No Difference…

Galatians 3:28

28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

How does this previously mentioned statement make sense when Paul also seems to differentiate between the genders here:

1 Corinthians 11: 1-16

Which speaks of the woman’s need to cover her head when praying or prophesying while a man should not.

Or this one:

1 Corinthians 14:34-40

Which speaks of women needing to be silent in church and inquiring of things with their husband at home.

There is much going on here. Too much, admittedly, to go through within this one blog post. There will be other blogs that will build on the idea.

We must always first keep in mind that God only desires worshippers who walk in the Spirit and truth. Only those who walk this way will see the Spiritual meanings underlying the physical that is or can be acted out…not all is literal or there would be many without hands or eyes, having cut them off or plucked them out.

Paul, like the other apostles-after being taught deeply by Jesus-walked in a way that was full of the Spirit’s guidance. The way he spoke was very heavy in the Spirit at times-quite difficult to understand.

Typically the speakings of Paul that bring the most oppression, segregation, separation, judgement or other such erring results stem from a lack of understanding the spiritual message he was conveying.

Examples of a milder form of this type of misunderstanding can be seen in the early walks of the apostles with Jesus. Many times they misunderstood what Jesus said because they were still, as Paul called it, ‘on milk’. Like when Jesus said “Lazarus is sleeping” or to “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees” or “I have food to eat that you know nothing about”. All of these were taken literally yet Jesus was speaking in the Spirit-a more profound meaning then initial understanding would show.

For now we will only address the silence in church, asking the husband and the head covering. First a brief understanding of the spiritual meaning of male/man and female/woman.

Throughout the entire Bible God shows relationship to us in ways we can understand within our limited scope of things. He, regularly, compares Himself to the man and His people to the woman to the point of even being called He. The Tanakh/Old Testament routinely compared God as a husband and His people as a wife. In the New Testament Jesus is seen as the bridegroom while His people are seen as a sort of bride.

Also, in the New Testament, God is seen as the head to Jesus and Jesus as the head to His people. The head represents the male while the body represents the female.

A segue into this idea is an interesting connection to the values of a slave, a woman and Jesus when He walked here and was sold out by Judas:

Exodus 21:32

32 If the ox gores a male or female slave, the owner shall pay to the slaveowner thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

Leviticus 27:2, 4

2 Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: When a person makes an explicit vow to the Lord concerning the equivalent for a human being,

4 If the person is a female, the equivalent is thirty shekels.

Matthew 26:14-15

¹⁴ Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests

¹⁵ and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver.

When Jesus walked here He perfectly represented the body/woman. Jesus only spoke what the Father told Him to speak; He never spoke on His own. He was silent and, instead, had the Father speaking through Him. He made Himself lowest even to the level of a slave. So Jesus walking here is valued at the price of a slave being killed and a woman as a human being value.

John 12:49

49 For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.

Jesus also sought the Father regularly in prayer to know just what to do and say as well as to be comforted and strengthened. He was showing us the body’s walk. This is the walk we follow with Him now through Him.

John 5:19

19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

So speaking to your own husband in your house, spiritually, is praying to the Father in your closet-privately- in order to know what you should do or say in His name. Spiritually all can do this but not all literal women have husbands…some even choose cellibacy.

1 Peter 4:11

11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

We are called to walk the way Jesus walked not speaking our own way or doing our own deeds but those of which He taught and commands us to do; “Greater love has no one than this-that he lay down his life for his friends and you are My friends if you do as I command.”-Jesus

1 Corinthians 11:1

¹ Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

Back to the male/female diagram. Please keep in mind that we are looking in the Spirit not the material.

1 Corinthians 11:3

³ But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 

The head of every man is Christ: He is our ‘helmet of salvation’; His blood covers us.

Psalms 140:7

7 O Lord , my Lord, my strong deliverer, you have covered my head in the day of battle.

The head of the woman is man: When Jesus walked here He demonstrated our relationship to God by the Father being the head/male and Himself representing the body/female to give us an example.

1 Peter 2:21

²¹ To this you were called,because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

The head of Christ is God: Jesus submitted perfectly to the Father’s Will. Now, through Jesus, we, who believe, are the body and Jesus is our head of whom we submit to, thus honoring and glorifying the Father through the Son.

Matthew 16:24

²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

1 John 2:6

⁶ Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

Diagram:

Father-head (male-Spirit)

⬇⬆

Son-body (female-earth)

↕↕

Son-head (male-Spirit)

⬇⬆

God’s people-body (female-earth)

Jesus is the connector, the conduit. He is the One who joins the material with the Spiritual fully and completely. Notice the order mentioned…woman was not first or lastly mentioned:

1st the head of every man is Christ

2nd the head of the woman is man

3rd the head of Christ is God

If the diagram went from the bottom up it would be in this order Paul mentions…man to Christ-our head, Christ as body to Father. Jesus holding both head and body (woman-fully material/human and man-fully God/Spirit) connections, making a way for us to connect with the Father through Him.

This is important in understanding the covering. If we do not have Christ as our covering then we cannot pray or prophesy properly. We will be speaking from our own wisdom or wisdom from spiritual principalities of darkness in the heavenly realms and not Divine wisdom. We will not connect to the Father therefore it is a disgrace.

So the physical is shadowing the spiritual. A woman covers her head with a cloth, the church covers her head with Christ. A man does not cover his head. Jesus does not need a cover being the intercessor for us as our head, no cover is needed beyond Him covering us. If He were to cover His head it would undermine His perfect way and greatness being the full manifested image of God. The veil is torn wide open already by Him.

I do realize a bit is still not explained well but there is a great deal going on here so the other parts will be clarified in later blogs, at least as much as He has shared with this mind.