1 Corinthians 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. The Corinthian women, on the ground of the abolition of distinction of sex in Christ, claimed equality with men, and, overstepping propriety, came forward to pray and prophesy without the customary head-covering. The Gospel did raise women from the degradation in which they had been sunk, especially in the East. Yet, while on a level with males as to the offer of, and standing in, grace (), their subjection in point of order, modesty, and seemliness is to be maintained. Paul reproves here their unseemliness as to dress; in , as to public speaking. He grounds his reproof on woman's subjection in the order of creation. THE HEAD - an ap...

3._But I would have you know _It is an old proverb: “Evil manners beget good laws.” (618) As the rite here treated of had not been previously called in question, Paul had given no enactment respecting it. (619) The error of the Corinthians was the occasion of his showing, what part it was becoming to act in this matter. With the view of proving, that it is an unseemly thing for women to appear in a public assembly with their heads uncovered, and, on the other hand, for men to pray or prophesy with their heads _covered_, he sets out with noticing the arrangements that are divinely established. He says, that _as Christ is subject to God as his head, so is the man subject to Christ, and the woman to the man _We shall afterwards see, how he comes to infer from this, that women ought to have their heads covered. Let us, for the present, take notice of those four g

2-16 Here begin particulars respecting the public assemblies, ch. 1 Corinthians 11:1. In the abundance of spiritual gifts bestowed on the Corinthians, some abuses had crept in; but as Christ did the will, and sought the honour of God, so the Christian should avow his subjection to Christ, doing his will and seeking his glory. We should, even in our dress and habit, avoid every thing that may dishonour Christ. The woman was made subject to man, because made for his help and comfort. And she should do nothing, in Christian assemblies, which looked like a claim of being equal. She ought to have "power," that is, a veil, on her head, because of the angels. Their presence should keep Christians from all that is wrong while in the worship of God. Nevertheless, the man and the woman were made for one another. They were to be mutual comforts and blessings, not one a slave, and the other a tyran...

Verse 1 Corinthians 11:3. _THE HEAD OF EVERY MAN IS CHRIST_] The apostle is speaking particularly of Christianity and its ordinances: _Christ_ _is the Head_ or Author of this religion; and is the creator, preserver, and _Lord_ of every man. The _man_ also _is the lord_ or _head of the woman_; and the _Head_ or Lord _of Christ_, as Mediator between _God_ and man, _is God_ the Father. Here is the _order_-God sends his Son Jesus Christ to redeem man; Christ comes and lays down his life for the world; every man who receives Christianity confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father; and every believing woman will acknowledge, according to Genesis 3:16, that God has placed her in a dependence on and subjection to the m...

BUT I WOULD HAVE YOU KNOW - “I invite your attention particularly to the following considerations, in order to form a correct opinion on this subject.” Paul does not at once answer the inquiry, and determine what ought to be done; but he invites their attention to a series of remarks on the subject, which led them to draw the conclusion which he wished to establish. The phrase here is designed to call the attention to the subject, like that used so often in the New Testament, “he that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” THAT THE HEAD ... - The word “head,” in the Scriptures, is designed often to denote “master, ruler, chief.” The word ראשׁ ro'sh is often thus used in the Old Testament; see Numbers 17:3; Numbers 2

EXPOSITION 1 CORINTHIANS 11:1 FOLLOWERS OF ME; rather, _imitators of me; _follow herein my example, as I follow Christ's. What Christ's example was, in that he too "pleased not himself," he sets forth in Romans 15:1; and the general principle of self abnegation for the sake of others in Philippians 2:4. This verse ought to be included in ch. 10. It sums up the whole argument, and explains the long digression of ch. 9. AS I ALSO AM OF CHRIST. This limits the reference to his own example. I only ask you to imitate me in points in which I imitate Christ....

BUT I WOULD HAVE YOU TO KNOW,.... Though they were mindful of him, and retained in memory many things he had declared among them, and kept the ordinances as delivered to them; yet there were some things in which they were either ignorant, or at least did not so well advert to, and needed to be put in mind of, and better informed about: and as the apostle was very communicative of his knowledge in every point, he fails not to acquaint them with whatsoever might be instructive to their faith, and a direction to their practice: THAT THE HEAD OF EVERY MAN IS CHRIST; Christ is the head of every individual human nature, as he is the Creator and Preserver of all men, and the donor of all the gifts of nature to them; of the light of nature, of reason, and of all the rational powers and faculties; he is the head of nature to all men, as he is of grace to his own people: and so he is as the Gover...

WOMAN Compare (Genesis 3:16). The woman's veil, or head-covering, is a symbol of this subordination....

II. THE CHURCH, THE BODY OF CHRIST: CHAPTER S 11-14 1. Headship, and the Position of Woman. The Lord's Supper. CHAPTER 11. _ 1. The Headship of Christ and of the Man; Position of Woman. (1 Corinthians 11:1 .)_ 2. The Lord's Supper. (1 Corinthians 11:17 .) The opening verse belongs to the preceding chapter. And now after the church in relation to the world had been treated by the Apostle in the first part of the epistle, he takes up next the affairs of the church itself. Here, too, much had to be corrected into which the Corinthian assembly had drifted. After the brief and excellent word of praise by which he expressed his confidence in them ((1 Corint

1 Corinthians 11:2. WOMEN MUST BE VEILED IN THE CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLIES. It is not clear whether this subject was discussed in the church letter. Paul begins, in a way that surprises us after his grave censures, with praise for their steadfast adherence to his teaching and traditions. But he must inform them that the head of every man (as distinguished from woman) is Christ, the head of the woman is man, the head of Christ, God. Woman, Man, Christ, God, form an ascending climax in which the second stands to the first, as the third to the second, and the fourth to the third. The precise meaning is not clear. Headship suggests lordship, but Christ is lord of woman as well as man. Perhaps the thought is rather that of archetype and origin. Christ is the image of God and derives His being from Him, so man is related to Christ, and woman to man. In each case there is, of course,