1 Corinthians 11:1-3

1Co 11:1 Become imitators of me, like I seek to imitate Christ.
1Co 11:2 Now, I appreciate the fact that you have all remembered me and, are trying to hold to the traditions, in the same way that I passed them on to you,
1Co 11:3 but I want you to know what I meant when I said “the head of every husband is Christ, and the husband is head of a wife, and God is head of Christ.”

headship and heartache

Paul’s teaching in this passage becomes far clearer once all second‑person language is removed. What remains is a reflection on how the Corinthian church—and the modern church—has consistently misread Paul because of cultural assumptions about hierarchy.

Paul’s point about headship was almost entirely missed by the Corinthian believers. The same mistake continues in today’s church. Just as in first‑century Corinth, modern readers often approach marriage and gender through hierarchical lenses, and then use Paul’s words to defend long‑held traditions rather than to understand what he actually taught. Even Bible translators have sometimes allowed cultural assumptions to shape their renderings of this passage.

The problem is not the Scriptures themselves. The problem is the cultural baggage brought to the text. Every generation imagines itself to be independent in thought, yet all are shaped by the assumptions of the cultures in which they live. Because human cultures are shaped by sinful humanity, they often distort what God has revealed.

This distortion is evident in the way verse three is commonly read. Many preachers insist that Paul is laying out a divine hierarchy: God at the top, then Christ, then males, then females. Readers raised in hierarchical cultures naturally see the verse that way. But the order of subjects in the verse does not match a hierarchy at all. The sequence is: Christ as head of every husband, the husband, and God as head of Christ. If Paul intended to describe a chain of command, the order would begin with God and descend to women. Instead, Paul presents the relationships in a different pattern entirely.

Paul was not constructing a pecking order. He was not reinforcing cultural dominance. He was teaching headship, not hierarchy. The two concepts are not the same. The Corinthian believers misunderstood him because they assumed hierarchy. Modern readers often repeat the same error, causing unnecessary heartache and confusion.

Paul’s teaching stands as it is. The misunderstanding belongs to the interpreters, not to the apostle. More on the meaning of headship follows in the next reflection. More on this tomorrow.

LORD, forgive us for reading our cultural biases in the text of scripture. Help us to get closer to your heart, and avoid giving our loved ones heartache.