 |  |
The head of the woman is the man.
The title of this section is taken from I Cor. 11: 3 in a context where Paul is dealing
with the relationship between man and woman in order to teach truth concerning the
veiling or otherwise of the head in a public assembly. The passage is not easy to
expound, there being a number of difficulties in it, but these will not detract from what
Paul has to teach on the subject being considered.
"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" (I Cor. 11: 3).
It has already been observed (in article 3 of this series) that the word "man" here
(Greek aner) could be "husband", as in the R.S.V.;
". . . . . the head of a woman is her husband."
It has also been pointed out, that since man and woman complement each other, then
the proper relationship between the two may only be completely understood and fulfilled
within the marriage bond. These things must be kept in mind in all that is said of their
relationship to each other.
Applying now what has been learnt of the meaning of headship from both Old and
New Testaments, note first that man has precedence in time and position in God's
economy:
"Adam was first formed, then Eve" (I Tim. 2: 13).
"Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man" (I Cor. 11: 9).
Paul, building upon the prior formation of Adam, deduces from it that the authority to
teach (i.e. God's word) has been vested in man not woman. (He also uses a second
argument to enforce his point, but this will be dealt with when the teaching of women is
examined in more detail.) More light is thrown on this when the implications of the prior
creation of man are seen in Genesis:
"The Lord God took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and to
keep (guard) it. And the Lord God commanded the man . . . . . of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it . . . . . And the Lord God said, It is not
good that the man should be alone . . . . ." (2: 15-18).
It is seen that the man is placed in the garden to "guard it" (Moffatt) and commanded
concerning the tree before the building of the woman; he is the one in whom the
authority and responsibility for the garden and its forbidden tree are vested. It is to him
that the word of the Lord comes, and since there is no record of the Lord having repeated
His command to the woman, it is reasonable to suppose that it was also Adam's charge to
make his wife aware of the prohibition concerning the tree. (That she did know of it is
evident from 3: 2, 3 even though she minimized it by misquoting.) This charge may
reflect on Paul's word in I Cor. 14: 34, 35:
"Let the women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to
speak; but let them be in subjection, as also saith the law. And if they would learn