1 Corinthians 11:3 Commentary and Bible Study

The head of every woman is Christ too, but the apostle is going to be speaking in terms of marriage and the church, so when it comes to marriage, and when it comes to the church and the officers of the church, there is a special responsibility given to men. With that responsibility comes accountability. God has made men responsible for the leadership of the marriage, and the leadership of the church, and he will hold them to account. They will be judged and disciplined, perhaps even in life, for how they have led either the church or the marriage. Of course this doesn't mean that the husband is to be a despot, or that the husband is superior. He very often isn’t. His wife is often more intelligent than he is. She may be better educated, and she may have a greater range of abilities, but it doesn't alter the fact that it is the will of God and the order of God, that the man will have the lead in the marriage. He will have to lead as Christ leads the church, with great gentleness and sensitivity to his wife's gifts and views and feelings, and with love and with patience, but he will have the responsibility of the ultimate lead. They will do as much as they can as a partnership, but in the last analysis, his wife will defer to him for the lead. Paul goes on, ‘and the head of the woman is the man.’ Does that make her inferior? No, it is an allocation of roles. One role is his, and she is his helper meet, as we read in the book of Genesis. The Hebrew is, ‘his surrounding helper’; she surrounds him and assists him in his mission, as it were. ‘And the head of Christ is God.’ That is a very important statement, because Christ is God. Possibly the main reason why the apostle Paul brings that point in is to help us. He is equal to the Father. He is equally eternal, equally powerful, equally knowledgeable, equally authoritative, equally God, so how can it be said that the head of Christ is God, the Father. It means this: that for the purposes of ruling this world, and saving mankind, and ruling a saved people of God throughout eternity, Christ is the one who has that role. On behalf of the entire Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to him is deputed the salvation and the rule of men and women. Does it detract from his divinity, from his being God? Not at all. He is equal with the Father and yet he accepts this role, as if accountable to the Father and the Holy Spirit. Now when you grasp that, you can see that it does not diminish women to be helpers to men. The woman is appointed to complete the man, to support him, and her great desire is that he will succeed in the task given to him in leading the marriage, or, if he is a church officer, leading the church. Of course in his leadership of the church he is really not leading at all; he is applying the rule of the word of God. It is the word that makes all the decisions, and the church officer endeavours to see them carried out. This is the principle of male headship. In Galatians 3:27-28 we read, ‘For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.’ So, in the sight of God, men and women are entirely equal. One is not superior to the other; one has the leading role, the other has the supporting role, but in the sight of God they are equally precious, equally saved, equally his children, and we remember that. The way we understand leadership is that we are leading equals, and we must respect them, love them, and acknowledged them. We must be careful. Do you have a wife? What have you done to potentiate her access to Christian service, to the exercise of her God-given abilities to serve the Lord? What you do to assist her? Of course, her role is to assist you, but you are also responsible to see to it, that she is fulfilled as a Christian woman, and able to serve the Lord and love him in some way. In Ephesians 5:22 we read ‘Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church’, and then in verse 25, ‘Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it’ – sacrificial love, committed love. So he is ultimately responsible and accountable for keeping the flame of love alive, for keeping the union of husband and wife.’ Now this always was the case; it is in the book of Genesis even before the fall. The first woman was to make complete the first man. After the fall of man, it became more onerous, because fallen human nature came in, and instead of being a wonderful thing – to be a husband’s helpmeet – it became an irksome thing, and even in a converted person the fallen nature will keep saying, ‘Why must I take second place?’, and there is rebellion in the heart. But still, it is the inscrutable will of God. After the fall, there were punishments, restrictions, put upon the human race. The man was given the primary responsibility to work and to earn, and his punishment was that he would have to work and earn under great difficulty. The earth would bring forth thorns and briars. In other words, in his workplace and in his carrying out of his work there will be many pleasures, many fulfilling aspects, but there will also be many frustrating elements, disappointments, griefs, and difficulties. When a man works long hours, he says to himself, ‘This is a sermon I’m preaching. It reminds me of the fall. I'm preaching the fall in my daily work.’ The woman is also given punishments peculiar to her: childbirth. Childbirth is wonderful; that has beautiful aspects; that has feelings and sensations for the woman, which cannot be compared with anything else. But there is also a burdensome aspect, and difficulties, and hardships, and pain. When that happens, in her body she too is preaching a sermon: ‘Never forget the fall.’ Then also she is required to be number two in the marriage.