Turn with me in your Bibles, please, to 1 Corinthians 11. We'll read verses 1 through 16. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1. Hear now the inerrant, infallible, and inspired Word of God. Be ye followers of me, even as I also am 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, dishonoreth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered, dishonoreth her head, for that is even all one as if she were shaven. For 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, for as much as he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not 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 is 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 comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Does 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 a covering. But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God. May God add his blessing to the reading and to the hearing of his most holy word. All right, so we have talked about reformed worship with regard to the regulative principle. We've talked about exclusive psalmody and we've talked about acapella singing, the lack of instruments and why we sing to the Lord apart from musical accompaniment, instrumental accompaniment. Moving on then to the next topic, we are taking up the topic of head coverings. And I'd like to expand it just a little bit beyond head coverings into something that is related, and that is the roles of men and women as they serve the church. Because both serve, but we serve differently. So I'd like to discuss that also over the next few weeks as we take up 1 Corinthians 11 and a few other passages of scripture such as 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Timothy 2 and a few other places, Titus 3 and so on. Titus 2, excuse me. So these are all important passages for our understanding and not only for help with the practice of head coverings. For those who are listening by way of the internet or some other recorded media, it is our practice here at CCRPC for the women to attend worship with a sign of authority upon their head, that is with some kind of head covering. And we want to talk about what that is and why we practice that and so on. Let me talk to you about a few things that I'm not going to address in this series. I'm not going to address women or women's roles in society as to whether we should have women rulers or not. It's an interesting topic, but it's not what I'm pursuing. And then also in the family, what male and female roles are in the family, although I have some, and I believe they are scriptural convictions on that issue, I do believe that, number one, it is outside of our Reformation distinctives topic, although we may mention a couple of things along the way. If any of you are interested in reading on that, I would recommend two books to you. First is by William Gouge. That's my best J.I. Packer impression. I know, not very good. William Gouge, and the name of the book is A Directory of Domestical Duties. Domestical spelled with two L's. And then also, there's another book for some of you mothers by a gentleman named John C. Abbott, A-B-B-O-T-T, called The Mother at Home. And while with any book we cannot offer an unqualified endorsement, there is much good material in both of those books. We've also talked before about The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaefer. Again, not an unqualified recommendation, but a very profitable book. and the family at home by another Abbott, not John Abbott, but I can't remember his name right now, but it is another Abbott, the family at home also. Is that John Angel James? Well, there's another abbot that wrote a book similar to that also. So there are a number of resources out there for those of you who are studying such issues. We'll talk about a few of those things, but not exhaustively. We're going to talk about the roles of men and women in the church. That's our focus here. All right, so then to our text, I have several things I'd like to set forth by way of general comments, and then we'll kind of drill down and start in verse one. First of all, the the thrust of the apostle here is to speak of what goes on in public worship. I know that there have been groups in the past that have said that this practice of head coverings that we see here in 1 Corinthians 11 ought to obtain all of the time. That women, except for when they go to sleep, should be covered because you never know when you'll want to pray. Have you ever heard that? I don't know if you've heard it, but I've heard it. And I would just simply and meekly respond to that viewpoint. that this particular passage where the Apostle enjoins the covering of the head, that the context is entirely that of public worship. That if we are going to be good, regulative principle Presbyterians, that we will understand this in its proper context that during the public worship service we believe that women should have their heads covered and that that is the extent of it there is no direction beyond that in scripture with regard to covering the head and I would say that those who would insist upon that have fallen into that that critique of William Sprague which is that they have become over wise wiser than God if you will So the context is clearly the public worship service. And let me just say a few things with regard to that proving that, first of all, the context of praying or prophesying is most certainly a churchly context. In other words, that the apostle is speaking of prayer and preaching requires a particular context. These are acts of public worship. Now, you already know my view. We talked about this earlier in our study of what praying and prophesying means for women here. It is indeed public prayer where women pray along with everyone else, and also the singing of psalms, that that is indeed the prophesying that we see here. And when women engage in such things, that they engage with the rest of the church in them. We're not addressing here private prayer and private psalm singing, that these are public acts. Second, the context is that of the custom of the churches. Note that he does not mention the custom of families or the customs of homes, but of the custom of churches. The significance of this is that he is regulating the behavior of folks in the worshiping assembly. And it might do well for us to step back for just a second and see how he frames the discourse in the first and in the last verse. In verse 2 of chapter 11, we'll talk about verse 1 and whether it belongs in chapter 10 or chapter 11. The answer to that is yes. Yes, it belongs to both. And we'll see it as a pivotal verse here in a few moments. But what's interesting about verse two is that he says, I praise you that you have received the traditions. And then at the end of the discourse in verse 16, he says, we have no such custom. And so the apostle is talking about certain things, certain public things that are the, if you will, the property, the purview of all of the churches, which is again, adds more ammunition to our understanding that we're talking about public worship. The third thing I would submit for your consideration is that the language used by the apostle in this passage admits of no neutral attire regarding the man and the woman. Now, this is sometimes a new concept for people. So I want to just walk us through this here very closely. I have been asked before why I wear a clerical collar and a robe for preaching. And the answer is that I wear a clerical collar and a robe because I believe that it is pressed to church officers in the Bible that they should distinguish themselves by a uniform, much like a police officer or a judge, that it speaks of an office. It doesn't elevate the man, but it certainly preaches an office. If you take a look at the ministry in the Bible, In many instances, ministers such as the Levites of old, the prophets, wore distinctive dress. They had a distinctive uniform or something that identified them as a minister of the gospel or a minister in the church. And they'll tell me something like, well, you know, our pastor wears a business suit. And the inference from that is that the pastor is not saying anything by wearing a business suit. That's somehow neutral. And when I point out to them that there is no such thing as neutral pulpit attire, that if a man wears a business suit or if a man wears a clerical collar, that both of those things have something to say. you know, that is often something that they haven't yet considered. The same thing is true here with regard to headdress in worship. There are only two possibilities, yes or no, have it or don't. And Paul says that having it, uh, um, corresponds to ladies and not having it corresponds to men. And so, because there are only two, there is no tertium quid. There's no third thing. It is either one way or the other. So it doesn't appear in this passage that there's any such thing as what we might call a neutral kind of headgear for worship. Either you're wearing a covering or you're not wearing a covering. And the apostle points not wearing a covering to men and wearing a covering to women. And so when ladies show up in worship services in the myriads of churches out there without head coverings and they say, well, I don't have an opinion on that. Yes, you do. There's no such thing as neutral headdress for worship. Either it's one way or it's the other. There is no neutrality there. So that's an interesting thought when you think about it, that the apostle is indeed taking this straightforward. Now, I'm aware that some present this argument as cultural, that Paul is speaking in a cultural context. And let me just say this about the cultural argument. And that is, I'm ready to acknowledge that in this passage there are some cultural elements. I think one would be silly to deny that. But I don't think that those cultural elements that do appear in this passage negate the supraculture, supracultural elements or arguments that the Apostle sets forth in the passage. And that's the thing that we really do have to deal with, right? That there are indeed one or two cultural elements in this passage, but that there are also some supracultural elements. And so the existence of one or two cultural elements do not negate the supracultural, right? And that's what we have to deal with here. So in other words, simply not wearing a head covering is not a neutral statement because that pertains to men's attire. Wearing a head covering is not neutral in this passage because that pertains to a woman's attire. And these are the only two alternatives. And so it is binary in that sense. Our goal then is to work through the passage to look at the entire discourse, to look at the terms, how it all fits together as a whole. We also want to look at other places in scripture where head attire is used in the case of women and see whether or not those cases shed any light on what's going on here in 1 Corinthians 11. There are a couple of other places in scripture where we see women with their heads covered. Um, as we look at the terms, we will also look at what the apostle means by the term head covering, what is essential and what is accidental. You know what I mean by essential and accidental? In other words, that which constitutes the essence of having a head covering and that which is accidental to having head covering. And I know that there have been denominations that have thrown down over whether or not you can wear a hat, a scarf, a veil, a doily or whatever. So we're going to talk about what. What is accidental? Whether a scarf, a hat, a doily, you know, and what is essential? What is essential about a head covering? And we will examine that cultural argument to see whether or not it attains, look at various interpretations that in themselves over the years are fraught with cultural references. And then we will also look at objections to our own practice. head coverings for women. It's kind of the course that I plan to take through the passage. And then I also want to spend a little bit of time in 1 Corinthians 14, because it bears on this passage. And in 1 Timothy chapter 2, it also has a bearing on the passage here in very interesting ways. Alright, so then to the text, notice that if you were to go home and pull your favorite commentary off of the shelf, now for some of you that would be Calvin and so I may stand corrected here because Calvin has a little bit different view, but any of the more technical commentaries such as the New International New Testament commentary series, the New Testament Greek commentaries, even 19th century works such as J.P. Lange and so on. Many of these commentaries relegate verse 1 back to chapter 10. Let's go back in chapter 10 and read a few verses and see what we're talking about here. Verse 31 is, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God, give none offense, neither to the Jews nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God, even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many that they may be saved. Be followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances as I delivered them to you. So you can see why some commentators might be tempted to take verse 1 and to roll it back as the last verse of chapter 10 instead of including it. We remember that the chapter divisions are not inspired. What's really interesting about that statement, though, that the chapter divisions are not inspired, is that sometimes what we mean when we say that is we want to take a verse and include it with the forward chapter and move the chapter division one verse. And that's silly. If the chapter divisions are not inspired, then we can then take a look at verse 1 as a transitionary verse that moves from his topic in chapter 10 to his topic in chapter 11 as a continuous narrative. In other words, sometimes we say the chapter divisions are not inspired, you know, so we move it a verse and then just drop the chapter division one verse instead of recognizing that it's a continuous thing. So, there are several things that would point to verse 1 being a transitionary kind of verse. First of all, It is true that the Apostle has spoken of his own behavior, of pleasing men in all things, and that there is a great amount of affinity to what follows in these similarities. Notice verse 31, that he speaks of the glory of God, but in verse 7 of chapter 11, the Apostle also speaks of the glory of God. The man indeed ought not to cover his head for as much as he is the image and glory of God. Also, there is the example that is being set forth in verse 33 that the Apostle presses in verse 1 as an example of humble imitation. What of Christ is to be imitated here? It is the principle of submission. And note how the Apostle puts the example at the head of the discourse, right? So in other words, at the last part of chapter 10, I please All men and all things not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many in other words. I'm laying down my life for the profit of the many and then he goes on to talk about this principle of submission how Christ laid down his life in his submission to the father right after he says let's gonna let's be imitators of Christ as I'm an imitator of Christ imitate me and So this transitional verse here, be followers of me even as I also am of Christ, has ties to both sides, chapter 10 and chapter 11. As the apostle follows Christ in his submission by becoming all things to all men rather than insisting upon his churchly authority, just as Christ submits to his father, this also is an example of Christ followed by the apostle Paul and to be imitated by the Corinthian church as Paul imitates Christ. Rather than seeing this verse then as belonging to the former chapter and having no tie to chapter 11, I see it as a pivotal link between the two chapters, remembering that the chapter divisions are not inspired. And this phrase, be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ, I just want to Stop and talk about that for a second. It's misunderstood and misused by a lot of folks. I've had people on the phone tell me, I ask them if they're a member of a church and they'll say, no, I'm not a member anymore. Are you? Do you believe in Presbyterianism? Are you a reformed Presbyterian? Do you do you receive it? Oh, yeah, I received the confession. Yeah, the confession of faith. That's that's my confession. Are you a member of a church? No, I'm not a member of a church. Well, how are you submitting to your elders then? Well, I follow the elders as they follow Christ. Have you heard that? I follow the elders as they follow Christ. Let me tell you what that means. Let me translate that for you. I follow the elders until I disagree with them, until they tell me no. Then I don't follow them anymore because they're not following Christ, because I'm the arbiter of who's following Christ and who's not. You see, when the Apostle Paul says here, be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ, he is he's not talking about as as I mean, this is really tough to say. He's saying imitate the way I imitate Christ. Imitate my imitation. receive that kind of humility that I am exampling by following Christ. It's not just, okay, judge whether or not you think I'm following Christ and follow me if you think I am. It's imitate my imitation of Christ. Humble subservience to Him. Have a humble mindset. Come to the dance. Come to the party. with submission and humility in mind. Don't come to the dance. Don't come to the party with, OK, I'm going to I'm going to reserve judgment until I judge you as following Christ. And then I'll follow you if I think you are. And if not, I'm out of here. It's not what the apostle Paul is talking about at all. And I've had people tell me on the telephone, well, Pastor Adele, I'm going to follow you as you follow Christ. And when I turn that back on them and tell them, well, what that means is you're going to adjudge me to have followed Christ or not. And as soon as you think I'm not, you're not going to follow me. And that's not what Paul's talking about. Well, then that conversation turns very short. Something else to do, you know, tea's boiling. So the kind of submission that the apostle is talking about here is not a haughty submission. I'll follow you as long as you're following Christ. But it's, I'm going to defer to you. I'm going to imitate your imitation of Christ. There'll be a deference there. Now we're not talking about blind faith. We're not talking about implicit faith. Please don't hear me saying that. But there is a particular deference that belongs to, you know, the taking of vows and, and all of that understanding that we talked about last week when we were talking about what it means to be a covenant community. All right, so verse two then introduces a praiseworthy practice on the part of the Corinthian church. Notice, I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I delivered them to you. There are two things there that the apostle praises the Corinthian church for doing. The first is that they remember him in all things. Well, you know that that is what we call a metonymy, a putting of the part for the whole, right? There is a putting forth of something more than just remembering. The Apostle Paul is not just having palpitations because, oh, they remember me. That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about that he remembered his labors among them. They remembered his labors among them. They also remembered his preaching. They remembered his doctrine. They remembered the practices that he enjoined upon them. In remembering Paul, what that means is they are obedient. I praise you in that you remember me in all things. In other words, that you have maintained an obedience to all things that I have taught you. That's good. And that is praiseworthy. And the apostle does good work in that he praises the Corinthian church for their obedience. Second thing that he praises them for is that they keep the ordinances as I delivered them unto you. And this is a very interesting Greek word. And there's a play on words in the original here. that you keep the deliverances as I delivered them unto you. It's the same word, paradosis and paradidomi. There's a noun form and a verb form of the same Greek word. So you keep the issuances as I issued them to you. You keep the deliverances as I delivered them to you. You keep the traditions as I produced them to you. That's what he's saying. So he makes it memorable to remind them that there are such things as I'm going to say it, traditions. Now, we know that there are such things as the doctrines and traditions of men, and then there are the doctrines and traditions of the Bible. And that there is a great big church today, a great big organization who has its home in Rome, who says, that there are all whole kitten caboodle of traditions that the Apostles handed down to their successors who handed down to their successors who handed down to their successors and they're not in the Bible. And so if you're going to keep the traditions of the Apostles you need to come home to Rome. Of course we say Balloon Jews to that, right? We understand that the traditions that the Apostle Paul is speaking about here are not some. Some amorphous group of traditions that change with the popes that occupy that seat. But that these traditions are those which the Holy Ghost. Placed in the scriptures. Let's take a look at a few verses. I want to show you this as far as tradition is concerned. We're not afraid of tradition. We just make sure that it's apostolic tradition as recorded in the scripture. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 15. You can also write down Mark seven. It's a parallel passage. It's recording the same event that we see in Matthew, chapter 15. We'll start in verse two. Why did I trans why did I disciples transgress the tradition? The elders for they wash not their hands when they eat bread But he answered and said unto them. Why do ye transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? for God commanded saying honor thy father and mother and and He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, whosoever shall say unto his father or mother, it is a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, and honor not his father and mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition." What does Jesus teach us here? The first thing that he teaches us here is that tradition is not a magic word. Just by putting the term tradition on something, that doesn't cause it to obtain. It still must be what? Biblical. It must be according to the commandment of God, right? Turn with me also to Galatians chapter one. Verse 13, for you have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it and profited in the Jews religion above many mine equals in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. And Paul is going to go on to say that those traditions were not biblical at all. In Second Thessalonians, chapter two, the apostle there also speaks of tradition. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught either by word or our epistle. Notice that here are traditions that are to be kept. And what does the Apostle Paul say the source of these traditions are? Our word or our epistle? You hear that? And then notice also in second Thessalonians chapter three. Verse 6. Now we command you, brethren, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourself from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the tradition which he received of us. And the apostle goes on to talk about how that there were several in the congregation there that were not working for a living, but were relying on the kindnesses of others going about being a busybody. And Paul said, that's not the tradition that we produced to you. It's not the tradition that we gave you. What we taught you was that a man should work with his own hands to provide for his household and for his family and for himself. So we're not opposed to traditions. Traditions are, you know, that's not a bad word to Protestants. There are those who have rejected all kinds of tradition. I remember when we were working back in Southern California at this particular synagogue, we had a superintendent on the project that actually attended that synagogue. That was his home place of worship. And there were some things he just didn't understand why they did what they did there. And he and I talked about religion quite often. And he said, oh, well, the reason we do that is because it's, and then he would always pause, tradition. And he'd say it like that. Because, you know, he didn't understand it. It was just something that was received. And that's what tradition means. It's produced. It's something that is received. It's para doceus. That means it's something that is issued. It's given. It's handed down. We're not opposed to things that are handed down. As a matter of fact, the Bible itself is preserved and handed down to us in that sense. But we also confess the sufficiency of the scriptures, and so when we run up on a tradition, we want to make sure that that tradition is biblical, that the Holy Ghost has seen fit to plant it in the Scripture. And there are many such things. We see it here in 2 Thessalonians 2 and in 2 Thessalonians 3 that there were apostolic traditions that the Holy Ghost saw fit to Press down into the scriptures to be preserved for us so that they would indeed be handed down by that sure way So when the Apostle Paul and turn back with me to 1st Corinthians chapter 11 When the Apostle Paul then speaks to the Corinthian church about keeping the traditions notice I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions as I delivered them to you. That it is praiseworthy to keep those apostolic traditions that have been delivered to us as well, according to that sure means that the Spirit of God has pressed those traditions to our hearts by recording them in the Bible. That's where the traditions come from, that we believe. Alright, then moving on to verse 3. 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. Alright, so We're going to talk about headship. Headship. Headship means leadership in this passage. It is the Greek word for head, kephali. It's the same word where we get such words as encephalitis. You've heard of that encephalitis, right? And you can hear that cephal or kephali in there, encephalitis, which is a brain infection, basically. Yeah, so he's talking about head, but just as in the English language, also in the Greek language, the word head does not necessarily mean, you know, that 10 pounds of so-so above your neck. It means authority, some kind of dominion, some kind of rule or leadership. And so we talk about a head of state. What does a head of state look like? Well, I don't know. You know, depends on who's in office, right? We're talking about an office here. And so the apostle would have us know three particular things, three particular relationships, that the head of every man is Christ. The head of the woman is the man. and the head of Christ is God. The first thing that we want to see here is that the word that the Apostle uses for man here is the Greek word andros. Andros is a particularly useful word. It's not the same as we would normally see for man or mankind, right? Mankind is normally what? Anthropos, like anthropology. Anthropos. It's not Anthropos, because when we're talking about the race generally, we use the word Anthropos. But when we're talking about the familial relation of husband and wife, we use the word Andros. Very interestingly, in John chapter 1, verse 14, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of an Andros, nor the will of a husband. but of God. Talking about being born again. These that believed on Christ who were given authority to become the children of God who were born again, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of a husband, an andros. It's not a father seeking offspring. In other words, they were born of God. So that Greek word andros here sets the relationship up because in Greek there is no word really for wife. There is a word for woman, and when we use anthropos and gyneca, gyneca, gynecology, right? You can hear that relationship. When we use the word anthropos and gyneca, that's generic man and generic woman. But when we use andros and gyneca, we are pressing the relationship of husband and wife. And so really, and I think some modern translations have gone forward, and they have said that the head of every husband is Christ, and the head of the woman is the husband, and the head of Christ is God. And there's nothing wrong with that translation. I believe that that, although it's not a translation, it's an interpretation, and I do want to make that caution. But I think that's what the Apostle is talking about here. In other words, he's not saying men generally are in charge of women generally. Right? What does Paul tell the Ephesian wives to do in Ephesians chapter 5? Wives be in subjection, do you remember that ladies? To your own husband. Right? Okay, so Paul's not saying generally men are in charge of ladies. So all you ladies get behind all the men. That's not what he's saying. He's talking about a very particular, a very specific relationship, husbands and wives. So he says, then, I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ. OK, so Christ is the Lord and he is the Lord specifically over the man. Now, is he the Lord over the woman also? Yes, but not within the the principle or structure of authority that the apostle is pressing here in verse three. That the head of the woman is the man, that is, the head of the wife is the husband, and then the head of Christ is God. And we don't have a lot of time left. I wanted to break a little early. I can tell that many are tired today. I know it's been a long week for a lot of us. So let me just press this one point. I pressed it before with you, but it is a very important point that we need to remember because in our temptation, in our natural pride, as soon as we hear submission, The hackles go up on the back of our neck and we think second class citizenry, don't we? Okay, well, let me just dispel that. Let's just destroy that myth right here and right now from 1 Corinthians 11 3. If submission meant second class citizenry, why would Christ submit to his father? Remember what Paul said a few minutes ago in verse 1? Be followers of me even as I also am of Christ. Part of what Paul will have us follow here in Christ is this standard of submission that he set when he emptied himself of his manifest glory, right? When he laid that manifest glory aside, not his essential glory, but his manifest glory, took upon him the form of a servant, made himself of no reputation. and was made or appeared in the form of a servant. The Apostle Paul says here that the head of Christ is God. Now God there is short for whom? God the Father. And we've done this before, there's no need to do it again, but I could show you the 50 verses or so through the Gospels and especially the 30 or so in the Gospel of John that speak in this way when Christ says, I do always the will of Him that sent me. My doctrine is not my doctrine, it's His doctrine. My works are not my works, they're His works. I do always His commands. I keep my Father's commandment. Let us go hence. And so on, and so on, and so on. Christ always and ever consistently confessed that He was not doing His own will. He submitted Himself to the will of His Father. And yet, as our catechism confesses, and we confess with it, The Father and the Son are what? The same in substance, equal in power and glory. Notice that there is no essential difference between the Father and the Son, but there is a structural difference in the way the authority works. But Christ is not, in any way, any kind of second-class citizen. He is the same in substance, equal in power and glory with the Father. And this is confessed over and over again when Jesus calls himself the Son of God. Whenever Jesus uses the term, I'm the Son of God, whenever he says, the Father is my Father and I'm the Father's Son, that's when the Jews pick up stones to stone him. Why are you doing that? I've done a lot of good works. For which one are you stoning me? Not for good works, but for blasphemy because When you call God your Father, you're making yourself God. That's right. That's exactly what He was doing. When Christ called Himself the Son of God, when He said, the Father in heaven is my Father, in that special sense, He was confessing that He is the same in substance, equal in power and glory with the Father. And yet, even for all of that, that He is the same in substance, equal in power and glory with the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ willingly with his own volition, without any coercion, submits himself under that structure of authority to the Father, so that when he walks the earth, he says, I do always the things that please my Father. I'm here to do His works. My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. I see what He does, and then that's what I do. He leads me in my work. Over and over again, Christ was sure to tell us of his submission to his father. And yet that did not strike at his at the essence of his person. In one way, he was still the same in substance, equal in power and glory with the father. So when we see then that there is also other types of submission and other types of authority, let us take from our minds this second class kind of citizenry understanding. Because the wife submits to the husband does not make her less than her husband. And in this particular economy, in this description that the apostle would set before us here, not even the man in this, he is not even addressing the essential nature of the man. He is addressing simply the structure and authority that God has set in the church. So then, 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. Now we might be tempted. To say something like oh yeah, but what about that passage in Galatians? What is it? Galatians Chapter 3 where the Apostle says that in Christ there is neither male nor female. In Christ is neither male nor female. That we all come before Christ together. Galatians 328. And so some have said, well, you see, that's this is the apostle Paul in his in his misogyny coming out, because here here in Galatians three says, you know, there's neither male nor female in Christ. But, you know, you just couldn't quite get over that second class outlook that he had for women. And so he put that into first in the first Corinthians chapter eleven. Of course, that's an unbelieving comment on that passage, isn't it? We've stepped back from the inspired nature of Scripture at that point, and those commentators that maintain that erroneous position do so to their own peril. Even among our opponents to head coverings, we have great agreement that men and women have different roles according to their creation and the purpose for which they were created, right? Turn with me to Genesis chapter one. Now there are folks in Christian churches today, we would call them brethren in the Lord, who disagree with us on the practice of head coverings, but agree with us that there are different roles for men and women. Verse 26, chapter 1, verse 26, and God said, let us make man in our image, in our likeness. I'm sorry, in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him, male and female, created he them. And so we notice that both man and woman are image bearers of God. But the apostle makes a distinction in this passage. We're going to have to wait till next week to get to it. And that is who bears the glory and what is the glory that they bear. Right. The apostle talks about a little bit later on in the passage, how is it that that men What glory do men bear in the worshiping assembly and what glory do women bear in the worshiping assembly? See, that's the pivotal question with regard to whose glory is being born, whose glory is being manifested or shown forth in the differing roles of men and women. We'll have to wait on that until next week. So in that she is taken from man, she also is an image bearer of God. in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. She too has the natural gifts and duty to hear the call of Christ and believe upon Him. But it cannot be denied that the dominion mandate is given first to the man. Remember the original creation of the state here? What happened when God set man in the garden? Well, He set him in the garden to dress and keep it, but the first thing He did, and was this before or after Eve was created? It was before Man exercised, or mankind all summed up into one guy at that point, exercised a particular amount of dominion over the earth. What did he do? Yeah, that's right. God brought him all the animals and he named them. And that was before Eve came along. And so we see then that God is dealing with the male of our species, Adam. By the way, the name Adam also works for mankind in scripture, in the Old Testament, Adam. And so what we have, and the word for dust is Adamah, right? So, you know, he's Adam, dust man. He is to remember in his name that he is but dust. And so God is working with Adam and pressing to him his responsibility to exercise dominion as God's vicegerent, as God's second in command, if you will, over the earth. And he is starting out on that task. And he's finding out something. He's finding out that he has a need. And so... After he names all of the animals, he wonders that there is no helper that's suitable for him, no helper meet for him, right, suitable, fitted to him. And so the Lord God caused the deep sleep to fall upon the man. And then from that rib that he took from Adam, he made Eve, named her Isha, because she came out from man. She is still the image of God, in that she participates in that knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. She has rationality. She hears the call of the gospel, and she responds to that call of the gospel. The faith of the husband does not count for the wife. The wife must indeed come to faith in Christ on her own by the gracious action of God. So she is also in the image of God, but she bears a different glory. This is what the apostle will go on to say later on in the chapter. Her duty then, the purpose for her creation, is to fill up that which is lacking in her husband for his duty before God to subdue the earth. And so when the Lord would set them in the earth after the fall, he looks upon them both and he says to them, what? Subdue the earth and fill it. Because they do that together. So the apostle is going to go on to say then in this passage that there is indeed a mutuality between the man and the woman. So there is, like we talked about last week with the various parts of the body, there is unity and there is diversity. And that unity and diversity, as we confess it, does not mean first-class citizenry and second-class citizenry. It does not mean that women are less than men. It does not mean that they're less important than men. It doesn't mean they're less essentially than men. It means that there is a difference in function. And that difference in function is not shameful. That difference in authority is not shameful. It is not a thing other than to be honored because it is in a state that our Lord Jesus Christ Himself took up when He submitted Himself to His Father eternally. Alright, well we'll have to stop there. The next topic will take much longer than we have. Let's stand and call upon the Lord in prayer. Our great Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for that which we've studied thus far in this brief introduction to 1 Corinthians 11. Help us, our Father, as we progress through this passage to cut a straight course filled with instruction that we may be able to ascertain that which is eternal and abiding and that which is cultural and not. That we may be able to rejoice in our various roles. according to our gender, according to our place and station, that we may be able to sing out with great joy, contributing to the orchestra of service unto thee. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.