QUESTION: Theologians, some feminists have been agitated by this passage of scripture. 1Corinthian 11:7-8: “A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of a woman. For man did not come from a woman but woman from man” Kindly provide some Exegesis. Maslow.
RESPONSE: First and foremost, the presence of feminists among us today illustrates how our generation shares the same ignorance and prejudice as the text’s generation. As a result, we, like the Preacher and his audience in Corinthians, require salvation and redemption from GENDERISM. The feminist movement is a problem in and of itself, but it was spawned by another issue: male chauvinism. Moving from one extreme to the other, then, isn’t a reasonable solution. Regardless of life’s dynamics, we must keep an eye on the concept of identity. A woman and a man, in my opinion, are distinct beings whose roles are to complement and fulfil one another regardless of their surroundings, exposure, or experiences. The question we’re answering is based on 1Corinthians 11:7-8, but it’s important to note that we’re looking at two intriguing situations in 1Corinthians 11:7-8 as we respond.
The Immediate Context
It is critical for all Bible readers to recognise that they are holding a work of literature in their hands, and that the basic principles of reading and comprehension must be used. When reading 1Corinthians 11:7-8, make sure you read the complete passage. 1Corinthians 11:3-16 is the immediate context of 1Corinthians 11:7-8. The writer is wrestling with a culturally sensitive problem of how women prophets and all other gifted women should behave differently given the existing limits of traditional gender markers, as any casual reader will notice after reading the chapter twice.
In the Greco-Roman culture of the Church at Corinth, these cultural gender markers included where and how men and women dressed. Paul is clearly not dealing with the issue of women’s fashion and style in the Church of Corinth, nor is he dealing with all women; rather, he is dealing with women who lead the congregation in prayer, or those who have a prophecy to tell or an angelic apparition to testify before the Church in assembly. Paul uses a literal method known as parallelism throughout his epistles to address such culturally delicate situations. Without presenting an open attack, he delicately separates virtue from vice. I’ll take care of this later, but for now, here’s a quick summary of the text in verses 3-16; please have your Bible open:
- Sign of Authority: Paul uses a literal device of parallelism in verses 3-7 that is related to verse 10. Paul’s theme is ‘Headship,’ which in the community of the Church at Corinth, which included Greeks, Romans, and Jews, was a culturally and religiously sanctioned hierarchy. The Greek word ‘Kephale’ (which means ‘head’) means ‘at the beginning’ or ‘at the top.’ So Paul reminds the women who are leading the congregation that they must observe protocol and the best way to maintain cultural gender markers, one of which is hair covering (a symbolism that stands for submission to authority). To avoid misrepresenting the Angel who gave the prophecy, the woman with the prophecy must follow the cultural ethos.
- Creation Myth: Paul seems to respect his audience’s understanding of the creation myth in verses 8-9. They thought, as do many people today, that a woman was created because a man needed her (Genesis 2:18) and that she was made out of a man’s rib (Genesis 2:21-23). In verses 11-12, Paul, on the other hand, rapidly contrasts this religio-cultural perspective of creation, which almost portrays a woman as a result of a man and a dependent with two interesting ideas: The first is that, while a woman represents inferiority in their (Corinthian Church) cultural hierarchy, both men and women are equally God’s creation and have equal social status before God, according to the other interpretation of the creation account in Genesis 1:26-27. The fact is that in Genesis 1:1, creation is complete and finished; the rest of Genesis 1:2-2:1-25 are mythological responses to human socio-anthropological questions. Paul goes on to dispel the myth of gender superiority by showing that neither man nor woman can live and prosper without the other. As a result, Paul presents the psychology of both superior and inferior interdependence to progressively replace the cultural one of superior and inferior relationships. Paul has just educated us all in this Parallelism that the issue of feminism vs male chauvinism is about our understanding of creation before we even address our cultural prejudices. While Bible readers must overcome their Biblical myths, societies must also overcome their cultural myths and traditions.
- Judge for Yourselves: In verses 13-16, Paul sets aside his theological prejudices and directs his audience’s attention to two current realities. The first reality is that the Church of Corinth is a cosmopolitan church whose converts, both gentiles and Jews, come from strict religious and cultural backgrounds with strong gender markers. Paul challenges them to determine what is appropriate in light of their cultural symbols of worship and veneration. Is it proper for a woman not to cover her hair because it is a show of respect for current authority (God and Men), or does not “the very essence of things educate you?” (verses 13-14)? The second and most important current reality is that any cultural activity or practise that does not compromise the gospel can and should be ignored. “If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—and neither do the churches of God,” Paul concludes.
The Broad-Context
In simple terms, Biblical hermeneutics is the study of a text in both its historical and grammatical contexts. What book is the verse in question from, what circumstances influenced its formation, what are its literary implications, as we saw above in the immediate context, and so on. We have a written discourse between Apostle Paul and his newly founded church at Corinth in 1Corinthian 11:7-8. We know firsthand that Paul was a Christian missionary who spread Christianity from place to place. As a missionary, Paul never introduced God to everyone he met, but rather a specific interpretation of God. Christianity is about that particular understanding and practise in worship of this God, as opposed to how Christianity is perceived today. To grasp the Pauline approach and the meaning of 1Corinthian 11:7-8 in its larger context, we must consider two key elements: the first is the missionary and the city of Corinth, which is helpful in understanding WHAT is said in 1Corinthian 11:7-8; the second is the concept of contextualization in the study of theology (read-God), which is helpful in understanding HOW and WHY 1Corinthian 11:7-8:
- The Missionary, the City and the Church at Corinth: Paul had only been on one missionary journey when he arrived in Corinth, and it was his second missionary journey (Acts 18:1-2). There he met a couple (Aquila and Priscila) with whom he became friends for three reasons: first, they were fellow Jews expelled from Rome, second, they shared his faith in Jesus, and third, they collaborated in Christian entrepreneurship and the tent-making trade. The Romans had taken control of Corinth by the time Paul arrived, and the city was dominated by native Corinthians, Roman troops and citizens, and freed former slaves. Later, Greeks (most likely original Corinthians) and diaspora Jews joined the mix.
- In the days of Paul’s second missionary journey, all of these ethnicities, with their religious backgrounds and cultural attitudes, were there. As a missionary, Paul finds himself in cosmopolitan geography, and while his objective is to spread the gospel, he encounters a variety of civilizations who are conservative in their beliefs on numerous issues. Corinth was an intellectual centre since it was founded by Greeks. Now we understand why Paul, as an academic preparing to preach “Belief,” confessed to approaching the city in weakness, fear, and trembling (1Corinthians 2:3). Paul recognised the mission in Corinth would be difficult based on his experience with Greek-dominated cities such as Thessalonica, Athens, and Philippi. Although Athens was the intellectual capital of the Greco-Roman world, the Greek mentality and worldview predominated at Corinth.
- As a missionary, Paul first went to a synagogue in Corinth. A synagogue was a predominantly Jewish religious centre where practically everyone was proselytised (culturally initiated into the Jewish teaching and belief about God). Paul’s motivation for joining the synagogue was to fight the conservative Jews who preached and taught Jesus as solely a Jewish messiah. A synagogue, then, was not a Christian centre, but rather a religious centre open to gentiles where the historical Jesus of Judaism (Jesus) and the Torah were taught. The Jerusalem sect of James, Peter, and John, who believed that Christianity was a reconciliation of Judaism and Jesus, agreed with what was taught in synagogues (Acts chapters 2-5, 15, Galatians 2:1-18). Cultural identity markers between men and women were clearly not only cultural difficulties in the synagogue, but divine ordinances punishable by death.
- Every Sabbath, Paul debated Jews and Gentiles in the Jewish Synagogue (not a Christian centre, but a hybrid of believers in Jesus of Nazareth and Judaism), on topics such as sexual behaviour (incest= 1Corinthians 5:1-13, Sexual Immorality= 6:12-20, Marriage and Singleness= 1Corinthians 7:1-40), Public Assembly gender dress code (1Corinthians 11:2-16), Lawsuits against fellow (1Corinthians 1:10-4:21). The Greeks and a Jewish group (the Sadducees) who did not believe in the resurrection had disputed Paul’s teaching of the resurrection in Athens (Acts 17:32). He wrestles with this extensively in 1Corinthians 15. He brought the same battle to the Synagogue of Corinth in all Sabbath-day services, and not long after, he and those who shared his beliefs (including the synagogue’s leader) were expelled out (Acts 18:1-6). He founded a home church, which we now know as the church of Corinth, at that time (Acts 18:7-8).
This is the broad historical context of 1Corinthians 11:7-8, which we all need to understand as we try to figure out what it says.
Next, I’ll discuss Contextualization, which is a subset of the larger context.
God bless you, I invoke TRUTH, WISDOM, and FAITH (2Tim 2:7)
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