The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum first corinthians11: 1-16

I will have to do this quickly as I need to get ready for church and other matters, mostly on the top of my head. So bare with me if I mistate sometning. <br><br>How do I distinguish which parts to take literally and which parts are stating a principle. First, let me say that in some cases it is difficult whereas some are more easy. Maybe I should explain that stating a principle is not saying, for instance, that the verse where Paul writes that He doesn't allow for women to teach men does not give a person the privilege of 'stating a principle' that totally disagrees with a statement. However, I see in 1 Corinthians 11 where the principle for women is dressing reputably in public worship <br><br>I grabbed one of the commentaries odd my bookcase; and Hodge says this about the passage. <br><br> "Having corrected the more private abuses that prevailed among the Corinthians, Paul begins in this chapter to consider those that relate to the way they conducted public worship. The first of these is the habit of women appearing in public without a veil. Dress is in a great degree conventional. A costume that is proper in one country would be indecorous in another. The principle insisted on in this paragraph is that women should conform in matters of dress to those practices that the public sentiment of the community in which they live demands. The veil in all eastern countries was, and to a great extent still is, a symbol of modesty and subjection. For a woman to discard the veil in Corinth, therefore, was to renounce her claim of modesty and to refuse to recognize her subordination to her husband. The apostle's whole argument in this paragraph is based on the assumption of this significance in the use of the veil." <br><br>IMO, emphasizing the literal in this case could make it easier to conform to the practice without conforming to the principle taught. The Pharisees got into all sorts of bad teaching by their demanding the outward failing to see the principle in God's Word. <br><br>