1 Corinthians 11:1 - Meaning and Application

Paul has answered the questions put to him, and now he turns to correcting what was wrong among them. The opening verse of this chapter was placed here by later chapter divisions, but it seems more naturally to belong with the end of the last chapter, where Paul pressed his warnings about misusing freedom by pointing to his own example: “Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). That sentence fits well as the close of his argument, and the next verse sounds like the start of a new topic.

Whatever place we give it, the meaning is clear: Paul did not only preach truth, he lived it. When he says, “Be imitators of me,” he means, “Follow my example, live as you see me live.” Ministers often teach most effectively when they can honestly point to their own life. Even so, Paul did not ask for blind following. He would be followed only as far as he himself followed Christ, because Christ alone is the perfect example.

He then moves to correct an indecency in the church, one in which the women seem to have been especially involved. Before he rebukes them, he first speaks well of what was good: “I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions just as I delivered them to you” (1 Corinthians 11:2). Many of them likely did this in a serious and real way. Paul uses that good point to address the church as a whole, even though some things among them had become careless or corrupted.

This is wise and kind correction. When we must reprove wrongdoing, it is fitting first to notice what is right. That shows we are not acting from bitterness or fault-finding. It also makes people more likely to receive the rebuke.

Paul then lays the foundation for his correction by stating the proper order of authority: “The head of every man is Christ, the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God” (1 Corinthians 11:3). Here Christ, in his role as mediator, that is, the one who brings God and people together, stands as Lord over all humanity. He is not only first in rank, but ruler as well. Yet even in that high place, he has a head, God the Father.

In the same way, man has a place of headship over woman, though not with the same kind of authority that God has over Christ or Christ has over mankind. Paul means that the woman should live in submission and should not take the man’s place. God has set this order, and she should act in a way that fits it. The women in Corinth seem to have been ignoring this in the way they appeared and behaved in public worship.

Paul is not simply condemning women speaking in the church. The source of the issue is their manner of doing it. It appears that some women, under inspiration, were praying and prophesying in the assembly (1 Corinthians 11:5). Scripture elsewhere says that women should keep silent in the churches (1 Corinthians 14:34; 1 Timothy 2:12), though some understand that as a full and strict rule, while others take it with limits. On that view, a woman might not teach on her own authority, or engage in debate in the church, but if she was under inspiration, she might speak in prayer or praise. Paul’s point here is not to settle every question about whether the act itself was allowed, but to correct the way it was being done.

The problem was that they were praying or prophesying uncovered, or that men were doing so covered (1 Corinthians 11:4, 5). To understand this, we need to remember that in eastern cultures a veil or covering could mark shame or submission. That was different from modern custom, where being bareheaded may show submission and being covered may show honor or authority. Paul reasons from the meaning that the covering had in that setting.

A man who prayed or prophesied with his head covered dishonored his head, that is, Christ, because he appeared in a way that did not suit the place God had given him. We should be careful, even in our dress, not to bring dishonor to Christ. A woman who prayed or prophesied with her head uncovered dishonored her head, that is, the man (1 Corinthians 11:3). She appeared as if she were taking the place of her superior and casting off the sign of her submission. In that culture, it was like cutting her hair short, which was normally the man’s style, and so it suggested a wish to change places with the other sex.

That was likely the fault at Corinth. It was an outward action that carried the meaning of superiority, and so it was a quiet claim to a place that did not belong to them. The sexes should not try to exchange their roles. The order God has set is best and wisest, and trying to improve it only brings confusion. The woman should remain in the rank God has given her and not dishonor her head, because in the end that is also a dishonor to God. If she was made from man, for man, and to be man’s glory, then she should not do anything in public that suggests she wants that order reversed.

Paul gives another reason: the man is the image and glory of God, meaning he represents God’s rule and authority in the world. Man has been placed at the head of the lower creation, and in that way he reflects God’s likeness.

The woman, on the other hand, is the glory of the man, as 1 Corinthians 11:7 says. She represents him. This does not mean she has no share in human dignity, for as a human being she also reflects God in a real sense. But she does so in a secondary way.

She is the image of God because she is the image of man. The man was not made from the woman, but the woman was made from the man (1 Corinthians 11:8). The man was created first, and he was made head of the life below him. In that, he reflects God’s rule. The woman was made from the man and so reflected his honor. She stands above the other creatures on earth, yet she is still under her husband and receives that honor through him, since she was taken from him.

The woman was made for the man, to be his helper, and not the other way around. So by nature she was placed under his authority, since she was made for his use, help, and comfort. And if she was meant to remain under man’s authority, then in Christian gatherings she should not do anything that suggests she is claiming equality.

She ought to have a sign of authority on her head because of the angels. That is, a veil, which was the sign, not that she had authority, but that she was under her husband’s authority and was in a lower position than the man. When Rebekah met Isaac and was about to belong to him, she covered herself with a veil as a sign of submission (Genesis 24:65). In the same way, the apostle wants women to appear in Christian gatherings, even if they speak there by inspiration.

Some say this is because of evil angels. The woman was first in the wrong, since she was deceived by the devil (1 Timothy 2:14), and that made her subjection to man greater (Genesis 3:16). Since evil angels are sure to be present in all Christian meetings, women should wear the sign of modesty and submission, which in that time and place was a veil. Others say it is because of the good angels. Jews and Christians have thought that these serving spirits are often present in their meetings. Their presence should keep Christians from any indecency in the worship of God.

From this we should learn to behave in public worship in a way that shows reverence for God and contentment with the place he has given us.

He also carefully guards his argument so it is not pushed too far (1 Corinthians 11:11, 12). He says, “Neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man in the Lord.” They were made for each other. It is not good for the man to be alone (Genesis 2:18), so a woman was made for him. And the man was intended to be a comfort, help, and protection to the woman, even though he was not made directly for her.

They were made to be a comfort and blessing to each other, not one a slave and the other a tyrant. They were to be one flesh (Genesis 2:24), and this was also for the raising of the human race. Each one is used in the other’s coming into being. The woman was first formed from the man, and since then the man has come through the woman (1 Corinthians 11:12), all by God’s wisdom and power, who ordered it that way from the beginning.

So the authority of the man and the submission of the woman should go no farther than is fitting for two people in such a close relationship. As it is God’s will that the woman know her place, it is also his will that the man not abuse his power.

He then supports his argument from the natural covering given to the woman (1 Corinthians 11:13-15). He says, in effect, “Judge for yourselves, use your own reason, and listen to what nature teaches. Is it fitting for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Should there not be a clear difference between the sexes in the way they wear their hair, since nature has made that difference? Is this not a distinction that nature has kept among all civilized nations?”

A woman’s hair is her natural covering. Long hair is a glory to her, but for a man to wear long hair, or take pride in it, is a sign of softness and lack of manliness. So especially in Christian and religious gatherings, we should be careful not to break the rules of natural decency.

Finally, he ends by appealing to the customs of the churches for those who were argumentative (1 Corinthians 11:16). Custom is often a good guide to what is proper. The common practice of the churches is what they should follow. He does not silence the troublemakers by force of authority alone, but shows them that they would seem very strange and stubborn if they argued for a practice that all the churches of Christ then knew nothing about, or against a practice that all of them followed, and followed on the ground of natural decency.

It was the usual custom of the churches for women to appear in public worship veiled, and it was clearly fitting that they should do so. Anyone who would quarrel with that, or set it aside, would indeed be very contentious.