Call-In Classic Christianity Radio – Bob George P428 (4-04-19)
Bob George, on the air with the original People to People ministries, answers questions by callers from across the country on real life issues as well as the common questions. Andrew from Lubbock, Texas asked about the meaning of the head covering for a woman in the passage of scripture in 1 Corinthians 11. Bob answered what he knew from a translation or footnote in a translation that provided information that makes some of that passage more easily understood in its context of the day the letter was written. In that culture, the Gentile were very heathen, and had idols made of stone and sexual goddesses with temple prostitutes. The prostitutes in those days wore short hair or had their heads shaved. From bob’s understanding, a woman who came out of that sinful lifestyle and is now a believer may still have her head shaved and if she does not want to be identified with the “shorn” woman, that is, the prostitutes, she should have a head covering until the time her grows out. As far as other things in that passage, such as “because of the angels”, he did not have an answer.
Another caller, Armando from Bakersville, CA asked for help in a struggling marriage. His wife was improperly seeing another man, presumably to get a need met her husband could not provide. She was clearly in violation of the marriage covenant. Bob provided Armando with practical advice on dealing with the man who was pursuing his wife but also provided him help in how to help his wife. Bob explained the sinful condition of all men by sharing the struggle Paul wrote about in Romans 7. In our sinful state we are enslaved to the law of sin and death and the things we do not want to do we do and the things we do not want to do that we keep on doing. Paul closes by saying thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. The law of sin and death always stirs up sin in our sinful state. Bob illustrates that concept by explaining examples from life. Tell a a child to stop doing something and they do it anyhow or put up a sign that says “no fishing” and how that causes people to disobey the sign and do the exact opposite and ignore the sign and go fishing anyhow. The law stirs up sinful desires in man to do the exact opposite of the law taht was meant for our good. Bob then explains the message of salvation from sin and death unto the law of the Spirit of life. Bob explains salvation as a moment in time where someone is born again by placing their faith in what Jesus alone did for you by his death, burial, and resurrection. Armando indicated he understood what Bob was explaining and that maybe he was born again. He seemed to still lack clarity of understanding, for his wife is Catholic and he wanted his wife to confess sin. To confess to him of her wrongdoing should be done but to confess sin to a priest or to God is not really the solution to her problem of spiritual death and her need of new spiritual life. To be born again, one places their faith in Jesus Christ alone for his death to have already taken your sin away and to trust in his resurrection to receive his resurrected life in you. When someone is born again, they receive the very life of Christ, the Holy Spirit. You do not receive life by taking a wafer but by trust alone in what Jesus accomplished by his death, burial and resurrection. This new birth comes by faith alone in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Bob offered Armando and his wife to call any time if they have questions and would be glad to explain these things to them. Armando asked for prayer, and you can hear his heart aching that his marriage is spared. Bob closed in prayer, asking God for the gift of Christ to be received by faith and the Holy Spirit to accomplish new life for them.
Andrew from Lubbock, Texas
Andrew had been studying 1 Corinthians 11 and has also several other people for understanding. He has drawn some conclusions but wanted to hear what insight Bob George had on these things. He was particularly curious about the use of angels in verse 10 that because of the angels the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head.
1 Corinthians 11:2-11
2 I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the traditions just as I passed them on to you. 3 But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. 5 But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is the same as having her head shaved. 6 For if a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should cover her head.
7 A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. 8 For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; 9 neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10 It is for this reason that a woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels. 11 Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12 For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.
Bob focused on what he knew from context, which is also revealed through a footnote in the NIV. In verse 5 of the footnote, the passage is rendered:
1 Corinthians 11:4-7
4 Every man who prays or prophesies with long hair dishonors his head. 5 But every woman who prays or prophesies with no covering of hair dishonors her head—she is just like one of the “shorn women.” 6 If a woman has no covering, let her be for now with short hair; but since it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair shorn or shaved, she should grow it again. 7 A man ought not to have long hair
The phrase, “like one of the ‘shorn women'” is referring to a prostitute. Some early manuscripts interpreted this way, as also the NIV in the footnote. A shorn woman is a prostitute. For a woman, if you have a shorn head, then you will be like a prostitute. For now, if you have short hair, but since it is a disgrace to have shorn hair or no hair, then for now, have a head covering. It takes time for hair to grow.
A lot of people have dorleys on their head and just not seem to be in control. That wearing of dorleys and napkins is out of context of what scripture is teaching. One can always go check out further in the interlinear to see what the Greek language states on those things. What does that have to do with the image of God whether you have hair short or long? Godliness is not something outward but an inward change in the heart, the deposit of the Holy Spirit in you for we have no godliness otherwise. So what someone wears on their head does not make someone more godly.
1 Peter 3:3-5
3 Do not let your adorning be external — the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 5 For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands,
Now as far as this verse, “For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority”, Bob said he does not have a clue of what that means. Andrew then shared insight he had. He first agreed with Bob. “The hair just will not grow overnight, so a woman just remains as she is until her hair grows.” Bob shared the context of Corinth. Corinth was full of temple prostitution. High Corinth on a hill is where all prostitutes lived. One of the locals in Corinth said the prostitutes used to have things dangling off their shoes saying “follow me”. The wearing of hose used to be equated to prostitutes. Nowadays, there is no association with that. Bob also said that the passage is a relatively confusing passage. Andrew then shared, “We have a cloud of witnesses. So does this passage indicate the angels know their proper role so we should also know our proper role. Because we are on a world stage in front of the angels, seems to be the reasonable focus.”
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Armando from Bakersville, California
He is having marital problems. He said he is praying and reading the bible every day. He asked for what scriptures he can read to help him. Wife is working and is talking with another man.
Bob answered by first provided practical advice on confronting the man. I would get in the middle of that and find who the guy is and visit him at his work. Let him know the next time he calls your wife, that he will be in big trouble. And if he continues, then tell him you will go to his boss. Then go to your wife and ask why she is doing that, seeing his guy.
Armando asked, “Are there needs I am not meeting? Armando stated that he did not meet her needs.” Bob relied, that this not meeting of needs is an illusion of the mind. There are these Hollywood television shows that always paint a certain picture, a fantasy and not reality. It is an illusion. If she got married to him, she will find out soon she will have same problems she had with you. We never see heartaches left behind in the Hollywood movies. So somewhere along the line, your wife is unfaithful and if not sexual, it is heading in that direction. I would find out who he is and where he works.
Do you know the Lord? Does your wife now the Lord? Armando said his wife is Catholic and she is reluctant to go confess. She knows what she is doing is wrong. Bob replied, “In the first place, the power of sin is in the law.”
1 Corinthians 15:56
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
If she is a Catholic then she is under law. You sin and then you go to a priest to confess sins. That is law. There is nothing in the bible about going to a priest but going to the Lord. If you have children, then all you have to do to get a child to do something is to tell them to stop. There was a hotel in Texas that the balconies went out over the ocean. They found out that windows were broken. Someone asked, “When did this start?” It started when we put a sign up saying “do not fish off the balcony”. A guy said, “How are we going to get people to stop?” Another replied, “Take the sign down.” As soon as they take the sign down, people stopped and they never had broken windows since. The power of sin is in the law. You got to get freed from the law and be led by the Spirit of God who lives in us.
Romans 8:2
because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Listening to what the bible says instead of what man says is the path to freedom. If what man says lines up with what the bible says then that is good. But you do not go to man but you go to God.
Romans 10:4
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believes.
The decision making process is this. Is it permissible? Yes. Is it profitable? No. Now, in comparison to being under law, the decision making under law is this, “if you do this, then God is going to zap you.”
1 Corinthians 6:12
“Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything.
This is the difference between grace and law, a relationship with God who perfectly loves you and a broken relationship with the living God. The decision making under law just makes you want to get away with it, for after all you do not know God’s love and would rather hide from what you perceive as an angry God.
I do not know how strong your relationship is with the Lord, whether you know Christ Jesus personally or if it is just a religious experience? She is struggling if she is admitting she is doing wrong but she does not know how to get out of it. It is like Paul who says “I do what I do not want to do and the things I do those are the things I hate and yet I continue on doing”. What was Paul’s solution? He came to recognize what a wretched man he is. Bob reads Romans 7:14-25 to Armando.
Romans 7:14-25
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So the solution is in Jesus Christ. In Romans 8, the solution in Jesus Christ is expressed.
Romans 8:1-17
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you[a] free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,[b] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Romans 8 explains the work of Christ and how Jesus provided the solution to man’s problem of sin and death by the giving of life through new spiritual birth. In this new birth, new life is given. At new birth, the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ takes residence in you. In Christ, you have new life. The Holy Spirit is your righteousness. It is the Holy Spirit who lives in you to will and to act according to His good purposes.
In new birth, you stepped out of Adam into Christ. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. We have to be freed from the law of sin and death by the law of life. For the resurrection of Christ Jesus is what raises you and me from the condition of spiritual death. The very things reading from in Romans 7 is an example of people spiritually dead. We want to be like that, to do good, but cannot carry it out. Could that be what your wife is going through? The only solution is to put aside religion. This is an agreement between God and me, the individual.
Romans 8:9
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ
If you have the Holy spirit living in you then you have life. If you do not have the Holy Spirit, then you do not have life.
1 John 5:13
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
When you enter into that life of Christ, the life of Jesus comes to live within you. That does not happen by taking a wafer. That happens by faith when the Spirit of Jesus takes residence in your heart. Scripture says that you have the mind of Christ living in you.
1 Corinthians 2:16
for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
That is new birth that takes place by faith and faith alone. Until that faith is exercised and we become born again of the Spirit then that lifestyle is what was read about in Romans 7: “what I do I do not want to do”. You cannot carry out the desires of your own heart in the flesh, in the state of spiritual death. If I keep doing what I do not want to do it is clear where the problem is, that sin has me under its control.
Armando said he understood and agreed what Bob had shared. He said he gave his life back to God. He wants to go on living with God in his life. Bob said, “You are going through a tough situation. Does you wife have regrets about these things?” Armando replied, “She does not want to confess.” Bob replied, “She does not need to confess. She needs to confess only to you. The issue is, ‘Does she know Christ? Does she have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?’ If she things she is saved because she is Catholic, or Baptist if she was Baptist, then she is deceived. You are no more a Christian in a church than a chicken sitting in a hen house. Jesus died for me, and was raised for me. I was dead spiritually and in need of life and Jesus’s life is the only life available to me. The only solution to the problem of sin, the problem of sin and death,is the life of Christ. There appears to be an emptiness in your life. You are seeking and could it be what you are really seeking is to know God personally. Seeking that something missing in another man is not going to meet your spiritual need. Do you know Christ as personal Lord and Savior? You are not born over a period of time. Being born again is an event like physical birth is an event, a moment in time you are born. It comes as a personal decision of faith in Christ alone in what he accomplished for you. First of all, the man needs to be told this is your wife and never want to hear from you again. And if I do, then there is going to be problems. Only one solution to the struggle of the flesh is to be born again, and that is by faith in the finished work of Jesus.”
Bob offered to make himself available to counsel with them and encouraged them, both Armando and his wife, to call People to People any time. Armando asked for prayer and Bob closed in prayer.
