Reflections on 1 Corinthians 11:3
“But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.” (1 Corinthians 11:3, NIV)
A verse I had a problem with
This morning I came to 1 Corinthians 11:3, and it was a tough one. Paul lays out three pairs: Christ is the head of every man, man is the head of woman, and God is the head of Christ.
As always, I wrote the verse out in several translations side by side. Most simply say “head.” But the TEV says the husband is supreme over his wife. The Living Bible says a wife is responsible to her husband. I have a problem with that. It doesn’t fit anything else I know about the God of the Bible.
The Remedy gave the most reasonable rendering. It speaks of every man following the loving leadership of Christ, the wife following the loving leadership of her husband, just as Christ follows the loving leadership of His Father. So I set out to understand what Paul actually meant by “head.”
What does “head” mean?
The Greek word is kephalē. Scholars have argued over its meaning for a long time, and there are three main views:
- Authority over. The traditional reading, and the one behind “supreme over.”
- Source or origin, like the head of a river, where it begins.
- The prominent or honored part, the head as the part that carries the body’s honor.
I was drawn right away to the second. When the Greek translators of the Old Testament met the Hebrew word for head meaning “ruler,” they usually chose another Greek word. Kephalē didn’t naturally mean “boss.”
And Paul tells us what he means a few verses later. Woman came from man, yet every man since has come through a woman, “but all things of God” (vv. 11–12). He is talking about where we came from, and how we need each other.
Why it can’t mean “supreme over”
Paul is not writing about domination. Both men and women, husbands and wives, can build and keep a close, loving relationship with Christ. As a woman, I want Christ to be my head too. He is the one I follow and the one I lean on.
So think it through. If “head” means who rules over whom, then a woman who never marries has no head. Of course that isn’t so. That kind of thinking doesn’t hold up against any other part of the Bible.
Then there is the last pair: God is the head of Christ. If head means “supreme over,” Christ becomes less than God. But Jesus said, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30).
The order of the verse matters too. Paul doesn’t give a top-down list from God to Christ to man to woman. He gives Christ and man, then man and woman, then God and Christ. Whatever he is describing, it isn’t a ladder of rank.
Three beginnings
Look at the facts. Man was created first, and he is the first one given a head in this verse. Woman came from man, and he is given as her head. Then Christ came forth from God to be man. Each pair names a beginning, an origin:
- Man from Christ. Christ is the Creator: “All things were made by him” (John 1:3).
- Woman from man. Paul roots this in Genesis 2 (vv. 8–9).
- Christ from God. “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world” (John 16:28).
That third one is a little tricky, because Christ is God. But He came from God to become man. This isn’t about His eternal nature. It’s about Christ as He stepped onto the stage of this world.
And He came because of sin. If man had never fallen, Christ would never have come as a man, and God would never have been His head in this way. So the verse begins in creation and ends in redemption. Paul says in this same letter that Christ is “the last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45). He made the first Adam, and as the last Adam He re-creates humanity through the power of God. Even though He is God, in Christ He was human.
We are His twice over, by creation and by redemption. This isn’t order forced on us. It is how life came about, and how it is restored.
The last pair is the key
Why does Paul save “God is the head of Christ” for last? Because it shows us what headship looks like. Christ and the Father are equal. Yet Christ freely chose to come, to honor His Father, and to “do always those things that please him” (John 8:29).
That is headship between equals, entered freely and carried out in Love. If that is the model, it tells us what “head” means in the other two pairs.
Within a marriage, a man by his nature and the way he is put together is to cover, protect and cherish his wife, and give of himself for her and his family. She in return responds and gives him a loving home, a place to come to when the work day is over. Men and women are not the same; we are equal but different. And Christ is the head the man is to follow in his decisions, while the woman has her say and a right to her own mind.
This is exactly what the Remedy says: the wife follows the loving leadership of her husband, just as Christ follows the loving leadership of His Father.
Surrounded by God
Look at the shape of the verse once more. Christ as man’s head comes first. Man as woman’s head is in the middle. God as Christ’s head comes last. Man in his fallen state is surrounded by God on all sides. It is a bit like being in the middle of a God sandwich.
Scripture says the same thing. “Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me” (Psalm 139:5). The Lord goes before us and is our rearguard behind (Isaiah 52:12). And “underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27).
Looking at this through the eyes of Love, what do we see? Christ at the head of fallen man, saying, “Follow Me, I will show you the way home. I am here for you always; you can depend on Me.” In the middle, how we are to relate to each other: a man treating his wife and family with the same love and respect, the same value, that Christ put on him. And God, our foundation, ready to give all the power of the universe through the life of Christ for the healing and salvation of humanity.
That is what it means to have a head. Not someone supreme over us, but Someone before us, behind us, and underneath us, from whom we came and to whom we are being brought home.
Still reading on
I want to be honest with you: this is not a finished understanding of this verse. It is one verse standing alone, and I am sharing the struggle as much as the answer.
Graham Maxwell used to say that when you come to a place of confusion, read on, and it will make sense at some point. It always has for me. Paul’s own explanation is still ahead, in the verses that follow, and I expect this picture to fill in as I work through them.
So take this as a first look, not the last word. I’m trusting the Lord to make it clear in His time, and I’ll share what He shows me as I go.
