In the chapter of 1 Corinthians, where this issue of head covering for women and no head covering for men is addressed. And I would say just at the very beginning that this passage has as much teaching and relevance to men as it does to women. And we need to keep that in focus as we make our way through this study. I will read the passage together in just a few moments, and I'll be giving in the course of this study an exposition of what the text indeed is saying, but I'm going to make some preliminary remarks here. First of all, I've had several questions that have been submitted to me that I want to be sure to cover, and many of the questions are concerning issues that are not directly part of the interpretation of the text. Some have been on this verse or that verse, and I'll certainly try to address each of those in the exposition of the passage. But many of the questions have been application-oriented, and I want to address some of those very, very quickly and briefly. And I trust then that as we go through the actual teaching of the passage, that many of your specific questions in that regard can be answered. Now, we understand, and I think we all understand here, that it is the decision of the session of this church that all of the ladies in communicant membership of the church submit to this requirement for head covering in the place of public worship. It's not a demand that we're making on those that are not under the authority of the church. But those of you that are communicant members know that as you've met the session, as you've read the literature that we give you, this is the conviction of the session of this church. And so we put that as one of the requirements. It's not our desire in any way to force and dictate your conscience. We are Protestants. And as Protestants, we believe in the priesthood of the believer, and we believe that every man has his own conscience before God. We're not asking you, who are Communicant members, necessarily even to agree with us. We're simply asking that you submit to what this session has determined as a scriptural teaching that we want to see practice as we come together. Now, submission is always easier when you agree. That ultimately is not the bottom line. Now, even if you don't agree, even if you don't agree, as I go through this exposition with you, if you say, Barrett, you're completely wrong here. That's not my interpretation. Fine. You know, that's your right and that's your privilege as a Protestant to interpret the scripture as you will, but we want to be honest with the text as we possibly can. But even, I'm saying, if you are in communicant membership of the church, and have submitted to that requirement, even if you don't agree, the submission must be. It must be one of willingness, one of heart submission, and not out of rebellion. And I'm doing this just to satisfy the demands of the church. Those of you that are parents know sometimes your children will submit to you. You tell them to eat their vegetables, and so they'll eat that pea. I'll eat that pea, but I'm not going to enjoy it. and I'm not going to chew it or something, I'll just swallow it whole. Well, you know, they got the pea down them, but that's missing the point. That's missing the point. So even if you don't like the peas, as it were, the submission and the eating of the peas as you submit to the authority that God has established in the church must be willing and it must be joyful. It must be joyful, and that's what we're asking here, please. All right, now having said that, let me just address some of these general questions that really are not going to be part of the exposition. But I think they are legitimate questions and concerns that we have. And I don't know that these are any particular logical order. I just kind of wrote them down as I looked at the papers that were given to me and the questions. One of the concerns is that this is the only place in the New Testament that deals with this particular issue. How important is it, therefore? How vital is it, therefore, if this is the only place in the New Testament where this issue of head covering is considered? I think we need to be very careful here. All of this, we believe, that all of the scripture is inspired by God, that every bit of it is given by the authority of God, is not the opinion of man, is not the the devices of men, but indeed is the very word of the Lord. So I'm not really concerned as to how many times God has to say something before it becomes relevant and before it becomes applicable. If this were only a single verse, the authority of it and the significance of it becomes binding upon our conscience. We obey everything that God says. But when you look at it from this perspective, I think this is interesting. I grant you, this is the only chapter in the entire scripture that deals with this issue. But when you look at how much the Apostle says concerning this issue, it's really quite amazing. Do we believe in the virgin birth of Christ? I dare say it's a fundamental defeat. But how many times in scripture are we told that Christ was born of a virgin? I'm not denying that doctrine, but you need to understand, please, that the scripture says more about head covering than it does the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, as far as expressed statements. We believe in baptism as a sacrament of the church. But I dare say there is more detail given to us here concerning head covering or non-head covering for men than it does in the mechanics as to baptism. That's why I suppose we have so many differences of opinion as to how baptism ought to be administered. We have sprinklers, we have pourers, we have immersers, we have those. Now the scripture obviously is not clear. Let's face it, the Bible, it would not be hard It would not have been a difficult thing for the Lord to say, now when you baptize, make sure that you put the whole person under the water. It's not hard to say. But the scripture never says that. It never one time says that. But we come to this particular issue, and there is more specific detail given concerning this than we have baptism. And we can multiply. We can multiply those instances. Are we going to judge angels? Will believers judge angels? Yes or no? Yes, we will. How do I know that? Because the Bible says. How many times does the Bible tell me I'm going to judge angels? One time. But I don't doubt it. So I'm not looking here as to how many times God says something before he means it. So I would submit to you that the significance of this, given the details that we have, define its own importance, one way or the other. One way or the other, there is a great deal of information that we are given here. Alright, a second issue here concerns the spiritual attitude of worship. Worship is a heart thing. Worship is a matter of the heart. It's not a matter of just external conformity to this or that outside regulation. And that's true. That's true. Women wearing head covering is not a substitute for a heart worship to the Lord. Nor is the fact that we as men don't have something on our head, an act of true spiritual worship. And the session's suggestion here, demand for our communicant membership, is not that you do this and automatically bingo bango you're going to be right with God. Any more than being baptized makes you right with God. Or taking the Lord's Supper makes you right with God. These are things that God has defined that are going to contribute when spiritually done, when spiritually done and prayerfully done, will contribute to worship. Next Lord's Day, we're going to be celebrating the Lord's Supper together. Is it possible to come to this Lord's Supper, which is defined by God and given by Christ to be a means of worship, to be a means of communing with God, is it possible to come to this Lord's Table and make an idolatry? and make it just a perfunctory deal. Certainly it is. Certainly it is. And if that happens, if you come to the Lord's Supper and you partake of these sacraments and these signs in a perfunctory manner and not experience that true spiritual worship, shame on you. All right? Shame on you. You're missing the point. But do I blame the Lord's Supper because there are some people that take it perfunctorily? Is that a word? I made it up. No, no I don't. So yes, there must be spiritual worship, and this is a means to contribute to that. If it is done without thought, if it is done out of habit, out of routine, out of ritual, because, well, we're missing the point. Can you have your head covered or uncovered, depending upon your gender here, in a perfunctory manner? Sure. Sure you can. Does that make it right? No. Does that mean we throw out the teaching? No. It means that we have to come to this in true spirit. All worship is in spirit and in truth. It is not just ticking off a list of this, that, or the other thing. So, I agree. I agree, and I don't want to suggest in any way that by having a head covered or uncovered, It is going to affect or define what true spiritual worship is. Worship is a matter of the heart. This is not opposed to that. The fact that some of ladies that have their head covered may do it without thought, that's going to be a matter of personal examination here. To make sure that what we do always in the name of Christ is out of a true matter of the heart. So I think we'll cover that. Let's see, let's see. What effect does it have on worship? And I guess this is what we're talking about here as well. The question was asked, does this make our women more submissive? Put a hat on the head, does that make them more submissive? I'm not trying to make anybody anything. I'm not trying to make anybody anything. That's not the point. Does our doctrines or belief affect our attitude and our spirit? Yes, it must. Yes, it must. We hear that all the time, don't we? I emphasize that to you, that there's no truth in Scripture that ought not to have some bearing and influence upon the life. It is not. There's nothing in Scripture that is to be taken in a purely outward, ritualistic, perfunctory manner. We must engage in this in a true heart spiritual worship. So I don't know whether it's made our women more submissive. It's not that we're trying to make anybody anything. But here is what God has set down for various reasons, and we'll see that in the exposition, that is designed to contribute, when done spiritually, when done spiritually, to a proper attitude of worship. Can this be done unspiritually? Can this be done carnally? Sure it can. Sure it can. You can keep the Sabbath carnally, you see. But because I have those that keep the Sabbath out of carnal reasons, does that nullify and set aside this? Of course not. Of course not. That person who breaks the Sabbath or handles the Sabbath that way will be dealt with accordingly by God. It's a spiritual matter. And when done properly, when done spiritually, it is going to have, and should have in our hearts, the proper spirit. Does this contribute to carnality or frustration if I do this just because the church tells me to do this? Does this does this create frustration? It can Sure, it can The same as I tell my kid to eat a pea. All right, if that's it, you know It depends on how we're going to view this submission whether I agree or not Can it create sure it can but I don't think that's the blame of first Corinthians chapter 11 if it causes frustration. I think that's how we're viewing this whole matter of how I'm going to submit to the authority that God has established over us. And this is going to be linked up to Presbyterianism, as you come into this church. Particularly, again, I'm talking about communicant membership here. Those that have voluntarily, and if I recall, as long as I've been in the session, involved in this church, we have never once, never once have we, roped somebody and said, oh, please be a member of this church. You don't hear appeals to that effect. Every one of you that have come into this church have done so on your own volition. And in so doing, you submit. And part of that is recognizing what the Presbyterianism system is all about. So we're not trying to make you frustrated. The session as the spiritual leadership of this church has come to a conviction concerning what this passage teaches. And it's incumbent upon us as the spiritual leadership that God has ordained to make these things clear. And I hope they will be clear. Have we chased visitors away? Have ladies come in here and seen what's going on here? I'm not going to be a part of this. I don't know. It's never addressed from the pulpit. If you're a visitor here without a hat on, you know, get out of here, we don't want you. That's absurd. Never once has that ever been said. To my knowledge, as long as I've been here, we chase people away from here for a lot of reasons. You know, face it. We're strange in many ways as far as the world is concerned. And as far as some of our brethren are concerned, a lot of strange things about us. We preach this, we preach that. I don't know why people come and people go. I don't think that this is an issue. If it is, you know, then that's an issue. But I don't think that's... So, I want it to have an effect upon worship. It must have. And if it doesn't, then we're all doing it incorrectly here. And again, I'm talking about men and women here. As we both submit to what this passage is teaching. Because this addresses both. It must contribute and aid itself in proper spiritual worship, and we'll set that up more as we come through here. A practical question here, and I think this is a good question. We look around, and I'm not making any judgments here as to what kind of head covering is being used. It says to cover the head. says to cover the head. What's the purpose? Well, the purpose of covering the head here is part of this submission, as we're going to see. Is it becoming a fashion deal? Are ladies just trying to find hats that make them look attractive, this, that, or the other? Is it just a fashion? I hope not. Now, it doesn't say that you have to be ugly when you do it. Nothing is going to be ugly when you do it. Any more, then we men are going to consciously come to church muscling up our hair just so we can... No, no, no, no, no, no. Nothing wrong with having an attractive hat. That's not the purpose. Now, it does say to cover the head. We'll talk about what that means. Now, I'll be making a distinction as I go through here between what the scripture says, about which I'm going to be then exercising authority as a teacher of this book, and what my opinions are. I have my opinions as to how this ought to be applied. They are my opinions. You may not share my opinions. That's fine. That's fine. And I will certainly allow that difference of opinion when it comes to the application of certain truths. But, as I say, I will be dogmatic when it comes to what the text is saying and those clear points. Someone asked about the choir. The choir wearing little things. I'll tell you the truth. I wish the choir would wear something bigger. Now, that's my opinion. All right? It's my opinion. I have to say it. I sit there sometimes. The thing's stuck in the back of the head, and you've got to look hard to see it. Now, that's my opinion. That's my opinion. Don't go out and say, well, put a sheet on my head now or whatever. That's my opinion. I wish the choir would wear something bigger. But at least it's there. At least it's there, and we're going in the right direction. So I appreciate it. that we have differences of opinion as to how the application of this ought to be. But, if we can come to the place where we understand what the Scripture is teaching, and here's where we've got to start. We have to start with what the Scripture is teaching, and then we can work on the application. This is how I work in many regards, right? We talked about the Sabbath. Have I ever once told you people how to perform the Sabbath? No, I'm not going to get to that game. Let's agree that the scripture teaches something and then we seek the Holy Spirit of God. And I hope we are seeking the help of the Spirit of God in matters of application of all scripture that we're not just following fashion or whatever else. I hope we're not doing that. And if we're doing it that way, then we're not doing it right. This is a spiritual matter. It's a spiritual matter. It's not because we want to be different that we're doing this. I say agree, first of all, or at least come to understand what the Scripture says. And then, as far as application matters are concerned, we can allow the Spirit of God, hopefully, to lead us in those proper directions. In that connection, I'm going to be arguing here that this becomes a requirement for public worship. You'll see that in my exposition. I can cover two questions here with maybe one aspect. One question was given to me. concerning whether this ought to be a daily deal, as the Mennonites and others, or is this just for public worship? My feeling is, as I come to this text, that the issue is public worship. It is not what is taking place in the home or is what taking place on the street corners. And I think I can make that case very, very clearly from the exposition of the text. This is dealing with public worship, not everyday life. But so that will become, I think, more clear as we come through. But that raises the question, what constitutes worship? What constitutes a public worship? Just walking in those glass doors out here, walking underneath the burning bush into this building, does that constitute worship? No, there's nothing sacred about this place. You understand what I'm saying? That just because you're within the confines of these walls doesn't make it public worship. Now, if our business meetings here, this is my opinion again, we're talking about application. Talking about application. If our business meetings here, we're just business, we're talking about whether we want new carpet or new paint, that's not worship. But what happens here, we always have preaching, so I think on our annual meetings it's appropriate. But just a business meeting, talking about whether we want this or that. And thankfully, we don't have that here for the other reason. We're Presbyterians. That wouldn't constitute worship. You know, we have these meetings where someone asks about, you know, these meetings where we're just talking about this, that, or the other within, you know, the Torchbearers group or the Young People's Fellowship group or whatever it is you have your, you know. It's going to be a matter of conscience here. All right? It's going to be a matter of conscience here. I'd rather err, my feeling always, I'd like to err on the side of safety than on the side of liberty. But again, those are issues that I can't really address and answer directly from the scripture. Those are my opinions as to where it ought to be applied in these specific instances, whether it's a torchbearer meeting or a young people's fellowship meeting where it's not designed to be. Let your conscience, let your conscience, according to God's word, be your teacher there. If you have some agreed standard, then you use the agreed standard. Scripture obviously is not going to address torchbearer meetings or young people's fellowship meetings here in this passage, but it is talking about public worship. And I think certainly those services that are so designated and understood to be public worship, this becomes a requirement. All right. I know I'm just kind of rambling here, but I want to take care of some of these things to make sure I hit your questions. Several of you. I have asked, what age do we start? What age do we start? I don't have daughters. I don't have daughters, so I've never had to reflect upon this from a personal point of application. What age do we start? I'm giving you my opinion here. The scripture is not going to say start at 2 or 3 or 18. I can only give you my opinion. My opinion is this. That's as soon as we start bringing our children into the place of public worship, we want to teach them what public worship is all about. And the text here is not just talking about married women. That'll become clear when I deal with the exposition. It's not just talking about married women. The contrast here is not between married or unmarried. The contrast is between boy and girl, between man and woman. This is the contrast that is being made here in the context of public worship. As we deal with our children, we're trying to teach our children proper decorum and proper spirits of worship from the very beginning. Now there becomes a responsibility here of the parent at this point, as we teach our children all of these things, to tell them why and to make sure they understand as they come to that place. Start them young. Stick the thing on their heads. When they come to the place of public work, we need to start teaching them as early as we can. As to the implications of what it's all about. This is true whether I've got boys or girls. I want them to understand what is going on. Put it the other way around. When my kids were little, when they started studying insurance, they didn't wear baseball hats. They didn't wear little They didn't wear hats on their head during the public worship. Just a little baby, a cute little bodice. I don't care. Once they came into the place of public worship, they were going to act like little men, or they were going to be taken back out to the nursery, if they weren't acting like little men. So I think it's the same. My opinion is it's the same for the children. Let's get them started early. Let's get them started early as to what the elements of worship are. That's my opinion, but you can work that out for yourself. But again, I think it'll become clear from the exposition. The contrast is not between married and unmarried, but rather between the genders for various reasons. Now these, I think, were good significant questions. And I think these are the things that plague us. And we wonder about I don't know if I've answered them to your satisfaction. I've answered them according to my understanding of what the scripture is teaching here. It is a symbol. What we're going to be understanding here is that this head covering is not the essence of worship. It is a symbol. It's a symbol. That's why I don't care whether you've got a brim on your beanie or not. That's not the point. The kind of head covering is not going to be the issue. It's a symbol of something that God is teaching us here. Can I throw the symbol out, consciously throwing the symbol out, and have the proper spirit of the reality that that symbol is trying to convey? The scripture always, in dealing with this kind of thing, makes a connection between the symbol and the reality. Makes a connection between the symbol and the reality. And we understand that. You know, let's say I had a picture of Sandra. Now, that picture is not Sandra. Now, I love Sandra, and I've seen pictures of her that are really nice, and I like the pictures of her. But the picture is not her. What am I going to do, though, if I have that picture that represents her to me? I'm not going to take that picture and draw mustaches on it and blacken out the teeth and say, well, that's not, you know, that's not what I feel about Sandra's picture. Now, if she was to come and see a picture I had of her in my wall or someplace or in my office and it had a mustache on it and the teeth blackened out, she could have said, what's the matter with you? Don't you love me anymore? Why are you doing? Well, you see, I say I love you, but that's just your picture, mercy. That's just your picture. I like to draw mustaches on pictures. No, you don't do that. Because there's a connection there between what that picture and who that picture represents. And the relationship that I have with the reality behind it. You know, you understand that. Well, it's the same thing that we don't just, we just don't take out, we just don't throw the symbol and say, my heart's right. I love the Lord. I'm going to do it, but I don't need the symbol. God knows what we are. God knows what we are. And sometimes symbols help us. Sometimes symbols help us. when properly viewed, and properly used, and spiritually used, to remind us of the reality. That picture of Sander reminds me of the reality. I'm in my office, I look, there's, oh yeah, there's Sander, and you know, that generates some nice thoughts. You understand? Alright, so it's a symbol, yes, but there is a connection between the symbol and the reality. Alright, those are some of the general questions. Now we're going to finish this today. I'm sorry if you all came this one time to Sunday School thinking we're going to do it. Nice to have you all here by the way. This is a real treat. So come again. Alright, come again. But I wanted to answer these application questions first, so that we can know where we're going. Any other questions? Yes. Isn't there a portion in this scripture where it talks about the reasoning in it is not just the submission, but also the fact that your hair is your glory and you're to cover that that is your glory. And therefore, if you put something else on, I mean, I've often thought about this, if you put something else on that's as pretty as your hair, are you undoing one of the reasons underneath? Good question. Good question. I'm going to repeat your question in case Could you hear her knock if you heard that question? I repeat your question, because I think this tape will probably go out. The question is whether or not, again, these head coverings become a fashion statement when we use ornate things, whatever, to hide the hair, which is the glory. And I'll discuss what that means in due course in the exposition. Again, I would say this. There's no premium here upon ugliness, alright? I don't think we have to come with, you know, just a... I don't think that's what the Lord's requiring here. I think the bottom line is this. Whatever it is that calls attention to myself, alright? Whatever it is that calls attention to myself becomes inappropriate. If I were to come in here, and I thought about doing this today just to make a point, and I told Santa something about doing this this morning, Just to make a point, but then I realized the point would be in violation of God's Word, so I didn't do it. But I was going to come in here today with a hat on. I was going to teach this, I was going to stand up with a hat on my head. Just to make the point. And that would be offensive to all of you if you had any lick of sense in you. That would be offensive. You wouldn't get that hat off your head. Why? I'm calling attention to myself, number one. And number two, it's in violation of what God... Now, is that just a fashion statement? Is that just because, well, men don't wear hats indoors? Well, we ought not. We're coming into a place where I wonder if that's even accepted in society. You go into restaurants. A few times I go there and other places, and you see guys sitting there with hats on their head. It's becoming apparently culturally accepted in our day, but we're not going to have it in here. We're not going to have it in here for our men to wear hats. for various reasons. And then the bottom line is, Sarah, that we don't want to call attention to ourselves. If you're wearing a big fruit basket deal on your head, all right, yeah, that which the scripture calls glory is hidden, but you're calling attention to yourself. And anything that we do in calling attention to ourselves becomes inappropriate. As this is, you look what Paul says in regard to his preaching. Paul says, I'm not eloquent here, I'm not this, I'm not whatever. He didn't want to do anything that distracted from the message that he was preaching. There comes a point, does that mean we don't want to be eloquent? No. But it means if our eloquence gets in the way of the message, then the eloquence becomes wrong. If our lack of it gets in the way, then that becomes wrong. The bottom line is that we are putting ourselves, we put ourselves in the proper relationships that God has established. part of the group, corporately, of the place of worship, and we don't call attention to ourselves. So I think that has to be the bottom line there. So how do you... Again, we're going to make this a matter of personal conscience. I'm not going to... You know we're not going to have any hair... BJ, they have hair checks, right? We're not going to have a hat check here as you walk in and say, no, that one's not quite... No, I'm not going to get in that game. But I think that's the spirit. Bruce? The idea of calling attention to yourself. It becomes a question, should our girls wear hats and so on. And in many of the churches we go to, they don't wear head covering. And it does become a matter of calling attention to us. And I'm just wondering if maybe sometimes not wearing it in front of in these churches where it is a problem or could be a problem. Well, I work troublesome. My opinion of that is this. Here's what the scripture teaches. Here's what the scripture teaches. If men interpret that incorrectly, I can't help that. Now, again, I think there's wisdom there. When we go on vacation, I'll take Sandra with me. We'll go to a church up in Michigan. I do everyone's work. And the church that we'll attend that my brother-in-law and whatever go to, they don't wear hats. But Sandra will take a little. you know, head covering and she'll wear it. Not conspicuous, but it's the same kind of stuff she wears here. I don't know really of any instance, have they? Anybody ever come to you and say, how come you're doing that? It doesn't bother anybody. My conscience becomes satisfied before the Lord and I don't think it's offensive. I think it can be done in a way where, again, it's nothing that will call attention to itself. And then if they ask, then it gives me an opportunity to tell. But I don't want to cut... If this is my conscience, what this passage teaches, I'm not going to violate my conscience before God in this regard just because someone else has never considered this passage. And usually that's what it is. Never thought of it. And therefore, if they say, why are you doing that? Then it gives me a chance to tell them why I'm doing it. Again, I don't want to ultimately distract from the message. And the only other thing, I should say this in connection, has crossed my mind here, that we do like, even for those ladies that are not in communicant membership, is that when they have some public, part of the service, whether it's playing an operatory or whatever, if they're going to be part of the public worship, they submit to that requirement of the church, even if they're not directly under the submission of the session. Anything else generally here? Yes, sir. I've heard the argument, what then, is there 11 commandments to give instead of 10? You know, that's that's absurd. The question was, is there 11 commandments now and not 10? My answer to that was that's absurd. If we understand and usually the people that say that don't obey the first 10 either. All right. There's Sabbath breakers and whatever else, generally speaking, be my guess. But let's understand, and we've been here in the Sunday School class over these past times when Tim has gone through the Ten Commandments, and have we not emphasized over and over again that in those Ten Commandments we have the entire compass of what God's requirements are for His people. If you understand the first four commandments, which are dealing principally with our worship to God, not only who we are to worship, but this is significant. Commandments 2, 3, and 4 tell us how we are to worship that God that is defined as the only object of true and spiritual worship. So I have that mandate, and our confession makes this very clear as well. You read our confession on what it says concerning worship, that God has not only defined for us Himself as the only true object of worship, but the ways of worshiping Him are given as well. So I grant you, it's not in the Ten Commandments that I, but the Ten Commandments tell me that I am to have this kind of true spiritual worship. How I worship is there in that, under that umbrella of the moral law, without question. But to put this, I'm not putting this on the, but it's incorporated in the spirit of the law, certainly. And if you understand the spirit of the law, I think you can well understand that. But those people that say that, to me, are reflecting, I'm sorry, give me a synonym for ignorance here if you can think of one, but they're reflecting their ignorance on what the purpose of the law of God is and what the significance of the law of God is. They've reduced it just to this little thing that I can tick off. That's a misunderstanding of the law. Okay? Okay. Yeah. Number one, I don't think the text is obscure. All right. It's not obscure. To me, it's very, very clear. And whenever I come to a clear understanding of what the scripture says, I'm under the mandate for it. The Bible does not tell me how to baptize. Now this church is not open in regard to baptism as far as a Christian sacrament. If you come to this church and say, I don't believe in baptism, you've got a problem. And we don't tolerate that. We don't tolerate that. The mechanism of baptism, the mechanics of the baptism, the scripture is not clear on. I've got my view, Allison has his view, Kearns has his view. Fine, you all have your views. Not the reality of it, but the how of it. That's the difference. That's the difference. To me, as I come to this scripture and look at what it says at point value, it's not obscure. It tells me now exactly, it's spelling out exactly what needs to be done here, as far as the mechanics are concerned. Now we're going to start the exposition. Let me set it up this way. Let me set it up this way. You're going to have to come back. You're going to have to come back. It won't hurt you. The one key issue here in chapter 11, the first part of chapter 11, is the issue of head covering for women in the place of public worship and the absence of head covering for men in the place of public worship. Now that is the argument, that's where Paul is going with this in the chapter. If we don't understand the logic by which he sets down and establishes this, we're going to be confused. And most of the questions exegetically or contextually that are coming to me concerning this concerning the passage and, you know, as I deal with this elsewhere as well, this is not the only place I deal with this. You think you people aren't buying what I'm saying. Put me in the class of students who've never heard this before in their life. And I teach the same thing. I don't change what I'm teaching, by the way. Now, if you don't follow the logic of what Paul is doing, we're going to miss the point. Let me just give you an overview of the logic and then you come back next week and I'll show it to you in the text. The principal issue is worship. That's what we're doing here. What is the proper decorum for men and for women in the place of public worship? That's the focus. Now, in arguing for this proper decorum in the place of public worship, Paul is going to use analogies and arguments from two different spheres. He's going to be taking us to creation. Look at creation and what do we learn in creation? We learn in creation that man is different from woman. We learn that from creation. Let's take a look someplace else. Let's take a look in the sphere of everyday life. Let's just look at the normal things in everyday life. In everyday life, outside the church, outside the place of public worship, in everyday life, men are different from women. The passage that tells us that the that the hair, where is that? Verse 15, if a woman have long hair it is a glory to her for her hair is given her for a covering. Her hair, that's what it says, her hair is given to her in the place of a covering. That's what it says. That's what it says. Does that mean that in the place of public worship, the hair is all that you have to have for a covering. No, you're missing the logic of what Paul is talking about. You're missing the logic. You have to understand Paul's logic or you're going to be confused. I'm saying that to you. In everyday life, in the sphere of everyday life, the hair is given to the woman as her glory. Instead of a covering, and I'll set that up for you, I'm going to give you a little history lesson next week showing you that what is happening here is distinctively Christian. What is here is distinctively Christian. The Jews worshipped a certain way. The Greeks worshipped a certain way. What Paul is mandating here was anti-Gentile and it was anti-Jew. It was distinctively Christian. The hair is given in the place of a covering here in the realm of everyday life. Now what's his conclusion? If creation establishes a difference between man and woman, and if in the sphere of everyday life there is a distinction between man and woman, Then, conclusion, in the place of worship there is to be a distinction, a special distinction, and here's what it's going to be. Here's what it's going to be in the place of public worship. What is true outside the church here is not what Paul is recommending, what he's commanding here with the authority of God to be taking place inside the church. Now I'm saying that if you don't see that logic of how verse 15 fits in the argument, Then you're going to say, well, as long as a woman has hair on her head when she comes to church, that's all that's required. It's not what's required. You're missing the logic of his argument. And if Paul is anything besides a brilliant theologian, he was logical. Alright? I love his logic. He gives the premise. He proves it. He illustrates it. And here is the mandate. So, we're different. We're different. None of us had any choice as to what we are. Who had a choice here as to whether you're a man or a woman? Bill, you know, no choice, right? I mean, that's just all that. Yeah, by our point, just kind of whatever those X's and Y's do. Alright, we have no... I remember that much, right? X's and Y's. I forget who's who. Or what's what. We've got no choice in that matter. We are what we are because God has made us what we are. Does that mean What is it? XY? What are we? Does that mean XY's are better than the what? XX's? Man, it's been years since I studied that. Does that mean that XY's are better inherently than XX's? No. But we are what we are because God has made us what we are. Believe in the providence of God here. We are what we are. That we are what we are. God has established a relationship here. Not better, worse. But different. Different. Different by creation. Different in everyday life. And different in the place of public worship. For the reasons that we'll consider next Lord's Day. Well, time is gone. I hope this helps. I hope it helps. All I'm trying to do is answer some of your questions. And again, you don't have to agree with my opinions. You don't have to agree with my opinions. My opinions are no better than your opinions. My opinions are no more authoritative than your opinions. I'll put it that way. I'm sure they're better. But if you have your heart open to what the Word says, even if it goes contrary to everything else that every church in the world is doing. Okay? Our standard here is not the world. Our standard here is not what the majority of opinion is among fundamentalists. It's not the standard. It's not. It's what the Word teaches. And if I'm convinced by the Spirit of God that this is what the Word teaches, But I've got to obey it. I've got to obey it. And even, again, I closed what I said at the beginning, even if you don't agree, if you have voluntarily put yourself under the discipline and under the leadership of this church, then you submit, not rebelliously, not, oh man, I got, no. There's a certain element of trust here among those for those that God has raised up as the spiritual leadership. That's Presbyterianism. Okay, well, sorry we didn't cover much more than that, but I wanted to be sure to at least cover these general questions that I think are the plaguing things that some of you have been having. All right, let's close in prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we give thanks for the Lord Jesus. We're thankful of the gospel. We're thankful that We know liberty and freedom in Christ. We're thankful, Lord, for the Word of God. It is our confession that this book is our only rule for faith and practice. We confess, Lord, that we need and we must have the help of the Spirit of God as we come to this book to give us the understanding that we need. We pray, Lord, that once we come to the understanding as to what it means and what it says, that by the grace of God and the help of the Spirit, we will obey it. recognize that this issue that we're discussing here is sometimes not a happy issue, have differing opinions, even here. But we ask, O Lord, that as we consider this, that our hearts will be opened, that you will give us understanding, and that above all things, we might submit ourselves under the authority of the Word of God. So help us, Lord, make this a good exercise for We pray that our spirit will be right. We pray that, above all things, we might seek to know the unity of the spirit in the Lord Jesus. So help us, we ask. Bless us as we worship throughout this day. We pray in Jesus' name.