God’s Divine Order: Man, Women, and Angels

God’s Divine Order: Man, Women, and Angels

1 Corinthians 11 gives a very clear example of the divine order that was set at creation:

“For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.” – 1 Corinthians 11:8-9

The head of Christ is God, the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man (1 Corinthians 11:3).  Since God and Christ are the Godhead, they are equal, but authority wise the order goes to God then to Christ (John 4:34, 8:28, 12:49-50).  The same principle applies to man and women: both are equal, but God gave authority to the man.  God also designated distinctive gender roles that man and women are told to abide by and not deviate from (Deuteronomy 22:5).

The first role is that man should not pray or prophecy with his head covered because it dishonors his head.  Christ is the head of man.  A man should not cover his head because he was made in the image of God (1 Corinthians 11:7).  Therefore, covering the head deglorifies God.  The covering of man could be long hair, since long-haired men are sometimes viewed as feminine, and therefore is a disgrace to him since God is not feminine and man was made in the image of God (1 Corinthians 1:14).

The second role is that every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head (man).  The Holy Spirit is speaking to every woman and not reducing this to merely every wife, as commonly interpreted.  A woman that prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors not just her head (man), but also God’s divine order.  In 1 Corinthians 11:5-6, Paul creates a logic to demonstrate why a woman should cover her head – hair or no hair at all.  “If the head is not covered, the woman should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head.”

What is a covering?  Naturally, our covering is our hair:

“Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory?  For long hair is given to her as a covering.” – 1 Corinthians 11:14-15

But spiritually (as woman pray, go to Church, etc.), a woman’s covering was her veil.  The veil was worn as a sign of submission to man.  Culturally, during the OT&NT, a woman without a veil advertised herself publicly as a harlot and/or openly rejected man’s authority.  Therefore, the absence of a veil at Corinth disgraced her head (man) and God’s divine order.

Paul was speaking to the tradition of a veil at Corinth.  In today’s church, the lack of a veil is not a lack of submission to man since culturally it is not recognized.  However, it is clear that the principle of this passage is not cultural because the divine order was set at creation.  This implies that in today’s church, a woman should still not do anything to deglorify her head (man), which is to say, deglorify God’s divine order.  This may include short hair since from the male perspective, short hair can communicate lesbianism, rebellion, etc.

Corinth was not the only place where God created man in His image and then created woman in the image of man (sarcasm).  The divine order, and thus the doctrine of glorifying your image, applies to the entire creation.   Rejecting the divine order is to reject God, His plan, and His order.

Although today the absence of a veil does not advertise a woman as a harlot and does not deglorify her image, wearing a covering will glorify her image, the image of man, which is to say the image of God.  Why?  Because it shows the willful submission of woman to man; thereby, glorifying God’s divine order.

The last reason why we are told to follow this divine order is “because of the angels” – 1 Corinthians 11:10.  There is no generally accepted interpretation of this verse.  The predominant interpretation of this verse is that the angels are present during Christian gatherings.  This interpretation came from Jewish beliefs supported by Psalm 138:1 – “before the “gods” I will sing your praise.” (where “gods” is translated as angels).  While the angels are present at our gatherings, they delight in the willful submission of man to the Godly order, in their respective places. Compare the following:

“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” – Ephesians 3:10

“For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the area.  We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men.” – 1 Corinthians 4:9

“…Even angels long to look into these things” – 1 Peter 1:12

It is clear that the angels are on lookers of Christians.  They watch us to learn what has been made known to us and they are delighted in what delights the Lord – outward appearance (including following God’s divine order), inward humility, dress, and submission to God’s divine order.  And remember the last verse of this topic: “If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice – nor do the churches of God.” (1 Cor 11:16).

-Mark