1 Corinthians: The Choice for God's Design for Male and Female

- 1 Corinthians 11:3-5: "But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. 4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, 5 but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven."

The Answer to Gender is Neither Chauvinism nor Feminism but in the Divine Design

1. The Cultural Question of the Head Covering

2. The Eternal Principle Behind the Cultural Question

- 1 Corinthians 11:3: "But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God."

- Genesis 1:26-27: "Then God said, 'Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.'"

- 1 Timothy 2:12a: “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man.”

- 1 Corinthians 11:11-12: "Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; 12 for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God."

- 1 Corinthians 11:14: "Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, 15 but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering."

- Romans 1:26: "For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature."

3. The Practical Application to the Eternal Principle

- Ephesians 5:21-26: "Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word”

- Ephesians 5:32-33: "This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband."