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Turn in God's word to 1 Corinthians
chapter 11, 1 Corinthians chapter 11, and I'll take time to read
this chapter. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, the
word of God says, be ye followers of me, even as I am also of Christ. Now I praise you brethren, that
ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances as I
delivered them to you. But I would have you know that
the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is
the man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying, or
prophesying, having his head covered, dishonorth his head. But every woman that prayeth
or prophesieth with her head uncovered, dishonorth her head,
for that is even all one, as if she were shaven. And if the
woman be not covered, let her also be shorn, But if it be a
shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to
cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of
God. But the woman is the glory of
the man. For the man is not made of the
woman, but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for
the woman, but the woman for the man. For this cause ought
the woman to have power on her head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, neither is the
man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in
the Lord. For as the woman is of the man,
even so is the man also by the woman, but all things of God. Judge in yourselves, is it commonly
for woman that a woman pray unto God uncovered doth not even nature
itself teach you that if a man have long hair it is a shame
unto him but if a woman have long hair it is a glory to her
for her hair is given her for covering But if any man seem
to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches
of God. Amen. We know the Lord will add
his blessing to the reading of his word. Let us unite together
in prayer, with still our hearts at the throne of grace, and we'll
commit away to God just now. Our Heavenly Father and Eternal
God, we pray now as we come to thy word we thank before the
reading of it and now Lord as we come to the meditation upon
it we pray Lord that will bless us that will give help and that
will even instruct us even from thy word we pray you God that
will build us up in our most holy faith and help us Lord even
to stand fast in the things of God bless us undertake for us
in Jesus name Amen. Now hopefully you have the notes
before you if you want, as I said, to follow them on whether you
print them out or use them on your tablet or phone or you read
them after then that'll help you as we follow along. We come
to number two in our study of biblical head covering and we're
going to look at the main first point tonight of the five but
as we consider the biblical teaching of head covering and the scriptural
practice or application of it in public worship, we learn from
1 Corinthians chapter 11 that women are to have an extra covering
on their heads, whereas men are not to have an extra covering
on their heads. If head covering is the natural
hair, then every man must be bold when they come to worship
God in public services. We looked at that last week,
verse 4. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head
covered, dishonoureth his head. The original reading of these
words in the Greek language read as this, every man praying or
prophesying, having anything on his head, put to shame his
head. Those are the literal translations. Furthermore, In verse 2, while
the word ordinances is also translated as traditions, meaning teaching
handed down, we must view the context of how the word is used
to find out is this man's teaching based on his own teaching or
teaching come from the Lord. And as you look at the context
that will make it clear. For instance, times this word
ordinances or traditions teaching handed down is used in reference
to man's teaching that is handed down, that which is based on
his own religious legalistic teaching as found in Galatians
chapter 1 verse 14 where Paul refers to his unsaved days when
he as a religious Jew said he was exceeding zealous of the
traditions of my father. And what that meant was the traditions,
the legalistic views of the Pharisees, the different laws that they
added on, systems of works and all those things. So Paul was
zealous that people would know the way of his religion. He was
zealous that people would live like a Jew. So that's one way
to look at that word. But as we come to 1 Corinthians
chapter 11, I believe this word ordinances or traditions meaning
handed down is teaching that is handed down from the Lord
himself and he's given it to be handed down to the next generation
and the next generation. And so this is teaching handed
down, it's the same in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 15, 2 Thessalonians
chapter 3 verse 6 and also here in 1 Corinthians chapter 11.
The teaching, the instruction is given by the Lord himself
and once he gives it then that is what is to be passed down
not passing man's tradition but passing what the Lord has given
and I believe that's what you have here in 1 Corinthians chapter
11 The teaching for Christ's church on head covering is a
word from the Lord. It comes by inspiration of God. And that makes all the difference.
For it means this ordinance is not new, it's not man's tradition. Rather, it's teaching given by
the Lord's authority. And it should then be honored
and practiced that women wear an extra, a literal, a material
covering on their heads. where men do not wear that extra
covering, that material covering on their heads in public worship
services. Regarding head covering, the
apostles taught the word of God as they received it from the
Lord. That's what Paul's making clear in 1 Corinthians chapter
11. What he's giving them is what
he has received of the Lord. And that message that was then
handed down through the next generations up until the 20th
century when head covering was still upheld. What I want now
just briefly and not maybe go through them all but just to
give you a brief historical overview from early from church history. I show this not to show that
we depend upon what men say or we're doing head covering because
what men have done, rather to show that the head covering or
the teaching of it was passed down by these men as they believed
it to be according to the Word of God, according to church history. we learn from the writings of
a man called Tertullian who lived around 200 A.D. that the Corinth church was still
practicing head covering even 150 years after Paul wrote his
letter. Tertullian said this, so too
did the Corinthians themselves understand, that is, understand
Paul's teaching. In fact, at this day, the Corinthians
so failed their virgins. what the apostles taught their
disciples approve. Also a man called Irenaeus and
he was the bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul which is today obviously
modern day Lyon in France. He was a disciple of Polycarp
who was a disciple of the apostle John and so there again you can
see how things were transferred down this teaching, handed down
one from the other. Well, Irenaeus is one of the
earliest church fathers to comment on head covering. And he uses
the word phial, that is a material head covering. In 1 Corinthians
chapter 11 verse 1 he says, a woman ought to have a phial upon her
head. because of the angels and so
he understood that there was this cloth, this material covering,
this extra covering that a woman wore on her head. So there you
have two and there's many more we could mention but there you
have two men go to the early days and even they recognised
that from Corinth or those churches at that time, the women wore
a head covering. Then we come down to William
Tyndale now, maybe that name maybe a bit more familiar with
us. And William Tyndale said, I answer
that Paul taught by mouth such things as he wrote in his epistles. And his traditions were that
a woman obey her husband have her head covered. Then you think
of Martin Luther, John Knox, right through to Charles Spurgeon. All of them believed from 1st
Corinthians chapter 11 that women covered their head. They had
this extra covering on their head whereas men didn't. We learned last week about that
quote from Spurgeon when he said in Metropolitan Tabernacle in
his day that the women, the sisters as he referred to them, they
covered their head because of the angels and that's one reference
that we will look at, God willing, on another occasion. But the
question is, we've just looked there, reading some different
statements of how head covering was viewed by these men who lived
close to the time of the Corinth Church, and that teaching was
continually handed down. So the question is this, what
has happened from that time? Or let me say, what has happened
from the days of Spurgeon to now? Our day, where head covering
has now been abandoned it's been challenged, it's rejected by
many churches and many believers. Well, there's many things, but
two main things I would probably say, such as missionaries coming
to Britain from different parts of the world, and of course they
teach head covering is only cultural, and so you take it or you leave
it. Also, we have seen from these
verses this week and last week, that head covering is not cultural,
but it is biblical. Also, women's rights and feminist
movements which attack the roles of male and female as given by
God. The claim is this, that head
covering is old-fashioned. It's dictatorship. It's disgrace. It's degrading to the woman.
It's controlling the woman. And that's the views that people
claim to have when it comes to head covering or reasons why
they say it should not be practiced, but that's not what Paul taught,
nor is that the teaching the Lord gave to be handed down. However, churches take the times
and the agendas in which they live and use these things to
please people, remove the teaching on head covering, pass it off
as something cultural to get people into public worship services. You will see, and you will know
this to be true, that churches which are filled or appear to
have big gatherings are mostly churches that do not hold to
head covering. And I think that's a fair point
and you will see that yourself as you no doubt see pictures
of churches and things like that. In fact, you will often see in
those churches men with their heads covered. And I'm both referring
to churches that preach the gospel and churches that don't preach
the gospel. Many respond and say that churches
who uphold the Lord's teaching on head covering are legalistic. And those are the comments that
one woman put to me on one occasion. Many have taken the view that
if head covering is going to be an issue, an offence, something
that makes a lady feel uncomfortable, or the reason why a couple or
a woman won't attend the services, then why do it? If it's going
to keep women or a woman away, then just do away with it. That's the claim. A bit better
just to remove the issue and let women come freely. And my
answer to that is this. Instead of removing, Rather there
just needs to be the teaching of it. They need to be taught
why and how head covering teaches the gospel and glorifies God. And so head covering as taught
from 1 Corinthians chapter 11 is biblical and it's still upheld
today. There are five principles as
we named last week that Paul gives, he lays out in this chapter
for biblical head covering. And we'll go through those but
tonight I just want to give the first principle. And the first
principle is this. Paul's teaching on head covering
is based on the principle of submission. the principle of
submission. We read in verse 3, Paul starts
by speaking of the different roles or functions that men and
women have in the church. But the main lesson is this,
submission, that which is in union, Not less important, not inferior,
but the distinction is in role. It is to do with submission.
Notice this teaching on submission. Notice the submission of men
in the church to Christ. The head of every man is Christ. Notice the submission of the
woman in the church to man. The head of the woman is man. Notice the submission of Christ
to God the Father. The head of Christ is God. Now again, those who will oppose
head covering will say it means inferiority, it's degrading,
it means women are less. But that's not what Paul is teaching,
that's not what the Lord gives, rather the Lord is simply showing
that in his church there is this role, this distinction. Paul
refers to the order, the head of the body and then all the
other parts are in subject submission in union to its direction and
government. For example, Paul taught Christ
is the head of his church and his people are his body. Ephesians
chapter 1 verse 22 and 23. And hath put all things under
his feet, and give him to be the head over all things, to
the church which is the body, the fullness of him that filleth
all in all. So it's clear, the basis of Paul's
teaching on head covering, this first point, this opening verse,
verse 3 is the principle of submission. Paul is putting Christ in view
as the greatest example of submission to the will, the word and worship
of God. Therefore, in the practice of
men worshipping with their heads uncovered and women worshipping
with their heads covered, it means both men and women submit
to Christ, who is their sovereign head. the Canaan head of the
church. The man submits to Christ as
his head and the woman is in submission to the man. And while
she does so, she is submitting to Christ that God will receive
all glory. Both come together to submit
to Christ, to worship God. Therefore Paul brings to the
church's attention to look at Jesus Christ as the one who was
submissive in his role as the mediator between God and men
because that's how you answer this when it comes to head covering. You get to Jesus Christ and his
role as the mediator, his role as humbling himself. Paul brings
the churches to look at Jesus Christ. Remember Philippians
chapter 2 verses 5 through 7. It teaches that Jesus Christ
is God, co-equal, co-eternal. The Lord said himself in John
chapter 10 verse 30, I and my Father are one. However, in considering
redemption, In thinking about the death of the cross, deity
cannot die, God cannot suffer, therefore it was necessary that
the second person of the Godhead, the eternal Word, the eternal
Son of God, submitted himself and took our human nature onto
himself without sin, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh,
in order to pay the debt of sin, to die on the tree and honour
God. Though Christ is a true man,
he never ceased to be God. He is the God-man, two distinct
natures in one person forever. while in his nature or his essence
the father and son are equal, yet when it comes to the role,
the office or the function between the Father and the Son. Christ
is the mediator of his people, the only Redeemer of God's elect. Christ humbled himself. Christ
submitted himself to the will of God, to the will of the Father. Therefore, if believers are to
have the mind of Christ, then the man will submit to Christ
and not cover his head in public worship services and therefore
glorify God, but also the women, whether they're married or not,
will submit to man or their husband, at the same time submitting to
Christ and thereby glorifying God. Christ is the anointed of
God. He is the prophet, the priest,
and the king of his people. He said in Hebrews chapter 10,
verse 7, Then said Ilo, I come in the volume of the book, it
is written of me, to do thy will, O God." His delight was to do
the will of God. Again, Philippians chapter 2,
verse 7 through 8 make it clear that Christ submitted to his
Father. in his role as the mediator to save sinners. He made himself
of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, and was
made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. The Lord Jesus prayed in Luke
chapter 22, verse 42, nevertheless not my will but
thine be done. So it's vital as born again believers
we are to always look on to Jesus the author and the finisher of
the faith and by looking to Christ Paul when it comes to worship
services and how men and women are to to glorify God, he presents
the greatest, the ultimate example of submission, of surrender that
could ever be given. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ
as he submitted to the will of God in becoming man, taking our
human nature and fulfilling his office as the mediator, the prophet,
priest and king. Just as Christ submitted himself
to the Father in order to save men and women from their sins
and glorify God, then both male and female should gladly submit
to the roles the Lord has appointed them within his church to glorify
him. That is, women worship him with
heads covered and men worship with not with their heads covered. May I also mention the Holy Spirit,
the third person of the Trinity. Remember the Father, Son, and
the Holy Spirit. These are equal in power and
glory. They have their distinct roles.
We've seen that the Father, he sends the Son. The Son, he comes
into this world. He submits, he surrenders, he
takes our humanity. But the Holy Spirit is also submissive
because in his role as the intercessor and the comforter, he had a distinct
role, a distinct ministry. John chapter 16, verse 13 and
14, Howbeit, when he the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide
you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, He shall speak and He will show
you things to come. He shall glorify me. And so the Holy Spirit's ministry,
His role is to glorify Christ. It is to speak of Christ. It
is to apply to sinners the redemption purchased by Christ and guide
believers to be conformed to the image of Christ. So having
said all that, Paul is dealing with the role of submission. Paul writes, the head of the
woman is man. He does not mean the woman is
less important or the woman is worthless or the woman is to
be put aside, treated wrongly, devalued, disgraced. Not at all. Rather, Galatians teach that
both men and women are equal in the eyes of God. God created
male and female with different roles that support one another
to glorify God. But those different roles do
not mean a lower value or defalue. Again, you can read the words
of Ephesians chapter 5, verses 22 through 25. Submitting yourselves
one to another in the fear of God. 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 he is the saviour of the body. Therefore, as the church
is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands
in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Matthew
Henry, he said these words that are often quoted at weddings,
that the woman was made of a rib, out of the side of Adam, not
made of his head to rule over him, or out of his feet to be
trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with
him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved. In fact, God made man and woman
equal in value and worth. We read 1 Corinthians 11, verse
11. Nevertheless, neither is the
man without the woman neither the woman without the man in
the Lord she is not less than the man again there's more examples
there Romans chapter 13 God has given positions of authority
and government to make decisions therefore we submit to their
authority, but that does not mean those are in authority,
or more worth than us, or better than anyone. It just means they've
been given a specific responsibility of office. Again, in Christ's
church, he has placed elders, including the minister, for the
spiritual oversight of the church. Hebrews 13, verse 17, Obey them
that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they
watch for your souls, that they must give an account. So as you
can see, the whole point of these verses is to show the area of
submission. That's the key. Because naturally,
all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. Can I say, we are what we are
by natural creation. Male and female. Because God
made us that way. Dear meal, dear man, you're born
a meal because God created you that way. You have a specific
role on earth given by the Lord, a function in his church given
by him. If married, you are the prophet
in your home to teach your family the word of God. You are the
priest in your family to offer prayer to God for them. You are
the king in your home to protect and defend from danger. Dear
female, you're born a female because God created you a female. You have a special role on earth
given by God. There is no confusion with God. When it comes to the area of
submission, it is to honour God. When a woman, a female, wears
a head covering, an extra covering on her head, It is an honor that
she submits to her authority. She submits to Christ overall
to glorify God. These God-given honours are challenged
today because people want to swap their identities, swap their
roles. It's all against submission to
Christ, the headship of Christ. When it comes to man and woman's
particular roles, their functions in life and home, dealing with
public service, both are to submit to Christ. And that's why head
covering was used as that symbol. We've said last week that there
are different symbols in the Bible that they mean something.
Again, the Lord's table, the bread and the cup symbolizes
his body, his blood. The bow in the sky represents
a lesson and all these other things. And so here you come
to head covering. It represents, it symbolizes
the glory of God all glory given to God. It shows that Christ's
church submit to him as their head. So that must mean then
if a woman refuses to wear head covering in public services then
she's showing that she's not surrendered to the Lord. She's
saying I will not submit or surrender to my King and my Lord's will. She will
not submit to the role that he has given her. Likewise, if a
man wears head covering in public worship services, he reveals,
he shows he's not surrendered to God. There's no respect for
the Lord in the role that he has been given. As the church,
then, is saying that she will not submit to the head of the
church. In closing, and by way of application,
you may or may not know the dress code for the public appearances
at royal events. It's very interesting actually
to study in itself, though not as maybe a biblical one, but
certainly in a sense just to go through the different dress
codes for different royal events and also throughout the different
times of the day, the morning, the afternoon, the evening, when
you're outside, inside, when you're in the presence of the
royal or not, all these different things. It's wonderful actually
to read it. different dress codes. But during
the wedding of Prince William and Princess Catherine of William
and Kate as they were known, on the 29th of April 2011, the
BBC reported for the dress regarding the morning
and the night. The dress code's really throughout
the whole day for the wedding and then after the wedding and
then at night time and all the rest. In preparation for this,
on the 30th of March, 2011, the BBC reported, in the morning,
this is the morning time, men were expected, when they go to
the dos and the weddings in this year, men were expected to wear
a grey or black morning coat with grey trousers and so on. There were other things that
they had to wear, so it was very, very precise what they had to
wear. But when it came to hats, add to this a grey top hat to
be worn outside or carried under the arm when indoors and removed
from all official photographs. ladies they were to wear a dress
with a jacket, hat and gloves. So that was the dress code to
be in the royal presence. Another news article reported,
according to the invitation, men are advised to wear uniform,
morning coat or lounge suit attire, while female guests should wear
a day dress with a hat. I make that point because the
monarch had given, here is what to wear when you are invited
to this celebration. Here's what to wear in my presence
when you come before me. On the day of the wedding, The
Daily Mail reported. Remember, the Prime Minister
at this time was David Cameron and then his wife, Samantha Cameron. Well, on the day of the wedding,
everybody had got all this news and they knew what to wear and
all the rest. On the day of the wedding, the Daily Mail reported
this slogan. MP's wife is the only fee IP
not to wear a hat. for the wedding. Samantha Cameron
said, seems who broke from tradition by refusing to wear a headpiece
to the royal wedding today. It was noticed by all. Kate,
William and Kate's wedding. In fact, all the other royalties,
the females, they put the hat on. And also as well, other celebrities,
they even put the, they wore the hat as given by the monarch,
as given by the directions of royalty. The point I'm making
is this, that is just an illustration to show, we come into the presence
of a greater monarch, We come in to the Lord's house. We come in to the presence of
the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the head of the church.
We come to worship Him. How do we present ourselves?
What attire do we come? Is there that love? Is there
that reverence to Him? Is there that surrender? where
the lady will come and realise, I'm coming before my Lord, my
King, and to show my submission to him, to teach the gospel,
that Christ was submissive, and Christ surrendered, and Christ
became man. to die for me, to show Christ
was submissive, to show the gospel and to show that God will receive
all glory, I will wear a head covering as a symbol of that,
as a token of that. A sign that will stand out, a
sign that will show, a sign that when people come and say, why
do you wear a head covering? You can answer, to show my submission
to my Lord, my King, my Saviour, One who submitted Himself to
me and the likewise men who will not wear a head covering. I said
this before, I said last week actually, and we'll cover this
in more detail, God willing, next week or the week after,
but I said this before that before you come in, even for a testimony,
even before you come into the very house of God, before you
actually come in to church itself. It would be nice for ladies to
have the head covering on. Why? Because people can see that
symbol of the gospel. They wonder, what does it mean? What's that all about? Also as
well, when men, before they come in, ought to have their hats
taken off. It shouldn't be the case where
women come into church and they sit inside church and then they
begin to get themselves ready and begin to put their head covering
on. The same with men walking into
church and then beginning to take their head covering off.
Those things should all be done well before. Oh, I trust today
that our lives will be impacted, that when you look at the first
point, why of head covering, Paul dealt with submission and
he dealt with those free words to teach. The head of every man
is Christ. The head of every woman is man. The head of Christ is God. Christ is God. Jesus is God,
co-equal, co-eternal. Yet in his role as the mediator,
he submitted himself, giving all glory to God. And that's
what head covering is about, to show our submission and glorify
God. Next time, God willing, we will
look at the principle relating to public worship found in verses
4 and 6 and in the principle of creation in verses 8 and 9. So we'll look at those two points
next week and again, answer any more questions in the message
and other questions will be answered as well. So thank you for your
time.
Head Covering (2)
Series Head Covering
| Sermon ID | 524211318125272 |
| Duration | 38:48 |
| Date | |
| Category | Bible Study |
| Bible Text | 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 |
| Language | English |
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