Read Part One HERE
In this blog I continue to focus on popular blogger Michelle Lesley
We will continue looking at her commentary on 1 Corinthians 11:4-5
Every man who prays or prophecies with his head covered dishonours his head, but every wife who prays or prophecies with her head uncovered dishonours her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven...
Michelle Lesley: "As chapter 11 opens, Paul commends the church at Corinth for keeping God's word as Paul had taught them, but, apparently, something was out of whack with the authority structure and the way men and women were behaving in the church because Paul immediately pivots to say , "But I want you to understand...."
Michelle Lesley: "Why is this important? Because those who use this passage to argue against the biblical roles of men and women either misunderstand or ignore the main point the Holy Spirit is trying to teach in these verses. The thesis statement of this passage of Scripture is not found in the verses mentioning head coverings. It is found in 1 Corinthians 11:3
"But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God."
Michelle Lesley: "In other words, the entire point of this section of Scripture is not that women should wear head coverings, the point is the biblical line of succession of authority. Head coverings etc are examples, illustrations, and logical arguments supporting the main point in verse 3."
Michelle Lesley: "God is the head of Christ, Christ is the head of man, and man is the head of his wife. And similar to the way that Christ has a different role in the godhead than God the father, yet is not in any way inferior to Him, women have a different role in marriage and the church than men, yet are equal to them in value, worth and salvation. Paul proceeds to explain this by using head coverings, common place marks of apparel whose function and significance would have been easily understood by his first century audience - to illustrate his point. At that particular time, in that particular locale, among those particular people, a head covering was worn by married women to signify that they were married and that they respected and were in submission to their husbands. For the women of the church in Corinth, it was a symbol that they understood and embraced their role as godly wives. A woman who pointedly refused to wear her head covering in church would have been making a statement akin to, "I can do what I want. I don't have to do what my husband, my church leadership, or even God says." By doing so, she dishonoured both her own head (herself) and the "head" of her home, her husband. Worst of all, she rejected and rebelled against the authority structure God Himself established."
My Comment
Michelle Lesley may have never checked out the Greek word for "head" as used by Paul in this passage. However, it is very important to do since Paul wrote this verse, and, in fact, the whole chapter in Greek and not in English. Going back to the Greek language in Paul's days, there were 14 words for the word "head," including a word for "authority" which is the word "archon." However, Paul did not choose the Greek word "archon" for this verse but chose the word "kephale" which means "source," "source of life." Paul is, therefore, not giving us a hierarchical structure in this verse, or a structure of authority, which Michelle wants to introduce us to as we can see from the way she changes the order in the verse!! Paul is giving us an chronological order or an order of time for Christ was the Source of Life for the first human from whom every human has come, the first man was the source of life for the first woman and God was the Source of Life for Christ at the time of His incarnation.
Moreover, when she mentions that Christ has a different role in the godhead than God the Father, she undoubtedly refers to the unbiblical teaching of the Eternal Submission or Subordination of God the Son to God the Father and uses that teaching to defend the false teaching that, likewise, women/wives are subordinate to men/husbands.
Furthermore, she uses the words "wife" and "husband" rather than "woman" and "man". That is no, doubt, because she wants to prove her point. Her whole commentary on the head covering of women is in line with some religious leaders in Corinth who tried to bring women back into line rather than the words of Paul.
P.S. The next post will be my last post on Michelle Lesley's commentary on 1 Corinthians 11:4-5.
Read Part Three HERE
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