Feminism and the Current of Culture- 1 Cor. 11:2-16

Have you ever gone kayaking or canoeing on a warm summer day? There is nothing quite like the sound of the river, the gentle motion of your watercraft, the stillness and serenity of the shore, and the gentle heat of the sun on your face. And if you are like me, you often lean back a bit, relaxing to take advantage of the peace, and close your eyes for just a minute...

...BUMP! Your kayak has just plowed into the bank, or onto a partially submerged boulder, or dangerously into a pile of fallen trees and natural debris called a "strainer." A strainer is dangerous because the water flows beneath the strainer, and if your canoe or kayak gets stuck on one, the strength of the current may overturn your boat and pull you under, where the submerged branches on the underside of the strainer threaten to hold you under the water. You closed your eyes for just a brief moment, and you ended up where you did not wish to be, and perhaps even in a very dangerous spot. Why? Because of the current. It never stops, but tirelessly and relentlessly bears you along and away from where you were the moment your eyes closed.

Sometimes we underestimate the pull of the current of culture, failing to recognize just how far it has pulled us downstream. So when we come to texts like the one we find in 1 Corinthians 11, that begins by defining gender roles and male headship particularly, we need to be careful not to allow culture, with its arguments rooted in feminism, to shape our thinking in a way that is counter to the clear instruction of Scripture. Here are two principles that spring out of this text:

1) While men and women are equal in personhood /worth, and both are made in God's image, husbands are given headship and authority over their wives by God's design. "But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of the wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God." (1 Cor. 11:3) The Corinthians lived in a culture with an active and aggressive feminist movement much like our own, and Paul felt it was important these believers understand that, by God's creative purpose and design, husbands are to lead in their homes, and wives are to submit to the authority of their husbands. This is why Paul elsewhere will give that precise instruction "Wives submit to your husbands, as to the Lord." ( Eph. 5:22, Col. 3:18) However, Paul also places emphasis that men and women have an equality of personhood, and are designed to complement each other: "Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God." (1 Cor. 11:11-12) A perversion of headship, then, that takes the form of sexism, chauvinism or misogyny is a gross distortion of the Biblical framework of the family.

2) In the church we are to protect distinctions between genders, not blur the lines. In the ancient world it was commonplace for women to wear head-coverings as a part of their regular apparel. It was a distinctly feminine piece of clothing. So Paul argues that it is a disgrace for a woman to be engaged in Christian service with her head uncovered (1 Cor. 11: 5-6), because an uncovered head was an obviously masculine form of appearance. Similarly, a Christian man was not to go about praying and preaching with his head covered (11:4), as such a head covering was unmistakably effeminate in the culture--thereby disordering his relationship as the one who bears not only God's image, but also His glory. (11:7) In essence, in either case it was a form of cultural cross-dressing. In Corinth, the feminist movement was already pushing many of those gender norms, blurring the lines between the sexes, much as today. But Paul would not have the Christian taking such provocative measures "If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God." (11:16)

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Application: Where is your heart? Have you believed the pronouncements of modern feminism, have you drifted with the cultural current? Do you believe the truth of God? How does God's plan of headship effect the way in which you will choose a spouse (or relate to your spouse)? Do you rejoice in God's creation of masculinity and femininity, or do you try to blur the lines between the two?

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Reading: 1 Corinthians 11