1. “I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ. Every man praying or prophesying with his head covered disgraces his head. But every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered disgraces her head” (1 Cor. 11:3-5).
Some would say that the apostle taught head covering because it was an ordinance or custom of his time. They think the apostle’s teaching of head covering was based upon ancient ordinances and customs. This kind of thinking comes from human speculation; it is not according to scriptural revelation. In 1 Corinthians 11 the apostle clearly says that he taught head covering based on the fact that God is the head. He based his teaching on the order of the universe in which God is the head, and he wanted us to know that this was the basis for his teaching of head covering.
In the universe created by God, there is a head, an authority, and an order. The head is God Himself. God is the head of the universe, the authority of the universe, and He causes the universe to be orderly. The first level of this order is that God is the head of Christ. Even though Christ is equal with God (Phil. 2:6), He was willing to submit to God’s authority and allow God to be the head for the sake of expressing God as the head with authority and glory and so that God’s orderly arrangement in the universe would be beautifully manifested. On this level, the Lord always submits to God and respects God as the head. During His life on earth, He did nothing from Himself as the Lord; rather, He allowed God to be head. He never once assumed the headship or failed to manifest God as His head. He was the Lord and He had authority, yet He always allowed God to be His head and to cover His head in every matter. Oh, during His life on earth, there was such an expression with Him of God’s authority and glory in the headship! His submission beautifully manifested God’s orderly arrangement in the universe. He was not like this only while on earth, but even now He is like this in the heavens, and He will be like this for eternity. He submits to God eternally so that God may be all in all (1 Cor. 15:28).
God is the head of Christ, and Christ is the head of every man. This is the second level of God’s orderly arrangement of the universe. On the one hand, God is the head of Christ, and on the other hand, He established Christ as the head of every one of us. On the one hand, Christ takes God as His head, but on the other hand, He is the head of every one of us. Just as God wants to receive Christ’s submission, He also wants Christ to receive our submission. We must submit to Christ in the same way that He submits to God. Just as Christ allows God to be the head in all things and to cover His head, we also must allow Christ to be the head in all things and to cover our heads. As Christ is to God, so we must be to Him. He expresses God’s authority and glory in God’s headship over Him, and we must express Christ’s authority and glory in His headship over us. He manifests the beauty of God’s orderly arrangement in the universe, and we should do likewise. Oh, what can manifest God’s authority and glorify God better than our submission to Him! What can manifest the beauty of God’s arrangement of the universe better than our submission to the Lord! What can satisfy God’s heart more than this submission! When we submit to the Lord and allow Him to be Head in all things, God is glorified greatly in us, and God’s heart is satisfied in us. Since God’s heart’s desire for us is that Christ would be glorified in us just as He is glorified in Christ, He works in us to cause us to submit to Christ just as Christ submits to Him. All of God’s work in us is to cause us to be unto the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5) and to confess and allow Christ to be the head of every man.
God not only wants Christ to be our head; He also wants the man to be the head of the woman. Thus, in His ordained arrangement, there is another level in which the man is the head of the woman. God established Christ as the head of every person, and He wants every person to take Christ as the head. However, He also established the man as the head of the woman, and He wants the woman to take the man as her head and to obey the man. Before Christ, none of us is male or female, so we should all take Him as our head; however, before humans, we are male and female, so we should be according to God’s arrangement, and the man should be the head of the woman. The woman should take the man as her head and obey the man.
We should not bring the thought of the equality of men and women into this matter. This is not a question of whether men and women are equal; rather, it is a question of the function of men and women before God. God has an arrangement in which He wants two groups, men and women, to portray how He and Christ are the head and how humans should obey. God wants men to take the role of Himself and Christ, and He wants women to take the role of the submitting humans; therefore, when both groups, men and women, portray this, we can say that we have become a spectacle (a show) to the world, both to angels and to men (1 Cor. 4:9). Our spectacle displays the reality in the universe that there is a head and that there are those who obey. In this show, men and women are only the roles that we play; men portray how God and Christ are the head, and women portray how humans should obey. Since the functions in the roles that we play are different, it is not a matter of men and women being equal. Before the Lord men and women are both redeemed creatures without the slightest difference, but when we come before people, we must differentiate between men and women to portray the role of the head and the role of those who submit. This is similar to actors who are ordinary people off the stage but who play very particular characters in different roles on stage. When they act on the stage, there is a sense that they are different in function, but there is no thought of inequality. We should be like this. We have to see that the difference between men and women is a difference only in function; there is no thought of inequality. Simply because our eyes are below the eyebrows and there is a difference in function between them, are they unequal? The brothers have been given the role of the head to portray. Other than acknowledging that this is a great honor, is there any basis for brothers to be proud or to set themselves over others? Although the sisters have been given the role of the submitting ones to portray, does this mean that sisters are in some way despicable and should not also see the honor in their role? If I have been given a role that helps to demonstrate and manifest the Lord’s authority and glory, even if the role is a lowly one, should I not feel that this is the greatest honor? If I take a man as my head and obey him and by so doing cause others to realize that God and Christ are the head whom they should obey, I would be so happy and feel that this is such an honor. Oh, may God show the sisters that their submission can cause people to sense the authority and glory of God and Christ! In the universe the sisters have this function with respect to God and Christ; it is an extremely glorious matter. They can demonstrate the beauty of God’s orderly arrangement in the universe through their submission. This is a very sweet matter.
If the universe did not have a head, everything would be a mess. Since the universe has a head, God, there is order in the universe. God wants men and women to acknowledge this order by having men not cover their head and by having women cover theirs. If men were to cover their heads, it would be a shame to their head; that is, it would be a shame to Christ because Christ is the head of each one. Moreover, to shame Christ is to shame God, because God is the head of Christ. If a woman does not cover her head, it is a shame to her head and a direct shame to the man; it is also an indirect shame to Christ and to God because the man is the head of the woman, and Christ represents God as the head of each one of us. Thus, a man should not cover his head, and a woman should cover hers as a practical action to represent our acknowledgment of God as the authority in the universe—He is head in the universe. When the apostle Paul speaks about the teaching of head covering, he uses the headship of God as the first basis. Humans consider this a light matter, but God considers it a matter of great importance.