1 Corinthians 11 - Part A

He's speaking about headship. He's speaking here about authority.

He's speaking about governance. He's speaking about created order, chain of command, divine design, divine paradigm. The head of every man is Christ. Christ is the head of the church, says in Ephesians. And really, he's the head of every human being, whether they know it or not.

He is the pratadikos, the firstborn of all creation. The Apostle Paul addressed many concerns with early believers that some people might think are insignificant today. But today on Connect with Skip Heitig, Skip shares how an important issue in the early church is extremely relevant for your life now. But first, did you know that Skip shares important updates and biblical encouragement on social media? Just follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to get the latest from him and this ministry. That's at Skip Heitig, at Skip, H-E-I-T-Z-I-G. Now, we're in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 11, as we dive into today's teaching with Skip Heitig.

Maybe I've drugged my feet a little bit, and yet I can't get out of it. It's here, it's in front of us. This chapter is, it's sort of like when you take courses in college and there's always a portion of the courts that's just, oh yeah, we have to get through it.

But you don't look forward to it. It might be conjugations in a certain language course. It might be dealing with advanced participles in the Greek language. It could be dealing, like I loved in physics, I love the electromagnetic spectrum. I loved when we went through that. But then there were other sections of physics that I just, yeah, I have to get through it to get the grade. But some of us understand that this chapter has some controversial material. It really wasn't controversial like it is today.

There has been a modern day push when it comes to gender issues that make it controversial. But you know, when you're a Bible teacher and you teach the whole counsel of God, you teach the whole counsel of God. You don't get to pick and choose and say, well, I'll leave that chapter out. We're going through a series on 1 Corinthians, but forget that. It happens to be part of the letter that Paul wrote. If you have read this chapter, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

If not, buckle your seatbelts because we're about to get into it. Now, as we begin, let's just lay the foundation. Men and women are equal before God. We are created in the image of God. It's not like man is in the image of God and then woman came later on and she is not. The Bible says God created man in his image. In the image of God created he him. Male and female, he created them. So there was an equality in Genesis 1 all the way from the beginning. Go all the way almost to the other end of the Bible. Get to the book of Galatians, the third chapter. Paul the Apostle declares, for there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free.

There is neither male nor female. All of us are one in Christ. However, when it comes to roles and authority, just like in every sphere of life, different people are assigned different roles. Now, today, in our day and age, we are in an interesting culture when if you feel you are a certain person, then you can be that person.

That's brand new. There's no science involved in that. But if you identify a certain way, it's just what you are. And everybody just sort of has to nod and agree. But that never was an issue of controversy until now. However, the Corinthian church, they were curious about certain roles of men and women. That was one of the issues they were struggling with. And I'll explain to you why because of the Corinthian culture, the Greek culture, as well as the Roman culture, even some of the Jewish culture, there were certain distinctions.

And so there were beliefs and ideas that were prevalent in Corinth that caused Paul the Apostle to make some of the remarks that he made and to set the record straight. So he, in this chapter, will talk about very important things like wearing head coverings and not wearing head coverings or issues like that, clothing issues, or hair, having long hair or short hair, issues that we don't really even think about these days, but it was an issue to them in those days. Now, we might be tempted to just say, skip, just read through the chapter and get into the next chapter about spiritual gifts because really this is irrelevant to a modern society in our day and age. Certainly, God doesn't care about clothes or hair, does he?

Answer, yes and no. I found it interesting that Jesus said, the hairs of your head are numbered. That God would take the kind of meticulous care and notice of each individual that Jesus would say, even the hairs of your head are numbered. Now, why is that fascinating? Because that number changes every day.

Every time you put a brush through your hair, the number changes. And with some, it changes dramatically less and less. So it's easier for God to keep track of, you might say. But the fact that Jesus would make that statement that God takes care and God takes notice of even the smallest little things, but on the other hand, no, he doesn't care as much about the color of your hair or the length of your hair or the kind of clothing as long as it fits within certain parameters of modesty. And I would say God cares about those things when it comes to how those things cause you to relate to other people in your culture so as to get the gospel out, in your assembly of other worshipers so as not to stumble anybody. Then those things matter. Otherwise, those things are irrelevant.

But in this culture, some of those issues were more relevant than they are to us. We're about to read about God's design for male and female, God's designed order, the chain of command according to the created order, the divine design, the divine paradigm. So even though verse one of chapter 11 really belongs to the previous paragraph that we covered last week, that's what we ended with it.

I'm going to begin at verse one. I don't always agree with chapter divisions. I've told you this before, chapter divisions and verses were not in the original manuscripts. They were added much later on. Sometimes they did a good job in dividing them up.

Sometimes they did, in my opinion, a poor job. I think verse one is really verse 34 of chapter 10 and verse one should be verse two. But nonetheless, it's already there. I can't change what has been long-standing. So I begin at the beginning. Imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. A very famous verse of Paul the Apostle. Paul, of course, has been speaking about the fact that he willingly gave up certain privileges that he had so that he might share the gospel to different people groups, and so he used himself as an example of showing love, so that though I have the right to practice certain things, I withhold from that. And so he says, imitate me as I also imitate Christ. But I think this is a significant thing, and I think that as believers, we should at least strive or aim or shoot for being able to say that.

Because too many of us like to say, hey man, don't look at me, man. Don't follow me. I'm messed up like everybody else.

But Paul didn't do that. He said, actually, you can follow me. I am not perfect, but I'm going to show you what it means to live a life in Christ. Follow me. Imitate me. Do what I do.

Imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. Now I praise you, brethren. That's a new one for Paul, especially when writing to the Corinthians, because he doesn't have a whole lot of words of praise for this church. So when he says, you know, I just really want to say you guys are awesome in this regard.

It's important that we know what that is. He said, I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. We might knock traditions and say traditions, traditionalism, I'm not into that. Paul just said, actually, since the idea of traditions here speaks of ordinances, precepts, principles, scriptural doctrinal principles, he is commending the church for the fact that even though they were messed up in a lot of other areas, they didn't have real significant doctrinal problems. The only doctrinal problem that we can see that the church of Corinth had was regarding the resurrection.

They were just ignorant about bodily resurrection. He corrects that in chapter 15. But there's no polemic against false doctrine like he writes to so many of the other churches. So he praises them because they are remembering Paul.

And the idea, I think, is that you remembered to consult me about these issues. Remember, they had written Paul a letter asking him several questions. That's how chapter 8 of 1 Corinthians began. He says, now concerning the things of which you wrote to me, or excuse me, that's chapter 7, concerning the things which you wrote to me.

So obviously, the next several chapters from chapter 7 onward are issues the Corinthians wondered about. And Paul says, I praise you for that. You're praiseworthy for that. I commend you that you had it within you to ask the questions, to get the right kind of answers, to keep the traditions or the precepts just as I delivered them to you. Now notice something about Paul. Paul gave them precepts, principles, but he also gave them example, verse 1. Imitate me as I imitate Christ. He taught them principles, but then he also showed them practice. That's how he taught people, principles and practice, principles and practice.

Let me tell you about how to do it, and then let me show you how to do it. Somebody once said, I'd rather see a sermon than hear a sermon any day. And so Paul preached sermons to them, and he taught them a sermon. Paul preached sermons to them, but Paul also walked that walk before them.

He was with them, as you remember, 18 months, about a year and a half, or right around a year and a half in their midst building up that church. But now look at verse 3. But I want you to know that the head of man is Christ. The head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Three times in that little verse, a word is repeated.

What is it? Head. He's speaking about headship. He's speaking here about authority.

He's speaking about governance. He's speaking about created order, chain of command, divine design, divine paradigm. The head of every man is Christ. Christ is the head of the church, says in Ephesians. And really, he's the head of every human being, whether they know it or not. He is the protagonist, the firstborn of all creation, Paul said to the Colossian church.

From him, all things were made that have been made, John chapter 1 tells us. So he's the head of it all. The head of every man is Christ. The head of woman is man.

The head of Christ is God. Here is what he's not talking about. He's not talking about superiority or inferiority. He's not speaking about intelligence or emotional intelligence or intellect. He is not speaking about equality or inequality.

He's not speaking about one's ability or inability. It's just that there is, in all realms of society, in all realms of reality, natural and supernatural headship, authority and submission, authority and submission. When it comes to the relationship men have with other men, there's authority and submission. There's government, there's police force, there's authority in every corporation, there are bosses who hire people to work for them, that's an authority structure. There's authority within families, there's the same kind of authority and submission between God and humanity, and even between God and God, Christ and God the Father.

So let's just take that one. He says, the head of every woman is man and the head of Christ is man and the head of Christ is God. Jesus is God the Son. He is submitted to God the Father. Though they are co-equal and co-eternal, that's the doctrine of the Trinity, they're co-equal, co-eternal, the Son submits to the Father. Paul the Apostle said, Jesus, who being in very nature God, or in the form of God, did not think it robbery to be equal with God, made himself of no reputation, humbled himself, became obedient to the point of death, even the death on the cross. Jesus declared, I and my Father are one. So he is equal with God. He didn't feel like he had to grasp or tear the Father down from his position to make himself equal. He was equal. He is equal with God.

Jesus is God. But without authority and submission, there would have been no salvation. Without the submission of the Son to the will of the Father in going to the cross, in saying, Lord, if it's possible, Father, if it's possible, let this cut past me, pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.

If you wouldn't have done that, there'd be no salvation. If there's no submission on our part to Christ, there's no salvation. So there is always in every realm of reality, natural and supernatural, there is authority and submission.

There is headship and submission. Though Jesus is God, though Jesus is equal with God because he himself is God, though distinct from the Father as a person, he is co-equal and co-eternal with God, with the Father. Yet, Jesus did make this statement. My Father is greater than I am. My Father is greater than I am. I don't know why that throws some people because it's a pretty easy statement.

Jesus didn't say, my Father is better than I am, but my Father is greater than I am. That's this principle. Submission, authority, he's greater. You have bosses. Some of you work for people who hired you to do a job. Some of you are bosses. But let's just say you work for a boss. You may be much smarter than your boss. Some of you are nodding like, I am much smarter than my boss. That's why he hired me or she hired me. But your boss is still greater than you, not better than you, but greater than you.

If I encounter a police officer on the street who decides to write me up a friendly little notice of some kind, either a reminder or a fine called a ticket, I submit to that because the officer is greater than I am. He's not better than I am, but he is greater than I am. You see the difference. The President of the United States is not better than I am.

No political jokes. He's not better, but he is greater. He has a position. He has an office, just like a husband in a marriage has an office, just like the Father has an office in the Godhead, and just like Christ has an office in all the world over every man.

So it's that principle of submission and authority. Interesting, in Genesis chapter 5, when it retells the creation of humanity, well, I actually marked it because I just thought it was an interesting addendum to this. It says, this is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them, who is them, Adam, male and female, and blessed them and called them mankind.

That's the English translations. The Hebrew translation is Adam. He made them male and female and called them Adam in the day they were created. Not the Adam's or the Adam's family.

God called them Adam. So I want you to know the head of every man, he's bringing this authority structure, is Christ. The head of woman is man. The head of Christ is God.

Now continuing that, that's the general principle of authority and order. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered dishonors his head, but every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved. For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn, but if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered.

Now go back to verse five. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. Now most people read that and they think, okay, somehow if I put a covering over my head and I'm a dude, I'm dishonoring like my head.

Like I'm doing something bad to my head. No, it says the head of every man is whom? Christ. So if the head of every man is Christ, I think what he's referring to is this. When for a man in that culture during that time period were to cover his head when he prays, he's dishonoring his head, Christ.

So this begs a little bit of explanation. It seems that Paul is referring to a practice that really didn't become a wholesale Jewish practice until about the third century A.D., but there were already leanings toward it at this time. And that is when men were to pray, they would pray today. If you go to see people in Israel, men pray with a tallit, a prayer shawl. Men cover their head or they put a kippah on their head and then they cover their head with a shawl if they're an Orthodox man when they pray. And the tallit, the prayer shawl, has something called tzitzit on the end of it. Those are the little fringe knots that remind them of the 613 commandments. So you've got the tallit with the tzitzit. And it sounds like a rap song almost, right?

It's like I'm going to do something with that. But that was never a Jewish practice until it became codified around the third century A.D. As I said, there were already leanings toward that during this time, that people were saying, you need to cover your head when you pray to God. Well, Jewish men never did that, as I said, until this movement came into, and that was a more of a Talmudic movement.

There's no biblical directive for men to pray with their head covered anywhere in the Old Testament. That's Skip Hightake with a message from the series Expound First Corinthians. Now we want to share about a resource that will help strengthen your trust in God so you can live with greater confidence and peace. Life is hard and then we die. That is a harsh but accurate philosophy.

Listen to this gentle encouragement. But God, that's right, in the most difficult circumstance God can intervene, as he did for Joseph, Job, and through the resurrection of Jesus. Here's Skip Hightake. In fact, there may not be two more hopeful words than these two words, but God, because they point us to the great interrupter, the one who can powerfully and graciously interrupt our lives with his plans and change our lives in the name of Jesus. We want to help you understand some of the Bible's most profound but God moments so you can have more hope for change in your own life. Pastor Skip's 10 message teaching series, But God, is our thanks when you give $35 or more today to help connect more people to the only one who can radically change a life.

Get your But God CD collection today when you give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. Tune in tomorrow as Skip Hightake shares with you how men and women have a powerful partnership within the body of Christ. We are interdependent. This is why I see a value in men's groups and a value in women's groups, but I really see a supreme value when men and women get together and share with one another in the same assembly. There is an interdependence. Connect with Skip Hightake is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever-changing times.