But I wish you to know that the Christ is the head of every man, but woman's head [is] the man, and the Christ's head God.
Paul turns from praise to correction, and he begins with an order rather than a rule — three relationships reaching from the woman up to God Himself. Does headship mean rank, does it cancel the equality believers have in Christ, and how can God be the head of Christ?
Rather than settling the Corinthian disorder by simply issuing a command, Paul reaches back to the beginning. One writer notes how typical this method is of Scripture:
To correct this disorder the Apostle uses a way Scripture often takes to settle questions. To learn the principles involved in any question or difficulty, Scripture takes us back to the first time those principles were set out. Here a question had arisen about the relative position of men and women, so it takes us back to the order first established in creation.
Another commentator draws out why this way of teaching is worth imitating:
This is a most characteristic specimen of the apostle's dealing with a point of order. He deduces the solution from first principles involved in divine dealings from the beginning. It is an admirable way of settling questions, not by mere abstract authority, even where the highest lay, but by conveying to others the ways of God in creation and providence, which drew out the admiration as well as submission of his heart.
The obvious objection is that Galatians already erased the distinction. Commentators answer that two different spheres are in view at once:
There is a shared equality, of the highest and most perfect kind. It can never be touched or set aside. It is to be owned in the fullest possible way. On the other hand, that does not set aside God's order for the earth. In the place God has given here to the man and to the woman, the head of the woman is the man. The higher fact is shown forth in the lower one. There are not two heads in creation, but one. Two heads would mean division. God's thought is unity.
Older translations read this clause "the head of the woman is the man." The ESV translates the same clause "the head of a wife is her husband."
The picture behind the word is the human body. It points to guidance, not rank:
Every member of the human body is directed from the head. So the figure is very simple and expressive. It is a matter, in one word, of direction. The woman is to accept direction from the man. The man is to accept direction from Christ. And Christ accepts direction from God, and does so perfectly. Everyone else does it very imperfectly.
One writer adds that this order calls for thankfulness, not grudging acceptance:
Some do object to this clear, settled fact. It does not mean that man is better than the woman, or superior to her. God has given him that place of headship. More than that, "the head of Christ is God." Christ, as the eternal Son of God, is fully equal with God. Yet as Man He is willing to recognize that God is His head. We should all see the great wisdom of God in this, and bow with thankfulness before Him for it.
This third clause has been misused. It speaks of the place Christ took, not of any lack in His Person:
This last statement does not in any way take away from the Deity of the Son. It is no question in this passage of Christ's place in the Godhead, but of the place He has taken in creation.
He has not laid that place aside now that He is exalted:
He is still the Servant of the will of God (though never less than God Himself), and what pleases Jehovah will prosper in His hand for ever. So the Head of Christ is God.
Commentators are careful not to fold this verse into Christ's headship of the church. That relationship is of another order altogether:
In all creation He is of course Head, in the sense of being Chief. That is the sense in which Scripture calls Him "the Head of every man" in 1 Corinthians 11:3. He is Head to the church in another sense, pictured by the human body: a living, organic union joins the head to the other members.
The verse can be twisted in two directions, and one writer warns against both:
It would be even more perilously false to use these words to belittle Christ than to turn their force aside and deny the subjection of woman to man. God, then, is the head of the highest. And as woman is bound to own the place God has given her, so man is to fill his own assigned relationship suitably.
- Order. Paul settles a live dispute by going back to how God arranged things at the start. The pattern is older than the problem.
- Equality. Being one in Christ is true and untouchable. It stands beside God's order for earth; it does not delete it.
- Direction. Head means the part that guides. The question is never who is worth more, but who takes direction from whom.
- Christ. The chain does not stop at man. The One who is fully God took the servant's place, and He holds it still in glory.
- Response. If Christ Himself accepts that place, subjection is no insult. It is something to bow to with thankfulness.
Every man praying or prophesying, having [anything] on his head, puts his head to shame.
Paul has just set out an order of headship: God, Christ, man, woman. Here he turns it into something you can see — what a man does with his head when he prays or speaks for God.
One writer weighs the act itself against what it stands for.
If a man prays or prophesies having his head covered, he dishonors his head; in itself a very small thing surely — in what it signifies, not small at all. Everything depends upon the truth which is in it, or the error. For him, the covered head is the place of subjection taken.
Another writer defines the sign, then shows where ignoring it leads.
A covering on the head is the outward sign of being in the place of subjection. An uncovered head means the opposite. God has set an order for the place of man and woman, and His people are bound to respect it. It may appear a little thing, yet if disobeyed, as it was in Corinth (where women seemed to be puffed up and refused to follow this order), it becomes a stepping stone towards more serious evil.
The verse names two activities, and they run in opposite directions. One writer defines both, then shows why a covering contradicts them for a man.
He is speaking about prayer and prophecy. In prayer we speak to God for ourselves or for others. In prophecy we speak to people on God's behalf... If the man prays or prophesies with his head covered, he dishonours himself. He claims to go to God in prayer for others, or to speak to people as from God. Yet at the same time he abandons the place of authority that God has given him. In that case, can he be surprised if neither God nor man will listen to him?
Commentators differ on the phrase "dishonors his head." Hamilton Smith, quoted above, reads it of the man himself: anyone out of his place is dishonoured before God. Another writer looks higher.
A man praying or prophesying with his head covered dishonors his head. Why? Because his head is Christ: he is therefore dishonoring Christ. Christ should not be covered up; He is the One who should be seen. If a man in this case covers his head he is covering up Christ, and in this way he dishonors Him.
The rule now runs the opposite way to Israel's practice. One writer says the reason turns on where Christ is.
If a man prays or prophesies with a covering on his head, he dishonours Christ his Head. With uncovered head the man acknowledges the headship of Christ. In Old Testament days the priests covered their heads, because they stood among visible symbols that displayed divine truth. Now Christ is the substance of those Old Testament shadows (Heb. 10:1 & Col. 2:17) and the image of the invisible God, and He is hidden from view (Col. 1:15 & 3:3). So the man leaves his head uncovered, as the image — that is, the visible representative — of God.
One writer marks out how far this rule reaches, and adds a caution beyond it.
Every man who prays or prophesies with anything on his head — that is, covered — dishonours his head, as did every woman uncovered in these same exercises. This is the order of power, and God wants the fitting behaviour He Himself has set up in those who fear Him and know His grace... But this says nothing about preaching the gospel. Still, a man should always speak reverently and act in a fitting way even when preaching, instead of yielding to nature or chasing popularity in a worldly way.
The same writer notes why these verses were written: some at Corinth "had forgotten or never known the place of men and women in God's service."
- Order. God has set an order for the place of man and woman. What a man does with his head makes that order visible.
- Sign. A covered head marks the place of subjection. On a man, one small act says something untrue.
- Head. Commentators differ on who is shamed. Some say the man shames himself by leaving the place of authority God gave him. Others say he shames Christ, his Head, by covering the One who should be seen.
- Contrast. Israel's priests covered their heads before visible symbols. Christ is now hidden from view, so the man uncovers his head as the visible representative of God.
- Scope. The rule covers praying and prophesying: speaking to God for people, and to people for God. It says nothing about preaching the gospel, though reverence belongs there too.
But every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered puts her own head to shame; for it is one and the same as a shaved [woman].
Paul has just set out an order of headship, and now he applies it to a woman who prays or prophesies out loud. Two questions follow: what does it mean to dishonour "her head," and where was this praying and prophesying happening?
The word "head" shifts between the physical head and the person it stands for. Older translations read "woman" and "man" here, where the ESV reads "wife" and "husband." One commentator sets the two cases side by side.
When a man prays or prophesies with his head covered, he dishonours his head — that is, he outwardly dishonours Christ. His own physical head stands for Christ, and Christ is to be shown, not covered. On the other hand, a woman who prays or prophesies without a head covering dishonours her head — that is, she outwardly dishonours the man. How does she do this? By virtually putting the man in the place of Christ!
Chapter 11 allows a woman to pray and prophesy; chapter 14 tells women to be silent in the assembly. Most of the writers here resolve that by noticing what this verse does not say.
In the eleventh chapter he gives directions for women when praying or prophesying. In the fourteenth he tells them to be silent in the assembly. The one place permits ministry, but does not say where it was to happen. The other says plainly that it is not to be in the assembly. Evidently, then, prayer and prophecy were to be outside of the assembly.
Commentators differ on whether the setting is public. Another writer rejects that deduction. He reads the verse as saying what a woman would do if she prayed uncovered in the assembly:
It is sometimes deduced from 1 Corinthians 11:5 that Christian women prayed in the churches. Otherwise why should praying with their heads uncovered be spoken against? The deduction does not appear to us to be legitimate. If a Christian woman prays or prophesies in the assembly with her head uncovered, she does two things. First, she defies the order about the sexes that Paul gives elsewhere. Second, she dishonours her head. Only the second is mentioned here, because the first has no direct bearing on the subject, which is the hair: how should Christian men and women wear it?
Whatever the woman here is doing, it is not the same activity forbidden elsewhere. The distinction turns on what prophesying is.
1 Corinthians 11:5 applies to no meeting of sisters. It might be in their father's house, without any formal meeting at all, as Philip's four daughters. It refers to inspiration, not to teaching. A woman is not permitted to teach.
The verse assumes God really did give women this power. What it corrects is the assumption that a gift carries its own permission slip.
We are told in Acts 21:9 that Philip the Evangelist had four unmarried daughters who prophesied. If God gives spiritual power, He means it to be used. Still, He has chosen to regulate how it is used. The Christians had made a mistake that many have made since. They supposed that having a spiritual gift means unlimited freedom to use it at all times and in all places.
The comparison sounds harsh until you see what a shorn head meant in Israel.
When a woman's head was uncovered or shaven in the Old Testament it was a mark of shame. You can see it in Numbers 5:18, where a wife was under suspicion by her husband, and in Deuteronomy 21:10-13, about a woman taken captive by an Israelite... She must have no marks of shame upon her in the presence of the Lord. She is not to appear before God as one who is suspected of being unfaithful to her husband. The covering on her head would show that she acknowledges him as her head and enjoys his fullest confidence.
One writer puts the covering into words, and shows why the same act would be wrong for a man.
The apostle shows by her hair that God had covered her, and her mind and will are put on the same ground. A woman ought to be covered at family prayers, or like one of Philip's daughters prophesying in her father's house... The man is her real head, and she must cover her own head as a sign that she is under him. In effect she says, I have no head myself. The man is my head, and I am in subjection. The man could not do that, or there would be no visible head.
- Order. Headship made visible. A woman who prays uncovered "dishonors her head" — the man — by putting him in the place of Christ.
- Gift. Women really did receive the gift of prophecy. God means a gift He gives to be used. He also decides when and where.
- Place. Chapter 11 says a woman may pray and prophesy but never says where; chapter 14 says not in the assembly. Commentators differ on whether the setting here is public.
- Sign. An uncovered head is like a shaved head, because a shorn head was a public mark of shame. The covering says the opposite: she acknowledges her husband and has his full confidence.
- Practice. The settings named are family prayers and a father's house, as with Philip's daughters. Small acts, carrying a truth that is not small.
For if a woman be not covered, let her hair also be cut off. But if [it be] shameful to a woman to have her hair cut off or to be shaved, let her be covered.
Confusion had crept into how the Corinthian believers appeared when praying and prophesying. Paul answers bluntly: a woman who refuses the covering may as well lose her hair, which raises two questions — what shame he means, and whether the covering is just her own hair.
The verse pushes a refusal to its logical end. It is a challenge, not a permission, and it shows why hair alone cannot settle the matter:
Some have also said that God gives a woman her hair as a covering, so that is enough. But God has given her long hair as a covering, and for that very reason He expects her to cover her own head too. That shows her agreement with what God has done. Notice the clear answer Scripture gives: "For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short" (v. 6). Can this mean, "if a woman does not have hair, let her also cut her hair off?" Of course the Word of God does not indulge in such foolishness. The force of this verse is this: if the woman refuses to cover her head, she might as well go all the way. She might as well refuse what God has done in giving her long hair. Honest simplicity of faith can only bow to the facts as God gives them.
Verse 6 assumes the woman still has hair to cut. So the covering must be a second thing. (Older translations read "woman" here, where the ESV reads "wife.")
First, long hair is not the covering the apostle means, as people sometimes argue. In verse 6 he says, "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." So the covering is something in addition to the long hair. Second, the instruction is for women — not wives only, but women — and not for children. Finally, this is no set of rules for women's dress. It is only a direction about what is fitting for them when they are praying.
The shame Paul names has a background in the law, and the covering says the opposite:
What shame did a woman's shaved or cut head confess? To answer that, we must look at the Law. There we find two occasions when the woman was shaved, or uncovered. First, when she was a suspected wife (Numbers 5). Second, when a man had recently taken her captive in battle and she was mourning her father's house, not yet joined to him (Deuteronomy 21). A woman's shaved state showed that she was not enjoying either the full confidence or the full joy of a husband. So the woman should not appear with such marks on her. The church should not look as though Christ suspected her, or as though she still felt herself a sorrowing captive. That would be her shame! But the covering on her head shows the church in neither of these states. It shows her happy in the affection and confidence of Christ, and this is her glory.
The dishonour lies in leaving the place God gave:
If she prays or prophesies with her head uncovered, she claims to express her place of dependence upon God, or to come from God. At the same time, she abandons the place of subjection in which God has placed her. In either case they have dishonoured themselves, for everyone out of his place is dishonoured before God. The uncovered woman is in effect taking the place of a man with a shaved head. It is a shame for a woman to have her head shaved, and that alone should teach her to cover it.
The covering is a sign, and one writer marvels that so small a sign sits in a letter about eternal things:
She was to have a covering on her head, a sign that she was subject to another. This may seem a very little thing. Yet what a wonderful thing it is, and what power it shows, to combine eternal things and the smallest matter of personal decorum in the same letter! The wearing of long hair or short, the use of a covering on the head or not! ... It is the smallness of man that needs big matters to make him important. But the smallest things of God have meaning when they bear on the glory of Christ, as they always do.
- Sign — the covering is a visible sign that the woman is subject to another, the place God gave her.
- Not hair — verse 6 assumes she still has hair to cut. So the covering is something added to the long hair God gave her.
- Shame — a shaved head marked a suspected wife or a mourning captive. The covering says the opposite: no suspicion, no captivity, but happy confidence.
- Dishonour — the fault is leaving your place. Anyone out of the place God gave is dishonoured before Him, man as much as woman.
- Small yet weighty — God joins the smallest matter of decorum to the greatest truths. Even small things bear on the glory of Christ.
For man indeed ought not to have his head covered, being God's image and glory; but woman is man's glory.
Paul has just said that a man who prays with his head covered shames his head, while a woman who prays uncovered shames hers. His reason reaches back to creation, and it turns on two words — "image" and "glory" — and on whose glory should be seen when the church meets.
"Image" here is not about looking like God. One writer explains it from the statues of the gods in the ancient world:
As to the "image of God" in verse 7, "image" is something that represents another, and so a man represents God, though he has certainly failed to fill the place up. The image of Jupiter was not necessarily like Jupiter, but it was made to represent him. So man keeps the place, though he has fallen in it — the same place in which God put him.
Scripture uses two words — image and likeness — and they do not mean the same thing. That difference shows how fallen people can still carry God's image, and it points to the One who represents God perfectly:
Scripture speaks of "image" and "likeness." The difference is that likeness means being like another — having the same traits and features. "Image" gives the thought of representing another, whether like or not... Man is still said to be in the "image of God" (1 Cor. 11:7), though, as fallen, he is very unlike God... The Son is "the image of the invisible God," and One who in His own Person perfectly represents God in His character and moral attributes, before the whole universe.
Man's place is not just one rank among creatures. One writer points to a dignity no angel ever had:
He was made sinless. But beyond that, he stood as the centre of an immense system. No angel was that. No angel was the one single centre of a system all around him. Adam was.
The practice follows from the place. One writer sets the bare head and the covered head side by side as a sign of two glories:
When we gather as a Christian assembly, the men remove their hats and the women remain covered... Man was made in the image of God, in His likeness, and man's place in God's creation is to stand in the image and glory of God. He is head over the creation below him; so it would not do to cover up the glory of God. The man remains uncovered, but the woman was given to the man to be his helper. The woman is the glory of the man. So in God's presence the glory of man is covered, but the glory of God is uncovered.
Notice what Paul does not say. He does not call the woman the image of man. He calls her his glory, and the proof runs back to creation, not to later custom:
So the apostle points out that man stands directly as God's image and glory. Woman is man's glory, and she has no such place of public representation for God. Whatever she has in that respect comes indirectly, through him. Creation is the proof — not the way things have gone since. So no one can judge this rightly without looking back to the beginning... It is easy to see why, where people deny creation, or even ignore it, they argue and work for equality.
One glory belongs in the assembly, and another does not:
But the woman was created for man and of man, and she is the glory of man; therefore her head must be covered when she prays or prophesies, for man's glory must not be seen, especially in the gathered assembly. Christ's glory, and not man's, is to be displayed there.
The covering is not a mark of lesser value. The place she takes is itself called her glory:
"But the woman is the glory of the man." This glory is not the one to be displayed. Indeed, it is her very glory to be in lowly subjection that seeks no public place.
- Image — the word means standing for God, not looking like Him; man still holds that place, even though he has fallen in it.
- Place — that place is a real dignity: Adam stood at the centre of a whole system, and no angel ever held it.
- Glory — Paul calls the woman man's glory, not God's image; the proof lies in creation, not in later custom.
- Covering — in God's presence the glory of man is hidden and the glory of God is left uncovered; the covering makes that visible.
- Christ — when the assembly gathers, no human glory is on show, only Christ's; and for the woman, taking that place is itself her glory.
For man is not of woman, but woman of man.
Paul is settling how men and women should appear when they pray together, and he does not argue from custom. He goes back to Genesis, to how the woman was made — which raises a question people still ask: does coming out of man make her worth less?
Paul is not giving an opinion. He states what God did, and one writer sees marriage resting on it.
In 1 Cor. 11:8-9 the apostle Paul sums up the truth of the case in a few words, and it carries God's authority: "For man was not made from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man." Those who dare to dispute the fact must one day learn what it is to call God a liar. This is the ground of the sanctity of marriage: one woman for one man. From the beginning, He Who made her made her out of man, so that the two should be one flesh. People in general soon forgot it, and even Israel did. But there it stood, written and never erased, to instruct the faithful and shame the rebellious.
Paul is not describing how things run now. That is why he goes back to the start.
Creation is the proof, not the ordinary course of things since. So no one can judge this rightly without looking to the beginning. If verse 7 refers to where man and woman each came from, verse 8 then shows the woman made for the man, and after him. That is the ground of woman's subordination to man. Where people deny creation, or even ignore it, they naturally reason and work for their equality.
Does coming out of man make her lesser? One writer says the fact points the other way.
The very fact that woman was "taken out of man" proves her equality. She is not an inferior, but an equal, a helper suited to him. Between man and man there is similarity, sameness. Between man and woman there is equality, but with difference too.
This truth protects women. Where it is not known, they are degraded.
This divine ordinance, if observed, is a great protection for woman. She needs it, because she is at a disadvantage compared with man in more ways than one. In the pagan world this ordinance is unknown, and so woman becomes a mere possession, bought and sold and misused by man. These errors, and the abuses that come from them, cannot survive in the light of the truth we have here. Woman is not only of the same species as man, but in her origin was of his very flesh and bone — taken out of man.
One writer weighs the other side of the relationship.
No one should treat her as inferior to man, unfit to be his companion, unsuited to be his helper. For "as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman." She was taken out of man at the first, and ever since man has owed his life on earth to her. If both thought these simple words of Scripture through, they would learn their true place in relation to each other.
The origin of the woman leads to a visible sign. More than human eyes watch it.
In creation the man did not come from the woman, as has been true ever since. The woman came from the man: God took Eve from Adam's side. He created her for the man, since He said it was not good for man to be alone. This was God's order in creation. So the woman should wear the sign of authority on her head — that is, she is under authority to her head, the man. Paul adds here, "because of the angels." Angels take a deep interest in the order God has set in His creation, and they care whether both man and woman obey.
One writer reads the same verse as a picture of Christ and the church.
He was given, it is true, in due time for the church, but the church from everlasting had been given to Him, and not He to the church. "For man was not made from woman, but woman from man" (1 Cor. 11:8).
- Origin. Woman was formed out of man. Paul builds everything on that fact. It carries God's authority, and it makes marriage sacred.
- Order. The argument rests on the beginning, so no one can judge it rightly without looking there. Ignore creation, and people set out to win equality on their own terms.
- Equality. Taken out of man, she is of his own flesh and bone: equal, though different. That truth has protected women wherever it is known.
- Balance. She came from the man once; every man since has come by the woman, so neither may despise the other.
- Witness. The sign on the head shows this order, and angels watch it. Behind it stands a greater picture: the church is of Christ, given to Him.
For also man was not created for the sake of the woman, but woman for the sake of the man.
Paul argues here from the start of the human race. The woman came out of man (v. 8), and she was made for him — but does that make her less, and does Eden still shape how Christians act when they meet?
Paul is not stating a cultural preference. One writer treats these words as carrying God's own authority, and rests marriage on them.
Paul sums up the truth of the case in 1 Cor. 11:8-9, and he does it with God's authority. Those who dare to dispute the fact must one day learn what it is to call God a liar. This is the ground of the sanctity of marriage: one woman for one man. That was the order from the beginning, laid down by Him who made her out of man, so that the two should be one flesh. Sadly, people in general forgot it far too soon, and even Israel forgot it. But there it was, written in a way that cannot be erased, to instruct the faithful and shame the rebellious.
The word "for" answers a question of purpose. Adam's need came first, and that need explains why God made a woman rather than a second man.
All this has to do with the present, not with what is final, what is heavenly, what is eternal. It is God's order as He set it up, and we are bound to respect it. Nor was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. The man was created first, and it was not good for him to be alone. The woman was created to meet this need. But why a woman — why not another man? Because another man would not have brought the same help. He needs someone who pictures the dependence of the creature, rather than the kind of independence given to man. That very dependence appeals to him, and appeals to his heart, because she depends on him.
Put the other way round, the direction of the help is fixed and cannot be reversed:
"Man was not created for the woman, but woman for the man" (1 Cor. 11:9). So the woman was intended to supplement the man, not the man to supplement the woman.
Being made for someone is not the same as being made lower than them. The way she was made proves the opposite.
The very fact that woman was taken out of man proves her equality with him. She is not his inferior, but his equal, his helper. There is equality, but with it diversity. Woman was made for man and to be with him at his side. God never intended that woman should be an independent creature apart from man, but that she should be associated with him... Woman never shines more brightly than when fulfilling the object for which she was created, which first of all was to be man's helper.
Verse 9 feeds straight into the instruction about a covered head in verse 10.
"For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God" (v. 7). As such he represents God, and God is to be prominent, not covered. "But woman is the glory of man" — and the glory of man is not to be prominent. She was created for the man, for God had said it was not good for man to be alone. This was God's order in creation, and therefore the woman should have the sign of authority on her head — that is, that she is under authority to her head, the man.
This order has an audience beyond the room:
There are other creatures who are intelligent and aware of the order of God's ways. In relation to them, the women were to be covered because of the angels. The angels watch the ways of God in redemption, and they watch what this wonderful work of His would produce.
Paul does not let his argument turn into tyranny. He adds that the two belong together.
Verses 11 and 12 show, however, that the man and the woman complete one another. The man is not a dictator, and the woman is not a slave. Each is needed in his or her place to keep the human race going. The woman came from man in the beginning. Yet ever since, the man has come "by the woman." "But all things of God." His wisdom and work is supreme in every part of creation.
The pattern set in Eden is not only about husbands and wives. One writer applies the same words to Christ and the church.
Is not the Church needful to Christ? Yes, truly. God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." And again, "Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man." So the question is no longer only whether God can save a poor, helpless sinner. He did not leave "the first man" without a helper fit for him; neither would He leave the "Second."
- Origin. She was taken out of man — which is why commentators say this proves equality, not inferiority.
- Purpose. She was made for him, to meet a need God Himself named; another man would not have brought the same help.
- Sign. Because of that purpose, the woman wears a token of authority on her head, and men uncover.
- Audience. Angels watch this order kept, so a small visible act carries weight far beyond the room.
- Balance. The man and the woman complete one another — and the pattern of one made for another reaches its height in the church made for Christ.