Bible Study: Women In Church Leadership • Part 4

Read about my personal journey that led me to this study:
" The Woman Sexist Against Women"

The Three Mistranslations of Scripture corrected:
I Corinthians 11:3-12; 14:34-36 & I Timothy 2:11-15

I Corinthians 11:3-12
HISTORY: Although Greek is an extensive language, it was also based upon the culture. The Greek word for “man” was the same Greek word for “husband”, and the same goes for “woman” also being the same word for “wife”. This was termed this way because the concepts were the same for them during that time. A woman before she was married was called a virgin and after she was married she was called either a widow or, in a very bad situation, a divorced woman. This described the stages in a woman’s life as well as her identity. Men had different labels, they were referred to as young men, men, or older men, or sometimes called, sons, husbands, or fathers, to refer to the various stages in their life. Because it was so uncommon and unholy for a grown woman to not be married, it made perfect sense for them to use the same word for both. Differences in the meanings were made according to context in which the word was spoken only. The concept of “head covering” here is a matter of custom within marriage. Married women wore a long flowing cloth on their heads to cover their hair. In that day and age, women who shaved their heads completely were either worshippers in a sex cult or were prostitutes. Women who were not yet married did not wear a covering over their heads at all, showing their hair was an innocent form of flirting and revealing to the public that she was not yet married, as marriage was a sign of higher status for women. Widows wore a black covering on their heads. About men and head coverings – the customs of the day instructed men to wear their hair short and their beards trimmed, but only priests were to wear something on their heads in the temple while ministering. Even though this was the case, by the time Paul writes I Corinthians Jewish men had taken up the custom of wearing something on their heads while praying or worshipping in the temple, from the surrounding cultures who had similar customs.

POPULAR MISTRANSLATIONS:
“Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of every woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.” 1 Corinthians 11:3-12 (NIV)

Several small and innocent details are incorrect about the translation of this verse. One innocent mistake is the translators choice to interpret the words for “husbands” and “wives” as “men” and “women”, even though the entire chapter and surrounding chapters are about husbands and wives. The second common misinterpretation is for the word “head”. It is the right word, but the wrong meaning, this word for “head” is frequently confused with another Greek word for “Head”.

ORIGINAL MEANING: First of all, the main misleading translation goof is based on the fact that the Greek word for “head” can be translated several ways and there are more than one word for “head”. The Greek word used here means more than what we think of as “head”. In other places in Scripture, Christ is referred to as the “Head” of the church, using another word for “head” – connected to the meaning: the “highest leader”, the “highest authority” the “top”, or the “first”. But this word cannot be translated to mean that here. The word “head” means here: “source” or “origin”, like the term ”head waters” refers to the source spot of flowing rivers. This changes the meaning of the whole verse completely. Paul even backs up his statement with follow-up truths later in verses 8-12 that confirms this translation, as well as the fact that the whole of Scripture teaches this very concept from Genesis 1 & 2. So now let’s see that verse again with the correct translation so far:

“Now I want you to realize that the origin / source of every man is Christ, and the origin / source of every woman is man, and the origin / source of Christ is God.” 1 Corinthians 11:3

Now let’s look at the details: Besides the fact that the words for “man” could be translated “husband” and the word for “woman” could be translated “wife”, the plural and singular forms of these words should also be noted. In the first phrase, man not only refers to several men, but to all men or husbands because of the word “every”: “the origin of every man is Christ“. But the next phrase is singular, and an extra word is added that does not appear in the Greek: the word “every” - “the origin of the woman is the man”. This wording is referring to one woman and one man in particular, not men and women in general, nor husbands and wives in general. To go back to the “head” correction, Paul is speaking of a specific woman who’s origin was a specific man – of course he is speaking of Adam and Eve, who, not only were both made in the image of God, they were also the first marriage, but even more so, they were the ones who fell into sin and were cursed, it was to them that God spoke that the wife would be subject to her husband. Because women who were not married did not wear a cloth covering on their heads, this passage of Scripture clearly indicates that there is extra measure of propriety to be done within marriage and ministry. This does not at all instruct that women who are not married are unfit or not allowed to minister.

Here is an updated and re-examined translation of this passage in I Corinthians 11: 3
But I want you to understand that CHRIST is the origin / source of every man, and the man, Adam, was the origin / source of the woman, Eve, and GOD is the origin/ source of CHRIST. 4 Every husband who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head. 5 But every wife who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head, for she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved. 6 For if a wife does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a wife to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head. 7 For a husband ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of GOD; and also the wife is the glory of her husband. 8 For Adam did not originate from the woman, Eve, but the woman, Eve, from Adam; 9 for indeed Adam was not created for the woman's sake, but the woman for the man's sake. 10 Therefore the woman ought to have authority / freedom on her head, through God’s Servant. 11 However, in the LORD, neither is the woman independent of man, nor is the man independent of woman. 12 For as the woman originated from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman; and all things originate from GOD.

APPLICATION TODAY: At first glance, most of 11:3-12 looks simply like a cultural dress code for being used by God and contemporary interpreters have resolved themselves to understanding this passage as a whole as instructions to dress modestly at church. But seeing how Paul book-ended this passage with the theme of “source” or “origin” tells us that the real spiritual truth of the matter has still been buried, and is in need of being dug out. Paul is actually restoring the equality of women and men and the honor to husbands and wives in ministry. To instruct men to not wear anything on their heads was important to note, because Paul was making sure they knew that there was only One Priest, and men or even husbands were not that role for themselves, for their wives, or for women in general. The punch line to the passage that makes it clear that it is not to be taken literally when reading it spiritually is the simple sentence that concludes it all in verse 13: Judge for yourselves - is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? Paul foresaw that the culture would change, and that the proper safeguards surrounding marriage and ministry would have to evolve. He knew that one day it would be proper for a wife to minister without covering her head, but this day was not there yet. To refer to Adam and Eve reminds the people that God commanded both Adam and Eve to rule over the earth equally, but when sin entered the equation, husbands ruled over their wives. But now because of God’s Servant, Jesus, Paul explains that women are freed from the curse, and that wives are restored to their proper place of honor beside their husbands in ministry. Paul’s very clarification of women and men and husbands and wives was held together by a key factor, that we all came from God, even Jesus, Who we came from, came from God.

See the next post to continue:
Bible Study: Women In Church Leadership • Part 5