Lessons From 1 Corinthians – Lesson 12
In the first part of 1 Cor chapter 11 there are two issues that many people don’t understand, or misunderstand, or even get very upset about.
I thought about doing both today, but I want you to have the light bulb go on and really get it.
And for that it takes a good amount of context and scripture from other parts of the Bible.
So I decided to do things differently today, and take the time today on just one of them.
First we are going to read the entire section in Cor, and then look at other sections of scripture. The Bible interprets the Bible is always the way to go. Comparing scripture to scripture is the way to clear things up.
We need to remind ourselves of how God does things and of what other scriptures teach.
1 Cor 11:1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.
1 Cor 11:2 Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
1 Cor 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
1 Cor 11:4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.
1 Cor 11:5 But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.
1 Cor 11:6 For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.
1 Cor 11:7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
1 Cor 11:8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
1 Cor 11:9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
1 Cor 11:10 For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.
1 Cor 11:11 Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.
1 Cor 11:12 For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.
1 Cor 11:13 Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?
1 Cor 11:14 Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
1 Cor 11:15 But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.
1 Cor 11:16 But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.
Does God hold His teaching pictures in High regard?
You can ask Moses. Moses killed a man after he made his choice to stand with God’s people instead of the wealth and power of Egypt. Moses was not told to do that, Moses did that on his own.
He had some idea that God was going to use him to deliver Egypt. But it was not God’s time and that was not the way God was going to do it. Moses was disobedient and ran ahead of God.
Heb 11:24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;
Heb 11:25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
Heb 11:26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.
Heb 11:27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.
After Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter he went out and killed an Egyptian.
Acts 7:22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.
Acts 7:23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
Acts 7:24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
Acts 7:25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
Acts 7:26 And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?
Acts 7:27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
Acts 7:28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?
Acts 7:29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.
So Moses ran ahead of God, was disobedient, and killed a man. That did not disqualify him from entering the Promised Land.
At the burning bush Moses back talked God, and questioned God’s judgment. That did not disqualify Moses from entering the Promised Land.
Later in Egypt, Moses refused to use the rod at first and had Aaron do it. That was disobedience. Then one time in Egypt Moses accused God because God was not moving fast enough.
And all of that did not disqualify Moses from entering the Promised Land. And remember the Promised Land is a picture of the victorious Christian life. Moses still went to heaven he just never got to enter the Promised Land on Earth.
Perfection and making zero mistakes was not a requirement for entering the Promised Land, the victorious Christian Life. The only perfect one is Jesus.
Murder, back talking, questioning God’s judgment, and accusing God did not do it.
What stopped Moses from being allowed to enter the Promised Land was messing up one of God’s teaching pictures.
Jesus went to the cross and was smitten only once. The work was perfect and complete. To show that the first time Moses was to smite the rock and then and only after the blow was applied did the water come out. Showing that Christ had to suffer on the cross for the life giving water to flow.
He was wounded for our transgressions.
The second time Moses was told to only speak to the rock. Christ only died once. Never to be smitten again. After the cross all it takes to get life giving water is to just speak and ask.
Moses messed up the teaching picture by smiting the rock a second time. Moses turned the picture into sending Jesus to the cross a second time.
And it was the messing up of that teaching picture that made God angry. Messing up that picture was why Moses was not allowed to go into the Promised Land. And Moses prayed and asked multiple times and the answer was no.
On the surface all of that seems unrelated, but I went thru that to remind ourselves that often God does use teaching pictures, and to remind ourselves of how serious He takes His teaching pictures.
God uses real life objects, situations, people, and relationships to teach us His principals.
And in 1 Cor chapter 11 Paul references one of God’s teaching pictures. It deals with the man and the woman and their relationship. Paul does not go into all of it here. To get the whole picture you have to look at the other verses in the N.T. that cover the husband wife relationship.
If you don’t then you will not understand Cor. Chapter 11. You need to understand the teaching picture that God is using.
Eph 5:21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
Eph 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Eph 5:24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Eph 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Eph 5:28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
Eph 5:29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
Eph 5:30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
Eph 5:31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
For this cause, for this reason, to show forth the relationship of Jesus and the church. It is for that cause a man is joined to his wife.
Eph 5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Eph 5:33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
Paul makes it very clear that the relationship between husband and wife is a teaching picture concerning Christ and the church.
The teaching picture of the husband and wife is showing forth how things are to be between Jesus and His church.
There is a top down authority structure. Jesus is the head, the church is to reverence Jesus and do what He says.
It is a horrible thing. It is wrong in so many ways when a church refuses to listen to or obey Jesus. It is not supposed to be that way. But sadly it happens. In Revelation Jesus is standing at the door of the church at Laodicea and can’t get in.
No one will open the door for Jesus.
To show forth how it is to be, the husband is to love the wife like Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. And the wife is to reverence her husband in obedience like the church is to reverence and obey Jesus.
The husband and the wife are to be one flesh. One is not better than the other. One is not worth more than the other. Partners. They just have different roles to play to show forth the teaching picture.
Eph 5:21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
It is a partnership. But there is an authority structure. God first, then the man, then the woman. There are many reasons for this but the reason we are concerned with today is this picture of authority of Jesus, and the church.
Now we can get back to Cor. Chapter 11.
First look at verse 15.
1 Cor 11:15 But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.
The Bible itself defines here what covering they are talking about in this entire section. It is not talking about cloth. It is not material of any kind. The covering is hair.
One of the first groups to mess this up was the Catholics and they made the Nuns cover their heads with cloth. Centuries later when Mohammad wanted to create a religion of power and conquest he could not think all of it up on his own. One of the women that was around him was a Catholic and he borrowed many ideas. And in his system the cloth covering was now for all women.
But 1 Cor chapter 11 was never about a woman covering her head with cloth. It was about hair.
The next thing you need to understand is what did the hair represent. Specifically the length of hair.
1 Cor 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
Verse 3 is talking about authority. God the Father, Christ, then man, and then woman.
1 Cor 11:4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.
Every man praying having long hair, dishonors his head. Or dishonors his authority. That is what this is all about. The picture of this authority structure.
Jesus and then the man. So in type and picture. Short hair for a man is a way of showing he is under the authority of Jesus, that he is obedient to Jesus.
1 Cor 11:14 Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
It is a shame for a man to have long hair. Having long hair shows forth to the world that the man is not walking in obedience to Jesus under His authority. God chose hair as a visible object lesson, a picture of being in or being out of God’s authority structure.
It is different for the woman.
1 Cor 11:5 But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.
A woman who shaves her head or goes for the crew cut is showing disobedience to God. The word head here is talking about authority. So she is dishonoring her place in the authority structure when she prays with a shaven head.
1 Cor 11:15 But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.
God’s will for man is to have short hair to show he is directly under authority of Jesus.
God’s will for woman is to have longer hair. It was given to her for a blessing. It is a glory to her. And it was given to her for a covering showing that she is under authority of the man who is under the authority of God.
We are not talking here about the woman that has cancer. God understands all of that.
We are not talking about having to have really long hair. The comparison given by God here is shaven. So a woman can have a shorter haircut and still be showing forth the right picture.
The problem is with shaving your head or the crew cut.
Different women in rebellion to God will manifest that rebellion in different ways. Some will keep the longer hair but rebel in other ways.
But in those days the temple prostitutes had shaved heads. Their false religion had them rebel against the true God in that way. And today you will see many angry, unhappy, alphabet soup women with crew cut hair. It is amazing that many of them will do this with zero understanding, they do not even know that 1 Cor chapter 11 exists.
Somehow deep inside, maybe only subconsciously, they know that hair was given to women as a blessing from God. So they cut their hair off.
Just a few months ago when Trump won there was a big thing on social media of women shaving their heads. A shaved head on a woman is a picture of rebelling against God.
Verse 10 is one of those odd things.
1 Cor 11:10 For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.
We get the first part. For the cause of showing forth God’s authority structure, which is also wrapped up in the roles in marriage. A woman should by her own free will, exercise her authority over her own hair and not shave it off.
The second part, no man on earth can give you an explanation. Have power on her head because of the angels. What do angels have to do with this? No man can say. This is like baptism for the dead which is only in the Bible one time.
There is no second witness. No explanation is given. Some would ask then why is it there. You already know the answer.
But without faith it is impossible to please God. So some room must be left for faith. So in the bible there are a very small amount of things that cannot be understood.
So you can choose to exercise faith that the entire Bible is true. And having faith pleases God. It is the only way to please God. So God left some things in the Bible that simply cannot be explained. Angels in verse 10 is one of those.
Now while there is an authority structure, and it is there in part to show how the relationship is to be between Jesus and the church.
At the cross. In their relationship with Jesus they are both on the same level ground. Equal.
1 Cor 11:11 Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.
She is the same in the Lord. She does not need the man to talk to God. She has direct access to the throne of grace just like the man does. The man does not need the woman to be in the Lord and the woman does not need the man to be in the Lord.
1 Cor 11:12 For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.
The hair thing, is just a teaching picture. Jesus, the man, the woman. Jesus and the church. The church is to be under the authority and obedient to Jesus. That is the picture.
1 Cor 11:13 Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?
It is clearly shown here a woman can pray to God. She can pray for herself directly to God. But it is a shame if she prays in rebellion with her hair cut off.
1 Cor 11:14 Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
1 Cor 11:15 But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.
Paul ends this with an interesting statement.
1 Cor 11:16 But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.
So if any man wants to fight against this teaching picture of hair. If he wants to be contentious about it. We have no such custom. And the churches of God has no such custom.
A way of saying there is no room in Christianity. You will not find instructions in the Bible advocating fighting against what God’s word teaches.
So Paul ends this topic with a very strong statement.
We should remember why this would have been a big issue in Corinth. That town had temples to false gods and those temple prostitutes would shave their heads.
Women shaving their heads was part of the local false idol worshipping religion.
Basically Paul ends with a strong statement that implies that if anyone in their church wants to fight about this, that maybe they should not really be there.
Because we and the churches of God have no such custom of fighting against God’s Word and His teaching pictures.