Have you been influenced by the Open Brethren view in your understanding of the word ‘kephalē’ (head) in 1 Corinthians 11:3?

This text is from a letter written by David Gooding in 1998.

We all, I am sure, come to Scripture with ideas preformed from our traditions and past experiences, and doubtless also influenced in part by the powerful currents in modern Western society; and we all, I am sure, struggle honestly to read Scripture objectively and to adjust and correct our preformed notions in the light of God's objective word.

You certainly could rightly say that I have been influenced by the Open Brethren view. You could, in addition, of course, say that I hold the view that the vast majority of believers throughout the whole world have held for nearly two thousand years, until more recent times. And when it comes to the translation of the Greek word kephalē, I hold the view enunciated by the late C. S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity; and, to be sure, C. S. Lewis was far indeed from being a member of the Open Brethren.

I am sure that writers, and of course your good self likewise, try sincerely to bring their own views under the objective control of Scripture. Inevitably, I suppose, we find in each other's expositions of Scripture what seems to be an arbitrary element based on predilection. I supply but one instance. If one consults the entry kephalē in Liddell and Scott's dictionary, or the three articles that were published in the journal of the Trinity Evangelical School of Theology at Illinois, USA (of which Dr Carson is perhaps the best known representative), one might easily conclude that the desire to translate kephalē as 'source' rather than 'head' is a rather specialized desire. It is not the meaning that any classical scholar would attribute to the word in Paul's epistles unless he were trying to fit in the word kephalē to his predetermined view of what women's place in the church should be. A view which holds the normal meaning of the word in Greek, and the meaning that has been understood by nearly two thousand years of the exegesis of the New Testament, is not perhaps most helpfully labelled as the Open Brethren View.

But this said, I suspect the matter will go on being debated until we all get to glory. And I take it that all my brothers and sisters in Christ who disagree with me and the centuries-long view of the church are just as sincere in their devotion to the Lord as I, and more so; and are happy to teach what they believe in the knowledge that one day we shall stand before the Lord, each to give an account of ourselves and our teaching. What weighs heavily with me in this matter is our Lord's remark in Matthew 5:19. Meanwhile, let us see to it that we love one another fervently with a pure heart, respect one another's consciences, and endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Yours very sincerely in Christ,