Episode 197 - "Honoring the Lord in worship" - 1 Corinthians 11:2-3

1Cor. 11:2 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.

So last week, I kicked the “1 Corinthians 11 can” down the road partly because I needed to digest it a bit more. It should be no surprise that the Roman Empire during first century A.D. was culturally quite different than 21st century United States. While there are gender biases in our culture today, views of gender identity and roles would have significant variations between the times and the cultures. So, what does that mean when we are interpreting the Scriptures? Can we completely ignore things in the Bible if we don’t like what it says or if it goes against our own cultural values and norms? I don’t think so. Is it possible that some things in the Scriptures speak more of the cultural values of the day and might, in the most strict literal sense, be irrelevant to our culture today? Yes. I do think that’s possible. How do we handle such passages? I think we examine them carefully for the underlying principle of what is being prescribed or mandated and ask ourselves how we might best adopt the principle in a culturally relevant form. In other words, we can pursue following the spirit of the Law rather than the letter of the Law.

Rather than handle the entire chapter in one big bite, I think it’s best to break this down into smaller pieces. Understand that Biblical scholars disagree on various points of interpretation of this section. There is nothing in particular that makes my interpretation more right. Hopefully, I can make a reasonable defense of how I read this section.

Verse 2 seems pretty straightforward. The Corinthian believers remembered Paul and maintained the traditions that he taught them. Whether these traditions were common in the synagogues, the early churches, or both is not obvious. But the idea is that there was some continuity in the customs in early Christian worship.

In verse 3, Paul expresses the importance that they understand three specific relationships. The first is man/husband to Christ. The second is the woman/wife to her husband. Finally, the third is Christ to God. In each relationship, one member is the “head” of the other. What does that mean? Looking at other passages where Paul uses the same terminology (Eph. 1:22, 4:15, 5:23, Col. 1:18) the head is that which has a position of authority or prominence.

Paul writes first that “the head of every man is Christ.” That seems ok. Then he says, “The head of every woman (wife) is her husband.” This is where the PCF (politically correct factor) goes off the rails in our culture. Why? Because in our culture today, we are inclined to read this statement to suggest that a wife/woman is less valuable or not equal to her husband, and that is not a culturally valued idea in much of our society. But is it possible that’s not what it means? Is it possible the husband can have a position or role of authority over his wife in a relationship where both spouses are equal and valuable to God? Let’s take a look at the third relationship Paul mentions.

He says, “the head of Christ is God.” What? Doesn’t Christianity believe that Jesus Christ is God? Yes! Check out the Nicene Creed. They make a point to refute the heresies of the day that diminished Christ from the Father. But notice the description of the relationship. Christ is the only begotten of the Father. Then speaking of the Holy Spirit, who we also believe is truly and fully God, they write the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. There is a sense of headship or authority in the role of the Father and the Son over the Spirit.

Jesus himself said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” (John 5:19) Jesus treated the Father as his authority even though he was equally God.

It appears that within the divine Trinity, there is an order of roles and responsibilities that does not translate into a power structure. Therefore our cultural problem is not “headship” of one over another; it’s that we have a skewed sense of what it implies. We naturally tend to believe it means there is necessarily a disparity of value between the members of these relationships. But that seems theologically untenable because Christ is not less God or less important than the Father.

We will continue to examine this as we continue to work through 1 Corinthians 11. For now, understand the context of Paul’s instruction has to do with worship. Paul wants the Corinthian believer's practice of worship to honor the Lord. As we continue through this study, let us pray that we can learn something that will inform our worship.