Grosey's Messages

1 Corinthians 11 Doing All Things Decently And In Order

1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

2 Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. 3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. 4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, 5 but every wife  who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. 6 For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. 7 For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. 8 For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9 Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10 That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.  11 Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; 12 for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God. 13 Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14 Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, 15 but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. 16 If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.

In 1998 the Southern Baptist Convention drew tremendous fire from the amendment it added to the "Baptist Faith and Message Statement of 1963." The statement defined marriage exclusively in heterosexual terms and says that husbands and wives, while equal before God, have different roles. The amendment reads, "A wife is to submit graciously to the servant leadership of her husband, even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ."

The apostle Paul is tackling something more than just womens roles. This is about worship. In fact it is about the bigger topic of order in the church and in the Worship service. Worship is the glue that holds the church of Jesus Christ together. In the New Testament, the church publicly assembled to praise the Lord God. Indeed the Greek word for church is "ecclesia" which means "assembly" or "called out ones." David spoke of God's presence as a thing of beauty. He wrote, "Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness" (Ps. 27:2; cp. Also 27:4; 90:17; 96:6, 9). How is worship beautiful? What makes for beautiful worship?

Chapter 11 gives Christians an idea about the ingredients required to make worship beautiful. No congregation on record experienced more division, difficulty, and doctrinal deviance in Paul's day than the Corinthians. We observe first-hand in the second half of chapter 11 the sad example of bad worship, rather than beautiful worship when the apostle deals with abuses around the Lord's Table.

Paul is speaking about order and he plunges us in the deep end. He deals with "subordination within the Trinity!"

Paul speaks about the Trinity here. And the context is about relationships and the principle of authority in the local church.  There are differences between the Persons of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—the eternal Godhead, the Holy Trinity. However, the differences do not affect their eternal equality of person. The Persons of the Trinity may possess differing functions but the Persons of the Trinity are nonetheless one Being.

Paul begins with an illustration of the concept of order from the Trinity itself.

3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.

Chapter 2 of WCF Section 3.) In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.(1) The Father is of none, neither begotten, nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father;(2) the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.

The Belgic Confession

"In keeping with this truth and Word of God we believe in one God, who is one single essence, in whom there are three persons, really, truly, and eternally distinct according to their incommunicable properties— namely, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father is the cause, origin, and source of all things, visible as well as invisible. The Son is the Word, the Wisdom, and the image of the Father. The Holy Spirit is the eternal power and might, proceeding from the Father and the Son."

That the Bible teaches some kind of subordination of the Son to the Father is not doubted. All agree that the NT emphasizes that in the divine activities of creation, revelation, redemption and judgment the Son always functions in subordination to the Father. Representative passages include (1) with respect to creation, 1 Cor 8:6: "There is one God, the Father, from whom are all things . . . , and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we exist" (cf. John 1:3; Col 1:16; Heb 1:2); (2) with respect to revelation, John 8:28: "I. . . speak... as the Father taught me" (cf. 8:38; 12:49; 14:10); (3) with respect to redemption, 1 John 4:14: "The Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world" (cf. John 3:16; Rom 8:3, 32; Gal 4:4); (4) with respect to judgment, John 5:22, 30: "The Father . . . has given all judgment to the Son. . . . As I hear I judge" (cf. Acts 17:31). Many other passages teach some kind of subordination. Of special interest are (1) the numerous passages—some forty-two in the fourth gospel— that state in one way or another that the Father sent the Son; (2) passages in which the authority and activity of the Son are attributed to endowment from the Father (cf. Matt 11:27; 28:18; John 5:19-30); (3) the repeated phrase "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" or some variant of it (cf. Rom 15:6; 2 Cor 1:3; 11:31; Eph 1:3; Col 1:3; 1 Pet 1:3; Rev 1:6; cf. Mark 15:34 [Matt 27:46]; John 20:17; Heb 1:3, 9; 2:17; 5:1; 10:7, 9); (4) John 14:28: "My Father is greater than I."

1 Cor 15:24, 28. The locus classicus for the doctrine of the essential subordination of the Son is 1 Cor 15:24, 28: "Then comes the end, when he (Christ) delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. . . . When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to him who put all things under him, that God may be everything to everyone." These verses imply that the last of the eschatological events prior to the eternal state will be the subjection of the Son to the Father and that this will be the condition forever thereafter. And surely his final relationship to the Father will not be inferior to the relationship he had with the Father in his préexistent state (cf. John 17:5; Phil 2:6-11)

The Son eternally submits to the Father (Bruce Ware, Wayne Grudem, Denny Burk, Mark Thompson,  Mike Ovey).

As the Athanasian Creed (sadly not written by Athanasius) puts it, 'In this Trinity none is afore, nor after another; none is greater or lesser than another'. This is a confession disciplined by God's self-revelation in Scripture: 'I and the Father are one' (Jn 10.30); he 'did not count equality with God something to be grasped' — note the antecedent to 'he' in this text is 'Christ Jesus' (Phil. 2.5–6). It is the confession of the Nicene Creed: 'very God of very God ... being of one substance with the Father'. It is a confession no less urgent and vital to Christian faith in the twenty-first century as it was in the fourth century.

The issue Paul is addressing in what is happening in the Corinthian Church. Paul is referring contextually to church authority (cp. 1 Tim. 2:12). No woman is to usurp authority in business or pastoral leadership. When this principle of authority is violated, chaos and confusion become the result in God's church.

Conversely, when the principle of order and submission is honored, peace, order, and beauty reign. The Corinthian women were liberated by the Gospel Paul preached. But they took their new-found freedom in Christ to extremes. They wrongly assumed since Christ died for their sins and they were pronounced righteous before God, they could live as they desired. In effect, Paul retorts, "Oh, no! You are still under Divinely- appointed authority."

Most of life is about relationships. If relationships are good, almost all of life is good and happy. If a relationship turns sour that can contaminate just about everything else in life. If you are walking through a park and see someone seated on a bench sobbing, your first thought is not that this person is in pain or that this person has just lost a lot of money from a bad investment. Probably your first thought is that some relationship has gone wrong, perhaps through a divorce or through death. Relationships touch our lives in special and wonderful and difficult ways. As Christians we want to get those relationships right. We want to do relationships the way God wants them done. That's why the Bible says so much about relationships, especially the most important relationships of life. The Bible includes examples of how people have done it right and how people have messed it up.  The relationship the apostle Paul is considering is the one between wives and husbands.

It has a bit to do with what was happening in the church at Corinth.

Some of the ladies were appointing themselves as prophetesses to direct the church.

One aspect of the relationship between man and woman is expressed in submission (v. 10). Paul insists a woman should possess a symbol of authority on her head. In those days it was a veil. In our day, the symbol of authority is no longer a veil. Nevertheless, a woman's apparel should reveal a submissive spirit. And, it should not go unnoticed that Paul places his instructions in the category of the moral (v. 7 "ought"). Hence, this is not an option to which Paul refers. Obligation is involved.

The implication of this is found in Ephesians 5:21- 33 the apostle gives the larger principle: "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Saviour. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless."

Now if you're a husband and what you just heard is that your wife is supposed to submit and respect you a whole lot better than she does, or if you are a wife and what you just heard is that your husband is supposed to do a much better job at loving you . . . you weren't listening! We're not supposed to be so much eavesdropping on the instructions to someone else as we are supposed to be listening to the instructions that God has given to us. Unfortunately, this wonderful counsel from God is being ignored by a lot of people because our modern human defenses tend to rise over this "submitting" stuff. Within one generation Christians have gone from reading these words routinely in weddings and including these concepts in marriage vows to the virtual exclusion of this concept from almost all marriage vows. The issue is that we're not going to vow to submit to or obey someone else. That raises some serious issues on what advice from God means and whether it is for all cultures and times or whether we can accept and reject on a personal basis what God has to say. So here are some points that I think can help us understand this. Understand that the clear teaching of the Bible is that husbands and wives are both supposed to love each other, but husbands need to give extra-special attention to the way they love their wives. The Bible also clearly teaches that wives and husbands are both supposed to submit to each other, but wives need to give extra attention to the way they submit to their husbands. The point here is never that husbands are supposed to demand submission and respect or that wives are supposed to demand that their husbands be better lovers.

Order is expressed in submission. Order is expressed in the submission within the Trinity. Order is expressed in submission between husband and wife.  Order is expressed in submission within the church.  We don't have the right to run our own show, whether man or woman, old or young. Order is expressed by submission within the church.

Order is expressed elsewhere in submission to government authorities, that submission of citizens to government. Romans 13:1-7 says: "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment, but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor." These words were written to people in the first century Roman Empire who were under a government where women had no rights, where infanticide was legal, where every day babies were routinely left outside to die, especially female babies.

So ordered submissive church Relationships are expressed in cooperation. Men and women are mutually dependent in God's work. Each plays a vital role. Paul is clear, "Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God." (1 Cor. 11:11-12).

So ordered submissive church Relationships are expressed in application. Paul writes, "Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering. But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God." (1 Cor. 11:13-16).

One of the biggest problems in the Corinthian church was disorder in the public meetings. Some of the women were assuming more freedom than they should have; there was disorder at the Lord's Supper; and there was confusion in the use of the spiritual gifts. The church had been greatly enriched with spiritual gifts, but they were sadly lacking in spiritual graces.

Paul could have tried to solve these problems by issuing apostolic edicts, but instead he patiently explained the spiritual principle of ordered submission.

Women Praying and Prophesying (11:3–16)

The Christian faith brought freedom and hope to women, children, and slaves. It taught that all people, regardless of race or sex, were equal before their Creator, and that all believers were one in Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:28). As we have noted before, the local church was perhaps the only fellowship in the Roman Empire that welcomed all people, regardless of nationality, social status, sex, or economic position. It was to be expected that there would be some who would carry this newfound freedom to excess. A new movement always suffers more from its disciples than from its enemies, and this was true in Corinth. Some of the women flaunted their "freedom" in the public meetings by refusing to cover their heads when they participated. Paul did not forbid the women to pray or to prophesy. (Prophesying is not quite the same as our "preaching" or "expounding the Word." A person with the gift of prophecy proclaimed God's message as it was given to him immediately by the Spirit. The modern preacher studies the Word and prepares his message.) The prophet supplied what was lacking  in the written letters that were to make up the New Testament when the writings were all compiled. The church at Corinth didn't have 2 Corinthians yet, so what was there that was necessary for a church to mature was supplied by the prophets.

While the New Testament does not seem to permit women elders (1 Tim. 3:2), women in the early church who had the gift of prophecy were allowed to exercise it. They were also permitted to pray in the public meetings. However, they were not permitted to usurp authority over the men (1 Tim. 2:11–15) or to judge the messages of the other prophets (1 Cor. 14:27–35).

If they had any questions, they were to ask their husbands (or other men) outside of the church meeting. Eastern society at that time was very jealous over its women. Except for the temple prostitutes, the women wore long hair and, in public, wore a covering over their heads. (Paul did not use the word veil, i.e., a covering over the face. The woman put the regular shawl over her head, and this covering symbolized her submission and purity.) For the Christian women in the church to appear in public without the covering, let alone to pray and share the Word, was both daring and blasphemous.

Paul sought to restore order by reminding the Corinthians that God had made a difference between men and women, that each had a proper place to God's economy. There were also appropriate customs that symbolized these relationships and reminded both men and women of their correct places in the divine scheme. Paul did not say, or even hint, that difference meant inequality or inferiority. If there is to be peace in the church (1 Cor. 15:33), then there must be some kind of order.

God's order to the church is based on three fundamentals that Paul considered to be self-evident.

God's  Order Is Illustrated In Redemption (vv. 3–7).

There is a definite order of "headship" to the church: the Father is the Head over Christ, Christ is the Head of the man, and the man is the head of the woman. Some interpret head to mean "origin," but this would mean that the Father originated Christ—something we cannot accept. In His redemptive ministry, the Son was subject to the Father even though He is equal to the Father (John 10:30; 14:28). Likewise, the woman is subject to the man even though to Christ she is equal to the man (1 Cor. 3:21–23; Gal. 3:28; Eph. 5:21–33).

Keep in mind that Paul was writing about the relationship within the local assembly, not in the world at large. It is God's plan that in the home and in the local church, the men should exercise headship under the authority of Jesus Christ.

The important fact is this: both women and men must honor the Lord by respecting the symbols of this headship—hair and the head-covering. Whenever a woman prays or prophesies in the assembly, she must have long hair and must wear a covering. The man should have short hair and not wear any covering.

This would be a change for Paul, for devout Jewish men always wore a cap when they prayed.) The man honors his Head (Christ) by being uncovered, while the woman honors her head (the man) by being covered. She is showing her submission both to God and to the man.

The Corinthian women who appeared in the assembly without the head-covering were actually putting themselves on the low level of the temple prostitutes. The prostitutes wore their hair very short, and they did not wear a head-covering in public. Their hairstyle and manner announced to others just what they were and what they were offering. "If you are going to abandon the covering," wrote Paul, "then why not go all the way and cut your hair?"

In Jewish law, a woman proved guilty of adultery had her hair cut off (Num. 5:11–31). Paul used two different words in 1 Corinthians 11:5–6: shaved means exactly that, all the hair shaved off; shorn means "cut short." Either one would be a disgrace to a woman. Both man and woman are made in the image of God and for the glory of God; but since the woman was made from the man (Gen. 2:18–25), she is also the "glory of the man." She glorifies God and brings glory to the man by submitting to God's order and keeping her head covered in public worship. Thus, Paul tied together both local custom and biblical truth, the one pointing to the other.

God's Order Is Embedded In Creation (vv. 8–12).

God's order is based on the fact that man was created first (1 Tim. 2:13), and that the woman was created for the man. Again, priority does not imply inferiority; for Paul made it clear in 1 Corinthians 11:11–12 that there is partnership as well as headship in God's creation. The man and the woman are spiritually one in the Lord (Gal. 3:28), and one cannot do without the other. Furthermore, the woman may have come from the man at the beginning, but today, it is the man who is born of the woman. Man and woman belong to each other and need each other.

Why did Paul bring up the angels in 1 Corinthians 11:10? He was arguing from the facts of creation, and the angels were a part of that creation. The angels also know their place and show respect when they worship God, for they cover their faces (Isa. 6:2).

Finally, in some special way, the angels share in the public worship of the church and learn from the church (Eph. 3:10; 1 Peter 1:12). Public worship is a serious thing, for the angels are present; and we ought to conduct ourselves as if we were in heaven.

God's Order Is Apparent In Nature (vv. 13–16).

In a general way, it is true that nature gives women longer hair and men shorter hair. The Romans, Greeks, and Jews (except for the Nazarites) pretty much followed this custom. Nowhere does the Bible tell us how long our hair should be. It simply states that there ought to be a noticeable difference between the length of the men's hair and the women's hair so that there be no confusion of the sexes.

It is a shame for the man to look like a woman or the woman to look like a man.

The woman's long hair is her glory, and it is given to her "instead of a covering" (literal translation). In other words, if local custom does not dictate a headcovering, her long hair can be that covering. I do not think that Paul meant for all women in every culture to wear a shawl for a head-covering; but he did expect them to use their long hair as a covering and as a symbol of their submission to God's order. This is something that every woman can do.

In my ministry in different parts of the world, I have noticed that the basic principle of headship applies in every culture; but the means of demonstrating it differs from place to place. The important thing is the submission of the heart to the Lord and the public manifestation of obedience to God's order.

For now we can make the following affirmations:

1. Men and women are radically equal in the eyes of God, and yet we have distinctly different and complementary roles to play in life, in the home, and in the church.

 We are given suggestive clues in the way that men and women are to relate to one another in the way that Christ relates to the church and in the way that the persons of the Godhead relate to each other in the Trinity.

 Women are no more inferior to men than Christ is inferior to God or the Holy Spirit is inferior to God and Jesus, because he proceeds from them. Yet men and women are no more the same than the Father is the same as the Son.

 This difference is rooted in the creation order and is to be celebrated as God's good gift to us, rather than rejected or ignored.

 2. As Christian we ought to guard the visible, cultural cues that remind us of the differences between men and women. This means that men ought to dress and act like men and women ought to dress and act like men. We should avoid legalism in this, acknowledging that the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. I cannot say exactly how this will always work, but women ought to enjoy being feminine, and men ought to enjoy being masculine.

 3. We affirm the full participation of men and women in the life of the church. Paul assumes in this passage that both men and women will pray and prophesy in the worship of the church (cf. v. 5 where Paul denounces not the fact that a woman prays or prophesies but only that she does so without the proper head covering). Women are not silent partners in the worship services of the church. In the Reformation spirit of "scripture interpreting scripture" we should use 1 Cor 11 to interpret passages like 1 Timothy 2:11-12: "A woman should learn in quietness and in full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent." Indeed there is no contradiction in these passages.

4. In the church and home, however, we ought also to guard the visible cues of gender distinction in the assigning of leadership roles that remind us of the goodness of the created order. Men are not to shrink back from taking a role of servant leadership in the home and church and women are not to shrink from back from offering intelligent and glad submission to their headship (thus welcoming the "sign of authority" on their heads).

1 Corinthians 11 tells us of how women are to participate fully in worship, in praying and prophesying. But 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 tell us that the overseer or elder is to be "the husband of one wife." There is no contradiction here.

 Can we affirm the ministry of both men and women and yet also affirm that there are gender specific roles for each? Can this be a powerful witness to this culture that lives in such confusion as to who we are? Though it may be out of touch with our culture, are we willing to stand with scripture and say that God has made us different and this is a good thing to be celebrated, and enjoyed, and honored?