Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - 1 Corinthians 11:5 - 11:5

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Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - 1 Corinthians 11:5 - 11:5


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5. πᾶσα δὲ γυνή. This refers, of course, to the public assemblies of the Church, where the woman appears, not in her individual character, but as the member of a community. She must therefore perform her devotions in this latter character, and her attire must bear witness to the fact that she is subordinate to those of the other sex in whose presence she worships. Alone, of course, or in the presence of her own sex only, she has the same privilege of approaching God unveiled, that man has. So says Dean Colet, ‘in feminarum ecclesia nihil impedit feminae prophetent[138].’ Some difficulty has been raised about the words ‘or prophesieth.’ It has been thought that the woman was here permitted to prophesy, i.e. in smaller assemblies, and that the prohibitions in ch. 1Co 14:34, and 1Ti 2:12, referred to the more general gatherings of the Church. The subject is one of some difficulty (see Act 2:18; Act 21:9), but it is perhaps best, with De Wette and Calvin (who says, ‘Apostolum hic unum improbando alterum non probare’) to suppose that the Apostle blames only the praying in public with uncovered head, and reserves his blame of the prophesying for ch. 1Co 14:34. As for the prophetic gifts of the daughters of Philip the evangelist, Act 21:9, they were probably reserved for assemblies of their own sex.

[138] So the words stand both in Lupton’s edition and in the MS from which it was printed.

ἀκατακαλύπτῳ τῇ κεφαλῇ, i.e. without the peplum or shawl, which (see Art. Peplum in Smith’s Dictionary of Antiquities, and Dean Stanley’s note), used ordinarily as a covering for the body, was on public occasions thrown over the head also. In Oriental countries, however, the women wore, and still wear, a veil.

καταισχύνει τὴν κεφαλήν. ‘As the man honours his head by proclaiming his liberty, so the woman by acknowledging her subjection.’ Calvin. Cf. Num 5:18.

τὸ αὐτό. The same thing as.

τῇ ἐξυρημένῃ. The shaven (woman), the article denoting the class to which such a woman belonged.