Order In The House! Series

Order in the House!

1st Corinthians Series

CCCAG 11-2-25

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 11:2–16

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Introduction – The Problem of Confused Freedom

There’s a strange irony about the human race: the moment we’re given freedom, we immediately test its limits.

It’s true in childhood, in society, and it’s true in the church. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is a masterclass in calling believers back from the edge—reminding them that Christian liberty was never meant to erase divine order.

Before we get much further into this scripture, I will say that just reading what the bible says on this subject matter will ruffle a few feathers. I’m actually ok with that, because if God’s word isn’t challenging us, then we aren’t reading it with the right mindset.

It’s like saying you want to be strong, but never picking up a weight over 1 pound. Just like You need to challenge yourself to grow physically, the same is true spiritually.

Saying that,

When we read the Bible, we have to remember the context in which it was written before we try to apply its truths to modern life.

Now- God’s word is timeless, but people, places, and customs are not.

What Paul wrote to first-century believers in Corinth was shaped by their world — their culture, their traditions, their struggles — but behind every cultural detail lies an eternal truth about God’s character and His order.

So our job isn’t to drag the Bible into the twenty-first century and make it fit us.

Our job is to step back into their world for a moment so we can see what God was saying to them… and then bring that truth forward into our world.

So, let’s Consider their world

Corinth was a city of extremes—wealth and depravity, brilliance and brokenness. It was the “Las Vegas, San Francisco, and New York City” of the ancient world rolled into one.

The people that formed that church came out of a culture that was the opposite to what Jesus taught us, so the people of that church were infant Christians at best, and just like infants and young children need more stricter supervision and rules, sometimes the same is true for young Christians.

That’s the heart of 1 Corinthian’s 11 here- their spiritual father Paul was establishing some rules until they could mature enough to appropriately understand and live in Christian liberty.

The church there had been blessed with spiritual gifts, miracles, tongues, prophecy—everything Pentecost had promised—but they had not yet learned the discipline of holiness.

So when Paul writes about head coverings, authority, and the order of worship in 1 Corinthians 11, he’s not just nitpicking hairstyles. He’s addressing a fundamental spiritual sickness: confusing Christian freedom for independence.

The Corinthians thought the grace of Christ meant “I can do what I want.” Paul reminds them it means “I now live to reflect the glory of God.”

This passage isn’t about hats or hair. It’s about honoring God’s created structure in how we worship and live together.

With that in mind, let’s read 1 Corinthians 11:2-16

2 Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold fast to the traditions just as I delivered them to you. 3 But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman,, and God is the head of Christ.

4 Every man who prays or prophesies with something on his head dishonors his head. 5 Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since that is one and the same as having her head shaved. 6 For if a woman doesn’t cover her head, she should have her hair cut off. But if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her head be covered.

7 A man should not cover his head, because he is the image and glory of God. So too, woman is the glory of man. 8 For man did not come from woman, but woman came from man. 9 Neither was man created for the sake of woman, but woman for the sake of man. 10 This is why a woman should have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. 11 In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, and man is not independent of woman. 12 For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman, and all things come from God.

13 Judge for 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 disgrace to him, 15 but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her as a covering. 16 If anyone wants to argue about this, we have no other custom, nor do the churches of God.