Lessons #361 and 362
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Head Covering: Concept of Hierarchy (1 Cor 11:3-16)
… 3 Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. 5 And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is just as though her head were shaved. 6 If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head. 7 A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. 8 For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; 9 neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10 For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head. 11 In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12 For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God. 13 Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14 Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, 15 but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. 16 If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God.
In our introduction of this section of 1 Corinthians 11:2-16, we indicated that it is concerned with head covering in public worship in Corinth that has application to the church at large. Apparently, the issue of covering or not covering the head in public worship must have been a concern for the Corinthians that the apostle had to take up the matter in this section either because someone had said something to him about it or that somehow the apostle perceived that there was a problem with this subject in the local church in Corinth that were affecting public worship among them.
Evidence available to us shows that some men and women in the ancient pagan worship had their heads covered when they offered sacrifices to their gods as in the statue found in Corinth of the Emperor Augustus about to offer sacrifice with his head covered indicates. However, it is only the one offering the sacrifice that had the head covered while others in the sacrificial procession did not. Further evidence shows that the head was covered not only when offering a sacrifice but also during the prophetic reading of the entrails.[1] We also know that Romans uncovered their heads in the presence of other people, particularly social superiors, to acknowledge them as worthy of honor. Nonetheless, it appears that head coverings were worn in Roman contexts to demonstrate respect and subservience to the gods.
The Corinthians were certainly aware of the use of head covering in pagan worship. Thus, it is probably the case that some in the local church would wonder if believers in Christ should follow that custom while others wanting a clean break from anything pagan would be against it. As we have stated, we do not know the situation that existed in the local church in Corinth, that was the reason for Apostle Paul’s discourse about head covering in the section we are considering. That aside, our passage that is concerned with the matter of head covering in public worship contains a message that is applicable to all local churches of Christ regardless of geographical location. The message is this: Men should not have their head covered during prayer and likewise women who wear their hair the way God has given it to them, but they should cover it if they either cut or shave it. As we examine the passage before us that involve various arguments of the apostle, it will be clearer as to how we derived the message we believe the Holy Spirit wants us to convey to you as a believer in Christ.
The apostle, as we indicated in our previous study, did not immediately jump into the subject of head covering but he first praised the Corinthians for remembering his instructions to them and as a result of which they were holding firm and practicing the instructions they received from him. However, it seems some of the Corinthians were probably trying to practice something that he did not teach them. Thus, the apostle began 1 Corinthians 11:3 with a Greek particle (de) that is used to connect one clause to another, either to express contrast or simple continuation. It is translated “and” when a simple connective is desired between clauses. When there is a perceived contrast between two clauses it is translated “but.” It may be translated now” when it is either used to link narrative segments or to indicate a transition to something else. Of course, there are more usages of the particle but in 1 Corinthians 11:3, it could be interpreted either as a marker of transition to something else with the meaning “now” or as a marker of contrast with the meaning “but.” A handful of our English versions used the meaning “now” as in the 1984 edition of the NIV but the 2011 of the NIV followed the majority of our English versions in translating the Greek particle with the word “but.” It is most likely that the apostle used the particle not only to get the attention of the Corinthians but to indicate there was a practice that some of them were involved that was not in keeping with what he taught them or about to teach them. This would be the case with the matter of head covering the apostle had not taught them previously. Of course, later in verse 17 of this same chapter the apostle refers to the failure to practice the Lord’s Supper as he taught them.
Ignorance is quite often the root cause of our failures in trying to live our lives as Christians. In fact, as I have often stated, there is nothing more deadly in the spiritual life as ignorance. Because of this statement, we spent time in a previous study to consider the subject of ignorance. It is not my intention to review the full doctrine of ignorance that we have considered but because of its relevance in the passage of our current study, let me refresh your mind about three consequences of ignorance in the spiritual realm that we studied in the past. First, ignorance can lead a person to become a religious fanatic. This is implied in the statement of Proverbs 19:2:
It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.
Ignorance and zeal can be a deadly combination. An ignorant religious person is an extremely dangerous person. For you see, such a person is convinced that he is right, and others are wrong. There is no flexibility to allow such a person to recognize that it is possible that his views could be wrong even when he thinks that the Bible supports him or other religious book that religious people rely on as source of their authority. Because an ignorant person has zeal that individual is convinced that he/she is right, so the individual is willing to harm others by justifying his/her action. This was the case with Apostle Paul prior to his salvation as he recounted later after his conversion as conveyed in 1 Timothy 1:13:
Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.
The apostle was convinced he was fighting to maintain the traditions of his fathers instead of the truth. Consequently, he had no qualms persecuting believers in Christ. Second, ignorance can lead to blasphemy. When we think of blasphemy, we should think not only reviling God but violation of His character. So, a believer who acts in ignorance to indicate, for example, that God is not all powerful has in fact blasphemed. Let me illustrate. When we worry, we are in effect blaspheming because we are saying to God that we have encountered a problem He is not capable of handling. This thinking is a result of ignorance of the true omnipotent God. For the unbeliever, however, his blasphemy is mostly that of speaking ill of God and things that he does not understand. This is the reason Peter describes evil men who do not understand God as being blasphemous in 2 Peter 2:12:
But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
Third, and the deadliest consequence of ignorance is eternal destruction as stated, for example, in 2 Thessalonians 1:8–9:
8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power.
Eternal destruction comes because a person does not know that salvation is only through faith in Jesus Christ as stated in Acts 4:12:
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
A person who does not know that salvation is obtained through Jesus Christ seeks to establish right relationship or the personal righteousness through works because the person does not know that righteousness is obtained through faith in Jesus Christ. Thus, Apostle Paul could speak of those who are trying to establish right standing with God by their own works as ignorant of how to obtain God’s righteousness by faith as he referenced in Romans 10:3:
Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
It is because ignorance of what Christ has done for us on the cross and a person’s effort to establish relationship with God by the individual’s works that are included in the darkening of a person’s understanding Apostle Paul used to describe those who are alienated from God in Ephesians 4:18:
They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
There is no doubt that ignorance has the disastrous consequence of eternal separation from God for the unbeliever, but it still has an unpleasant consequence for a believer. Ignorance of truth on the part of a believer leads to living a lifestyle that is incompatible with truth. As a believer lives that kind of lifestyle, the person remains without the filling of the Holy Spirit. This is the situation with many Christians; ignorance keeps them down from recognizing that they are not controlled by the Holy Spirit because of their lifestyles. This was the concern of Apostle Peter in his epistle that he cautioned believers not to live a lifestyle of ignorance in 1 Peter 1:14:
As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.
It is not only that ignorance leads to wrong lifestyle for a believer, but it also causes such a person to live in slavery to Satan as it pertains fear of death as the human author of Hebrews stated in Hebrew 2:14-15:
14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-- that is, the devil—15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
Anyway, we should recognize that ignorance has disastrous consequences on both unbelievers and believers.
The review we have given reminds us that it is important not to remain ignorant regarding spiritual matters as that affects our conduct. The way a person gets rid of ignorance in any area of life, especially in the spiritual life, is to receive information. Therefore, the apostle conveyed this fact when he expressed his desire for the Corinthians in the first sentence of 1 Corinthians 11:3 Now I want you to realize. The apostle has a strong desire to ensure that the Corinthians were not ignorant of truth that will keep them from practicing something he had not communicated to them. We indicate that the apostle had strong desire because of the word “want” that is translated from a Greek word (thelō) that may mean “to wish to have, desire, want,” that is, to have a desire for something as Apostle Paul used it to describe what he wanted Roman believers to do, as stated in Romans 16:19:
Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.
The word may mean to have something in mind for oneself and so means “to purpose, will, wish, decide.” It is with the meaning “to wish” that Apostle Paul used it in his question to the Galatians of desiring to be enslaved to what they had been freed from in Galatians 4:9:
But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?
The word may mean to take pleasure in something in view of its being desirable and so means “to enjoy, to like, to take pleasure in something” as Apostle Paul used it to describe false individuals in Colossae that took pleasure in false humility and in the worship of angels in Colossians 2:18:
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.
The word may mean “to have an opinion,” “to think something to be so,” that is, “to maintain” something that is contrary to the true state of affairs as it is used to describe false teachers whose opinion is described in 2 Peter 3:5:
But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.
The clause they deliberately forget is literally in maintaining this it escapes them. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:3, the sense of the word is “feel or have desire for” something or “to want strongly.” Thus, the apostle has a strong desire for the Corinthians to have something.
The thing the apostle strongly wants the Corinthians to have is knowledge. It is this possession of knowledge that is conveyed in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 11:3 I want you to realize. Literally, the Greek reads I want you to know. The literal sentence indicates that the apostle was about to communicate a new teaching to them. We say this because when the apostle wants to remind the Corinthians of something he had taught them, he would use the rhetorical question that reads Do you not know…? that he used six times in the sixth chapter of 1 Corinthians. But in our verse of study the apostle simply stated I want you to realize or literally I want you to know.
The word “realize” is translated from a Greek word (oida) that may mean to grasp the meaning of something or to comprehend, that is, “to understand, recognize, come to know, experience” as in John 16:18:
They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”
The sentence We don’t understand what he is saying is literally we don’t know what he is saying. The Greek word may mean “to remember, recollect” as in 1 Corinthians 1:16:
(Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.)
The Greek word may mean “to know” in the sense of having information about someone or something as Apostle Paul used the word to indicate that the Galatians, prior to their salvation, did not know the true God in Galatians 4:8:
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.
The Greek word may mean “to understand how, to learn how” as Apostle Paul used the word to convey the sense of learning how to control one’s sexual desire to avoid sexual immorality in 1 Thessalonians 4:4:
that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable.
The sentence each of you should learn to control his own body of the NIV is literally each of you know how to possess his own vessel. The Greek word may mean “to honor, respect” as in the instruction of what is the expected attitude of believers in their relationship to their spiritual leaders as stated in 1 Thessalonians 5:12:
Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you.
The verbal phrase to respect those who work hard among you is literally to know those laboring among you, which does not make much sense unless it is understood either to mean to respect or honor such individuals since believers would have known such persons. The Greek word may mean “to know” in the sense of being intimately acquainted with or stand in close relationship to someone so that it is used to know God, not merely to know theoretically of His existence, but to have a positive relationship with Him as in the claim in Titus 1:16:
They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:3, the word means “to know” in the sense of being aware or cognizant of a fact or a specific piece of information. Thus, the apostle had a strong desire for the Corinthians to have knowledge that would help them to avoid any practice that he had not taught them while he was with them or in a subsequent letter to them.
The knowledge the apostle strongly wants the Corinthians to have is that there is such a thing as the concept of hierarchy both in heaven and on earth. It is this that the apostle conveyed when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:3 Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Where is the concept of hierarchy in this verse? You may ask. It is in the word “head.” So, let us examine the word “head.” But before I do, let me inform you that there exist extensive writings by scholars on this word “head” regarding its meaning in our passage but it is not my intention to go into the details of the various works of scholars in this area but I will make reference to a particular scholar at the appropriate time in our consideration of the word “head” as used in the Greek.
The word “head” is translated from a Greek word (kephalē) that we can understand its meaning by considering its usages beginning with the Septuagint (Geek translation of the OT) where it is used with a range of meanings besides the meaning “head”. It is used in the sense of “top” of a mountain in the Septuagint of Genesis 8:5:
The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.
The Greek word is used for “head” in the sense of a “leader” or a person who occupies a position of superiority in the community in Septuagint of Judges 10:18:
The leaders of the people of Gilead said to each other, “Whoever will launch the attack against the Ammonites will be the head of all those living in Gilead.”
The sentence The leaders of the people of Gilead said to each other is more literally the people—heads of Gilead—say one unto another. The Greek word we are considering is used for the entire person, as in 1 Samuel 25:39:
When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise be to the LORD, who has upheld my cause against Nabal for treating me with contempt. He has kept his servant from doing wrong and has brought Nabal’s wrongdoing down on his own head.” Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife.
The phrase on his own head simply means “on him” so that it is clear the guilt of Nabal is to be on his person. The word can mean “head” in the sense of the “most important one”, especially of stone, as it is used in Psalm 118:22:
The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone;
The phrase the capstone is more literally head of a corner. The Hebrew phrase the head of the corner probably refers to the large stone placed at the corner of the foundation, where two rows came together and so some take it to be the keystone or capstone that completed the arch of a structure. Of course, some of our English versions rendered it differently than we have in the NIV. For example, the TEV rendered it the most important of all, the CEB rendered it the main foundation stone, and the NEB as the chief corner-stone.
Our Greek word, like its usage in the Septuagint, is used with a range of meanings in the NT. The most common use is in the literal sense of the part of the body that contains the brain, that is, “head.” It is in this sense the word is used by the Apostle Paul in discoursing the unity of the body in 1 Corinthians 12:21:
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”
The idea of taking “head” as referring to a person is one that we have already noted in the use of our Greek word in the Septuagint. The same sense of “head” representing a person is used in the Apostle Paul’s reaction to the Jews for not accepting the gospel, as recorded in Acts 18:6:
But when the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
The idiom Your blood be on your own heads is to be understood that the Jews would take the blame for rejecting the apostle’s gospel message; thus, some English versions avoided the literal idiom and rendered it in an interpretative manner. For example, the TEV rendered it you yourselves must take the blame for it while the CEB rendered it You are responsible for your own fates! Figuratively, our Greek word is used to denote “superior rank.” Hence, the word “head” is used primarily to indicate Jesus’ pre-eminent status in the church and so has authority not only over the church but over the universe, according to Ephesians 1:22:
And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,
There are those who take the word “head” in this passage to mean that Christ is the source or origin of the church. This is possible but there is no evidence that the word “head” should be taken as source or origin in our passage. In fact, Dr. Wayne Grudem provides a survey of 2,336 instances of the use of our Greek word in the writings of thirty-six Greek authors. He indicated that of these, over 2,000 denote the “actual physical head of a man or animal,” while of the remaining 302 metaphorical uses, 49 apply to a “person of superior authority or rank, or ‘ruler’, ‘ruling part.’ No instances were discovered in which our Greek word had the meaning ‘source’, ‘origin.’”[2] So, it is best to understand the word as a reference to the pre-eminent status of Christ with respect to the church. Anyway, “superior rank” implies authority so that our Greek word has the concept of authority when used in connection with living beings. This qualification of “living beings” is important because our Greek word can also be used figuratively in connection with things with the meaning “the uppermost part, extremity, end, point.” It is this sense that our Greek word is used in 1 Peter 2:7:
Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,”
This passage contains quotation from Psalm 118:22 we cited previously so that the phrase the capstone is more literally from the Greek head of corner. The literal word “head” here can mean “end” in the sense of the point where two rows come together. Of course, we have already indicated that the phrase is translated differently in our English versions. In any event, examination of our Greek word translated “head” used in 1 Corinthians 11:3 indicates that with respect to persons, the word has the meaning of “leader” or “one with a superior rank.” In our passage, of 1 Corinthians 11:3, the sense is that of “someone in charge” or “leader” so that the Greek word conveys the concept of authority or hierarchy. In effect, the word “head” is used here three times in our verse of study but in each case, it is used figuratively for hierarchical meaning of authority of one over another. Hence, although the word “hierarchy” is not used directly in 1 Corinthians 11:3 but that is what is conveyed by the word “head” used in the verse.
Be that as it may, it is our assertion that the knowledge the apostle strongly wants the Corinthians to have, is that there is such a thing as the concept of hierarchy both in heaven and on earth. Hierarchy has meaning only when there is relationship between two or more persons in which order or authority is of concern, say in a functional unit. This being the case, the apostle mentions three relationships in 1 Corinthians 11:3 where authority is of concern. But before we get to the three relationships the apostle mentioned in our passage, we need to comment briefly on the concept of authority since that may be misunderstood in our present passage.
We should be careful to understand that “authority” does not imply inferior nature of the one who is under it in a functional unit or system. We mean that in a functional unit that consists of persons, the nature of the one with authority is not different from that of the one under it. Instead, authority means that someone has to be in charge even when you have people of equal qualifications. Take for example, in the university system or functional unit, a department has a head. This head usually has the same terminal degree as the other professors in the department. However, one of them is chosen as the head to oversee others. This does not necessarily mean that the one who is in charge is the most intelligent but that the person has been delegated the authority to oversee the running of the department. The situation is quite similar to that of a Christian marriage. Christian husbands and wives have equal standing before God, firstly as there is no distinction of status between male and female in Christ, as stated Galatians 3:28:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
This passage does not state there is no functional difference between male and female in Christ but that there is no difference in status since after salvation a female retain all that define her as a woman, likewise a man retains all that define him as such. That there is no difference between male and female in Christ means there is no difference in status but there is a difference in function. Secondly, the equal standing of Christian husbands and wives is conveyed with the concept of both being heirs of God in 1 Peter 3:7:
Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.
The sense of equal standing of the Christian husbands and wives is given in the phrase as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life. An alternative translation that is more literal is as fellow heirs also of the grace of life, so it is clearer that both are fellow heirs before God in the sense that both are indeed recipients of eternal life. Hence, there is no doubt that there is no difference in the standing of Christian husbands and wives before God but there is certainly a difference in function between them. By the way, both husband and wife have the same human nature and as believers have also become participants in divine nature as we read in 2 Peter 1:4:
Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Another fact we need to understand about authority is that it has to do with the order in connection with function or operation. In effect, proper functioning within a unit requires a kind of hierarchy. This means that those in a system of authority function under that authority in such a way that it does not alter the nature of those who function within that unit. With this comment on authority, we proceed to consider the three relationships the apostle stated that is the basis of our assertion that there is such a thing as the concept of hierarchy both in heaven and on earth.
The first relationship Apostle Paul mentioned is that between man and Christ as in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 11:3 the head of every man is Christ. This sentence is better translated Christ is the head of every man as reflected in majority of our English versions. Anyway, what is it the apostle meant in this sentence?
To answer this question, there are three observations we should note. First, the apostle did not use a Greek word (anthrōpos) that would suggest that Christ’s authority is over humanity in the sense of men and women although true, but he used a Greek word (anēr) that in our verse of study means “man” in the sense of “an adult person who is male, as opposed to a woman.” The very use of the word “man” conveys that it is the concept of order in creation and so authority that is involved in what the apostle described since “man” is first in order of God’s creation of humanity. The Greek word he used nowhere in the NT has the sense of humanity. In some context, the Greek word may have the meaning of a person that could refer to man or woman as in the happiness or blessing that belongs to the individual whose sins are forgiven as Apostle Paul used our Greek word in quoting from the OT Scripture in Romans 4:8:
Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”
It is not only a man but also a woman who is blessed because of forgiveness of sins. Therefore, the use of man is intended to represent men and women. The same concept is implied in the use of the plural of our Greek word in Matthew 12:41:
The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.
The phrase men of Nineveh refers to the people of Nineveh that included men, women, and children. In one context, our Greek word has the meaning of “human” as an adjective as it is used by James in describing the destructive effect of anger in James 1:20:
for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
It is because “man” here refers to human that the translators of the REB used the word “human” in their translation For human anger does not promote God’s justice. This notwithstanding, there is no passage where our Greek word is used directly for humanity so that it usage in 1 Corinthians 11:3 is for man as opposite to a woman. By the way, the use of “man” here refers to both believer and unbelieving man although the apostle was probably focused on a believer but because of the concept of authority involved, what he stated has to apply to man absolutely without distinction of spiritual status. Anyway, our first observation is that the apostle used a Greek word that means an adult male as opposite of a woman.
Second, the apostle did not use the word “Jesus” instead he used the word “Christ” that is translated from a Greek word (Christos) that may mean “the Anointed One, the Messiah, Christ” or “the personal name ascribed to Jesus.” In our passage of 1 Corinthians 11:3, the apostle used the word as the personal name of Jesus. If the apostle meant merely “Jesus” as a name, one wonders the reason, he did not plainly use the word “Jesus” in describing His authority in relationship to man. You see, the name “Jesus” is one that describes Christ in His relationship to humanity. When Angel Gabriel announced the birth of Jesus, that was the name he gave to Mary as the name of the son she was to give birth as we read in Matthew 1:21:
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
The Holy Spirit through the human author of Hebrews used the name “Jesus” to identify the Son of God in His relationship to humanity as we read in Hebrews 2:11:
Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.
Hence, we would expect Apostle Paul to use the word “Jesus” in indicating that He is the head of man but that was not the case. The reason the apostle used the word “Christ” is probably because he wanted to present Him as the God man with emphasis on His deity. Quite often when the apostle used the word “Jesus,” he would add the word “Lord” to indicate he is concerned with the deity of Jesus. For example, when he stated that the Corinthians assembled to worship in the name of Jesus, he supplied the word “Lord” to indicate he implied the deity of Jesus in 1 Corinthians 5:4:
When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present.
The apostle conveyed the deity of Jesus by relating Him to God the Father. This we find in several of his epistles. In the apostle’s prayer for unity among the Romans, he described the relation of Jesus to God the Father that conveys the deity of Jesus as we read in Romans 15:5–6:
5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, 6 so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The apostle used the phrase Lord Jesus Christ in verse 6 also to indicate the deity of Jesus. He did the same in his second epistle to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 1:3:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
Having indicated that Jesus is God both by using the word “Father” and the phrase, he later in the same epistle dropped the word Christ but left the phrase our Lord Jesus in 2 Corinthians 11:31:
The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying.
Thus, the apostle would often use the word Lord with Jesus alone to convey His deity. In doing this, he communicated that Jesus is both God and man in one person. However, when the apostle intends to convey that Jesus is God without adding the word “Lord,” he often used the word “Christ.” Consider 1 Corinthians 3:23:
and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.
The sentence Christ is of God is literally Christ of God. Although the literal phrase is subject to three possible interpretations but all in all, the apostle in the phrase Christ of God is intended to convey that Christ is the Son of God which is tantamount to stating that He is God. Another example where the apostle conveyed the deity of Jesus by using only the word “Christ” concerns the matter of sin. The apostle conveyed that a believer that harms the conscience of a weaker or immature believer, sins against God as we read in 1 Corinthians 8:12:
When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
The apostle knew his Scripture that unless he recognized Jesus as God, he would not imply that a person sins against Christ since every sin is ultimately against God. He knew this from David’s confession of his sins of adultery and murder as we read in Psalm 51:4:
Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.
It is not only from this passage the apostle learned that sin is against God, so also from the confession of Israel as recorded in Jeremiah 3:25:
Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our fathers; from our youth till this day we have not obeyed the LORD our God.”
The point is that the apostle could not refer to sin against Christ unless he recognized him as God. Take another example, 1 Corinthians 9:21:
To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.
Here the phrase Christ’s law is the apostle’s way of recognizing the deity of Jesus since the law of Christ ultimately refers to the law of God. Hence, when the apostle wants to refer to the deity of Jesus, he would at times use the word “Christ” without adding the word Lord” to indicate he is concerned with the deity of Jesus. Anyway, it is not only when the apostle refers to the deity of Jesus that he used the word Christ alone but also when he described his humanity. The death of Jesus is that which is only possible as it pertains to His humanity so that when His death and resurrection are referenced, the apostle also used the word Christ as we read in Romans 14:9:
For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
This observation implies that the apostle would use the word Christ alone either to describe the deity of Jesus or his humanity. Nonetheless, in 1 Corinthians 11:3, the apostle used the word “Christ” because he wanted to emphasize that Jesus is God man since he used the word “Christ” a second time in reference to God. The apostle felt that it would not be appropriate to use the word Jesus that is the name that introduced the Son of God in His humanity when relating Him to God if the word “Lord” is not used. Therefore, he used the word “Christ” the first time so that the reader would recognize he was more focused on the deity of Christ than his humanity. Anyway, our second observation is that the apostle did not use the word “Jesus” instead he used the word “Christ” because he wanted to describe Jesus as both God and man in one person.
Third, we should observe that there is a problem with the phrase of 1 Corinthians 11:3 head of every man. The problem is not readily apparent in the English as it is in the Greek. The problem is how to relate the word “head” to the phrase “every man” because the word “man” is in the genitive in the Greek. There are two possibilities. The word “head” could be seen as part of the whole “man.” Since Christ is the head in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 11:3 the head of every man is Christ, the implication is that Christ is part of man, that is, that He belongs to humanity. This interpretation makes good sense in that it answers the question as to why God is not said to be the head of man in the context. God is not part of humanity since He is the creator so that it would be improper according to this interpretation to say that God is part of humanity. The only member of the Godhead that is part of the humanity is the Son of God, the Lord Jesus, who took on human nature in addition to His divine nature so He could die for our sins. Another interpretation of the Greek phrase is to consider the “man” as being subordinate to the head which is Christ. The implication is that Christ is over man. Which of these interpretations did the apostle intend? It seems to me this is a case where both concepts were in the mind of the apostle when he wrote the sentence the head of every man is Christ we are considering. In effect, the apostle had in his mind that Christ is part of humanity since He took on the human nature so He could die for our sins but also that He is over man in the matter of authority.
The three observations we have made enable us to interpret what Apostle Paul meant in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 11:3 the head of every man is Christ or Christ is the head of every man. He meant that man functions under the authority of Christ as the God man. In effect, man is directly under the authority of Jesus Christ who is the God man that shares a common nature with humanity than any other member of the Godhead.
11/05//21
[1] Witherington, B., III. (1995). Conflict and Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians (p. 234). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
[2] Grudem, “Does κεφαλή (‘Head’) Mean ‘Source’ or ‘Authority Over’ in Greek Literature? A Survey of 2,336 Examples,” Trinity Journal (1985) 38–59.[2].