1 Corinthians 11:4-10

September 30, 2018

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

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The sermon starts at 16:20 in the audio file.

Or, The Glory of Heads, Hoods, and Hairdos

We’re back to answer more of the questions I raised last Lord’s Day about worship, gender, head coverings, and glory. There is no more difficult passage to understand previous in 1 Corinthians, and yet this may be one of the most important and relevant sections for us today.

Paul praised the Corinthian believers for maintaining the traditions he had delivered to them (1 Corinthians 11:2). But which traditions? They had not been following his instructions/traditions regarding meat offered to idols (chapter 8), or about self-control (chapter 9), or about how to deal with obvious sin by a professing believer (chapter 5). Even in verses 17 through the rest of chapter 11 they weren’t doing what he had told them regarding the Lord’s Table. So his praise must be specific to this section about head coverings, and he follows up his commendation with some instruction so that they would know the reasons behind their behavior.

The reasons start with the nature of relationships in the world, including the Godhead. The head of every man is Christ. The head of every wife is her husband. The head of Christ is God, and this last relationship shows that willing submission is not a sign of inferior value. Though there is disagreement about what “head” means, I said I think it means authority, so that every man answers to Christ, every wife answers to her husband, and even Christ answers to His Father. Everyone has a head.

But what is the connection between the metaphorical heads in verse 3 and the physical heads in verses 4 and following? How does not having one’s physical head covered appropriately reflect one’s metaphorical head in one case, but having one’s physical head covered does reflect one’s metaphorical head in another case? Why is it dishonoring if a man does not uncover his head for sake of Christ, but a wife is dishonored if she does not cover her head for sake of her husband?

These and other questions are on the table for this section in verses 2-16. For this message we’ll see a focus on dishonor in verses 4-6 and on honor in verses 7-10.

Heads of Shame/Dishonor (verses 4-6)

The same scenario is described but one with a man and one with a woman/wife, and there is a clear way for both to do it dishonorably.

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.

What does prays or prophesies mean exactly? Where is it taking place, what context? What is the head covering? And what does it symbolize?

Praying we know about, though combined with prophesying it refers here to public praying. And chapters 12-14 have a good amount to say about prophesying. Prophesy is a spiritual gift, a gift that is more to be desired than speaking in tongues (14:4-5), and also not a gift for everyone (12:10). Prayer is not ever called a spiritual gift; prayer is the privilege and need for every Christian, even though it typically happens more in private than public.

The gift of prophesy could be understood as the same thing as teaching/exhortation, or it could be more narrowly understood as a speaking of new revelation during a time when God’s Word in the New Testament was not complete. Chapters 12-14 sound as if prophesying was a regular thing. Regardless, not all the members have the same gift, so every man who prays or prophesies could be any man but in particular a man who was speaking before others.

Were women also doing this? Paul says, every wife who prays or prophecies, and Paul does not give any indication that he switches contexts. It’s interesting that there were some women pro[...]