This morning's message comes to us from 1 Corinthians 11, verses 2 and 3. Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, we pray that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would help us to focus closely and carefully upon your word. Lord, we pray that you would grant us a spirit of humility, a willingness to bow before your word as we begin to walk through an incredibly important passage for the church, not only today, but throughout the last two millennia. But Father, also as we begin to walk through what is for many a very difficult passage and topic, particularly in our current modern Western culture, And so, Father, we pray that you would give us a heart and a desire to set our own emotions and our own reason and experience aside, and that we would be willing to bow before your word, and that we would have a desire to bring you glory and honor and praise, Lord. With that, Father, I pray that today and over the next seven or three Sundays, Lord, I pray that you would guide my words. I pray that you would help me to choose my words carefully and clearly to bring clarity to a difficult passage and not muddy the waters. And I pray that you would help me to clarify statements or phrases that need to be clarified. And so, Lord, I pray that if I utter anything that is contrary to Scripture, Lord, I do pray that you would strike it from the minds of our hearers, or even better, that you would cause me to not even speak it. In the end, Father, we desire We desire in this church to be biblical. We desire to bring you praise and glory and honor. We desire to have our pride crushed so that we might be shaped into the character of Christ. And Lord, we pray this in Christ's name, amen. So this morning, as many of you know, We will be walking, we're going to begin walking through one of the most significant passages in the Bible, possibly the most significant passage in the Bible. Some would say that, that this is the most significant passage in the Bible. regarding how men and women, how husbands and wives are to relate to one another. What does that relationship look like? What should that relationship look like? And I say that some might say that it is the most significant passage because quite often when we talk about that topic, We tend to go to Ephesians chapter 5, don't we? That's kind of the default passage, Ephesians chapter 5 verses 22 to 33. Twelve very important verses that help us understand the role, the responsibility of husbands and wives and how they relate to one another. And yet this passage in 1 Corinthians 11 verses 2-16, very few people realize that it has 88 more words than the passage in Ephesians. It has 250 more characters than the passage in Ephesians. This is a very significant passage that we're going to be dealing with. And so for this reason, I'm going to spend today and the next three Sundays walking through this passage in a four-part mini-series that I've titled Biblical Manhood and womanhood. Each sermon will have a different subtitle. Today's subtitle is spiritual headship, but we're going to do this mini-series from this passage on biblical manhood and biblical womanhood. Of course, this section As many of you know, it's not without its challenges, right? This is a challenging passage. One of the biggest challenges is the fact that Paul uses imagery, he uses metaphor, and he uses language that would have been very clear to the first century readers in Corinth. It would have made sense to them. But for those of us reading this 2,000 years removed from that culture, There are certain key points in this passage that quite frankly make every theologian scratch their head and say, what did Paul mean by that? I'll share with you a few, and I won't expound on them now, but we will get to these, but for the sake of fairness, one that we're gonna deal with this morning is what is the meaning of head in verse three? Believe it or not, that's debatable. You would think, well, isn't that self-explanatory? It really isn't. What does Paul mean when he says in verse three that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. What does he mean by the word head? The second challenge in this passage is what are the head coverings that Paul talks about? We know that this passage is about head coverings, but what are those head coverings? Is it an actual hat? Is it a veil of some kind? Is it a woman's long hair? Is it her long hair that should be put up? There's all kinds of debate on this. And I hope to bring clarity to that when we get to those verses. Number three, verse 10, everybody's favorite, what does Paul mean by because of the angels? What does that mean? It's important because Paul says you ought to do this because of the angels. I think the first century church in Corinth would have understood that. They had spent time with Paul. But we sit here 2,000 years later and ask, what does that mean? What do angels have to do with women having head coverings in church? And number four, what is the proper translation of verse 16? Because the ESV says, if anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God. The New King James translates it the same. We have no such practice. We don't do this. Well, then why does Paul spend so much time arguing the point? You have the New American Standard and the NIV who translate this, if anyone is inclined to be contentious. We have no other practice. In other words, this is the one thing that we do do. in church is the head coverings. I can tell you that after reading, literally reading a dozen very thick commentaries and translating the text for myself from the Greek, which I don't pretend to be a Greek scholar, but after four years of taking Greek in college and seminary, I translated the text for myself and it's not helpful. There's a reason that your four most prominent English translations are split on verse 16. Two go one way, two go the other. The Greek does not help. We have to understand it in light of its context is the only way to try to rightly understand verse 16. And so, no spoiler alerts here, you'll have to come for that fourth sermon. We'll figure out verse 16 once we get there. Although there is general agreement, there is not complete disagreement on this passage. There is general agreement among scholars and theologians on at least two important points. Number one is the context. This section begins a larger context all having to do with worship. I think that's important to know. Chapters 11, 12, 13, and 14 is one section in which Paul is dealing with the context of corporate worship in church on the Lord's day. So that's important to know. He begins by dealing with the fact that in corporate worship, women are to be properly adorned, specifically when praying or prophesying, as he will talk about in verse 4. He then moves into the proper use of the Lord's Supper. They were doing that every Sunday, which they should do every Sunday. They're at least following that from Paul's instructions, but they're not engaging in the Lord's Supper properly, right? They're abusing it. And so Paul has to remind them of the proper way in which to take the Lord's Supper. He'll then move into spiritual gifts in chapter 12, defining what spiritual gifts are and the fact that there is one body and when we come together for corporate worship, that is where the body is gathered and united and those gifts that God has given to the various members of the church get used within the context of corporate worship. He'll then go into chapter 13, and he'll highlight the importance of love in all that we do in corporate worship, the importance of love as a church. And then in chapter 14, he'll then begin to explain how these gifts that he has talked about in chapter 12 are to be used properly and in an orderly fashion within the context of corporate worship. So this section that we're looking at, the overall context is corporate worship that he is going to be dealing with. All scholars are in agreement on that. All scholars are also in agreement on the fact that Chapter 11 verses 2 to 16 is primarily about head coverings for women. There's no debate on that. That's the main point. That is clear from just the multiple times Paul addresses it. In verse 5, she is to pray prophesied with her, she shouldn't with her head uncovered. Again in verse 6, if a wife will not cover her head. Again at the end of verse 6, let her cover her head. By the way, there's the clearest argument for that. That's the only imperative in the entire section. Let her, imperative meaning a command. The only command Paul gives in this entire section is let her cover her head. Then he says at the end of verse 10 that she ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, and then again in verse 13, is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? It's very clear Paul is dealing with head coverings. That's the point, and nobody debates that. Why he's dealing with head coverings, why that is so significant is what I hope to bring clarity to. So that is Paul's main point, but why does this matter? Why does this matter? In other words, why are we gonna spend so much time on this section? If the main point is simply about head coverings, why spend four weeks on this? How is this passage, verses two to 16, how is this passage relevant today, to today's church? Does it really matter? Do we need to spend so much time in it? I'll give you three reasons why I think it does matter and why we'll spend four Sundays on this passage. Number one is it's in the Bible, right? It's in the Bible. So even though it's difficult to understand, it's kind of like the book of Revelation. Should we study the book of Revelation? Absolutely. Should we try to figure it out? Absolutely. Why? It's in the Bible. This is a difficult passage to try to unravel and to figure out what Paul wants us to understand, but 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17 tell us that all scripture, all scripture is God-breathed. And all Scripture is profitable," which means this, is profitable for teaching, for training, for correction, that the Word of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. All Scripture is the very Word of God. So it is worth doing the heavy lifting and trying to understand what the Apostle Paul, speaking authoritatively on behalf of Christ, what did he mean by this. Second reason is that it's clear, since this is God's Word, that it matters to God how women adorn themselves when praying or prophesying in corporate worship. It matters. It matters to God. If it matters to God, then it should matter to us who desire to please God, who desire to glorify God. I mean, this is the one passage that torpedoes the idea that, you know, I've heard it said so many times, God does not care how people adorn themselves in corporate worship. Based on this passage, you can honestly say that is not true. That is not true, right? Minimally, God cares how women adorn themselves in corporate worship, specifically when prophesying and praying, and we're not gonna deal with prophesying here. We'll deal with that when we get to chapter 12 and 14. Number three, third reason why we're gonna spend four Sundays on this, is that despite Paul's main point, which is very clear that women are to be, they are to have a head covering. Despite that being the main point, Paul makes several very, very important sub points along the way. Along the way toward making that main point, he makes several important sub points which teach us a great deal about the relationship between men and women. In other words, because of the length of this passage, what is clear to Paul is that these head coverings, whatever they are, are really important to God. They're so important that, you know, Paul as an apostle could have just commanded them to do this, right? All of this could have been summed up into one verse. Paul could have simply said, you know, I understand that some of the women are praying and prophesying without head coverings. I command you, wear a head covering. We're moving on. But he doesn't do that. He lays out a theological foundation. He lays out several theological arguments to say this is why this matters to God. So for that reason, we are going to explore these arguments that he makes. Thus, while the passage is about the importance of women wearing head coverings in corporate worship and while praying and prophesying, which I will remind us of often, right? I am gonna try to keep this in its context, remind us that ultimately, this is all about head coverings as we move forward. We don't wanna miss the individual trees for the sake of staring at the forest, right? The forest is the head coverings. We don't want to miss the individual trees for the sake of focusing on the forest. But we also don't want to miss the forest for the sake of focusing on individual trees. And we always need to be careful about doing that, studying scripture in light of its literary, theological, and cultural context. So understanding the purpose for which men and women are created. Understanding our respective roles and responsibilities as men and women is extremely important today. It almost should go without saying. I mean, in our culture, as many of you are aware, both outside and inside the church, there is an enormous amount of gender confusion. There is a lot of gender confusion. There is so much confusion, we've gotten to the point where we can't even define gender anymore. I mean, the most educated intellectuals in academia sit before Congress and say, I don't know how to define gender. What is a woman? I have no idea. You have three PhDs at a major university. What do you mean you don't know what a woman is? We are living in a culture that can't even define gender, much less define gender roles. And so the question that we have to wrestle with today, I think more than any other time in past history, is do men and women have specific roles and responsibilities which are exclusive to them? Do men and women have purposes roles and responsibilities that are exclusive to them. Were men and women created for the same purpose or were they created for different and distinct and unique purposes? And does it matter? In other words, can these purposes and roles and responsibilities be exchanged or shared between men and women, husbands and wives? That is, does it matter who does what in the eyes of God? See, there's a lot of confusion on that, even within the church, even within Christian homes. Too many people get married, too many Christians get married, and the idea is this, okay, here's our job, we're gonna have a family, we're gonna have kids, and what we need to do together is to make sure that we continue to pay the bills, that we have a roof over our head, that we have food on the table, that we educate our children in terms of theology, in terms of academic education, that we make sure that they grow up, they graduate high school, and they live respectable lives. And as long as we together do that, it does not matter to God how that gets done. That's a mistake to think that way. It matters to God how that happens. It matters to God what that looks like within the home, within the family, within the church, within society. God's laws apply to the world. The rest of the world just doesn't care. And thus, we will spend today and the next three Sundays wrestling with these questions. And so, I'll encourage you to take good notes, maybe even listen to these sermons again during the week. And if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me. I have always said I have an open-door policy. I am always available, especially for theological conversations with members of the church. All right, so with that as our intro, we will get through in time. With that as our intro, let's look at verse 2. Scripture says, now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. Now, in everything is a bit hyperbolic. Paul is using hyperbole here because the church in Corinth honestly did not remember everything that Paul had taught them and they did not maintain all of the traditions as Paul had deliver to them, right? That's why he had to write this book. I mean, they're doing all kinds of things not right, things that Paul had told them they've drifted away from. He has to write this book to try to correct them, which just makes them mad, by the way, if you don't believe me, read 2 Corinthians. They're really upset at this book, and they end up attacking Paul and his apostleship, and who gives you the right to tell us what to do? We're not even sure you're an apostle. And so they're questioning him, and Paul responds to that. And we'll see in verse 17, When he gets to verse 17, he then says, but in the following instructions, I do not commend you. Why? Because when you come together, it is not for the better, but for the worse. For in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And so Paul, in the very next section, is gonna remind them that they're not doing things right. They haven't been following his teachings. They haven't been following all of the traditions, right? So Paul is using a bit of hyperbole here. He's not being disingenuine. Paul wants to commend them in the fact that they're trying, right? They are doing the Lord's Supper every Sunday, albeit not quite right, but they are doing the Lord's Supper every Sunday. Some of the women are wearing head coverings. It's not that none of them are, or maybe they all are. They're just not doing it right. And so Paul has to address and correct these things, but he wants to commend them that they are trying. They're putting forth some effort. You know, they're still coming together every Sunday on the Lord's Day. They're gathering for corporate worship. And so he doesn't want to write a letter that is just always correction, correction, rebuke, rebuke, rebuke. So he takes a moment here to say, you know what? I want to commend you. Let me take a moment. Say, look, I commend you for remembering me and everything and maintaining the traditions as I delivered them to you. It is worth noting, I think, that Paul commends them for maintaining the traditions. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this, but don't miss these little tidbits that you see in Scripture because, you know, we tend to have a negative view of traditions. And largely that is because in the Gospels, the Gospels do take a negative view of traditions. Christ on many occasions condemns the religious leaders of his day for upholding the traditions of men above the teachings of God, right? So we read those and we go, ah, see that? Traditions are horrible. But traditions aren't all bad. In fact, in the Pauline epistles, Paul tends to use traditions in a positive light more than he does in a negative light. I'll give you just two examples that you can jot down. I'll just read them to you quickly. 2 Thessalonians, for example. Chapter 2, verse 15, Paul says, So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. And when he says the traditions, understand he's not talking about teachings or doctrine. Those are different Greek words. This is the Greek word paradosis, and it carries the meaning of passing along certain practices or ways of doing things. Passing along certain practices or ways of doing things, right? So yes, Paul taught them how to do certain things, But he's talking about a way of doing something, right? He's not really talking about theology. He'll say again in chapter 3, verse 6 of 2 Thessalonians, Now I commend you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord, listen, with the tradition that you received from us. So I just want to point out to you that in the church, in a church like ours, we have traditions, right? There are things that we do that can't clearly be argued from Scripture. We have certain traditions that have been passed down to us through the millennia from those who have gone before us. Let's be careful not to just disregard these. That's not in the Bible. It doesn't matter. Paul thought tradition mattered. It's important. So Paul can commend them for maintaining the traditions. Namely, he's going to talk about head coverings, right? They're still trying to do that. They're just not doing it right. And so Paul has to correct them as to the importance of them and why it needs to be done correctly. For this reason, he begins in verse 3 with the word, but. But, there's a but coming, right? So I commend you for maintaining the traditions. However, we need to make some corrections regarding the issue of head coverings. So rather than going into it, however, rather than just getting right to the point about head coverings, Paul, as I've already said before, wants to lay a theological foundation for head coverings. He wants the church to understand. He doesn't want to just tell them what to do, right? Because Paul's a teacher. He's a shepherd at heart. He doesn't want to just give them directives. He wants to help them understand. He wants them to grow in their theological knowledge so that they can be shaped into the character of Christ. And so Paul says in verse three, but I want you to understand. I want to try to teach you here rather than just command you. I want you to understand, and then he goes on to say, that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. First, two things need to be clarified with this verse regarding wife and husband. or should it be translated man and woman? Because the Greek words behind those English words that you see in your text are the words aner for man and gune for woman. Aner for man or husband, Gune for woman or wife. It can be translated either way legitimately into our English. Typically, it is context that helps us to understand, is the author talking about a husband and wife, or is the author talking about just a man and a woman in general, or men and women in general, or mankind and womankind in general? So what is Paul talking about here? Because if Paul means wife and husband, if that's how we should understand and translate those words throughout the text, wife and husband, then we have to ask ourselves, do the head coverings not apply to single women? Do single women not have to wear head coverings when prophesying or praying? Or is it only married women who can prophesy and pray because they get to wear the head coverings and the women don't? Or can single women prophesy and pray without a head covering? If Paul means man and man, men, if he means man and woman or men and women, if this is what Paul is talking about, then we have to ask ourselves, are women to be subject, are women to be in submission to all men? Is that what Paul means? Do women dishonor all men by not wearing a head covering when they pray or prophesy? And why would the angels in verse 10 be concerned only about married women not wearing head coverings and not single women? I mean, wouldn't it apply to both? Why are they only bothered by married women? So what do we do with this? How do we translate these two Greek words throughout, throughout the passage? Because Paul will switch back and forth. For example, if you look down at verse Eight, for man was not made from woman, but woman from, it's the same Greek word, but now it's man and woman. Our English translators translate it that way. They don't say husband and wife, they say man and woman. So what are we to do here? Likely, I think, here's my two cents in all of this. I think that there is fluidity in the language that Paul is using. In other words, he sees head coverings as an outward visible symbol of a woman's willingness, whether married or single. whether married or single. He sees the head covering as an outward visible symbol of a woman's willingness to submit or to subject herself to the God-given authority that God has placed over her. The husband if she's married, the father if she's single, church leadership for all men and women for that matter. Because remember, in the first century world, likely most of the women who are reading this are married. Because the goal, unlike today, the goal of all men and women, boys and girls, was to get married, to have a family, have your land. That was always the goal and they wanted, both boys and girls, wanted to get married as soon as possible. Very likely, the only unmarried women in the church in Corinth would have been very young girls who weren't at marrying age yet or possibly widows. Most of them would have been married. Nonetheless, I think Paul is using fluidity, and again, I think the head coverings he sees as an outward visible symbol of a woman's willingness to submit to her God-given authority, whether that be her husband, her father, or church leadership, I think is what Paul is talking about. Secondly, what is that we might go a little over? There's no Sunday school, though, so I can keep going. What is the meaning of head, right? What does Paul mean by that? I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Because there are some reputable theologians who believe that this ought to be understood as source, right? It ought to be understood kind of like the headwaters of a river, right? The source of the river. We talk about the headwaters. And so it ought to be understood that way. I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of the wife, meaning the source of her spiritual nourishment or spiritual growth, is her husband, and the head of Christ is Jesus. God. That can be understood in the sense that, you know, when we talk about the incarnate Christ, God the Father is the source of that. Now, the second person of the Godhead has always existed, but the incarnate Christ was the, so he is begotten of the fathers. And we also know that husbands are to be the spiritual source of their wives. We get that from places like Ephesians chapter 5, verses 25 and following. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her sacrificially that he might cleanse her, washing her with the water of God's word that she might be spotless. It is the husband's job to be the spiritual source of nourishment to the wife and to disciple her. We'll even see that at the end of this entire section 1 Corinthians chapter 14, where Paul will write, the end of verse 33, and is in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches for they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission as the law also says, if there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. Now, that is not to say that women cannot or should not study the Bible on their own or study theology. They absolutely should. Every Christian should be studying scripture, should be studying theology. That's part of our Protestant Reformation heritage. It is to say that for the wife outside of scripture, if she's going to go to any source, Paul says she should go to her husband first. Why? Because he is her primary spiritual advisor and spiritual pastor. In other words, the wife should not go to the pastor first even, not go to her discipler, her counselor, her woman's ministry leader, her Sunday school teacher. She should go to her husband and say, what does this mean? Help me understand this. So there's argument for that, and we'll look at that passage more once we get there, and we'll refer to it later as we go on. But here's the thing, how is Christ the source of every man or every husband? See, that's the problem there. Because he says, I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ. How is Christ the spiritual source of every man, believer and unbeliever? Every husband, believer or unbeliever, it's difficult to understand how that is when they don't care. Secondly, some argue that head should be understood as foremost or preeminent or more important, so to speak, more significant. Of course, the problem with that is how is God the Father more significant or more preeminent than God the Son? Is God the Father to be worshiped more than God the Son? Is God the Father more worthy of worship than God the Son? No, we know all three are God, all three equally deserving of worship. Thus, I think that the best way to understand head is to understand it as authority. So understand it as authority. Because, well, let me backtrack a little bit. I want to talk more about the whole preeminent idea. Because if you go with that, it also lends problem to, it creates the idea that men are more preeminent than women, that men are more valuable than women, that men are more important than women. If you take head to mean preeminent or foremost, and that would seem contradictory to Genesis 127, both men and women are created equally in the image of God. It would also seem contradictory to what Paul says in Galatians 328, that in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female, Jew or Gentile, slave or free, for we are all one in Christ Jesus, right? Men are not more preeminent, more valuable, more important in the eyes of God than women. That is not True. I think the best way to understand head is authority. That's what he means by this. It is authority. This makes the most sense. though admittedly not without its problems, but it does make the most sense, and that is that all women are under the, in other words, all, so when I say it's not without its problems, we have to ask ourselves, are all women under the authority of all men? The answer is no. This is why our English translators say the head of a wife, they translate it there as wife, is her husband, I think that is the better translation, because Christ being God, Christ, being God, is in authority over every man. That makes sense. Christ, who is God, is in authority. He is the head of every man. He is the head of every husband, regardless of who they are, regardless of what their religious beliefs are. Christ, being God, is the head. He is the authority over every man, and someday every man will bow to his authority. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess Jesus Christ as Lord. We know from Scripture that Christ submitted to the will of God the Father. He says that many times in the Gospels. I did not come to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. Not that God the Father is more important than God the Son, not that God the Father deserves more worship and honor than God the Son, but God the Son, though they are equal in terms of being God, submitted to the authority of God the Father during his life on earth. So also, wives are under the authority of their husbands, is what Paul is arguing. This is his first point that he is making here. Thus, Paul's first point in making his way toward his main argument, that is head coverings, right? That is the main argument. That's where he's going, ultimately, head coverings. But his first sub-point is that just as Christ God is in authority over every man. Just as Christ submitted himself to the authority of God the Father, husbands are in authority over their wives. Paul will make this point later, Verses 8 to 10, to the middle of verse 10, there he says, for man was not made from woman, but woman from man, referring back to creation. Neither was man created for woman, but the woman for man. That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head. Paul will make that argument in other places, Ephesians chapter 5, which I've already referred to previously. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. Why? For the husband is the head of the wife. So this helps us to gain clarity for 1 Corinthians chapter 11. He's using the same Greek word. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church." He is in authority over the church, his body, and is himself its savior. Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. It is interesting that Paul says wives are to submit in everything to their husbands. I want to remind you, those aren't my words. Those are the words of God. Of course, we know that everything can't be taken literally, but we need to be careful with simply disregarding it for that reason. And I say that because we also know from the book of Romans chapter 13, scripture commands us to be in subjection to the governing authorities, verses 1 to 5. We are to submit to the government that God has established over us for the government that we have has been given to us by God, Paul says. But we also see in Acts chapter 5 verse 29, Then when the apostles were told by the governing authority, stop preaching the gospel, they said, we must obey God rather than men. So God always comes first. We are never to submit to anyone when they ask us to do that, which is contrary to the word of God. Nevertheless, too many wives do believe, they may not say it verbally, but they do believe that they only have to submit to their husbands when their husbands agree with them. If I think my husband is right, I'll submit. But if I don't think he's right, I don't have to. If it's a bonehead idea, I don't have to do it. But you do because God sovereignly gave you that bonehead to be married to. I mean, I've seen this many times practically as I've met with men over the last 30 years that I've been walking with the Lord. Husband believes, I need to take this job in Ohio. It's a great job. It'll be good for the family. It'll serve us well. It'll help me move in my career. We need to move to Ohio. The wife says, you're out of your mind. I like Texas. It's warm. I don't want snow. The kids are about to graduate from high school. We're looking at colleges. My family lives here. I have a good support net where people can watch the kids. I've got a gym membership. All of my friends are here. You can go, but I'm not going with you. Because that's a dumb idea. And I'm not going to submit to dumb ideas. They badger their husbands and manipulate them to the point that the husband finally gives in and says, fine, we'll do it your way. See, I'm not being unsubmissive. He agreed with me. But wives, that's not submission, that's called manipulation, and it's a sin. Scripture says, now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Of course, Paul would have gotten his theology from the Old Testament. Adam was created in the position of authority. This is not a post-fall thing. This is not a result of sin. Adam was created in the position of authority. In Genesis 2, verses 15 and 17, Adam was created first, and Adam specifically was given the command to protect and to nurture everything within the garden. Adam was given the command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and then later in verse 22, God creates Eve. The fact that God creates Eve later and brings her into the garden and presents her to Adam would have communicated to Adam that the instructions given to him were for him to communicate them to her, that it was his job. It would have communicated to Adam that she is now in the garden. It's your job to protect and to nurture her, everything in the garden, which includes your wife, and it is your job, Adam, to teach her what God has said. You see, it's important to note that God didn't create Adam and then create Eve and then give them both the command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, give them both the instructions to protect and nurture the garden, because had God done that, well, then you would have a biblical argument for egalitarianism. that there is a co-equal sharing of responsibilities and duties. There is not. God creates the man and says, this is your job. Protect, nurture everything in the garden. Oh, and by the way, here's a wife that I've made for you who is now in the garden. He says to Adam, you do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. By the way, she wasn't here when I said that. You need to instruct her in the word of God. You need to teach her what God has said. That is the father and husband's job to do that. And it would have communicated to Eve, the fact that she was created later and then brought to Adam would have communicated clearly to her He's an authority. It's his job to protect and nurture you. It is your job to learn from him what I have commanded. Hence Paul, 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verse 35. If a woman has questions, let her learn from her husband what God has said. You know, I tell women all the time, that look, if your husband teaches you something theologically that is different from what I believe and what I've said, go with your husband. Give him the benefit of the doubt because in the end, he's the one who's responsible for you at the day of judgment, not me primarily. I'm responsible for the church, but your husband is responsible for the wife and how she grows in her sanctification and in her knowledge God. So the first point that Paul makes in this lengthy argument regarding head coverings is that, just to sum it all up, to be clear, is that Christ submitted to the authority of God the Father. Husbands are under the authority of Christ, and wives are under the authority of their husbands. There is an order. There is an order that God has established within the family, within the church, and within society, and He still wants us to follow that order. It matters to God. If you desire to glorify Him and to please Him in all that you do and say, it matters. Let's pray. Our gracious God, heavenly Father, Lord, Lord, we pray that you would help us to wrap our minds around this difficult yet so important passage, Lord. We pray that you would give us hearts that desire to love you, to please you, to glorify and honor you. And Lord, we pray that you would give us spirits that are willing to humble. ourselves before your word. In Christ's name, amen.