Meaning of HEAD

In addition to the widespread use of this term as "chief", referring to heads of families and heads of tribes, it was used symbolically of government and power as when God declared that the Seed of the woman would bruise the "head" of the serpent ( Gen. 3:15).

In the NT the term "kephalë" is used to denote the relative position of man in Nature, and of Christ and God: the head of the woman is the man; the head of every man is Christ; and the head of Christ is God (1 Cor. 11:3).

In another relationship, Christ is the head of the church (Eph. 5:23; Col. 1:18); and He is the head of the church above all things (Eph. 1:22; Col. 2:10).

As head of the church, Christ totally displaces any other controlling or directing authority. Just as a man's head leads and controls his body, so Christ has full control and authority over his church.

In connection with authority, the instructions that order women to cover their heads when praying "are due neither to Jewish customs, which required men to cover their heads (as is the case today), nor to the Greek customs, by which both men and women were uncovered.

The apostle's instructions were "commandments of the Lord" (1 Cor. 14:37), and were for all the churches (1 Cor. 14:33, 34)" (W. E. Vine, "Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words," Ed. Clíe, Vol. I, p. 352). (See PRAYER).

It is simply wrong to claim that in ancient Greece only prostitutes went out with their heads uncovered. Paul's order is in stark contrast to the fact that women in the Greco-Roman world offered their sacrifices bareheaded.

It was not to remain in harmony with the then current customs that Paul gave these commandments, but in open opposition to the customs of the pagan environment in which then, as now, the Church of God moved and moves.

In Revelation 12:3 the "head" symbolizes a form of power or a kingdom; In 17:3, 9, the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, representing Rome, which is commonly referred to as "the city of seven hills," the persecuting city of the testimony of Christ, and of the gospel. of the grace of God.