The matter of head covering is related to God’s government. I cannot persuade you to cover your head if you do not know anything about God’s government. If you do not know the meaning of God’s government, you will not know the significance of head covering! Once you see God’s government and see that such a system of divine government is revealed in the Word, you will realize that head covering has much to do with this government.
First Corinthians 11:2-3 says, “But I praise you because in all things you have remembered me and hold fast the things that I have handed down even as I handed them down to you. But 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.” This is God’s government.
These verses do not say anything about the relationship between the Father and the Son; that is a relationship in the Godhead. They speak of the relationship between God and Christ. To borrow a modern term, we can say that Christ is God’s deputy. In ministry and in God’s order and government, God and Christ are separate: God is God and Christ is Christ. Christ was the One sent by God. John 17:3 says, “That they may know You, the only true God, and Him whom You have sent, Jesus Christ.” God is God, and the Lord Jesus is the Christ sent by God. This distinction between God and Christ has to do with God’s government. Christ was originally equal with God, but He was willing to be the Christ and to be sent. God remains God high above, while Christ was sent to do God’s work. This is the first thing related to God’s government.
What is God’s goal? His goal is to appoint Christ as the Head so that every man would submit to Him. Christ is the firstfruits among all creation. He was the first One created by God. [Editor’s note: This refers to His humanity only.] Therefore, He is the Head of every man, and all men must be subject to Him. This is a basic principle in God’s government. Christ is the Head of every man. This is not something in the system of grace but something in the system of God’s government. Likewise, for man to be the head of the woman is also something in the system of God’s government. In His government God appoints man to be the head, just as He appoints Christ to be the Head and He appoints Himself to be the Head. All these arrangements have to do with God’s system as a whole.
God Himself is the Head. He also appoints Christ to be the Head. Moreover, He appoints man to be the head. These are three great principles in God’s government.
God is the Head of Christ. This has nothing to do with whether God is greater or Christ is greater. It means that God is the Head of Christ in His government. Similarly, Christ is the Head of every man in God’s government, and man is the head of the woman in God’s government. This is God’s appointment and ordination.
Philippians 2 is very clear concerning this. The Lord Jesus is equal with God in His very essence. But He is the Christ in God’s government. Since He is the Christ, God is His Head. In the Gospel of John, the Lord said that He did only what He saw the Father doing (5:19). He did not come to do His own will but the will of the One who sent Him (6:38). It is as if He were saying, “I am just the Christ, the One who was sent. I dare not speak by Myself. What I hear, these things I speak. I do nothing from Myself, but what I see, I do” (cf. 8:26, 28). He spoke these words on the ground of God’s government. God’s ordination is for God to be God, and for Him to be the Christ. As such He must obey God. As far as their intrinsic persons are concerned, God the Son is equal with God the Father; they are of equal stature and deserve the same honor. As such, God the Son does not have to obey God the Father. However, in terms of God’s government, Christ did not stand in the position of God the Son, but in the position of the Christ, the One sent by God.
One day God’s government will be known by all. The whole world will know that Christ is the Head. This is God’s ordination in His government. Christ will be the Head of every man. But today only the church knows this; the world does not know this. One day the whole world will know that Christ is the Head, the first One of all creation. He is the firstfruits of all creation. All created beings will come under the authority of Christ. In the same principle, only the church knows that God has ordained man to be the head of the woman. Do you see the point? Today only the church knows that Christ is the Head of every man. In the same way, only the church knows that man is the head of the woman.
We have seen that grace can never overturn God’s government. I think the lessons we have learned are becoming clearer and clearer to us. Grace supports God’s government; it does not destroy it. No one can be so foolish as to utilize God’s grace to go against His government. No one can offend God’s government! God’s hand continually upholds His government. Today a man cannot overturn his father’s authority just because he has believed in the Lord. He cannot overturn his master’s authority or the government’s authority just because he has believed in the Lord. A man cannot say, “I do not have to pay taxes because I am a Christian. I do not have to pay duties.” There is no such thing! The fact that you are a Christian makes it more necessary for you to maintain God’s government.
Today we live in the world to maintain His testimony. The Lord has shown us three kinds of heads: God is the Head, Christ is the Head, and man is the head. This is altogether not an issue between the brothers and the sisters. It is basically a matter of government, not a matter of grace. Grace calls us brothers and sisters, but God has another arrangement which has to do with His government. This is God’s will, His unique heart’s desire. God ordains that He would be the Head, and that Christ would be the One under Him. He also ordains that Christ would be the Head and that everyone would submit to Christ. Now He further ordains that man would be the head and that the woman should have the sign of submission.