PRAY: repeat prayer from day 1
READ: 1 Corinthians 11:2–16
MEDITATE:
This passage is probably one of the most complex, controversial, and opaque of any text of comparable length in the New Testament. Even a brief review of the history of interpretation of these verses should inspire a considerable degree of tentativeness on the part of anyone who would write a meditation on the same! Still, there are several points about which we can remain relatively confident.
Most interpreters agree that one timeless principle that may be deduced from this passage is that Christians should not try to blur distinctions between the sexes. Christianity recognizes that God created men and women as sexual beings, with sexual differences. Grooming or dressing in ways that make it impossible to recognize a person’s gender or, worse still, changing our sexual appearance through transvestite behavior does not bring glory to Christ. Also, in any culture, believers must strenuously avoid whatever forms of dress or grooming potentially communicate to the non-Christian world sexual misconduct or idolatrous worship.
Beyond this, the consensus among interpreters begins to break down. But there is a wide berth in which we can continue to study the relevant texts together in love and in light of the Scriptures as a whole, trusting that none of us has yet received complete illumination!
Questions and Application:
- What does this passage say?
- What does this passage mean?
- What are some culturally specific issues on which congregations can differ from location to location and which should not divide the Body of Christ?
PRAY: repeat prayer from day 1