I Corinthians 11:2-16
“Keeping A God-like Image”
Sermon by
Mark A. Horne
It seems everywhere we turn today there is an allusion to the way we should look. We see it on television, newspapers, magazines, billboards; you can name bout anything and how one should look is right there for us to see and compare. The motto we tend to affirm, “image is everything….” Some even go to extremes with deeds such as liposuction, bodybuilding, sex-change operations, and now on the ethics table is cloning. The culture today is pushing the limits in what kind of image we should uphold. The question we have to ask is how will we stand against such promiscuous lies?
During the time Paul was writing this letter to the Corinthians, questions like ours were addressed. And it seems these issues were important enough for the Holy Spirit to lead Paul to write the passage we are studying this morning. Let me be the first one to admit; though there are questions answered in this passage there are also questions of how we can interpret this passage as well. And I believe the reason that even scholars have such debates over this passage is because they want to apply our culture to the passage instead of letting the passage be applied to our culture.
I believe Paul gives us four points to gain from our passage this morning:
1) Even though we must take a stand against what the church as a whole does wrong, we also must commend it for what it does right.
2) We must never forget that Christ is the head if the church.
3) Men and women each have their own place in worship and the order of the church.
4) Arguing over matters that undermine Christ’s ordained structure of His church leads only to heartache.
Even though we must take a stand against what the church as a whole does wrong, we also must commend it for what it does right. Notice Paul’s affirmation in verse 2. Throughout his whole letter Paul has been addressing issues that the Corinthians were having that did not show a Christ-like image. In several places it seems that Paul was very hard on them telling them things that they needed to know – and not just what they wanted to hear. In several places Paul had to defend himself and his right as an apostle of Christ. Yet, in all that he tells them, he always makes sure that they have not lost their relationship with each other. He thanks God for them in chapter 1. He calls them “dear friends” in chapter 10 verse 14. And here in 11:2 he gives them praise for remembering the ordinances that he taught them.
As Paul begins this exhortation about the kind of dignity one should have in worship and daily life for Christ, he wants them to understand that he recognizes that some in their congregation is diligent in their obedience to Christ. Though the state of the church allowed much to be desired, since there were many bad apples, Paul shows to them the form that he had prescribed to them was retained by the entire body. It is true that there were many sins that prevailed among them, but at the same time it is true that the public form of the church, the institutions of Christ and the Apostles that Paul conveyed to them were maintained. We believe this to be true even today. We firmly uphold our Westminster Confession that states “the purest churches under heaven are subject to both impurity and error. Some churches have so degenerated that they are not churches of Christ but synagogues of Satan. Nevertheless, there will always be a church on earth to worship God according to His will (WCF 25:5).”
Understanding this we must recognize that there were certain traditions of the Apostles that were not committed to writing. These things were not meant to be apart of doctrine or related to that which is necessary for salvation. But they were connected to order and government. Paul framed the Corinthian church in such a way that he wanted it to be orderly and productive. He wanted them to profit from the time that they spent together. He wanted them to show Christ with the least bit of possible error and remain pure. Therefore, in order to prepare them for obedience in the future, he commends them for their obedience in the past.
Then in verse 3 he reminds them and that they must never forget that Christ is the head if the church. The Greek term here kefalh/, that is “head,” in its metaphorical sense could apply to the outstanding and determining part of a whole. But as Bruce Waltke suggests it also can refer to origin. It seems most likely that Paul is setting up for us the proper way that we should view ourselves in relationship to Christ and to each other. Paul seems to use the word to set forth the hierarchical, social structure in God’s economy. However we must not get too wrapped up in choosing one meaning over another. The very little evidence we have to help us understand has ambiguity and really for our passage the two ideas does not have to exclude each other. Paul often uses the term to speak of Christ as head - the source of our being who we are in Him. Other times Paul speaks of Christ as the head – the one who is in authority and whom we owe our complete submission. The error the Corinthians always fell into was that of status. They had a problem with humbleness and tended to lift themselves up over others – and tended to think they could be equal to God.
Paul makes it clear the place we must see ourselves in relation to Christ in order to maintain the image He wants us to portray. Paul shows us it is God the Father who maintains the first place in His divine structure. Christ holds the second place. Not that the two are not equal. But Christ took on that role of submissiveness so he could embody the flesh of man required to redeem His people. Christ is still one essence with the Father, He is still God; but to our praise and thanks we are adorned with grace because He loved us enough to be born a man and die for our sins and then overcome death so we may have eternal life in Him. He is our mediator and it is through Him that we have the possibility to pray.
Verse 3 also gives us the distinction that men and women each have their own place in worship and the order of the church. This discussion is carried all the way through verse 15. We must understand that Paul is not the chauvinist that many anti-Christian feminist makes him out to be, nor is he the upholder of women’s rights as many Christian feminist try to make him into by twisting certain verses to their liking. Paul explicitly bears witness to the patriarchal structure of the home and to existing male-female forms of dress and ritual practices.
In our passage we see Paul addressing both issues. He discusses the role men and women play in relation to God and in relation to each other. Yet he also discusses the way each dress and the meaning that has in bearing the image of Christ.
Let us first consider men our role we play in the propriety of worship. It is utmost importance that we understand God has ordained us to be the head of our families. We have been put in the place of an intermediate position to the woman, the wife. Paul here is showing the church that there are positions of order that we can not disregard. Christ is the head of both the man and the woman; but as to the regards of the setup of the church it is man that follows Christ and woman that follows the man. Men, we have been put in place as the spiritual leaders of our household. We have the responsibility to assume our position and hold strongly to what God has us to do.
This I am sure we all will agree. However, there is another aspect of our worship, men, we have to consider as well. Paul here discusses the issue of not covering our heads in worship. There is no doubt that this was a cultural practice Paul is addressing. Yet, it has major theological implications. Paul wants us to understand that the way we dress is an important factor in having a Christ-like image. In Paul’s day the men kept their head uncovered to signify their respect for and submission to deity. We still hold to this practice today. We do not come to worship with anything on our heads. But it also signifies to us that we come in awe of God our creator. In verse 7 Paul indicates that this action shows the glory of Christ is in us. The glory of God shines forth to those around us, most notably our family, signifying the authority God had invested in us. When we come to worship we come with our heads uncovered accepting the responsibility given to us by God.
Paul even carries this farther to the way we keep up our hair. Men we are to keep ourselves neat and well kept. In Greece it was reckoned an unbecoming thing for a man to allow his hair to grow long. The Grecian custom indicates that a man with long, loose flowing hair was considered a homosexual. Does this mean it was true? Of course not! However, Paul makes clear to those who have been set at the head of the family, the men, that impressions are just as strong as the words we speak. Paul tells them that “you may say you are a Christian if you have long hair, but no one you come in contact sees it.” Paul teaches them that it shows disgrace and shame on the name of Christ. The issue we have today may not be long hair; but it could be other things. I am sure we all could make a list that could stretch end to end in this sanctuary of cultural practices that offends the name of Christ. But what we need to gain, men, is that understanding that we do not do these things as heads of our families because of the position God has placed us in. We need to take seriously our duty as an image bearer of Christ when we come to worship.
Now to the women, Paul also addresses the issue of long hair and covering the head. It was the custom in Paul’s day for women to cover their head. The practice continues today in some eastern parts of the world. And He also addresses the issue of your role in the church and your family. Notice Paul does not say that women should not do anything in church. Some feel the passages of Scripture such as 1 Corinthians 14:33 (which we will consider in a few weeks) and 1 Timothy 2 implies the only role women play is to come a sit like a knot on a log in church. That isn’t in any way true. Paul clearly states that women have responsibilities. We have learned from his own use of Lydia, Chloe, Pricilla and others that women played a huge part in Paul’s ministry and the formation of the Church by God. What we have to come to grips with is that there is a role, and that role falls behind the role of the man. Paul believes in the symbolic representations of the goodness and reality of sexual differentiation and that should be maintained. Women have the right to pray and to speak, but it must be done with caution knowing that they play the role to their husband like Christ the Son plays his to the Father.
For the woman in Paul’s day to appear outside the house with her head uncovered grounds for divorce. William J. Martin tells us that the woman was to wear her hair plaited and held together with special bands and coverings. The women in Tarsus were to wear coverings upon their face. The reason was that the pagan women in the temples wore their hair unbound and flowing during the frenzied worship of the Greek and Roman gods. And there are accounts of women who had their hair shaved off because of terrible acts of adultery.
The point is that the Apostle requires women to show their modesty – not merely in a place that the whole church is assembled, but also in any place that they are recognized as a Christian. Women have to take their authority seriously. They are to pray in worship and dress modestly in life because it shows her belonging and obedience to her husband. Both were created in the image of God, but one came first – the man and the woman came from the man. Neither can survive without the other, yet neither can live without knowing their role in the order God has given. Christian men acknowledge that the male sex is only half of the human race. Calvin says “the man has no standing without the woman, for that would be the head severed from the body; nor has the woman without the man, for that were a body without a head.”
Nature itself attests to this Paul says in verse 14. And when we want to throw off the yoke God has naturally set in place, we have rebelled against His authority. The man is the woman’s initial cause, she is his instrumental cause, but both owe their origin to God.
This leads us to verse 16 and our final point. Arguing over matters that undermine Christ’s ordained structure of His church leads only to heartache. Those who are contentious over such matters only stir up disputes within the church. Truth does not prevail and good is abolished. It is only those who think that there is no one above them who can endure such quarrels. God has given the church the practice it has for a reason. When we try to argue out what is truth then we argue with the only source of truth, God himself. Paul doesn’t even give those the chance to rebuke him on this matter. He is quick and to the point. This is how God has ordained our practice – this is how we will proceed.
Yes, everywhere we turn we see signs and advertisements of dress and unchristian living. It is troublesome at times, but I will remind you of what Samuel Wesley said to Charles one afternoon, “Charles, be steady. The Christian faith will surely revive in these kingdoms. You shall see though I shall not. Out of every eclipse the Cause of Christ arises more glorious and resplendent than ever. If the present age seems spiritually dark, if the glory of the church seems obscured, have faith in God. His gospel shall shine forth in glory and power.”
Let Us Pray: “Dear Heavenly Father, we have heard your Word preached this morning. I pray that we will take hold of these truths you gracefully inspired Paul to write to your church. Let us not falter when we come as fathers and mothers, husbands and wives into your presence. Keep our hearts set on knowing our place and the responsibilities you have set before us. Let us not become dismayed and contentious with your truth and let us not be disheartened with the world around us. We know you are Sovereign. May your gospel shine forth in glory and power. In your Son’s precious name, Jesus Christ, we pray, Amen.