›I Corinthians 11:2-6
›Proper Worship Focus
2 Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. 3 But 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. 4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, 5 but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. 6 For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head.
(I Corinthians 11:2-6, ESV)
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›Main Point
› These verses focus on another topic which the Corinthians are dealing with
› He wants them to be careful when it comes to public worship
› They should be careful from coming into shame and disgrace in their worship by dishonoring their head
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›Application Points
›Proper Worship Focus
– Before we get too discouraged with our lack of understanding…we can be sure there are some things we can discern
– First: Paul has gone from the theme of worship to idols to worship unto God
– Second: These warnings are not just for women
– The warning begins with men
– Third: Nowhere in this specific context does it imply women should not pray in public worship, or prophecy in public worship
– Paul is not looking at Church structure or hierarchy
– He is focusing on dishonor and shame
›Application Points
›Proper Worship Focus (2)
– These things all seem to be relevant to the discourse
– While it may be a different topic it is still related to these other topics by design
– He has had to deal with the Corinthians getting things both right and wrong at the same time
– One of these presuppositions seems to be playing a bigger role in this discussion
– Consider what Paul begins with, “I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.”
– “28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” Galatians 3:28-29, ESV
– They are allowing themselves to worship God in which are dishonoring
“If you really do not care about respect, self-respect, gender mutuality, and good manners, why not go the whole hog? Why not appear in the public shaved? This would be an ultimate way of showing one’s indifference to femininity, womanliness, or perceived respectability, for this symbolic abrogation of the feminine was often the lot of slaves or prostitutes. A number of cultural anthropologists argue that 1). Covered hair (hair covered, e.g. with a veil or hood) was symbolic of controlled sexuality, in contrast to (2) uncovered hair as symbolic of uncontrolled sexuality and (3) a shaven head symbolic of the sexless. But Paul’s rhetoric may be rather more moderate: if you are indifferent to gender, why not adopt a cropped, boy-like style? At least this might answer the problem of appearing as an “available” woman.”
(Thiselton, Shorter Commentary, 174)
›Application Points
›Proper Worship Focus (3)
– An underlying current in these verses are the abuse in freedom which disregards what it means to be a woman and a man
– This is similar to our own time where libertarian freedom has led to this same kind of rejection of reality
– It is no different than something CS Lewis wrote in The Pilgrim’s Regress
– This was Lewis’ first book after his coming to Christ and describes his search for meaning, purpose, and beauty through allegory
“Then I dreamed that he led John into a big room rather like a bathroom: it was full of steel and glass and the walls were nearly all window, and there was ac rowed of people there, drinking what looked like medicine and talking at the tops of their voices. They were all either young, or dressed up to look as if they were young. The girls had short hair and flat breasts and flat buttocks so that they looked like boys: but the boys had pale, egg-shaped faces and slender waists and big hops so that they looked like girls—except a few of them who had long hair and beads.
“What are they angry about?” whispered John.
They are not angry,’ said Gus: ‘they are talking about Art.”
Then he brought John into the middle of the room and said:
‘Say! Here’s a guy who has been taken in by my father and wants some real hundred per cent music to clean him out. We had better begin with something neo-romantic to make the transition.’
Then all the Clevers consulted together and presently they all agreed that Victoriana had better sing first. When Victoriana rose John at first thought that she was a schoolgirl: but after he had looked at her again he perceived that she was in fact about fifty. Before she began to sing she put on a dress which was a sort of exaggerated copy of Mr. Halfways’ robes, and a mask which was like the Steward’s mask except that the nose had been painted bright red and one of the eyes had been closed in a permanent wink.
“Priceless!” exclaimed one half of the Clevers, ‘too Puritanian.”
But the other half, which included all the bearded men, held their noses in the air and looked very stiff. Then Victoriana took a little toy harp and began. The noises of the toy harp were so strange that John could not think of them as music at all. Then, when she sang, he had a picture in his mind which was a little like the island, but he saw at once that it was not the island. And presently he saw people who looked rather like his father, and the Steward, and old Mr. Halfways, dressed up as clowns and doing a stiff sort of dance. Then there was a columbine, and some sort of love-story. But suddenly the whole Island turned into an aspidistra in a pot and the song was over.
‘Priceless,’ said the Clevers.
‘I hope you liked it,’ said Gus to John.
‘Well,’ began John doubtfully, for he hardly knew what to say: but he got not further, for at that moment he had a very great surprise. Victoriana had thrown her mask away and walked up to him and slapped him in the face twice, as hard as she could.
‘That’s right,’ aid the Clevers, ‘Victoriana has courage. We may not all agree with you, Vikky dear, but we admire your courage.’
‘You may persecute me as much as you like,’ said Victoriana to John. ‘No doubt to see me thus with my back to the wall, wakes the hunting lust in you. You will always follow the cry of the majority. But I will fight to the end. So there,’ and she began to cry.
‘I am extremely sorry,’ said John, ‘But—'
‘And I know it was a good song,’ sobbed Victoriana, ‘because all great singers are persecuted in their lifetime—and I’m per-persecuted—and therefore I must be a great singer.’
‘She has you there,’ said the Clevers, as Victoriana left the laboratory.
‘You mustn’t mind her being a little bitter,’ said Gus. ‘She is sop temperamental and sensitive, and she has suffered a great deal.’
‘Well, I must admit,’ said one of the Clevers, ‘now that she had gone, that I think that stuff of hers rather vieux jeu.’
‘Can’t stand it myself,‘ said another.
‘I think it was her face that needed slapping,’ said a third.
‘She’s been spoiled and flattered all her life,’ said a fourth. ‘That’s what’s the matter with her.’
‘Quite,’ said the rest in chorus.
(CS Lewis, The Pilgrim’s Regress, 37-38).
›Application Points
›Proper Worship Focus (4)
– It’s incredibly witty!
– It describes our current culture to a T
– Notice how immediate rejection or disagreement means the person is being “persecuted”
– Europe in the 20’s…
– These individuals are giving into their freedom and in this it leads to them claiming something they are not
– It is all about them
– They claim to be worshipping God, but they are dishonoring Him by being disgraceful
– It’s about their physical form and their freedom, not about anything else
›Application Points
›Proper Worship Focus (5)
– It would be similar to a man coming to worship and purposefully wore clothes that accentuated his muscles
– It would be like a woman coming to worship and acting like a man
– They utilize the freedom in Christ as an excuse to act immodestly and inappropriately
– Does God want us to be genderless?
– Is it possible for the Corinthians…all that matters is themselves?
– Who cares about the other?
– What does it matter if it brings disgrace?
›Application Points
›Proper Worship Focus (6)
– A continued abuse of a good teaching
– We have liberty to honor God and live in a way which is not disgraceful but graceful
– Corporate worship needs to be more than just about ourselves
– The more we focus on ourselves the further we will get from the true and proper focus of our worship
– Let’s, then, be careful with the continued warning from this letter to the Corinthians
– Let us not abuse our freedom in Christ to do whatever want
– Let’s seek to honor God in Spirit and in truth with all of who we are and the identities and roles God has bestowed upon us for His glory
›Application Points
› The Gospel of Christ
– Origins
– Fall
– Redemption
– Glorification
