Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 11:11
Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.
11. Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman ] “St Paul’s teaching from 1Co 11:7 onward might possibly be misinterpreted by the men so as to lead them to despise the women, and by the women so as to lead them to underrate their own position.” Meyer. He goes on, however, to treat the passage as referring chiefly to married persons, whereas it refers to the two sexes in general, as constituent parts of the Christian community, each having its own peculiar excellencies and special gifts, every one of which is necessary to the perfection of human society. We may remark how in Christ alone were the various qualities of humanity so blended that He united in Himself the perfections of the masculine and feminine characters.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Nevertheless – Lest the man should assume to himself too much superiority, and lest he should regard the woman as made solely for his pleasure, and should treat her as in all respects inferior, and withhold the respect that is due to her. The design of this verse and the following is to show, that the man and woman are united in the most tender interests; that the one cannot live comfortably without the other; that one is necessary to the happiness of the other; and that though the woman was formed from the man, yet it is also to be remembered that the man is descended from the woman. She should therefore be treated with proper respect, tenderness, and regard.
Neither is the man without the woman … – The man and the woman were formed for union and society. They are not in any respect independent of each other. One is necessary to the comfort of the other; and this fact should be recognized in all their contact.
In the Lord – By the arrangements or direction of the Lord. It is the appointment and command of the Lord that they should be mutual helps, and should each regard and promote the welfare of the other.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Co 11:11-16
Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman.
Sanctified marriage implies
I. Equal privilege in Christ.
1. Alike redeemed.
2. In Him there is neither male nor female.
II. Equal subjection to Christ–here the husband has no superiority.
III. Equal dependence upon Christ–for grace to discharge their reciprocal duties.
IV. Indissoluble union in Christ–whose Spirit makes both one in Him. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman.—
The mutual dependence of man and woman
I. A natural law.
1. Woman was created out of man, and is therefore subordinate.
2. Man is born of woman, therefore dependent.
II. A Divine appointment.
III. A gracious purpose. That each might love, succour, and comfort the other in the faithful discharge of their relations. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?–
A Christian must observe what is comely
I. Illustrate this by the example adduced.
1. The use of a veil in Christian worship is in itself indifferent. Only the condition of the heart is of importance in the sight of God.
2. But in the times of the apostle it was not indifferent because it was required by established custom. Its disuse caused offence and contention, and might easily be interpreted as a sign of superstition or immorality.
3. Respect must therefore be paid to the alteration in public opinion and the circumstances of the times.
II. Enforce by arguments.
1. Of Christian prudence. Attention to externals–
(1) Is often of great importance.
(2) Cannot be ignored without disadvantage.
2. Of Christian faith. Neglect of externals may create offence, this love will avoid. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Propriety and religion
The teachings of religion–
1. Harmonise in matters of propriety with those of reason and nature.
2. Condemn what is uncomely in woman and what is effeminate in man.
3. Require us in indifferent matters to avoid contention by complying with established custom. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the Churches of God–
Peaceful compliance with the established usage of the Church is a Christian duty
Because–
1. In this case usage becomes law.
2. A wilful violation of it breeds contention.
3. Contention is utterly at variance with a Christian spirit. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Contentions in the Church
First, it should seem there were contentions in the apostles times. Contentions about what? About matter of circumstance. So was this here, Whether men were to pray uncovered, and women veiled or no? Not to pass them in silence, and say nothing to them. But this to say, We have no such custom, nor the churches of God. And so oppose the Churchs custom to contention. In which saying there are these heads–First, that the Church hath her customs. As she hath them, so she may and doth allege them. This I note first, that we may not think it strange if there be contentions in our times. As true it is of the last as of the first Church. There were contentions then. About what? For though peace be precious, yet of such moment may the matters be as they are to be contended for. For what then were these? For nothing but a matter of rite. Men praying whether they should be uncovered; women, whether veiled or no. For a hat and a veil was all this ado. It was not about any of the high mysteries, any of the vital parts of religion. And to pick a quarrel with a ceremony is easy. A plausible theme not to burden the Church with ceremonies–the Church to be free–which hath almost freed the Church of all decency. About such points as these were there that did not only contend but that grew contentious. Why should any love to be contentious? Why, it is the way to be somebody. Well, if any such should happen to be, what is to be done in such a case? What saith the apostle? Saith he thus? Seeing it is no greater matter, it skills not greatly whether they do it or no–sets it light, and lets it go. No, but calls them back to the custom of the Church. Why doth he so? For two reasons:
1. First, he likes not contention at all. Why? If it be not taken at first, within a while ye shall hear of a schism (1Co 11:18). And within a little after that (1Co 11:19) ye shall have a flat heresy of it. The one draws on the other.
2. Nor he likes not the matter, wherefore though it seems but small. St. Paul knew Satans method well–he asks but some small trifle. Give him but that, he will be ready for greater points. If he win ground in the ceremonies, then have at the sacrament. For when they had sit covered at prayer awhile, they grew even as unreverent, as homely with the sacrament. Opposing then to these, what course takes he? Where it is plain the apostle is for the Church customs. And first, that she hath them. Every society, beside their laws in books, have their customs also in practice; and those not to be taken up, or laid down, at every mans pleasure. The civil law saith this of custom. A custom is susceptible of more and less–the further it goeth, the longer it runneth, the more strength it gathered; the more gray hairs it getteth, the more venerable it is–for, indeed, the more a custom it is. Now, then, as the Church hath them, so she stands upon them–fears not to allege them. And say not the prophets the same? Stand upon the ways (it is Jeremiah), and there look for the good old way; and that way take, it is the only way to find rest for your souls. If it be but of some one Church, but at Corinth alone it is too narrow–not large, not general enough. If it be but taken up by some of our masters of late, it is too fresh–it is not ancient enough. But by these two we know our right custom. As neither is any particular Church bound to the private custom of another like particular as itself is. But if the other Churchs custom have also been the general custom of the Church, then it binds, and may not be set light. But, if to this we add, or rather if before this we set, this the apostles had it too, that it is apostolic, we have then said as much as in this point can be sad, as much as may content any that is not contentious. (Bp. Andrewes.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. Neither is the man without the woman] The apostle seems to say: I do not intimate any disparagement of the female sex, by insisting on the necessity of her being under the power or authority of the man; for they are both equally dependent on each other, in the Lord, : but instead of this reading, Theodoret has , in the world. Probably the apostle means that the human race is continued by an especial providence of God. Others think that he means that men and women equally make a Christian society, and in it have equal rights and privileges.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Lest the man, upon the apostles discourse of his pre-eminence and dignity over the woman, should wax proud and insolent, and carry himself too imperiously, the apostle addeth this, that they both stand in need of each others help, so as neither of them could well be without the other, either as to matters that concern God, or that concern the world; the Lord so ordering and disposing it, that they should be mutual helps one to another. Or else the sense is, they are equal in the Lord as to a state of grace, in Christ there is neither male nor female: though there be a difference between a man and woman in other things, and the man hath the priority and superiority; yet when we come to consider them as to their spiritual state, and in their spiritual reference, there is no difference.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. Yet neither sex is insulatedand independent of the other in the Christian life [ALFORD].The one needs the other in the sexual relation; and in respect toChrist (“in the Lord”), the man and the woman together (forneither can be dispensed with) realize the ideal of redeemed humanityrepresented by the bride, the Church.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman,…. This is said, partly to repress the pride and insolence of man, that he might not be too much elated with himself, and his superiority over the woman, and look with any degree of disdain and contempt upon her, and treat her with indifference and neglect; and partly to comfort the woman, that she might not be dejected with the condition and circumstances in which she was, since the one is not without the other; nor can they be so truly comfortable and happy, as not the man without the woman, who was made for an help meet for him,
so neither the woman without the man in the Lord. The phrase “in the Lord” is added, to show that it is the will of God, and according to his ordination and appointment, that the one should not be without the other; or it may design that lawful conjunction and copulation, of one man and one woman together, according to the will of the Lord, which distinguishes it from all other impure mixtures and copulations. The Arabic version reads it, “in the religion of the Lord”; and the sense is, that the one is not without the other in religious worship, and in the enjoyment of religious privileges; that though the woman may not pray publicly and expound the Scriptures, yet she may join in prayer, and hear the word preached, sing the praises of God, and enjoy all ordinances; for in Christ no distinction of sex is regarded, men and women are all one in him, and equally regenerated, justified, and pardoned, and will be glorified together.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Howbeit (). This adversative clause limits the preceding statement. Each sex is incomplete without (, apart from, with the ablative case) the other.
In the Lord ( ). In the sphere of the Lord, where Paul finds the solution of all problems.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman.” (plen oute gune choris andros) “Nevertheless neither a woman (wife) apart from a man (husband).” The woman or wife is subordinate to, but not inferior to man, the husband. The sexes alike are necessary to the Christian order in society and if man is the foundation, the woman is the channel, of the Christian order of society.
2) “Neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.” (oute aner choris gunaikos en kurio) “Nor a man (husband) apart from a woman (wife) in (the) Lord.” As one in matrimony, husband and wife, each supplementing the sex defect or need in the other, each alike owes reverent obedience to God in following God’s appointed place and conduct for them in marriage, Eph 5:20-25.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
11. But neither is the man without the woman This is added partly as a check upon men, that they may not insult over women; (634) and partly as a consolation to women, that they may not feel dissatisfied with being under subjection. “The male sex (says he) has a distinction over the female sex, with this understanding, that they ought to be connected together by mutual benevolence, for the one cannot do without the other. If they be separated, they are like the mutilated members of a mangled body. Let them, therefore, be connected with each other by the bond of mutual duty.” (635)
When he says, in the Lord, he by this expression calls the attention of believers to the appointment of the Lord, while the wicked look to nothing beyond pressing necessity. (636) For profane men, if they can conveniently live unmarried, despise the whole sex, and do not consider that they are under obligations to it by the appointment and decree of God. The pious, on the other hand, acknowledge that the male sex is but the half of the human race. They ponder the meaning of that statement — God created man: male and female created he them (Gen 1:27, and Gen 5:2.) Thus they, of their own accord, acknowledge themselves to be debtors to the weaker sex. Pious women, in like manner, reflect upon their obligation. (637) Thus the man has no standing without the woman, for that would be the head severed from the body; nor has the woman without the man, for that were a body without a head. “Let, therefore, the man perform to the woman the office of the head in respect of ruling her, and let the woman perform to the man the office of the body in respect of assisting him, and that not merely in the married state, but also in celibacy; for I do not speak of cohabitation merely, but also of civil offices, for which there is occasion even in the unmarried state.” If you are inclined rather to refer this to the whole sex in general, I do not object to this, though, as Paul directs his discourse to individuals, he appears to point out the particular duty of each.
(634) “ Qu’ils n’ayent les femmes en desdain et mocquerie;” — “That they may not hold women in disdain and derision.”
(635) “ Par ce lien d’aide et antitie mutuelle;” — “By this tie of mutual assistance and amity.”
(636) “ La necessite qui les presse et contraint;” — “The necessity that presses and constrains them.”
(637) “ Pensent a leur deuoir, et que de leur coste elles sont obligees aux hommes;” — “Think of their duty, and of their being under obligation, on their part, to men.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) Nevertheless . . .Here follow words of caution, lest the previous express declaration of the subordination of woman to man might be exaggerated or perverted. This very subordination of one sex to the other implies a mutual connection, and not an isolation of each sex. The woman is not independent of, but dependent on the man in the Lord, i.e., in the Christian economy.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Neither man without the woman Each is indispensable to the other. Neither can exist without the other. Each possesses what the other lacks.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Nevertheless, neither is the woman without the man, nor the man without the woman, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, so is the man also by the woman; but all things are of God.’
Paul then immediately goes on to stress that mutual respect between man and woman must be maintained. What he has said does not mean that the man can misuse his position or alternately that woman can rebel from hers. When both are ‘in the Lord’ they will observe His decree as expressed at creation. In the Lord both man and woman need each other, and honour each other, and respect each other. They were meant for each other. And in the Lord both are equally necessary. Indeed the woman is ‘of the man’, that is he was her original source, the status source from which she came, and ‘the man is by the woman’, that is every man is born of a woman, she has been the natural source from which he came, and therefore the source in a secondary sense.. Thus they are interdependent. In the end both men and women are of God. Statuswise he is the source of both. From His creative work came both, and in His service both play an important part, as is witnessed by the fact that both pray and prophesy in due order.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Co 11:11 . Paul’s teaching from 1Co 11:7 onward might possibly be misinterpreted by the men, so as to lead them to despise the women, and by the women so as to underrate their own position. Hence the caveat which now follows ( , Chrys.) against the possible dislocation of the Christian relation of the two sexes: nevertheless, neither is the woman without the man, nor the man without the woman in Christ, i.e. nevertheless there subsists such a relation between the two in the sphere of the Christian life ( ), that neither does the woman stand severed from the man, i.e. independent of, and without bond of fellowship with, him, nor vice vers . They are united as Christian spouses (comp 1Co 11:3 ) in mutual dependence, each belonging to the other and supplying what the other lacks; neither of the parties being a separate independent person. The thus assigns to the relation here expressed the distinctive sphere, in which it subsists. Out of Christ, in a profane marriage of this world, the case would be different. Were we, with Storr, Heydenreich, Rckert, Hofmann, to take as predicative definition: “neither does the woman stand in connection with Christ without the man, nor vice vers ,” this would resolve itself either into the meaning given by Grotius: “Dominus neque viros exclusis feminis, neque feminas exclusis viris redemit;” or into Hofmann’s interpretation, that in a Christian marriage the relation to the Lord is a common one, shared in by the two parties alike. But both of these ideas are far too obvious, general, and commonplace to suit the context. Olshausen (comp Beza) renders it, “ by the arrangement of God .” But is the statedly used term for Christ ; the reference to the divine arrangement comes in afterwards in 1Co 11:12 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
11 Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.
Ver. 11. Nevertheless neither is ] This is added for the woman’s comfort. There must be all mutual respects and melting-heartedness between married couples, which being preserved fresh and fruitful, will infinitely sweeten and beautify the marriage state. Love is a coin that must be exchanged between them, and returned in kind. “Husbands, love your wives,”Col 3:19Col 3:19 . He saith not, Rule over your wives, as he had said, Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, but Love your wives; yea, let all your things be done in love: for neither is the man without the woman; he is not complete without her, he wants a piece of himself; neither is the woman without the man, she cannot subsist without him, as the vine cannot without a supporter. The rib can challenge no more of her than the earth can of him, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
11. ] Yet is neither sex insulated and independent of the other in the Christian life . is not the predicate (as Grot., &c.), ‘neque viri exclusis mulieribus participes sunt beneficiorum per Christum partorum:’ nor does it mean according to the ordinance of God , as Chrys., Beza, Olsh., for the phrase is well known as applying to the Christian state , in the Lord . See e.g. Rom 16:2 ; Rom 16:8 ; Rom 16:11-12 (bis), &c.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Co 11:11-12 . . . . modifies and guards the foregoing; this conj. lies between and in its force but besides, howbeit . What has been said in 1Co 11:3-10 must not be overpressed: woman is subordinate, not inferior; the sexes are alike, and inseparably necessary to the Christian order (1Co 11:11 ); and if man is the fountain, woman is the channel of the race’s life (1Co 11:12 ). . . .: “Neither is there woman apart from man, nor man apart from woman in the Lord.” Here Tennyson is the best commentator: “Either sex alone is half itself each fulfils defect in each, and always thought in thought, purpose in purpose, will in will, they grow the two-celled heart beating, with one full stroke, life”. ( cf. 1Co 7:39 , etc.), i.e. under the rule of Christ , where woman’s rights are realised as nowhere in heathenism ( cf. Gal 3:28 , Eph 5:28 ; also the wording of 1Co 7:3 f. above). For the contrast of and , see 1Co 8:6 ; “the woman has an equivalent in the Divine order of nature, that as man is the initial cause of being to the woman, so woman is the instrumental cause of being to the man” (Ev [1650] ). But the is only a relative source; God is absolute Father ( cf. 1Co 8:6 , 1Co 1:30 and note, Rom 11:36 ). To Him man and woman owe one reverence.
[1650] T. S. Evans in Speaker’s Commentary .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
neither. Greek. oute.
without = apart from. Greek. choris.
in. App-104.
the Lord. No art. App-98. Compare Gal 3:28.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
11.] Yet is neither sex insulated and independent of the other in the Christian life. is not the predicate (as Grot., &c.),-neque viri exclusis mulieribus participes sunt beneficiorum per Christum partorum: nor does it mean according to the ordinance of God, as Chrys., Beza, Olsh.,-for the phrase is well known as applying to the Christian state, in the Lord. See e.g. Rom 16:2; Rom 16:8; Rom 16:11-12 (bis), &c.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 11:11. , in the Lord) in Christ, by whom both the man and the woman have been created and redeemed. The difference between the man and the woman, Gal 3:28, begins now rather to disappear in respect of Christ in this ver., and in respect of God in the following verse, than in respect of the angels. Therefore 1Co 11:9-12, elegantly correspond with one another in their short clauses.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 11:11
1Co 11:11
Nevertheless, neither is the woman without the man, nor the man without the woman,-Although by original constitution woman is dependent upon man, they are mutually dependent upon each other-the one cannot exist without the other.
in the Lord.-By divine arrangement and direction the twain are one in the Lord.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Unity and Order in Public Assembly
1Co 11:11-22
The power on a womans head in 1Co 11:10 probably refers to the veil or covering which the Grecian woman assumed at marriage as the sign that she was not free from the sacred ties and duties of wedlock. In Pauls thought of the matter, therefore, it was unseemly for the Christian matron to lay this aside. He conceded the absolute freedom and equality of male and female in Christ, and yet he stood for the observance of the best customs of the age, lest the gospel should be brought into disrepute. The women, therefore, must veil their heads in the Christian assemblies as the angels veil their faces in the presence of God.
The uncovered face of man is to the glory of God, but the covered face of woman recognizes that she finds her glory in her husbands love and care. Each is dependent on the other-the man on God, and the wife on her spouse. These precepts and reasons are somewhat foreign to modern thought, but at least we must notice that there was no subject too trivial-even the headdress-to be brought into subjection to Christ and related to the great principle of His supreme Headship and Lordship.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
1Co 7:10-14, 1Co 12:12-22, Gal 3:28
Reciprocal: Pro 12:4 – virtuous Act 5:14 – multitudes Act 8:12 – both 1Pe 5:3 – but
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE DIGNITY OF WOMANHOOD
Neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.
1Co 11:11
Such is a part of St. Pauls answer to the inquiry which probably ever since men have reasoned at all has been a subject of speculative, if not practical, import. What is the true relation of the woman to the man, and the man to the woman? And by the true relation I mean the relation which God first teaches us by natural instinct, and then makes more clear by the light of His revelation.
I. Let us look back to the world before Christ; not to the savage, but the civilised world. Everywhere you will find that the position of women, and the views which men held as to their place in Gods world, is a sure test of the moral state of the nation. Very strange were some of the attempts by which learned men tried to account for the existence of human beings of different sex and the mysterious attraction which each felt for each.
Can we wonder that, with all the helps of culture and high civilisation, woman still lived in a position very much beneath that which God intended for her when He made her to be mans helpmate and companion. Some of you know, perhaps, what was the position of women in Greece, and even in Rome, where the dignity which seems sometimes to surround the Roman matron did nothing to raise the corrupt state into which the relation of the two sexes had fallen, and which hastened the ruin of the old world.
II. That saying, Behold the handmaid of the Lord, has ever been regarded as the turning-point in the history of woman, the true contrast to the sin of Eve. In the obedience of her whom all nations shall call blessed, the Virgin Mary, God Himself raised womanhood to more than her first estate. All else had failed; education, culture, civilisation, laws without number, they could not, or at least did not, give woman her true place. She was the slave of her husband, the child-bearer; or, if childless, the hated and despised creature, divorced almost at the husbands will, even when laws prevailed; and in more savage and barbarous countries only what she is now among the Hindoos or the South Sea Islanders, all her life, as it were, apologising for existence, the toy of the hour, soon thrown aside to live a sunless, hopeless life, in seclusion and amid contempt, if not in actual misery and want.
III. It is not without reason that in the Holy Gospels women are made to bear so prominent a place; the three Marys, last at the Cross, and first at the Grave; the woman who was a sinner, yet received by the all-holy Saviour. Surely not in vain is recorded the tender love of the daughters of Jerusalem; and when we come to the early history of the Church of Christ, we can hardly fail to notice the indiscriminateness with which women were admitted with men to the Church of Christ. The old Jewish exclusiveness was past; no longer is it every male, but every creature, that is called to admittance by Holy Baptism into the Church of Christ, in which there is neither male nor female, but all are one in Him.
IV. Turn now to the writings of the Apostles, and look at the place which marriage has now received. For the history of marriage is the history of woman. And as the nature of woman was ennobled from that moment when God sent forth His Son made of a woman, so in the mystery of the oneness of Christ with His Church was marriage made a holy estate. Christ died for His Church. So must the husband be willing to sacrifice self for his wife; and as the true Church loves its Lord, so must the wife devote herself to her own husband in the Lord. This is Gods ordinance. Neither is the man without the woman, nor the woman without the man, in the Lord. Each has a special function, a different physical constitution, different moral excellences, different intellectual qualifications; but in the Lord, and as members of His body, they are one, each imperfect without the other, each trying to be more like Him Who, as the head of the whole body, unites in His own perfect nature all that is high and noble and good in man or woman, the strength of the man with the gentleness of the woman, the firm, bold grasp with the sensitive, clinging hold of love. So is the old law of nature re-enacted, male and female created He them.
V. It is to the new dignity given to womanhood that Christianity owes, under God, a great measure of its success, while even that painful and unscriptural teaching as to the worship of the Blessed Virgin has been used by Him Who brings good from evil for the furtherance of His own ends. In the dark and licentious ages of Christianity, when the practice even of professing Christians tended towards the degradation of those whom Christianity had raised, the fact that the Holy Mother of God was still held up as an object of high devotion saved womanhood from losing altogether the place which Christ would have her fill. And certainly when the Jesuit missionaries, St. Ignatius, St. Francis Xavier, and others, met with such marvellous success in India, we can hardly help feeling that what must have fascinated the heathen more than their self-sacrifice, and asceticism, and earnestness, was the strange fact that these devoted men actually included in their homage a woman, the Mother of the founder of their Faith. So does God continually use misbelief and false belief to teach some truth and prepare the way for a new condition of things.
Rev. Canon A. L. Moore.
Illustration
In the beginning of the world, said Plato, each human being was double, had four hands, and four legs, and four faces, but only one head. This being could not only walk, it could go round and round on its eight limbs, using them as the spokes of a wheel. But this curious being got so strong that the great god Zeus, who made it, became afraid, and after taking counsel with the other gods, determined to cut man in halves; and ever since the two halves of the divided being, the man and the woman, have been drawn together, each seeking its second self. A strange resemblance has such a fantastic legend as this with the true origin of woman as revealed to us in Gods Word. Both recognise the original unity which marriage renews, but the heathen accounted for the original separation by Gods fear of the creature He had made, while Moses tells us how God wrought in love for the work of His hands, because it was not good for man to be alone.
That was the legend of the almost inspired Plato: now listen to another view, more absurd and far less true. Aristotle, puzzling how to explain the fact that such creatures as women could ever exist, is content at last with the explanation that Nature always does the best she can, and tries always to make perfect men, but her materials are so stubborn that often her work is marred, and, instead of men, women are formed; women who are men spoilt in the making.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
1Co 11:11-12. Lest the foregoing teaching might make a wrong impression as to the importance of the woman, Paul adds these verses to show that both man and woman are necessary in the general plans of God; the same is taught in verses 8, 9.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Co 11:11. Howbeit neither is the woman without the man, nor the man without the woman, in the Lord.[1] Each sex is dependent on the other, and made to be so. And when it is added in the Lord, the apostle would intimate that Christianity, so far from changing the original plan of Humanity, recognises, strengthens, and ennobles it in all its features.
[1] This is the genuine order of the text.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Because the apostle might seem to have been too harsh towards the woman, and lest the man should thereupon take occasion to carry himself with pride and insolence towards her, he prudently intimates the mutual help and need which both man and woman stand in of one another; for since the creation of the first man, all men are by the woman. And as men have no being but by the woman, so the woman without the man cannot exist or propagate.
For as at the first creation the woman was taken out of the man, so now in generation the man is of the woman; and by the woman; she conceives him, brings him forth, suckles him, and brings him up; and all this by the wise disposal of God, who made the woman out of the man, and by his benediction increaseth man by the woman.
From which consideration our apostle infers, that both man and woman should look upon their distinct prerogatives as given them by God, and carry it not with pride and insolence, but with respect and kindness each to other; and especially that the woman be in subjection to the man, and testify that subjection by all the signs of it, particularly by her being veiled and covered, which is the argument our apostle is here insisting upon.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
1Co 11:11-12. Nevertheless, neither is the man, since the first creation, produced without the woman, neither the woman without the man And they cannot subsist without the mutual help of each other in many cases: in the Lord By Gods appointment, and according to that order he has fixed in the creation. As if he had said, Yet let not the man be proud of his superiority, nor the woman troubled at her subjection, for there is a kind of equality in some respects, and many mutual obligations to engage them both to love and kindness. For as the woman is, or was, of the man At first taken out of him; even so is the man also by the woman Now in the ordinary course of nature: and therefore let him not despise, but honour and love her. But all things are of God The man, the woman, and their dependance on each other: or both the dominion of the one, and the subjection of the other, are by Gods appointment, and therefore they should acquiesce therein.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vv. 11, 12. If, however, the woman is not without the man, neither is the man without the woman, in the Lord; 12. for as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; and all things of God.
The subordination of the wife to her husband is tempered in Christ by the oneness of the spiritual life which they both draw from the Lord. The one is not without the other, and that evidently as believers; there is community of prayer between them, the constant exchange of spiritual aid and active co-operation. The words in the Lord refer not to God, but, as usual in the New Testament, to Christ; the mention of God only comes later, in 1Co 11:12. It does not seem to me that there is sufficient reason for finding here, with Holsten, an allusion to the softening which the gospel has introduced into the wife’s subordination, as it was laid down in Genesis; the reason alleged in 1Co 11:10 rather carries us back to the order of nature which is recognised and sanctioned by the gospel.
The order of the propositions followed by the T. R., contrary to the great majority of the Mjj., is evidently mistaken.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Nevertheless, neither is the woman without the man, nor the man without the woman, in the Lord [“In the Lord” means by divine appointment.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 11
Without the woman; independent of her. They are intended to be joined in mutual dependence and support.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
11:11 {11} Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, {d} in the Lord.
(11) A digression which the apostle uses, lest that which he spoke of the superiority of men, and the lower degree of women, in consideration of the policy of the Church, should be so taken as though there were no measure of this inequality. Therefore he teaches that men have in such sort the preeminence, that God made them not alone, but women also. And woman was so made of man, that men also are born by the means of women, and this ought to put them in mind to observe the degree of every sex in such sort, that the marriage relationship may be cherished.
(d) By the Lord.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Even though the positions of man and woman differ in God’s administrative order, this does not mean they can get along without each other. They are mutually dependent on each other, and they complement one another. They are interdependent, even as the Son and the Father are. Paul’s main point was that woman is not independent of man. This is further evidence that he was countering an illegitimate spirit of independence among some Corinthian women.
In a family, companionship should replace isolation and loneliness. There must be oneness in marriage for a husband and a wife to complete one another. Self-centered individuality destroys unity in marriage. If you are married, you need your husband or wife. Your spouse is necessary for you to be a more well-rounded person.