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.