1 Corinthians 11:3 - Exposition

But I would have you know; rather, but I wish you to know. That the head of every man is Christ. St. Paul, as was customary with him, applies the loftiest principles to the solution of the humblest difficulties. Given a question as to what is right or wrong in a particular instance, he always aims at laying down some great eternal fact to which the duty or decision is ultimately referable, and deduces the required rule from that fact. The headship of Christ is stated in Ephesians 1:22 ; Ephesians 4:15 ; and its application to the superiority of man is laid down also in Ephesians 5:23 . The subordinate position of the woman is also stated in 1 Timothy 2:11 , 1 Timothy 2:12 ; 1 Peter 3:1 , 1 Peter 3:5 , 1 Peter 3:6 , etc. This, however, is merely an ordinance of earthly application. In the spiritual realm "there is neither male nor female" ( Galatians 3:28 ). The head of the woman is the man. In Christ the distinctions of the sexes are done away. It was, perhaps, an abuse of this principle which had led the Corinthian women to assert themselves and their rights more prominently than decorum warranted. The head of Christ is God. That Christ is "inferior to the Father as touching his manhood," that his mediatorial kingdom involves (so far) a subordination of his coequal Godhead, has been already stated in 1 Corinthians 3:23 , and is further found in 1 Corinthians 15:27 , 1 Corinthians 15:28 . This too is the meaning of John 14:28 , "My Father is greater than I."