom he derives all his dignity and authority. Christ, in his
mediatorial character, evenconsideredin his whole person, acts in
subordination to his Father, who rules by him, and hath constituted him
sovereignof all worlds, visible and invisible. And, as the Father’s glory is
interestedin the administration of Christ, so is the glory of Christ, in some
measure, interestedin the conduct and behaviour of those men, whose more
immediate head he is; and it may be added, of those women, whose heads such
men are.
PETER PETT
Verse 3
'But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ, and the
head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.'

But he is dissatisfiedabout their attitude towards authority, and especiallyof
that of the womentowards the men who are over the church, and possibly at
their actualbehaviour when prophesying. They were failing to recognise
God's order of things revealedat creation. He thus lays down regulations
concerning women being 'covered'. As he will make clear this is not just a
matter of religious custom. Their very failure is symptomatic of what is wrong
in the Corinthian church, the lack of recognitionof generalauthority.
He first establishes the doctrinal position. The Christ is the head of every man,
the man is the head of the woman, and the head of Christ is God. The last
phrase establishes the basis of what we are talking about. In creationthere is a
defined order. Over all is the triune God. 'The Christ' came from God,
emptying Himself of His Godhood and of His equality within the Godhead
(Philippians 2:5-7), and fulfilling the task of redemption allocatedto Him as
true Man. He made a voluntary submission, and gladly took a subsidiary role.
Becoming Man it was as Man that He acknowledgedGodas His Head, both as
'over Him' and as the source from which He came, so that having
accomplishedHis divine mission He might then return to God and submit all
things to Him (1 Corinthians 15:24). Thus Christ voluntarily placedHimself
in a position of submission. He Who was the Creatorof the world, chose to
place Himself in submission to the Godhead, so that the Godheadwas the
'Head' of Christ in this regard. That is, God is the One Who is set overChrist
in His manhood and mission, and Who is the source from which He came.
And Christ deliberately humbled Himself to that end, acknowledginga head
over Him in His role.
The mention of this relationship is important both in itself and because it
defines the other relationships. Christ was in voluntary and joyous submission
to God. He sought only to do what pleasedHim. There was no thought of
constraint or of being taken advantage of. God did not lord it over Christ.
Christ did not resentHis position in any way. He had voluntarily become man

and a servant and He gladly walkedthe wayof submission that He had
chosen. It was submission to love, and in love, not to tyranny.
Then, secondly, Christ is the Head of every man. As appointed by Godto His
task He is in authority over all men as the King over the Kingly Rule of God,
and is the source of their life. All therefore are in submission to Him, and owe
all to Him. He is both their ruler and the source of their life, their Head, and
as such is the One to whom they should respond in obedience. But He
expressedthat headship in washing their feet. His whole concernin every
moment of His life was for the goodof those who were in submission to Him.
While He could simply have demanded all, He gave all.
Then, thirdly, we have man as the image of God over creation, and therefore
over woman who was createdfor his benefit, assistanceand blessing. Manis
head of womankind and lord of creation. His wife should be in responsive
submission to him as his 'right hand woman', as Christ was to God, set apart
as his main helpmeet in his task, living in voluntary submissionfollowing the
example of Christ. This is confirmed by the fact that at creationman was the
source of her being and had authority over her. She came from his side and is
his helpmeet and his first minister, to whom he looks forassistancein
fulfilling his own responsibilities before God. The whole line downwards
demonstrates that this was not in order to make him a tyrannical despot, for
God is not the tyrannical despotof Christ, and Christ is not the tyrannical
despot of man. So, in the same way, man is not to be the tyrannical despot of
the woman. She contains his life. She produces life, producing both man and
woman from her body. The relationship is to be one of love, consideration, co-
operationand thoughtfulness. The man is to be concernedfor the woman and
seeking herhighest good. Nevertheless respectfulsubmission remains at the
differing levels and was to be seenin the case ofman and woman as
establishedat creation.

The use of 'head' (kephale)to depict both lordship and life source was
necessaryin order to incorporate both ideas. No other word would have
achievedthe same. Compare Colossians 1:18.
So here we have depicted God’s plan of salvation in its fullness beginning with
God Who produced His deputy, the God-man Christ, the greatMediator,
Who produced His deputy man and gave man his deputy, woman. These are
over all creationand the grades ofdescentare clear.
WHEDON
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Verse 1
1. Followers—Thisverse belongs to the close ofthe lastchapter, and should be
read in continuation.

Of Christ—He would have followers, notas being original and independent,
but as he was imitator and followerof the divine model.
Verse 2
2. Now I praise you—Softening the warnings of the previous chapters.
That—Literally rendered, All of mine ye have remembered, and all the
deliverances I have delivered ye receive. This is to prepare the way for his now
prescribing the methods of worship. Ordinances usually imply doctrines
handed down from generationto generation;here, the directions personally
imparted.
Verses 2-16
PAUL’S SIXTH RESPONSE:—REGARDING THE HEAD-COSTUME OF
THE DIFFERENTSEXES IN RELIGIOUS SERVICES, 1 Corinthians 11:2-
16.
Stanley well describes the intense religions significance of modes of dress in
ancient times. In earlierGreece the length of the garment decided whether a
man was an Ionian, with one setof gods and rites, or a Dorian, with another.
But it was in the religious duties that the dress of the head possesseda marked
import. The Jews, as Grotius says, were accustomedto perform the services of
the temple with the head covered, assigning as a reasonfor the symbolic act
that their unworthy eyes might not behold the majesty of God. This mode of
reverence they transferred to the synagogue;so that, following Hebrew
custom, St. Paul would have required men as well as women to worship with
coveredhead. The ancient Greeks, onthe contrary, sacrificedwith bared
heads. In ancient Italy, before the Roman age, the Greek custom prevailed;

but AEneas, it is said, brought from Troy the customof sacrificing with
coveredhead; the assignedreasonbeing, that the eyes of the man might not,
in performing the holy rite, chance to fall upon any unholy or ill-omened
object. This became the permanent custom for all ages ofpaganRome. So that
Paul, rejecting the coveredhead of both Jerusalemand Rome, enjoined the
bared head of Greece uponthe males of the Corinthian Church. This
uncovered head symbolized holy cheerand boldness before men in worship
according to Christ. Hence Tertullian tells the Pagans, “We Christians pray
with outspread hands, as harmless;with uncovered heads, as unashamed:
without a prompter, as from the heart.” The custom prevalent in modern
Europe, derived from the ancient Germanic races, ofbaring the head in
reverence to a superior, though it is the idea most obvious to an American
Christian, has no actual place here. That custom presupposedthat princes
and nobles, wearing a crownas symbol of rank, would retain it on the head on
all occasions ofetiquette, and require an inferior’s head, as a reverse symbol,
to be bare of any cover whatever;so that the bared head and the bow of the
head are now the universal symbols of deference.
Equally various, among different tribes and times, was and is the mode of
wearing the hair. The ancient Greeks wore the hair long; and “flowing-haired
Acheans” was one of the customaryepithets applied to them by Homer. But in
Paul’s time the hair was uniformly cut, except upon religious vows. The long
hair of a male, done up in elaborate style, was a symbol of base effeminacy,
belonging to men of prostituted manhood. The Burmese, both men and
women, wearlong hair, and the Chinese wearlong hair braided into a pigtail.
It will be seen, perhaps, in the course of our notes, that Paul’s directions were
based, partly upon symbolic reasons, temporaryin their character, partly
upon the natural sense ofbeauty, and partly upon fixed divine law. It is in this
last case onlythat the direction is speciallypermanent in its nature; in the
other cases the maxim might apply, “The rule ceases whenthe reasonof the
rule ceases.”

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