1 Corinthians 11:7, He Is the Image and Glory of God

1 Corinthians 11:7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.

The custom of covering the head signifies one who is in subjection. This is contrary to what a man ought to be as Matthew Poole puts it well, “to uphold the power, pre-eminence, and authority with which God hath invested him.”

God made man to own the headship of His creation –  Genesis 1:26-28 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 

Poole observed well, “The woman was created for the honour of man, and for his help and assistance, and originally made out of man, so as man may glory of Eve, Genesis 2:23, “This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh.”

Genesis 2:21-23 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

Praise God for showing us His creative order. May the Lord bless it for the prospering of His people. Amen.