“Now I commend you because
you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I
delivered them to you. 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. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered
dishonors his head, but every wife who prays or prophesies with her
head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head
were shaven. For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her
hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave
her head, let her cover her head. For a man ought not to cover his head,
since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of
man. For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man
created for woman, but woman for man. That is why a wife ought to have a
symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, in
the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was
made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.
Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head
uncovered? Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is
a disgrace for him, but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair
is given to her for a covering. If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we
have no such practice, nor do the churches of God” (1 Corinthians
11:2-16, E.S.V.).
Before I comment on the text above, let me explain why I used the
English Standard Version for this post. As far as translations go, I’m a New
American Standard guy (I’ll be using it in the rest of this post). It was the
translation given to me when I was baptized in 1984, and I’ve stayed with it
(and its update in 1995). Occasionally I’ll try another translation; I’ve used
the English Standard Version and Holman Christian Standard for sermon series
through books of the Bible. I like the New King James Version and New Living
Translation a lot (the N.K.J.V. is my favorite alternate translation). I
recently quoted the New International Version in my sermon notes; that was the
only time in 10 years, to my recollection.
I’ve been preaching through 1 Corinthians in our evening Lord’s Day
service for a year now. Recently I taught on chapter 11, which begins an
extended discussion of Christian worship (chapters 11-14). I believe the
interpretive challenges in 11:2-16 (and 14:34,35) could be eased if we
consistently translated γυνή as “wife” instead of “woman” (and ἀνήρ as
“husband” instead of “man”). The E.S.V., in the passage above, does this, but
not consistently. Still, the use of “husband” (11:3; 14:35) and “wife” (11:3,5,6,10,13)
in the E.S.V. is a step in the right direction.
Well, the other night, when I was teaching through 11:2-16, I did a
verse-by-verse explanation of the passage for about twenty minutes. There are
several challenging aspects to this section, and I suspect it’s easy to get
bogged down in them. The reason I’m writing this post, though, is not to rehash
those interpretive hurtles with you. Instead, I want to sum up the passage for
you with one sentence: husbands and
wives are to display the Gospel in their relationship when the Church is
gathered for worship.
Paul’s all about the Gospel. As far as his preaching when he was with
the Corinthians, he wrote, “I determined
to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1
Corinthians 2:2). When I was teaching a preaching class several years ago, I
told the men that the first step was to imagine a big cross on the empty sheet
of paper that would become their sermon notes. Remember Spurgeon’s famous wisdom:
“The motto of all true servants of God must be, ‘We preach Christ; and him
crucified.’ A sermon without Christ in it is like a loaf of bread without any
flour in it. No Christ in your sermon, sir? Then go home, and never preach
again until you have something worth preaching” (07/09/1876; sermon #2899).
The Lord’s Supper is given by the Lord of the Church so that the
membership can proclaim the cross of Christ together: “…as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the
Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).
The Gospel is primary: “Now I
make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which
also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are
saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you
believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I
also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third
day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared” (1
Corinthians 15:1-5). We need the Gospel often. I have told our congregation for
years that they need to preach the Gospel to themselves every day. And it
certainly needs to be proclaimed every Lord’s Day. As Martin Luther wrote at
the beginning of his commentary on Galatians, “I must hearken to the gospel,
which teacheth me, not what I ought to do (for that is the proper office of the
law), but what Jesus Christ the Son of God hath done for me: to wit, that He
suffered and died to deliver me from sin and death. The gospel willeth me to
receive this, and to believe it. And this is the truth of the gospel. It is
also the principal article of all Christian doctrine, wherein the knowledge of
all godliness consisteth. Most necessary it is, therefore, that we should know
this article well, teach it unto others, and beat it into their heads
continually.”
In the same way, husbands and wives are to display the Gospel in their
relationship in the gathering of the Church. When you read 1 Corinthians
11:2-16 (and 14:34,35), read “husband” and “wife” for “man” and “woman.” Don’t
get distracted by hair/head coverings and the public prayer/prophesying of
women (those are legitimate issues to discover, but it’s issue to miss the big
picture while wrestling with them). Read this passage in light of Ephesians
5:22-33.
While there are definitely unique cultural elements to this, don’t buy
the argument that the whole passage should be jettisoned from application because
of those issues found in A.D. 1st century Corinth. Paul doesn’t base his
reasoning on cultural conditions which are irrelevant today. He bases his
argument on Genesis 2 in 1 Corinthians 11:8,9. He does the same thing in 1
Timothy 2:13-15. Jesus does the same thing in Matthew 19:3-9 and its parallels
in Mark and Luke. The historicity of Genesis 2-3 matters because of the Gospel.
How does the marriage relationship display the Gospel in worship? I can’t
answer that question comprehensively, but here are a few thoughts:
Show you actually love each other. Don’t complain about each other in
the times around gathered worship. I’m not saying be hypocritical if there are
problems, but we don’t gather for the primary purpose of displaying ourselves.
We gather to display and remind ourselves of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Need
help? Please seek it out. In worship, however, practice displaying love by
respecting each other, smiling at each other, sitting close, singing together,
and receiving the Word together (I know our roles in service sometimes make
this impractical, but make time away from those roles to worship together with
the gathered congregation). Do you remember the 40-day Love Dare devotional? Purposefully showing the relationship of Christ
and Church in the worship gathering on the Lord’s Day should be a regular part
of that disciplined pursuit of each other. This isn’t hypocrisy; this is
disciplining yourselves to show the ideal of the Gospel. Again, if there are
problems, get help. Modeling the goal of Christian marriage (the Gospel
relationship between Christ and the Church) in the gathering of the Church is appropriate
and a good reminder to you and the rest of the congregation.
It can be funny to put each other down teasingly and to make little
jokes at each other’s expense, but think about saving that for other times.
Husbands, have eyes for your bride. Wives, be thankful he’s at gathering with
you. Smile at each other. Husbands, put your arm around her shoulders. Do you have
little ones with you in worship? Shepherd them as a team, serving one another
by engaging in worship-parenting together. Display the Gospel in your relating
to one another in worship. I think you know to keep the affection appropriate;
hear the heart of what I’m saying.
There is an increased sensitivity and consideration of single people in
the life of the Church; that’s a good thing. We want to be inclusive and
edifying to all believers. This doesn’t mean we minimize the
biblically-mandated witness the married contribute to the worship gathering.
Husbands and wives, remember: you
should be showing the Gospel story by your relationship in the gathering of the
Church.
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