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

Head – Oh my, what difficulties this verse can cause! So much confusion, misapplication and down-right persecution can be traced to a non-rabbinic interpretation of Sha’ul’s comment. Combined with a few other gems from the Pauline letters, the church marched to the tune of Plato and Aristotle’s misogynist drumbeat. Unfortunately, in some places it still does.

Let’s see if we can untangle at least a little bit of this mess. Paul (Sha’ul to his Hebrew buddies) does not think like a Greek. That should be no surprise by now. Eastern Semitic rabbinic interpretation and exegesis is not like Western Greek philosophical exegesis. So, it is simply impossible to apply Greek categories to Sha’ul’s rabbinic pronouncements and hope to have any appreciation at all for what he really says. In this case, Sha’ul’s entire conceptualization of the relationships between men and women is anchored in the Torah, not in Platonic philosophy. Sha’ul is a fully compliant, Torah observant Jew. He accepted the Torah as the words of God. Nothing he says could ever disagree with his own Scriptures, especially with the Torah. So, if we want to know what he says here, we must first read it as a Torah observant Jew would read it. That starts with noticing that kephale (head) in Greek is not the same as rosh in Hebrew.

Kephale means head, but in what sense? Does it mean head like the head of the military or the head of the government, or does it mean head as in “headwaters” of a river? One meaning is about authority; the other about source. Gilbert Bilezikian has analyzed every instance of the Greek word kephale in ancient Greek literature. He concludes, “There seems to be no instance in profane Greek literature where a ruler or a hierarch is referred to as head” with the word kephale. Further study shows that the writers of the LXX use more than a dozen different words for head as authority, only using kephale a few times. In fact, Bilezikian finds only three cases out of 180 where the LXX clearly uses kephale for authority. Apparently, these translators chose to avoid this meaning of kephale. Furthermore, when we look at the use of kephale in the New Testament, we find kephale is most often used in the common Hebrew sense of source, not authority. This is especially true in Sha’ul’s comment here. If we read this text from a rabbinic point of view, the three part hierarchy makes sense. If we read it from a Greek point of view, it doesn’t. Let’s see why.

Sha’ul lists three pairs of words in this hierarchy: Christ-man, man-woman, God-Christ. But this order makes no sense at all if Sha’ul is building a hierarchy of authority. If that were the case, the order should be God-Christ, Christ-man and man-woman (in descending order). But even this has internal difficulties. Is God the authority over Christ? Not according to Bible. The Father has put all things under the authority of the Son. The Son has been granted all authority. Furthermore, the Father and the Son are one. How are we to understand the biblical view of Christ’s authority if Sha’ul claims God is the kephale (authority over) Christ?

But what happens when we read the text as a rabbi? Kephale becomes rosh as “source”. The hierarchy makes sense. The source of the new man is indeed the Messiah. The source of the incarnate Christ is indeed the Father. And, as Genesis 2 clearly reveals, the source of the woman is the man. In fact, Sha’ul’s sequence is also chronological (as Bilezikian notes). Yeshua is the chronological source of all Mankind (“in Him were all things created”). Adam is the chronological source of woman (“because she was taken out of man”). And God is the chronological source of the Messiah (“in the fullness of time”).

What’s the bottom line? This verse cannot be used to justify the authority of men over women. Such an idea is rooted in Greek philosophy and misogyny, not in Scripture. While this is only one verse, upon further exploration we would find that no Scripture suggests the male has a divine prerogative to dominate a female. In fact, Yeshua specifically denies any such distinctions within the Body. The travesty of the Church is its willingness to embrace a pagan philosophy rather than listen to the Holy One of Israel. It’s time to seek repentance – and change!

Topical Index: authority, kephale, rosh, source, rabbinic, women, 1 Corinthians 11:3

For today’s photo, click here (Bayonne, Haiti)