Commentary on the Epistles to the Corinthians John Calvin
John Calvin superiority over the woman. In this superior order of dignity the glory of God is seen, as it shines forth in every kind of superiority.
The woman is the glory of the man There is no doubt that the woman is a distinguished ornament of the man; for it is a great honor that God has appointed her to the man as the partner of his life, and a helper to him, 626 and has made her subject to him as the body is to the head. For what Solomon affirms as to a careful wife — that she is a crown to her husband, (Proverbs 12:4,) is true of the whole sex, if we look to the appointment of
God, which Paul here commends, showing that the woman was created for this purpose — that she might be a distinguished ornament of the man.
8. For the man is not from the woman. He establishes by two arguments the pre-eminence, which he had assigned to men above women. The first is, that as the woman derives her origin from the man, she is therefore inferior in rank. The second is, that as the woman was created for the sake of the man, she is therefore subject to him, as the work ultimately produced is to its cause. 627 That the man is the beginning of the woman and the end for which she was made, is evident from the law. (Genesis 2:18.)
It is not good for a man to be alone. Let us make for him, etc. Farther, God took one of Adam's ribs and formed Eve. (Genesis 2:21, 22.)
10. For this cause ought the woman to have power 628 From that authority he draws an argument 629 in favor of outward decorum. "She is subject," says he, "let her then wear a token of subjection." In the term power, there is an instance of metonymy, 630 for he means a token by which she declares herself to be under the power of her husband; and it is a covering, whether it be a robe, or a veil, 631 or any other kind of covering. 632
It is asked, whether he speaks of married women exclusively, for there are some that restrict to them what Paul here teaches, on the ground that it does
626"Pour estre compagne a l'homme, pour viure auec luy, et pour luy aider;" — "To be a companion to the man, to live with him, and to aid him."
627"Ainsi que l'oeuure tendant a quelque fin est au dessous de sa cause et fin pour laquelle on le fait;" — "As a work fitted for some design is inferior to its cause and the design for which it is made."
628"Doit auoir sur la teste vne enseigne qu'elle est sous puissance;" — "She ought to have upon her head a token that she is under authority."
629"Vn argument et consequence;" — "An argument and inference." 630"I1 y a de mot a mot au Grec, La femme doit auoir puissance sur la teste. Mais au mot de puissance il y a une figure appellee metonymie;" — "It is literally in the Greek, The woman ought to have power upon her head. But in the word power there is a figure called metonymy."
631"C'est la couuerture de teste, soit un chapperon, ou couurechef, ou coiffe, ou chose semblable;" — "It is a covering of the head, whether it be a hood, or a kerchief, or a coif, or anything of that kind."
632The term {ἐξουσία} (exousia) is considered by Bloomfield to be the name of an article of dress of which mention is made in Ruth 3:15, and Isaiah 3:23, and consisted of ``a piece of cloth of a square form thrown over the head and tied under the chin.'' Granville Penn, on the other hand, considers it as nothing more than the ({τι}) {κατα} {κεφαλης} in the third verse of the chapter --- something on the head, or a covering on the head, and notices it as remarkable, that in Wiclif's version (1380) the rendering is --- ``the woman schal have an hilying on hir heed,'' which the glossary explains by covering. --- Ed