Headship According To The Bible

During devotions today I ran across a passage in The Message translation that seemed to stand out in stark contrast against what today’s church (and culture) teaches. It seemed more in line with how CDD couples feel about marriage, with a husband being the Head of House and having authority over his wife, and the wife being careful not to dishonor her husband.

I couldn’t remember ever reading this in the Bible before (and I’ve read the Bible many times), so I looked up the same passage in the NIV, NLT, and CEV translations. All of these seemed to say something almost completely different than The Message – focusing more on a literal covering of the head than a figurative one. Since I don’t know Greek and can’t read the original Scriptures myself, I did the next best thing – I looked up the passage in the Amplified Version. Guess which translation it most closely resembled? You guessed it – it was The Message. So, without further ado, here is the passage that I read via The Message translation. It’s found in 1 Corinthians 11:1-16. Feel free to research it on your own, and leave any discoveries or thoughts you have in the comments!

“All actual authority stems from Christ. In a marriage relationship, there is authority from Christ to husband, and from husband to wife. The authority of Christ is the authority of God. Any man who speaks with God or about God in a way that shows a lack of respect for the authority of Christ, dishonors Christ. In the same way, a wife who speaks with God in a way that shows a lack of respect for the authority of her husband, dishonors her husband. Worse, she dishonors herself—an ugly sight, like a woman with her head shaved. This is basically the origin of these customs we have of women wearing head coverings in worship, while men take their hats off. By these symbolic acts, men and women, who far too often butt heads with each other, submit their “heads” to the Head: God.

“Don’t, by the way, read too much into the differences here between men and women. Neither man nor woman can go it alone or claim priority. Man was created first, as a beautiful shining reflection of God—that is true. But the head on a woman’s body clearly outshines in beauty the head of her “head,” her husband. The first woman came from man, true—but ever since then, every man comes from a woman! And since virtually everything comes from God anyway, let’s quit going through these “who’s first” routines. Don’t you agree there is something naturally powerful in the symbolism—a woman, her beautiful hair reminiscent of angels, praying in adoration; a man, his head bared in reverence, praying in submission? I hope you’re not going to be argumentative about this. All God’s churches see it this way; I don’t want you standing out as an exception.”

‘Till next time…

A Renewed Wife