Re-reading 1 Corinthians 11: Image and Glory

1 Corinthians 11 is one of the chapters we are taught early on to read through the patriarchal lens: the man is the head of the woman, the way God the Father is the head of Christ; the line of authority flows without interruption from God to man. The woman is created from the man and for the man, and as a result she must wear a sign of the man's authority on her head. The end.

It is neat little package, too neat, for what does it mean that the man is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of man? And why are men and women not independent from each other in the Lord?

Paul refers to Genesis 1-3 in Corinthians 11:3-16:

Genesis 1: Humans are created in the Image of God (11:7)
Genesis 2: The woman is created from the man (11:7-8)
Genesis 3: The woman becomes the mother of all the living (11:12)

All of this is straightforward and needs no explanation. But why is the woman the man's glory? And why is it so important for Paul that the woman was created from the man, and for the man?

Let's begin with the details 1 Corinthians 11 doesn't mention, but that are important for a proper understanding of the text.

The woman is created in the image of God:

So God created [hu]man[kind] in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27, NIV).

Jesus is the Image of God:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation (Col 1:15, NIV).

Jesus is also the glory of the Father:

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs (Heb 1:1-4, NIV).

 The glory of the image reveals its origin, where it is from:

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (John 1:14, KJV)

When we look at Jesus, we see the Father:

Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? (John 14:9, NIV).

Yet, we say image of God, not clone of God. The image is a separate entity, which distinct features its archetype doesn't possess.

Faith is profitable, therefore, when her brow is bright with a fair crown of good works.

This faith—that I may set the matter forth shortly—

Is contained in the following principles, Which cannot be overthrown.

If the Son had His origin in nothing, He is not Son;

If He is a creature, He is not the Creator;

If He was made, He did not make all things;

If He needs to learn, He hath no foreknowledge;

If He is a receiver, He is not perfect;

If He progress, He is not God.

If He is unlike (the Father) He is not the (Father’s) image;

If He is Son by grace, He is not such by nature;

If He have no part in the Godhead, He hath it in Him to sin.

“There is none good, but Godhead.”

- Ambrose[1]

  

 

The Son is not the Father; he is the only begotten of God, wherefore he is the Image of God. Although the Son is not identical with the Father, he shares in the Father's glory, power, and holiness. If the Son didn't share the Father's glory, he wouldn't be God. 

Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles (Rom 1:22-23, NIV).

Idols do not possess God's glory, nor are they God's Image, for they didn't come from God.

All creation glorifies God, but only the image is the glory of God; God the Son radiates the glory of God for he possesses the glory of God, being himself God. This glory was given to the first man as he was created in the image of God, wherefore the man is said to be the image and glory of God. 

***

All humans, born or created, are in the image of the first human. Seth, for example, was in the likeness and image of Adam, his father:

When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth (Gen 5:3, NIV).

The woman, taken from the man, was in the likeness and image of the first human.

And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven (1 Cor 15:49, NIV).

All created things have also their own glory.

There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory (1 Cor 15:40-41, KJV).

The human has glory, and it is this glory that the woman shares with the man.

***

Paul writes that Christ is the head of every man, the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ. This is usually interpreted to mean that Christ has authority over every man, the man has authority over the woman, and God the Father has authority over the Son. But consider, Paul has already said earlier in the same letter that a wife doesn't have authority over her own body, nor does a man have authority over his own body. Why would a man have authority over the woman's mind if in the realm of the body they share the same authority? Or perhaps Paul is referring to men and women in general? But how logical would it be for all men to have authority over all women, if they had to relinquish it as soon as they marry? And if this is the case, what does the word "head" refer to in Ephesians 5? The labyrinth keeps on growing around us.

What if instead of authority we looked for another meaning for the word "head"? What if Paul was referring to the chain of origin?

There are two parallel passages in 1 Corinthians:

So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future-all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God (1 Cor 3:21-23, NIV). 

For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live (1 Cor 8:5-6, NIV).

We are of Christ, and Christ is of God.

All things come from God, and all things come through Christ.


Let's add these to the text and see what happens.

Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ (you are of Christ), and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God (Christ is of God). .... In the Lord (through whom all things came and through whom we live), however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God (from whom all things came and for whom we live) (1 Cor 11:3, 11-12, NIV).

All things come from God: God the Son is the only begotten Son of the Father, the man was created from the dust by God, and the woman was formed from the man by God.

God is the beginning, before him nothing existed. The only begotten Son is the image of the Father, through whom the man was created, making the man the image of God. The woman was created from the man, through the Son, making her the image of God. All three find their origin in God.

Because the image is not a clone, the Son is different from the Father, the man has a human body, the woman's body is different from the man's body. They all possess and reflect the glory of their origin, while they have their own glory. The Son is the glory of God, and radiates the glory of being the only begotten Son. The man is the glory of God, and radiates the glory of humanity. The woman is the glory of God, and the glory of the man, and she has her own glory: her long hair.

[B]ut that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory (1 Cor 11:15, NIV).

Shame and glory are connected in the Bible; glory can be transformed into shame.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame (Hos 4:6-7, KJV).

The Corinthians were doing something that transformed the women's glory into shame:

Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors [himself]. And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors [herself]-it is just as though her head were shaved. If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head.... Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering (1 Cor 11:4-6, 13-15, NIV).

It has been suggested that the woman let their hair down. But if this was the case, why does Paul say it is long hair that is the woman's glory? And why does he say women should shave off all of their hair if they were uncovered? It makes little sense to say a woman should shave off her hair if she doesn't tie it up. But it does make sense if the women cut their hair short. If this was the case, Paul is telling them to go ahead and shave it all off. The English translation doesn't quite convey the meaning of the original. The Greek says: if the woman is not covered, let her be shorn, but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered. In other words, being uncovered is equivalent to not having long hair.

Paul appeals to nature. Nature itself teaches that a man should look like a man, and a woman should look like a woman. In an era in which women wore their hair long and men their hair short, a woman was recognized to be a woman by her long hair. Cutting it short would make her resemble a man, and by doing so, she would bring shame and dishonor upon herself, for she would have removed her own glory. 

***

The woman was created from the man and for the man. In Genesis 2 we find that the man's loneliness was the reason for the woman's creation; the help the man needed was the woman. Hence we know the woman was created to be with the man. But if the woman was created to be with the man, she must by necessity be what the man is for her to share his glory.

The image of God reflects the glory of its origin. The greater the likeness, the greater the glory. 

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit ( 2 Cor 3:18, NIV).

 We were created by Jesus, and for Jesus:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Col 1:15-17, NIV).

Jesus calls us his friends:

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you (John 15:15, NIV).

Paul calls us God's co-workers:

For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building (1 Cor 3:9, NIV).

If we, who are created for Jesus, are his friends and co-workers, why isn't this true of the woman who was created for the man?

An image shares the abilities and capabilities of its origin.

God is holy, wherefore we must be holy.
The man was created to be free, wherefore the woman must be free.

In order to share the man's glory, the woman must have authority over herself to pray and prophesy before God as a woman. If she is the man's subject, she needs permission, but if she was born free, with free will, she has the right to act in her own person, as a woman.

Paul writes:

 For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have authority over herself (1 Cor 11:10, NIV). 

Exousían échein epí teés kefaleés. 

A similar grammatical construction is found in 1 Corinthians 7:37-38, "But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will (exousia de echei peri tou idiou theleematos), and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin-this man also does the right thing." And Matthew 7:28-29, "When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority (exousian echoon), and not as their teachers of the law."

Clearly this is authority that the person in question possesses, not as sign of someone else's authority.

Were the women in Corinth cutting their hair in order to resemble men to have the right to pray and prophesy in the church? Was this the custom no other church had? If it was the case, Paul is telling the Corinthians to allow women to pray and prophesy as women.

***

Because the man's prior creation may cause some to believe men are of more worth than women, or think that men and women should exist independently from each other, Paul adds that men are not independent from women, nor are women independent from men, for although the woman was formed from the man, the man is born of the woman (1 Cor 11:11-12). Even here Paul find the common origin of both men and women with God, for God created the man, from whom he formed the woman, from whom men are born. Neither would exist without God.

In 1 Corinthians 11 Paul celebrates our common humanness. Because the woman was created from the man, and men are born from women, we all share one blood.

And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation (Acts 17:26, KJV).

Or as Paul put it:

Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, "Do not go beyond what is written." Then you will not take pride in one man over against another. For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? (1 Cor 4:6-7, NIV)  

We have all received our lives from God; we belong to God.