1 Corinthians 11:8 Commentary and Bible Study

To support his argument, the apostle of course goes back to the details of the account of creation in Genesis. This gives us the foundation of human society and of all proper human relations, and Christians should embrace it cheerfully and confidently. The world has no other basis for how men and women are to relate to other and so constantly goes astray, inventing new rules for society as it goes along, and suffering the pain of trying to make them work. The first of these details is about the way in which the woman was formed. Paul accepts the Genesis account as absolutely literal, and certainly not as metaphorical in any way. What did not happen is that the man was formed from the woman. It was the woman who was formed from the body of the man. This was a deliberate difference in the way that God formed the two sexes which was intended to establish a principle that applies to the entire human race for all of time. The method God used contains lessons which are for life in this world, but not for the world to come. Man’s body will be created again at the resurrection and will be created in a way that is suitable to his eternal existence. Marriage is for this life and not for heaven, our Lord teaches, and when human beings were created male and female it was with marriage in mind. The lesson of God’s chosen method for the creation of men and women living in this world is profound. It establishes the most important principle of marriage: that man and woman are one flesh. The woman was formed from part of the body of the man. What was taken from him was given back to him in the person of his wife. What was subtracted from him was added to him again so that he was now complete only with his wife. That method of creation established the unity between them. But it was the man who was formed first and the woman was made out of his body. God could have made her in any way, including by an independent act of creation from the dust, but he created her in this way to show the strong connection between man and wife. She was added to him, not him to her.Not only the method God used to create her but the purpose for which she was created teaches the precedence of the man in this world. She was made for him. He experienced the awareness of being without her, of lacking a companion, of being incomplete. She was made a helpmeet for him and not he for her. She was created for his benefit and not he for hers. Now, this is to do with the order in marriage. For this reason the husband is the head of the wife, and should lead in marriage. But of course he must do his utmost to be worthy of that headship, and he must also take into account the particular gifts and understanding and perception that his wife has to contribute.