1 Corinthians 11:3
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
A. Women’s Headdresses[a]
Man and Woman. 3 But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and a husband the head of his wife,[b] and God the head of Christ.(A)
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 11:3–16 Women have been participating in worship at Corinth without the head-covering normal in Greek society of the period. Paul’s stated goal is to bring them back into conformity with contemporary practice and propriety. In his desire to convince, he reaches for arguments from a variety of sources, though he has space to develop them only sketchily and is perhaps aware that they differ greatly in persuasiveness.
- 11:3 A husband the head of his wife: the specific problem suggests to Paul the model of the head as a device for clarifying relations within a hierarchical structure. The model is similar to that developed later in greater detail and nuance in Eph 5:21–33. It is a hybrid model, for it grafts onto a strictly theological scale of existence (cf. 1 Cor 3:21–23) the hierarchy of sociosexual relations prevalent in the ancient world: men, dominant, reflect the active function of Christ in relation to his church; women, submissive, reflect the passive role of the church with respect to its savior. This gives us the functional scale: God, Christ, man, woman.
1 Corinthians 12:12
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
12 As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ.(A)
Read full chapter
1 Corinthians 12:27
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
27 Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.(A)
Read full chapter
1 Corinthians 15:20
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
20 (A)But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits[a] of those who have fallen asleep.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 15:20 The firstfruits: the portion of the harvest offered in thanksgiving to God implies the consecration of the entire harvest to come. Christ’s resurrection is not an end in itself; its finality lies in the whole harvest, ourselves.
Ephesians 1:22-23
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
22 And he put all things beneath his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,(A) 23 which is his body,[a] the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.(B)
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1:23 His body: the church (Eph 1:22); cf. note on Col 1:18. Only in Ephesians and Colossians is Christ the head of the body, in contrast to the view in 1 Cor 12 and Rom 12:4–8 where Christ is equated with the entire body or community. Fullness: see note on Col 1:19. Some take the one who fills as God, others as Christ (cf. Eph 4:10). If in Christ “dwells the fullness of the deity bodily” (Col 2:9), then, as God “fills” Christ, Christ in turn fills the church and the believer (Eph 3:19; 5:18). But the difficult phrases here may also allow the church to be viewed as the “complement” of Christ who is “being filled” as God’s plan for the universe is carried out through the church (cf. Eph 3:9–10).
Revelation 1:5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us[a] from our sins by his blood,(A)
Read full chapterScripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.