Bx – Man is Born of Woman 11: 13-16

Man is Born of Woman
11: 13-16

Man is born of Woman DIG: What was the real issue that Paul was concerned about, the Corinthian women wearing a head covering? Or something bigger than that? What are the last two reasons why Paul wanted the women believers in Corinth to wear a head covering?

REFLECT: What issue is there in your place of worship that might be causing some of the immature believers to stumble, or cause believers to lose their testimony in your community, thus not being able to reach the lost? Who can you help this week to overcome that issue?

For as the woman was made from the man,
so also the man is now born through the woman.

There was no reason for believers to needlessly scoff at accepted cultural traditions that did not violate Scripture. The Corinthian women had every right to not wear head coverings in the worship service because of their freedom in Messiah; but by refusing to voluntarily yield their right for the sake of others, they stumbled other weak believers and ruined their testimony with unbelievers in the community.³⁰⁸ Thus, they violated Paul’s basic principle: With all kinds of people, both Jews and Gentiles, I have become all kinds of things, so that in all kinds of circumstances I might save at least some of them (9:22b).

Dear Great Heavenly Father, How fantastic it is to have such a loving, wise and wonderful Father! You abide in Your children and are always there to guide and love us. For God Himself has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5c). It is so wonderful to never be alone but always have You with me. It is a joy to please You. One way to please You is when Your children love one another. So, we have come to know and trust in the love that God has for us. God is love. Now whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him (1 John 4:16). Pleasing ourselves is so natural, but it is so much wiser and better to please You. The law of love is what You want us to follow. And Yeshua said to him, “You shall love Adonai your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39). I want to please You by loving others ahead of myself. In Your holy Son’s name and power of His resurrection Amen.

Paul changes direction and introduces a caveat to his argument. What follows is not integral to his case (to see link click Bw – The Head of a Wife is Her Husband), but is inserted to offer some balance to the previous emphasis on women’s secondary role in creation. He does this by observing that the man is now born through the woman. In other words, men are dependent on women for their existence.³⁰⁹ Every man has a mother, and this reduces the temptation of men to think themselves free from the obligation to honor women. The principle of honoring mothers (see the commentary on Exodus Do – Honor Your Father and Your Mother) implies that husbands ought to have a high regard and honor for their wives. Therefore, when all is said and done, we need each other.³¹⁰

Paul offered five reasons in verses 2-16 why women should wear head coverings in public worship.

4. The fourth reason was to emphasize the distinction between sexes (11:11-15): Lest anyone mistake his description of headship in 11:3, Paul makes it clear that women (wives) also have a direct relationship with God. Nevertheless, in union with the Lord neither is woman independent of man nor is man independent of woman; for as the woman was made from the man, so also the man is now born through the woman. While Eve did come from Adam, so too are male children born through female mothers. Paul reminded the Corinthians that everything comes from God (11:11-12). In other words, that fact that Eve came from Adam’s rib does not contradict that fact that God Himself fashioned the first woman.

To be sure, husbands have a headship role because they are held responsible for what goes on in their marriage (see the commentary on Romans Bm – The Consequences of Adam), this does not eliminate the need for wives to cultivate their own relationship with Messiah. Wives worship and honor ADONAI directly because there is neither . . . male or female (Galatians 3:28). Moreover, this common origin implies a commonality of worship; the distinctions between the sexes in their worship roles does not imply complete separation. Both men and women must fulfill their proper roles together if worship is to be acceptable.³¹¹

This section begins with an unusual expression: Decide for yourselves (11:13a). By these words Paul did not encourage the Corinthians to ignore his instructions. Rather, he meant that they should not blindly obey his directives, they were to think through the issue. Paul said this because he was convinced the believers in Corinth had the ability to think properly on this issue. He hoped they would reason through the issues with him and see how he came to his conclusions. In fact, since this was an area in which he knew the church was following his instructions, he probably expected the majority of his readers to agree with his position.

Paul then circled back to the main point of his argument: Is it appropriate for a woman to pray to God when she is uncovered, akin to a prostitute advertising her wares (11:13)? Within their new found freedom in Messiah, some of the “liberated” women in the Corinthian church adopted the “for me, everything is permitted” (6:12a) attitude, and were praying and prophesying with uncovered heads, contrary to the cultural norms of the time. As a result, Paul wanted the Corinthian women to wear a head covering in public worship because their actions were damaging to the women themselves, the Corinthian church, the Corinthian community, and most of all to God Himself. Other spiritually immature believers in the church were being stumbled upon; and in addition, those women were losing their testimony in the community. Thus, they violated Paul’s basic principle: With all kinds of people, both Jews and Gentiles, I have become all kinds of things, so that in all kinds of circumstances I might save at least some of them (9:22b).

To clinch his case, Paul throws in a final argument by appealing to nature, which is assumed to reveal what is fitting, honorable and glorifying. Doesn’t the nature of things itself teach you that a man who wears his hair long degrades himself? The mentioning of hair only serves as a final illustration as to why women (wives) should have a cover on their heads, but men (husbands) should not.³¹² Long hair was a woman’s glory because it gave her the visible expression to the differentiation of the sexes. This was Paul’s point in noting that long hair is given to her as a covering (11:14-15). Since she had a natural covering, her hair, she followed the custom of wearing a physical covering, a veil, in public worship. Whether women today should wear a head covering or men should wear a hat depends on the customs where they live.

When Paul speaks of nature, he means what his society at the time understood to be natural. In general, it was shameful for men in his culture to have long hair. The only surviving statues from Corinth portraying men wearing long hair, besides male deities, were those appearing in the façade of the captives in the forum in Roman Corinth. Their long hair was intended to portray those captives were weak, soft and effeminate.

The Corinthian women went to war against their culture and what society considered natural at the time. Paul only brought up hair as an analogy. God has given women a glorious, natural head covering, namely, their hair. Therefore, Paul wanted the Corinthian women (wives) to follow the lead of nature, as defined by social custom at that time, and cover their heads. Men (husbands), on the other hand, did not use their hair as their cover, since it was shameful for them to have long hair in their culture.³¹³

5. The fifth reason was the universal practice (11:16): It was time to wrap things up. So, Paul brought to a close his argument over the rightness of the Corinthian women maintaining the tradition of covering their heads in the worship service. Some of the women were being contentious about this. However, Paul refused to be contentious back. It was not his way to argue back and forth. Therefore, he concluded: If anyone wants to argue about it, the fact remains that we have no such custom, nor do the Messianic communities of God (11:16). Paul was not trying to force a new behavioral pattern on the Corinthians, but simply to hold the line against self-indulgent individual excess in the name of freedom in Messiah. As in the case of food sacrificed to idols (see Bj – Concerning Our Freedom in Messiah), Paul dealt with the immediate issue, but also put his finger on the root of the problem, the Corinthian pursuit of self-interest which was unwilling to voluntarily give up their “rights” for the needs of others (10:24) or the glory of God (10:31). For the women not to wear a head covering in the worship service was an act of rebelliousness which discredited ADONAI.³¹⁴