1 Corinthians 11:12Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"Nevertheless, neither is man without woman, nor woman without man, in the Lord" (1 Cor 11:11).

Since the Apostle had assigned a great advantage to the man, saying that the woman is from him, for him, and under his authority, see what correction he introduces. He does this so as not to exalt men beyond measure or abase women.

He says, "Nevertheless, neither is man without woman, nor woman without man, in the Lord." Do not point me only to the first advantages and to creation, he says. Look also at what came afterward.

You will see that each depends on the other, or rather, not one on the other, but all on God. Therefore he says, "Neither is man without woman, nor woman without man, in the Lord. For as woman is from man, so also man is through woman" (1 Cor 11:11-12).

"For as woman is from man" (εκ του ανδρός), "so also man is through woman" (δια γυναικός).

Woman, he says, is from man. For even until now this property remains with the man, that woman is from him. But man is through woman, that is, the woman serves the birth of the man, while the greater activity is in the seed.

Therefore it cannot be said of a man in the strictest sense that he is from a woman, but from his father through a woman, who served the birth.

But Paul did not speak so concerning the Lord. He said, "born from (εκ) a woman" (Gal 4:4). He feared to use the preposition δια, lest he give heretics occasion to say that the Lord passed through the Virgin as through a channel.

Or he spoke so because no man took part in His birth, but He was the fruit of Her womb alone.

What can the son of perdition say about the male and female sex? He says that the two sexes are not from God, but from the devil. And what will the vessel of election say about this? He says that as woman is from man, so man is through woman, and all things are from God. What, then, will the unclean spirit say about the flesh through the mouths of the Manichaeans? He says that it is an evil substance, and therefore not the creation of God, but of His enemy.

After he had diminished and humbled the woman, he again exalted and praised her, saying, "As woman is from man, so also man is through woman." Behold, he says, by the pain of childbirth she in turn repays the man what she owed him for the time when she was taken from him during sleep, without birth pangs.

By this Paul confirms what has already been said, for both are one by nature, and the beginning of the woman is the man, as we read in Genesis. See Gen 2:22. After he has shown one thing after another in sequence, so that all may be subjected to God by following one first principle, he says, "And all things are from God." Thus neither should the woman grieve over her subjection, nor should the man, as though exalted, give himself over to pride.

"For as the woman is from the man, so also the man is through the woman." The Apostle was not content with this, but also pointed to their Cause: "And all things are from God." And again he calls the Corinthians themselves to be judges.

Here the Apostle Paul condemns men who pray or prophesy with covered head (v. 4), and also men who grow their hair long: "if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him" (v. 14).

The Stundists apply this to the clergy of the Orthodox Church and accuse them of violating the apostolic commandment. They do this because they wear long hair and place mitres, kamilavkas, and skufias on their heads during divine services.

But at the conclusion of these instructions the Apostle Paul writes: "If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such custom," meaning that a man should grow his hair and a woman should not (vv. 14-15), "nor do the Churches of God."

"For as woman is from man, so also man is through woman; and all things are from God." This is as though saying: the woman has relation to the man from whom she was taken. You also should look to the nature of the woman who bore you, and treat her with honor, as Bishop Theophan says.

The commonly accepted order was especially often violated by women. Therefore the Apostle chiefly gives his instructions to them and humbles them most of all.

Yet lest anyone find in his words a basis for degrading women before men, he speaks of the great importance of women. This consists in their equality before God and in the fact that all men, except the first, came from woman, as all come from God.

In conclusion, the Apostle appeals to the common sense of all. He says that the order he establishes is not only natural and necessary by nature, but also accepted throughout the whole Church of God. Therefore it is impossible to argue against it.

"If they contradicted this law then, now the whole world has received and preserves it," says Chrysostom.

The second proposition, "For as woman is from man, so also man is through woman," transfers the thought of man and woman to how they stand in the order of creation.

At first the woman was taken from (εξ) the man. Afterward the man began to be born through (δια) woman. By this he seems to say: the woman has reference to the man from whom she was taken.

So you also should look to the nature of the woman who bore you, and treat her with honor.

"But all things are from God." "All things" means all your relations of this kind, or "all things" means both of you are from God. God created you both and arranged everything concerning you in this way.

Therefore preserve these ordinances of God, whether they are according to nature or according to grace.