OUR FATHER WHO MADE MEN AND WOMEN TO REPRESENT GOD'S RELATIONSHIP WITH MANKIND

1 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 1 - 16 begins with the Apostle Paul advising the believers at Corinth to imitate him as he in turn imitated Christ where he patterned his life after the pattern of Christ and he did so in sucha a way that those who observed him would be able to themselves imitate Christ just by seeing the example set by Paul.

Paul commended the Corinthian believers for upholding the traditions that he had established among them but in upholding those traditions related to head coverings for women only, he wanted them to remember the foundational precepts that undergirded them.

1 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.

2 Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. 3 But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. 5 But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved. 6 For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered. 7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. 8 For man is not from woman, but woman from man. 9 Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man. 10 For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. 11 Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord. 12 For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman; but all things are from God.

13 Judge among yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14 Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? 15 But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering. 16 But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.

Paul first laid out the spiritual covering progression of headship;

• Every womanˋs head is the man
• Every manˋs head is Christ
• The head of Christ is God

This headship structure mirrors the representation that each category serves in revealing the uncreated to the created orders.

• Christ represents God to mankind as the Lord of all.
• Men represent Christ to believing manking as the Groom
• Women represents believing mankind to Christ as the bride of Christ

As such, the practices that Paul taught them were  visible representations of the concentric realms of representations so that looks at a man with his head uncovered, he represented the glory of Christ in His eternal being while seeing a woman with her head covered, one is seeing a representation of the bride of Christ who is the one who has submitted to Christ and is under His covering.  A woman whose head is not covered represents the portion of mankind that has charted its own course and has rejected the covering of Christ.

In the symetrical spriritual structure, a man, representing Christˋs glory, counterbalances the glory of Christ with short hair while the woman, who represents a lesser glory of mankind, is appropriately able to wear long hair which is a glory to her.

The practices that enact the appropriate relationship between God and man are object lessons for observers to learn the heirarchies of spiritual covering but Paul concludes his explanation by saying that the traditions are for the benefit of observers and thus if contentions arise from their practice, they can be dropped.

Amen.

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