I am so glad that you always keep me in your thoughts, and that you are following the teachings I passed on to you. But there is one thing I want you to know: The head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. A man dishonors his head if he covers his head while praying or prophesying. But a woman dishonors her head if she prays or prophesies without a covering on her head, for this is the same as shaving her head. Yes, if she refuses to wear a head covering, she should cut off all her hair! But since it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut or her head shaved, she should wear a covering. A man should not wear anything on his head when worshiping, for man is made in God’s image and reflects God’s glory. And woman reflects man’s glory. For the first man didn’t come from woman, but the first woman came from man. And man was not made for woman, but woman was made for man. For this reason, and because the angels are watching, a woman should wear a covering on her head to show she is under authority. But among the Lord’s people, women are not independent of men, and men are not independent of women. For although the first woman came from man, every other man was born from a woman, and everything comes from God. Judge for yourselves. Is it right for a woman to pray to God in public without covering her head? Isn’t it obvious that it’s disgraceful for a man to have long hair? And isn’t long hair a woman’s pride and joy? For it has been given to her as a covering. But if anyone wants to argue about this, I simply say that we have no other custom than this, and neither do God’s other churches. [1 Corinthians 11.2-16]
I suppose the topic of the passage above could be seen as volatile in most circles today. Hardly a Western Civilization person can read it without immediately seeing Equal Rights violations all over it.
Was Paul just having a bad day? Should this instruction from Paul be disregarded? Does it even fit with the message of the Bible?
As mentioned already, Western Civilization is predisposed to see Equal Rights violations. In this culture, it is a rare circumstance where even a moment is taken to ponder the possible Kingdom revelation that could come from it. Particularly in the USA (and any other democratic society), we simply have no current point of reference to comprehend monarchy, and certainly not absolute monarchy.
However, if we are to grasp the fullness of the Kingdom of God, we must first understand that God is in absolute and indisputable control. Whatever He says, goes, and it is pointless for us to even consider disputing it. We must understand that there is nothing that is not subject to His domain and power.
The fact that we disregard the instruction from Paul given above is our first clue that we are not likely to understand anything else about the Kingdom of God. It is no wonder that Kingdom talk is so foreign to most of us. There are things required in a kingdom that serve no other practical purpose but to remind its residents that they are in a kingdom!
The very phrase, "That's not fair!" is usually our first indicator that we don't get it. Democratic thinking simply cannot comprehend that fairness has nothing to do with it. God is God - He made the rules - and that's it.
BUT! When the absolute rule of the Kingdom is LOVE (1 Corinthians 13) because the absolute ruler of the Kingdom is LOVE, positions are just that - positions. Positions serve practical usefulness in the daily administration of life, but all under (and in) the one and same LOVE of the King. Fairness is irrelevant and inconsequential when there is LOVE.
We sure have a lot to learn.
Father, the topic of this post is certainly reveals my own ignorance on the subject. Help me to further comprehend that I am a resident of Your Kingdom and that, as such, there are indeed parameters in which, if I conform, will find myself most blessed.
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