Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
The verse declares that Adam was created first and Eve was then taken from his side and made for him, to be his fit help, blessing and companion because it was not good for him to be alone. It belongs to the instruction about conduct in praying or prophesying, where men are to be uncovered and women covered in the public assemblies, with the covered head as the public sign of being under authority. It states the primary object of the creation of Eve and the institution of marriage, an original divine ordinance from Eden before the fall and before the Jewish nation existed, standing alongside the Sabbath as holy and moral in origin. In the same form of expression as the statement that the Sabbath was made for man, it shows that man means Adam and the whole human race in every age, not the Jews only. The chapter assumes that women will pray, prophesy, teach, bear testimony and give instruction for edification when moved by the Spirit, doing so with womanly modesty and seemly dress and without usurping authority.
Worship Setting and Covering
1 Corinthians 11:9 belongs to instructions about conduct when praying or prophesying in the public assemblies of the church, where men are to be uncovered and women covered. The covered head of the woman is a public sign that she is under her husband's authority, and the statement that the woman was created for the man and not the man for the woman gives the reason for the distinction drawn between men and women in public worship. Women pray and prophesy in the church with their heads covered, which shows that their speaking in worship is not itself forbidden and is not an act of authority over men.
A woman's long hair is given to her as a covering and may itself be sufficient. The chapter lays down no specific rule about how women should wear their hair and does not bind Christians to a particular way of wearing it. Its enduring lesson is modesty, reverence, and seemly behavior in women's actions, appearance, and dress, to be followed in a way that preserves order and decorum, with women and men dressing simply, modestly, and appropriately.
The chapter corrects disorder in the church at Corinth, where women failed to act with proper decorum in the church by imitating the manners of Gentile females. It was written to correct abuses among converts out of wicked Corinth who harangued like heathen priestesses, requiring subjection to those placed over the churches and that all things be done decently and in order. This stands alongside the rebuke of disorder at the Lord's Supper, where members feasted while others hungered and failed to discern the Lord's body. The word for man here is the specific Greek word aner, unlike the generic anthropos used for man in the statement that the Sabbath was made for man, showing that the generic term does not refer specifically to Adam.
Creation Order and Marriage
Though the names are not given, the man and the woman are Adam and Eve, with Adam formed first from the dust of the ground and Eve taken from his side for him. Their order of creation illustrates that the Sabbath was made after man and for man in Eden, supporting the connection between creation and the Sabbath's origin as made for Adam in Paradise.
The text states the primary object of the creation of Eve and the institution of marriage, that the woman was made for the man. Its language carries the mind back to the beginning to Eve standing beside Adam at creation, standing alongside the creation of Adam and the creation of the Sabbath. In the same form of expression as the statement that the Sabbath was made for man, both texts declare the original purpose of the two institutions, showing that marriage and the Sabbath are both original institutions from creation whose first reasons are given in these two texts.
Marriage is an original institution established by God and ordained for all men, belonging to the human race and not to a particular class or church, and not depending on human action for its necessity. It was established before Christianity was needed and before the Jewish nation existed, since in Genesis 2 the woman was created for the man and the Jewish nation did not exist for 2000 years after creation. The word man does not mean the Jews only but means mankind in general, so as the Sabbath was made for man, the woman was made for man, and both belong to the whole human race from creation. The order that the woman was made for the man, and not the man for the woman, proves a universal institution for the race, and in the same way the Sabbath made for man was made for the race, not for the Jews alone.
Marriage and the Sabbath were both instituted by God in Eden before the fall, made for man and for mankind, and both are moral, holy, sacred, and honorable institutions with parallel origins and shared moral standing. The sacredness of marriage does not come from the Decalogue; the seventh commandment only guards it and protects the institution, just as the fourth commandment guards the Sabbath. Violations of marriage by the patriarchs do not destroy its sacred character, any more than a violation of the Sabbath would destroy the Sabbath. If saying that the Sabbath was made for man proves that it is merely ceremonial and abolished, the same reasoning would make marriage ceremonial and abolished.
Typifying the union of Christ and the church was not God's primary design in making Eve, any more than typifying future redemption was His primary design in sanctifying the Sabbath, for both texts declare the original purpose of the two institutions whatever else they are later used to illustrate. The created purpose of being for the man is not canceled when the woman is also used as a figure of the church; she remains for the man, just as the Sabbath remains for humanity even if it figures the future rest.
Purpose and Headship in Marriage
The woman was made for the man to be his help and blessing, not to be his slave nor to be taken or put away at his pleasure. She was created for him because it was not good for him to be alone, to be a companion and a help fit for him rather than a servant or slave. She was given the same faculties of mind and the same mental and moral powers as man, fitted to share in all his joys and bear part of all his sorrows, with the same power to love or hate and to be forgiving or revengeful. This fitness is seen in women being last at the cross and first at the sepulcher, and also in Herodias desiring the head of John the Baptist and receiving it with joy. Men and women may not by nature be equally fitted for all pursuits, but the difference comes more from education than from nature, since women can even be trained for war, though peace is better.
She was created as a help fit for man while he stood in purity, when physical labor was not irksome and food was convenient and plenty, so she was not needed merely to help him earn a living. Nor was she intended to sit in idleness while man labors for her support, but to provide for her own wants as much as man provides for his and to bear her part of the burdens of life rather than live idly on his labor. Together with the preceding verse, the verse establishes that God placed man first as head and the stronger vessel. By the marriage relation the husband is thus lord of the wife, and the marriage covenant is an institution made for man.
Being made for another does not give liberty to regard or disregard, cherish or put away, use arbitrarily, or abuse what was made. A wife is her husband's by the marriage relation, but that does not make the husband proprietor to abuse her in violation of the law governing that relation, and the husband being lord of the wife does not dissolve the marriage covenant. In the same way, saying the Sabbath was made for man means it was designed for his spiritual and physical good, not that it belongs to him to use or set aside as he pleases. The Sabbath remains under God's authority and its commandment must be obeyed, and Christ alone is its Lord and proprietor because He as Maker created all things in the beginning and rested the seventh day and blessed and hallowed it. To take the fact of a thing existing for man as proof of its nonexistence is false reasoning.
Such lordship means cherishing, protecting, and defending, not abolishing, destroying, replacing, putting away, altering, or discarding what was created for the other. The husband's position instead implies a duty to cherish, protect, and defend his wife. Christ is Lord of His people not to destroy them, but to give His life for them and take them to Himself. Sin brought disparagement between husband and wife, with the husband ruling over the wife in a subordinate order and the wife holding a lower place under her husband since the fall. Unlike this, at the beginning Adam and Eve bore the moral image of God equally, lived with no lack of harmony, and stood side by side as one flesh with the woman as a helpmeet for him. Marriage and the Sabbath were both given before the fall, so the Sabbath calls the mind back to that original equal plan and forward to its restoration, and it cannot be kept properly in any family where husband and wife live in discord.
Sabbath Made for Humanity
The wording that the woman was made for the man declares the original purpose of marriage in the same form of expression as the saying that the Sabbath was made for man, and both declare the first reason for the two institutions whatever further uses they later serve. The saying carries the mind back to the beginning to the creation of Eve standing beside the creation of Adam and the creation of the Sabbath, showing marriage and the Sabbath as original institutions from creation appointed by God with parallel origins and shared moral standing. Typifying the union of Christ and the church was not the primary design in making Eve, any more than typifying future redemption was the primary design in sanctifying the Sabbath, and the created purpose of being for the man is not canceled when the woman is also used as a figure. The woman was created for Adam, the first man, and this illustrates the saying that the Sabbath was made for man by identifying that man as Adam, for as marriage was made for Adam at creation so the Sabbath was made for Adam at creation, both designed for his good.
In both places man means mankind in general, the whole human race, every member from first to last in every age, and not the Jews only. This is because the Jewish nation did not exist for two thousand years after creation, so both the woman made for man and the Sabbath made for man belong to the whole race from creation. Woman and the Sabbath were both made before the fall and for mankind, and like the Sabbath the marriage institution is honorable. To claim the Sabbath was intended for Jews alone because it was made for man is as unreasonable as claiming women belong to Jews alone because woman was made for man.
Treating man in the statement that the woman was created for the man as meaning only a Jew would absurdly imply that Christians are free from responsibility toward women. The order that the woman was made for the man and not the man for the woman proves marriage ordained of God as a universal institution for the race, and in the same way the Sabbath made for man was made for the race and not for Jews alone. Restricting man in the statement that the Sabbath was made for man to Jewish men would by the same reasoning restrict the woman's creation for the man to Jewish men, deny Gentiles the right to marry, and imply that women were made only for Jews.
Both statements refer to humanity and not only to Jews or to a group defined by the later division between Jews and Gentiles. Gentiles can share in the human institution of marriage, and Gentile men may have wives just as the Sabbath is for humanity, so the fact that woman was created for man without restriction to a particular people challenges the claim that Gentiles were excluded from the humanity for whom the Sabbath was made. The word man in the example that woman was created for man refers to humanity without restriction, and does not mean that the marriage relation belongs only to Jews.
The man and the woman are understood in the creation setting as Adam and Eve even though they are not named, with Adam created first and Eve for him, Adam formed from the dust of the ground and Eve taken from his side. Their order of creation illustrates that the Sabbath was made after man and for man in Eden, supporting the connection between creation and the Sabbath's origin as made for Adam in Paradise.
Marriage, like the Sabbath, originated at creation before the fall and is holy and sacred, with the seventh commandment guarding the sacredness of marriage just as the fourth commandment guards the Sabbath. If saying that the Sabbath was made for man proves it merely ceremonial and abolished, the same reasoning would make marriage ceremonial and abolished. Being made for man does not give man liberty to regard or disregard, cherish or put away, what was made for him, and the husband being lord of the wife does not dissolve the marriage covenant, just as the Sabbath being made for man and the Son of man being Lord of the Sabbath does not give man liberty to disregard and put away the Sabbath, so to take the fact of a thing existing for man as proof of its nonexistence is false reasoning.
Women Speaking and Serving
The chapter gives directions for women praying and prophesying, and thereby assumes women will prophesy, teach in public, bear testimony, give praise, and give instruction when moved by the Spirit. Instruction about the appearance of women who speak or pray in public shows that women may take part in speaking and exhorting for the comfort and edification of the church. Paul permits women to speak in the church and then instructs how such women should appear when they do so. Confessing God belongs to this participation, since it is a duty demanded of every soul and a privilege granted to every soul.
Women praying and prophesying in the church with covered heads shows that their speaking in worship is not itself forbidden and is not in itself an act of authority over men. The directions about women in this chapter stand alongside those in 1 Corinthians 14:34 and 1 Timothy 2:11-12 without conflict. Therefore 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 does not absolutely prohibit women from taking part in public meetings. It reproves disorder, shameful conduct, and confusion in the church, and calls for all things to be done decently and in order.
Women who speak or pray in public are to do so with womanly modesty and humility and with appropriate dress and appearance. They are to speak without assumption of authority and without usurping authority over man or over the church at all. They remain in subjection to those placed over the churches, as willing learners of those best fitted to fill important positions. The chapter corrects abuses in which converts out of wicked Corinth harangued like heathen priestesses.
Women are not forbidden to work for God or to speak at all. They are not forbidden to testify for Christ or to serve as teachers in appropriate places. The instruction on dress when prophesying or teaching regulates rather than prohibits that service.
The verse declares that Adam was created first and Eve was then taken from his side and made for him, to be his fit help, blessing and companion because it was not good for him to be alone. It belongs to the instruction about conduct in praying or prophesying, where men are to be uncovered and women covered in the public assemblies, with the covered head as the public sign of being under authority. It states the primary object of the creation of Eve and the institution of marriage, an original divine ordinance from Eden before the fall and before the Jewish nation existed, standing alongside the Sabbath as holy and moral in origin. In the same form of expression as the statement that the Sabbath was made for man, it shows that man means Adam and the whole human race in every age, not the Jews only. The chapter assumes that women will pray, prophesy, teach, bear testimony and give instruction for edification when moved by the Spirit, doing so with womanly modesty and seemly dress and without usurping authority.
Worship Setting and Covering
1 Corinthians 11:9 belongs to instructions about conduct when praying or prophesying in the public assemblies of the church, where men are to be uncovered and women covered. The covered head of the woman is a public sign that she is under her husband's authority, and the statement that the woman was created for the man and not the man for the woman gives the reason for the distinction drawn between men and women in public worship. Women pray and prophesy in the church with their heads covered, which shows that their speaking in worship is not itself forbidden and is not an act of authority over men.
A woman's long hair is given to her as a covering and may itself be sufficient. The chapter lays down no specific rule about how women should wear their hair and does not bind Christians to a particular way of wearing it. Its enduring lesson is modesty, reverence, and seemly behavior in women's actions, appearance, and dress, to be followed in a way that preserves order and decorum, with women and men dressing simply, modestly, and appropriately.
The chapter corrects disorder in the church at Corinth, where women failed to act with proper decorum in the church by imitating the manners of Gentile females. It was written to correct abuses among converts out of wicked Corinth who harangued like heathen priestesses, requiring subjection to those placed over the churches and that all things be done decently and in order. This stands alongside the rebuke of disorder at the Lord's Supper, where members feasted while others hungered and failed to discern the Lord's body. The word for man here is the specific Greek word aner, unlike the generic anthropos used for man in the statement that the Sabbath was made for man, showing that the generic term does not refer specifically to Adam.
Creation Order and Marriage
Though the names are not given, the man and the woman are Adam and Eve, with Adam formed first from the dust of the ground and Eve taken from his side for him. Their order of creation illustrates that the Sabbath was made after man and for man in Eden, supporting the connection between creation and the Sabbath's origin as made for Adam in Paradise.
The text states the primary object of the creation of Eve and the institution of marriage, that the woman was made for the man. Its language carries the mind back to the beginning to Eve standing beside Adam at creation, standing alongside the creation of Adam and the creation of the Sabbath. In the same form of expression as the statement that the Sabbath was made for man, both texts declare the original purpose of the two institutions, showing that marriage and the Sabbath are both original institutions from creation whose first reasons are given in these two texts.
Marriage is an original institution established by God and ordained for all men, belonging to the human race and not to a particular class or church, and not depending on human action for its necessity. It was established before Christianity was needed and before the Jewish nation existed, since in Genesis 2 the woman was created for the man and the Jewish nation did not exist for 2000 years after creation. The word man does not mean the Jews only but means mankind in general, so as the Sabbath was made for man, the woman was made for man, and both belong to the whole human race from creation. The order that the woman was made for the man, and not the man for the woman, proves a universal institution for the race, and in the same way the Sabbath made for man was made for the race, not for the Jews alone.
Marriage and the Sabbath were both instituted by God in Eden before the fall, made for man and for mankind, and both are moral, holy, sacred, and honorable institutions with parallel origins and shared moral standing. The sacredness of marriage does not come from the Decalogue; the seventh commandment only guards it and protects the institution, just as the fourth commandment guards the Sabbath. Violations of marriage by the patriarchs do not destroy its sacred character, any more than a violation of the Sabbath would destroy the Sabbath. If saying that the Sabbath was made for man proves that it is merely ceremonial and abolished, the same reasoning would make marriage ceremonial and abolished.
Typifying the union of Christ and the church was not God's primary design in making Eve, any more than typifying future redemption was His primary design in sanctifying the Sabbath, for both texts declare the original purpose of the two institutions whatever else they are later used to illustrate. The created purpose of being for the man is not canceled when the woman is also used as a figure of the church; she remains for the man, just as the Sabbath remains for humanity even if it figures the future rest.
Purpose and Headship in Marriage
The woman was made for the man to be his help and blessing, not to be his slave nor to be taken or put away at his pleasure. She was created for him because it was not good for him to be alone, to be a companion and a help fit for him rather than a servant or slave. She was given the same faculties of mind and the same mental and moral powers as man, fitted to share in all his joys and bear part of all his sorrows, with the same power to love or hate and to be forgiving or revengeful. This fitness is seen in women being last at the cross and first at the sepulcher, and also in Herodias desiring the head of John the Baptist and receiving it with joy. Men and women may not by nature be equally fitted for all pursuits, but the difference comes more from education than from nature, since women can even be trained for war, though peace is better.
She was created as a help fit for man while he stood in purity, when physical labor was not irksome and food was convenient and plenty, so she was not needed merely to help him earn a living. Nor was she intended to sit in idleness while man labors for her support, but to provide for her own wants as much as man provides for his and to bear her part of the burdens of life rather than live idly on his labor. Together with the preceding verse, the verse establishes that God placed man first as head and the stronger vessel. By the marriage relation the husband is thus lord of the wife, and the marriage covenant is an institution made for man.
Being made for another does not give liberty to regard or disregard, cherish or put away, use arbitrarily, or abuse what was made. A wife is her husband's by the marriage relation, but that does not make the husband proprietor to abuse her in violation of the law governing that relation, and the husband being lord of the wife does not dissolve the marriage covenant. In the same way, saying the Sabbath was made for man means it was designed for his spiritual and physical good, not that it belongs to him to use or set aside as he pleases. The Sabbath remains under God's authority and its commandment must be obeyed, and Christ alone is its Lord and proprietor because He as Maker created all things in the beginning and rested the seventh day and blessed and hallowed it. To take the fact of a thing existing for man as proof of its nonexistence is false reasoning.
Such lordship means cherishing, protecting, and defending, not abolishing, destroying, replacing, putting away, altering, or discarding what was created for the other. The husband's position instead implies a duty to cherish, protect, and defend his wife. Christ is Lord of His people not to destroy them, but to give His life for them and take them to Himself. Sin brought disparagement between husband and wife, with the husband ruling over the wife in a subordinate order and the wife holding a lower place under her husband since the fall. Unlike this, at the beginning Adam and Eve bore the moral image of God equally, lived with no lack of harmony, and stood side by side as one flesh with the woman as a helpmeet for him. Marriage and the Sabbath were both given before the fall, so the Sabbath calls the mind back to that original equal plan and forward to its restoration, and it cannot be kept properly in any family where husband and wife live in discord.
Sabbath Made for Humanity
The wording that the woman was made for the man declares the original purpose of marriage in the same form of expression as the saying that the Sabbath was made for man, and both declare the first reason for the two institutions whatever further uses they later serve. The saying carries the mind back to the beginning to the creation of Eve standing beside the creation of Adam and the creation of the Sabbath, showing marriage and the Sabbath as original institutions from creation appointed by God with parallel origins and shared moral standing. Typifying the union of Christ and the church was not the primary design in making Eve, any more than typifying future redemption was the primary design in sanctifying the Sabbath, and the created purpose of being for the man is not canceled when the woman is also used as a figure. The woman was created for Adam, the first man, and this illustrates the saying that the Sabbath was made for man by identifying that man as Adam, for as marriage was made for Adam at creation so the Sabbath was made for Adam at creation, both designed for his good.
In both places man means mankind in general, the whole human race, every member from first to last in every age, and not the Jews only. This is because the Jewish nation did not exist for two thousand years after creation, so both the woman made for man and the Sabbath made for man belong to the whole race from creation. Woman and the Sabbath were both made before the fall and for mankind, and like the Sabbath the marriage institution is honorable. To claim the Sabbath was intended for Jews alone because it was made for man is as unreasonable as claiming women belong to Jews alone because woman was made for man.
Treating man in the statement that the woman was created for the man as meaning only a Jew would absurdly imply that Christians are free from responsibility toward women. The order that the woman was made for the man and not the man for the woman proves marriage ordained of God as a universal institution for the race, and in the same way the Sabbath made for man was made for the race and not for Jews alone. Restricting man in the statement that the Sabbath was made for man to Jewish men would by the same reasoning restrict the woman's creation for the man to Jewish men, deny Gentiles the right to marry, and imply that women were made only for Jews.
Both statements refer to humanity and not only to Jews or to a group defined by the later division between Jews and Gentiles. Gentiles can share in the human institution of marriage, and Gentile men may have wives just as the Sabbath is for humanity, so the fact that woman was created for man without restriction to a particular people challenges the claim that Gentiles were excluded from the humanity for whom the Sabbath was made. The word man in the example that woman was created for man refers to humanity without restriction, and does not mean that the marriage relation belongs only to Jews.
The man and the woman are understood in the creation setting as Adam and Eve even though they are not named, with Adam created first and Eve for him, Adam formed from the dust of the ground and Eve taken from his side. Their order of creation illustrates that the Sabbath was made after man and for man in Eden, supporting the connection between creation and the Sabbath's origin as made for Adam in Paradise.
Marriage, like the Sabbath, originated at creation before the fall and is holy and sacred, with the seventh commandment guarding the sacredness of marriage just as the fourth commandment guards the Sabbath. If saying that the Sabbath was made for man proves it merely ceremonial and abolished, the same reasoning would make marriage ceremonial and abolished. Being made for man does not give man liberty to regard or disregard, cherish or put away, what was made for him, and the husband being lord of the wife does not dissolve the marriage covenant, just as the Sabbath being made for man and the Son of man being Lord of the Sabbath does not give man liberty to disregard and put away the Sabbath, so to take the fact of a thing existing for man as proof of its nonexistence is false reasoning.
Women Speaking and Serving
The chapter gives directions for women praying and prophesying, and thereby assumes women will prophesy, teach in public, bear testimony, give praise, and give instruction when moved by the Spirit. Instruction about the appearance of women who speak or pray in public shows that women may take part in speaking and exhorting for the comfort and edification of the church. Paul permits women to speak in the church and then instructs how such women should appear when they do so. Confessing God belongs to this participation, since it is a duty demanded of every soul and a privilege granted to every soul.
Women praying and prophesying in the church with covered heads shows that their speaking in worship is not itself forbidden and is not in itself an act of authority over men. The directions about women in this chapter stand alongside those in 1 Corinthians 14:34 and 1 Timothy 2:11-12 without conflict. Therefore 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 does not absolutely prohibit women from taking part in public meetings. It reproves disorder, shameful conduct, and confusion in the church, and calls for all things to be done decently and in order.
Women who speak or pray in public are to do so with womanly modesty and humility and with appropriate dress and appearance. They are to speak without assumption of authority and without usurping authority over man or over the church at all. They remain in subjection to those placed over the churches, as willing learners of those best fitted to fill important positions. The chapter corrects abuses in which converts out of wicked Corinth harangued like heathen priestesses.
Women are not forbidden to work for God or to speak at all. They are not forbidden to testify for Christ or to serve as teachers in appropriate places. The instruction on dress when prophesying or teaching regulates rather than prohibits that service.