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BIBLE
STUDY LESSON
For
the week beginning Sunday December 31, 2017
INSTRUCTIONS
FOR PUBLIC WORSHIP
1
Corinthians 11
The passage of 1 Corinthians 11, verses 1-16, is one that has been
debated for centuries among church goers who so want to do what they want to
do, and it continues to be debated in the modern-day church by the same defined
group of people with the same exact motives in mind, rebellion against GOD’s
principals of wisdom. In fact, the only reason we ever debate any of Scriptures
is because we desire badly for GOD to agree with our respective man-made
denominations, instead of us seeking to come into accordance with HIM.
Over time, satan has been able to
successfully put into our human spirit, an overbearing desire to rebel against
GOD more and more with each passing generation, and we choose to accommodate
our sin nature more with each passing day, and with an overpowering lust that
is, quite literally, sucking the life right out of us. Man has almost from the
beginning, sought to have a god who is made in his own image, instead of
desiring to worship, and obey the words of the GOD WHO made us in HIS.
The origins of woman’s rebellion against
GOD and man began in the Garden of Eden when Eve willfully left the covering of
her husband, Adam, and entered into a sinful dialog with satan. Adam rebelled
against GOD by allowing Eve to move ahead without him, instead of interceding
in the dialog in defense of what GOD had already instructed them to do. And he
should have, since Scripture tells us that he was standing right there with
them.
In this passage of chapter 11, the Apostle
Paul attempts to explain the order of creation under GOD to the Church at
Corinth. He begins in verse 3 by setting up for the people, the order in which
GOD expects us to remain (our creation roles) under HIM, because HE feels that
it is right and good. Here he tells us that;
·
JESUS is
responsible to GOD the FATHER
·
Man is responsible
to JESUS
·
Woman is
responsible to man
Here in this verse the word “head”, in the
Greek “kephale”, does not imply “superiority”, but rather, it implies
“subordination” and “origination”. JESUS is not inferior to GOD, HE voluntarily
submits to GOD because it is right and good. Woman is not inferior to man, but
like CHRIST does with GOD, so too must she submit to man because GOD says, it
is right and good. And man, who is inferior to CHRIST, must submit to HIM,
under GOD, because GOD says, it is right and good.
And so, here “head” explains the divine
order that GOD places upon HIS human creation, and it aligns it the way that
GOD feels is right and good. GOD the FATHER covers all, JESUS covers mankind, and
men cover women and children. In order to stay within the will of GOD, everyone
must stay within the creation role in which GOD assigned us, and we rebel
against GOD when we try to move out of our assigned creation roles (i.e. in
homosexual behavior).
The much debated passage of 1 Corinthians
11, verses 4-10 is not that complicated when we realize that Paul is not-so-much
speaking about a “head garment” in church, as he is about order under GOD, and “creation
roles” in life.
Men and women are interdependent. No woman
has to be like a man to have worth and value, and no man has to be like a
woman. We only need to be what GOD made us to be. A man covering his head while
praying or bringing a revelation from GOD symbolizes dishonor toward CHRIST,
his SPIRITUAL HEAD.
In the first century when Paul lived, head
covering for women was a universal custom in the Jewish culture. At that time,
a woman not wearing a covering on her head brought the same amount of shame
that she would receive if she cut off all her hair, it was simply not something
that was contemplated by Jewish women in those days.
On the other hand, Corinthian women at that
time had begun to express a desire to rebel against those GODly principals that
they had learned from Paul and others in the Christian Church. They saw it more
as degradation, rather than being liberated, as most Jewish women saw it. By
not covering their heads, they were asserting their equality with men.
However, this creation role principle does
not make women inferior, but rather, it uniquely exalts them. Men and women were
created by GOD to glorify HIM, and there is no better way for each of us to
glorify GOD than to live out, and be what GOD created us to be in accordance
with our sexual gender, not with our envious twisted fleshly lusts.
And so we see, the fact that GOD is the
head of man, whom HE created, actually exalts him, not demean him. And the
covered head of a woman is not a sign of a man’s authority over them, but
rather, it is a sign of a woman’s authority to pray and prophesy in worship and
in private. A person does not have to be a man in order to participate fully in
life, nor in the Church. Any man or woman just has to do it GOD’s way, and not yield
to the evil lures of their own sin nature to do things their own way.
ORDER AT
THE LORD’S SUPPER
1
Corinthians 11:17-34
The words “in
remembrance”, that JESUS uses in HIS instituting of the LORD’s Supper, dates
back to the Old Testament concept of “Zikkaron” (Zik-ka-rone). Zikkaron is a
Festival, Practice, or Object, that is used to symbolically link future
generations to a distinctive act of GOD from the past. The name derives from
the Hebrew word “zikrown” (zik-rone), which means “a memento, or memorable
thing, day, or writing”.
Through the Zikkaron, GOD’s people could
sense their personal participation, along with the original generation, in the
act that GOD had performed for them. Thus the LORD’s Supper is a unique
institution of sacrament, intended to link all generations to the memory of
CHRIST JESUS’ vicarious sacrifice.
Some of those in the Corinthian Church were
totally missing the significance of the LORD’S Supper. Instead of making it a
shared time in holy sacrament in CHRIST, they were treating it as if it were a
dinner party that was dedicated to one of the pagan deities they used worship.
The New Covenant is mentioned many times in
the Old Testament, and it is spelled out quite clearly by GOD, in Jeremiah
31:31-34. JESUS came to usher in that new Covenant from GOD. It is a Covenant
that is far superior to any before, or since, that time. This New Covenant
provides for the regeneration of mankind, and allows for us to be indwelt by
the HOLY SPIRIT, when we come to believe in JESUS CHRIST. The bread, which we
eat at the sacrament, is common bread, but for those who have the heart to feel
and understand, the purpose and work of GOD, it is the very body of CHRIST
JESUS.
In the Gospel according to Luke, as
expressed in chapter 22, in verse 22, in his original Greek writings, the word
Luke uses in JESUS’ statement, that translates “determined”, is “horizo”
(hor-id-zo). Luke is the only author in Scripture who uses this particular word
for “determined”, and he uses it only here, and in Acts 17:26. In both places
it means “decreed by GOD”, and is meant to remind us, from a “time-bound”
perspective, that JESUS’ death was a miscarriage of justice, and that, from
GOD’s point of view, it was the keystone of HIS plan to, not only provide
salvation, but to also, set all things right.
In Exodus 24:1-8, the Israelites accepted
GOD’s Covenant, as it had been given to Moses on Mount Sinai. The continuance
of that Covenant depended on man keeping his pledge and obeying the laws of
GOD. But man would not then, and quite frankly, will not now, abide by such a
Covenant, because our sin continuously interrupts our relationship with GOD. It
took the life of CHRIST to restore that lost relationship of friendship with
GOD. “This do in remembrance of me”, is what JESUS said to HIS Disciples. But
it is also a statement that comes to us, from across the spans of time, in
hopes that we too, can share in HIS new Covenant.
JESUS knew how quickly the human mind would forget. HE knew that we
would become so pre-occupied with our own worldly affairs, that, eventually, we
would fail to recall HIS vicarious sacrifice. And so, HE invites us to, come in
sometimes, into the peace and tranquility, of HIS FATHER’s House, and to “Do
this in remembrance of HIM”.
It is all the more tragic that, at that
very table, on that Passover night, in a dimly lit upper room, somewhere in the
midst, of the festive atmosphere of Jerusalem, that there sat one, who was a
traitor, and, who would sell JESUS out, for the price of a common slave, which
was thirty pieces of silver, at that time.
Since the birth of the New Covenant, at
every Communion table, there are those who would betray JESUS. If, in HIS
House, we pledge ourselves to HIM, and then, go out and fail to reflect HIS
image to others, through our own behavior, then we too, like Judas, have become
traitors to HIS cause.
Unlike JESUS, we don’t know when our last
supper will be. It is the will of GOD that man not know what his time, place,
or method of demise will be. But, like JESUS, we can all, become great
preparers, and begin to store up our treasures in a place that JESUS says, “has
been prepared for us, from the foundation of this World”. That place that Luke,
Paul, and other New Testament writers call, in the Greek, “Paradeisos”
(Par-ad-i-sos), but we call, “the Kingdom
of Heaven
A Sunday school lesson by,
Larry D. Alexander
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