Page 365 - Demo

 CORINTHIANS 
111Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.a 2
I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold fast to the traditions, just as I handed them on to you.b
Iv. PROBlEMS IN lITURgICAl ASSEMBlIES*
A. WOMEN’S HEADDRESSES*
Man and Woman. 3But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and a husband the head of his wife,* and God the head of Christ.c 4* Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered brings shame upon his head. 5But any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled brings shame upon her head, for it is one and the same thing as if she had had her head shaved. 6For if a woman does not have her head veiled, she may as well have her hair cut o . But if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut o or her head shaved, then she should wear a veil.
7* A man, on the other hand, should not cover his head, because he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man.d 8For man did not come from woman, but woman from man;e 9nor was man created for woman, but woman for man;f 10for this reason a woman should have a sign of authority* on her head, because of the angels. 11* Woman is not independent of man or man of woman in the Lord.g 12For just as woman came from man, so man is born of woman; but all things are from God.h
11:3
This teaching about the place of women in the assembly can be challenging for us to read today, and such passages have been used—and misused—to keep women in a subordinate position. They re ect the norms of the society in which Paul lived and should be read in light of other passages that show women in a variety of roles, including some leadership roles, in the early Church (see, for example, Romans 16). Even in this chapter, notice that it is assumed that women will pray and prophesy (11:5), but not with uncovered head.
* [11:2–14:40] This section of the letter is devoted to regulation of conduct at the liturgy. The problems Paul handles have to do with the dress of women in the assembly (1 Cor 11:3–16), improprieties in the celebration of community meals (1 Cor 11:17–34), and the use of charisms or spiritual gifts (1 Cor 12:1–14:40). The statement in 1 Cor 11:2 introduces all of these discussions, but applies more appropriately to the second (cf. the mention of praise in 1 Cor 11:17 and of tradition in 1 Cor 11:23).
*[11:3–16] Women have been participating in worship at Corinth without the head-covering normal in Greek society of the period. Paul’s stated goal is to bring them back into conformity with contemporary practice and propriety. In his desire to convince, he reaches for arguments from a variety of sources, though he has space to develop them only sketchily and is perhaps aware that they di er greatly in persuasiveness.
* [11:3] A husband the head of his wife: the speci c problem suggests to Paul the model of the head as a device for clarifying relations within a hierarchical structure. The model is similar to that developed later in greater detail and nuance in Eph 5:21–33. It is a hybrid model, for it grafts onto a strictly theological scale of existence (cf. 1 Cor 3:21–23) the hierarchy of sociosexual relations prevalent in the ancient world: men, dominant, re ect the active function of Christ in relation to his church; women, submissive, re ect the passive role of the church with respect to its savior. This gives us the functional scale: God, Christ, man, woman.
* [11:4–6] From man’s direct relation to Christ, Paul infers that his head should not be covered. But woman, related not directly to Christ on the scale but to her husband, requires a covering as a sign of that relationship. Shameful. . . to have her hair cut o : certain less honored classes in society, such as
lesbians and prostitutes, are thought to have worn their hair
close-cropped.
*[11:7–9] The hierarchy of v 3 is now expressed in other
metaphors: the image (eikōn) and the re ected glory (doxa). Paul is alluding basically to the text of Gn 1:27, in which mankind as a whole, the male-female couple, is created in God’s image and given the command to multiply and together dominate the lower creation. But Gn 1:24 is interpreted here in the light of the second creation narrative in Gn 2, in which each of the sexes is created separately ( rst the man and then the woman from man and for him, to be his helpmate, Gn 2:20–23), and under the in uence of the story of the fall, as a result of which the husband rules over the woman (Gn 3:16). This interpretation splits the single image of God into two, at di erent degrees of closeness.
* [11:10] A sign of authority: “authority” (exousia) may possibly be due to mistranslation of an Aramaic word for “veil”; in any case, the connection with 1 Cor 11:9 indicates that the covering is a sign of woman’s subordination. Because of the angels: a surprising additional reason, which the context does not clarify. Presumably the reference is to cosmic powers who might in ict harm on women or whose function is to watch over women or the cult.
* [11:11–12] These parenthetical remarks relativize the argu- ment from Gn 2–3. In the Lord: in the Christian economy the relation between the sexes is characterized by a mutual dependence, which is not further speci ed. And even in the natural order conditions have changed: the mode of origin described in Gn 2 has been reversed (1 Cor 11:12a). But the ultimately signi cant fact is the origin that all things have in common (1 Cor 11:12b).
g. [11:11] Gal 3:27–28.
a. [11:1] 4:16; Phil 3:17.
b. [11:2] 15:3; 2 Thes 2:15.
c. [11:3] Eph 5:23.
d. [11:7] Gn 1:26–27; 5:1. e. [11:8] Gn 2:21–23.
f. [11:9] Gn 2:18.
353