MERCY SEAT MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCHMID-DAY BIBLE STUDY – JANUARY 9, 2019 – 12 NOON

PASTOR ROBERT EARL HOUSTON, INSTRUCTOR1 CORINTHIANS 11

I. CASE STUDY

There was a woman who was very brilliant. She had a strong personality, was an outstanding person, and was not married. He asked her one day the pointed question, “Why have you never married?” Her answer was, “I have never found a man who could master me.” So she never married. Do you think this woman has her priorities in order? What advice would you give to her?

II. INTRODUCTION

We have concluded the section concerning Christian liberty, which extended from chapter 8 to the first verse of this chapter. Now Paul is dealing with other matters about which the Corinthian church had written him.

III. A WOMAN’S DRESS (Verses 1-16)

a. Verse 2 Paul _________________ the Corinthians.

b. Verse 3 is controversial to some people because they do not understand Biblical submission, especially in marriage.

c. The Greek term for submission has military origins, emphasizing being under the authority of another. The word does not connote a forced submission; instead it is a voluntary submission to a proper

authority. Thus Paul seems to be saying that wives should voluntarily place themselves under the authority of their husbands. The same word is used to describe Christians voluntarily submitting to governmental authorities (1 Pet. 2:13) and younger people submitting to the wisdom of their elders (1 Pet. 5:5). In this passage, Paul gives the illustration of the church’s submission to Christ. After encouraging wives to submit to their husbands, Paul goes on to describe how children should obey their parents, and slaves their masters. Their subordination is described in terms of obedience, instead of in terms of voluntary submission.

d. It refers to marriage where the woman is to respond to the man. It is normal for the woman to be subject to the man in marriage. If a woman cannot look up to a man and respect him, she ought not to follow him and surely ought not to marry him. But a real woman responds with every fiber of her being to the man she loves. He, in turn, must be the man who is willing to die for her—“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it” (Eph. 5:25).

e. Verse 4: Paul is saying to the men that they ought not to cover their heads. A man created in the image of God, who is in Christ by redemption, is to have his head uncovered as a symbol of dignity and of liberty. He is not to be covered when he prays or when he prophesies. When he is praying, he is speaking for man to God, making intercession. When he is prophesying, he is speaking for God to man. Whenever he is standing in these two sacred, holy positions, he is to have his head uncovered.

f. Verse 5: I want you to note that it says “every woman that prayeth or prophesieth,” which means that a woman can pray in public and it means she can speak in public. Folk who maintain that the Bible says a woman cannot do these things are entirely wrong. The woman has the right to do these things if God has given her that gift. Some women have the gift – however, she serves in the authority of the Pastor in a local church, if allowed to do so.

g. Verse 6: Apparently some of the women in the church at Corinth were saying, “All things are lawful for me, therefore, I won’t cover my head.” Paul says this should not be done because the veil is a mark of subjection, not to man, but to God.

h. Verses 7-10: General Notes:

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i. Verse 11-16: General Notes:

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