But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. (1 Cor 11:3)Hurts just to read it. If you're opposed to God and/or opposed to Paul and/or opposed to the Bible, it's a red flag. "See?!! Misogyny in the Bible!" But for those of us who love God and believe the Bible is the Word of God, whether or not we agree with the text, you know there's going to be a fight. Commentators battle over it. "That wasn't Paul." "Paul hated women." On down to, "Paul was just expressing his opinion" or "It's just cultural and doesn't apply today." Mostly they shrug and say, "That's one we'll just ignore."
Interesting, though. "Christ is the head of every man." Yes, okay, we're alright with that. "God is the head of Christ." Well, okay, takes a few minutes, perhaps. Jesus did say, "I must be about My Father's business" (Luke 2:49). He did say, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing" (John 5:19). He did say, "I have not spoken on My own authority, but the Father who sent Me has Himself given Me a commandment –- what to say and what to speak ... What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told Me" (John 12:49-50). Jesus was quite clear that He was subordinant to the Father. Okay, so if Jesus says it, it must be true. Thus, "Christ is the head of every man" and "God is the head of Christ" are both okay with us. Why, then, does that middle one catch in our throats? Why do we balk at that one?
That verse in Corinthians is not ambiguous. We all live in two spheres -- authority and submission. Men are in submission to Christ. Christ is submission to God. We all have bosses and we all exercise authority. I know we have this mistaken idea that "submission" equals "inferior." That's hard to sustain, however, when we read that God is the head of Christ. Is God the Son inferior to God the Father? No, of course not. It's not about inferiority or superiority. It's not about worth. It's not even about subjugation. It is about submission.
Notice the difference between those two words -- subjugation and submission. Subjugation is something an external force does to you. Submission is something you do. There is no command in Scripture for husbands, for instance, to make their wives submit to them. The command is to wives to submit. Submission, not subjugation. God isn't looking to make grovelers; He's hoping for willing servants. Beginning with His Son as our best example. He has roles for each of us that differ. These roles are not superior or inferior; they're just different. Paul describes the Body of Christ as a body where each part is different but important. In fact, "God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it" (1 Cor 12:24). Those with "lesser roles" are given "greater honor." So it's not about worth or inferiority, not about subjugation or less important. It's about roles and a willingness to submit ... to God. Because God is the head of Christ and Christ is the head of man. And man is the head of woman. That last, it seems, is a bridge too far.
We live in this world. Ours is a world that has pushed the Feminism routine farther than most others have. We're okay with Christ submitting to God and men submitting to Christ, but we will not tolerate women submitting to men. It's a bit of a schizophrenic way of thinking. "It's okay that Christ submits, but women never should." And, of course, it really boils down to something very simple. Do we get our definition of right and real from our culture and our own perceptions or do we submit to God's right and reality? I suppose that's a question only you can answer for yourself.
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