Male Headship and Female Glory: An Exposition

We are different, not just biologically, but in our speech, rituals, and appearance. We are equal, but we are not equivalent. Maleness and femaleness are not only biological but theological.

BONUS REVIEW of Rabbit, published by Nogginnose Press

by Ezekiel Brito

Paul's letter to the Church at Corinth raises many questions. But there is one central concern that permeates the text. The Apostle seeks to establish a paradigm for the relationship between the sexes. His use of language is rich and rooted in the biblical symbolism of the Old Testament.

Many will look into this text and assume that the Apostle Paul is arguing for a return to Victorianism with its mores and cultural modesty. Others may impose an even more ancient era into the text as the ideal solution to the sexual foibles of our modern age. After all, many assert that the departure from such conspicuous declarations gave rise to radical feminism, which undid Paul's established tradition in his letter.

The attempt to reconstruct society after a past image or model--ideal or not--results from rampant promiscuity in our era. Modern society has deconstructed the family and offered a proliferation of sexual options where masculinity and femininity are no longer a given, but can be reshaped according to modern consumerist demands. Such cultural shifts make Paul's writings, particularly chapters 11-14, more than salient to our present chaos.

We propose that Paul sets a pattern for man and woman in chapter 11 that is far more important than whether women should wear head coverings or are bound to past modesty ideals. This strange passage offers a more thorough investment in the theology of the sexes. Indeed, Paul's first-century words are precisely what we need in this age of sexual confusion abounding in the Church, culture, and academic environments (https://www.dailywire.com/news/vanderbilt-universitys-gender-confusion-puts-hank-berrien).

This confusion is pronounced more so today due to the acceleration of unbiblical ethics. Matters of sexuality, marriage, and family are all under assault. We live in a social experiment where societies in America and Europe publicly approve of cohabitation before marriage, the multiplicity of sexual partners, and marriage without distinct roles. In other words, the modern argument is that men and women exercise their functions and responsibilities as they see fit. They are not bound to the demands of some ancient book.

The result of this sexual insanity goes to the heart of what it means to be human. Its impacts are overwhelming to the familial structures of society. The quest for equality had led to devastation among children whose expectation of growing up with traditional expectations is now called into question by society, and at times, their own parents.

Additionally, men are disappearing from the scene, abdicating their role as heads of their homes. They are growing older without growing up. Men are forsaking their responsibilities in the home, leaving boys to be raised by a steady diet of tik-tok and agenda-driven celebrities eager to indoctrinate a new generation of men. They amuse themselves to their mental and spiritual deaths.

The Apostle Paul begins with great clarity to undo the cultural norms present both in his day and our day by anchoring his letter in the Trinity and creation. He builds a proper biblical ethic for man and woman and their relationship to one another in the assembly. The liturgical world establishes the pattern for human relationships.

Male Headship in I Corinthians 11

It appears evident that the Corinthian Church had as much gender confusion as we do today. Paul's opening words offer some sobering corrections to the Corinthian outlook:

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 (I Cor. 11:1-3).

Paul's Trinitarian theology shines forth brilliantly in these opening verses. Man’s headship over his wife is not exercised based on cultural norms, but in observing how the Father exercised his headship over the Son. The apostle immediately unfolds his sexual ethic by offering distinctions between husband and wife in relation to one another. The conclusion reaches the apex of simplicity: Men and women are different.

Robert Capon observes this difference in his book, Bed and Board:

It is precisely in marriage…that they enter into a relationship of superior to inferior—of head to body. And the difference there is not one of worth, ability or intelligence, but of role. It is functional, not organic (Bed and Board, 53-54).