In relation to 1 Corinthians 11, in what ways do men and women differ? Could you describe the characteristics of both sexes, particularly spiritually and psychologically?
This text is from a transcript of a talk by David Gooding, entitled ‘The Christian Philosophy of Man’ (1994).
That is a serious question, and I see its seriousness. As I understand it, the question is not necessarily relevant to 1 Corinthians 11 about the function of man and the function of woman. Man was made first, and the woman was made for the man and from him. Man is the image and glory of God, woman is the glory of man. In other words, their function.
As far as I know, 1 Corinthians does not discuss the different qualities of male and female in that connection. It's simply dealing with the question of the function of the male and the function of the female.
To draw a slight analogy, there were days when here in Northern Ireland we had a governor. I didn't know him; he never asked me to tea! Nor did I know anything about his wife. I didn't know about their qualities as people, important as they were of course, and very relevant to certain situations. Being governor was a question of function, and when it came to authority for what went on in Northern Ireland, then the governor was the one responsible to the Queen, not his wife. If things went wrong, he had to take responsibility for it: that was his function.
I understand that is what Paul is saying among other things in 1 Corinthians 11. There is a function given to the male; there is a function given to the woman.
I suspect when the governor got home, his wife sat down and he would serve the coffee, as the good man he was. Christian men should cherish their wives, like Christ loves the church. It's certainly not a question of tyranny and enslaving a woman. On the other hand, at public functions, in Queen's university for instance, when the governor came in we all stood. We were honouring the queen in his presence because it was he who represented the queen, not his wife. But if the queen had come in, he would have stood while the queen sat.
We're dealing, therefore, with public function; and as I understand it Corinthians is saying that God has given one function to the male and another to the female, whatever their personal qualities are.
