1 Corinthians 11:12

For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) For as the woman is of the man.—An appeal to the original act of creation proves the truth of the previous statement of the interdependence of the sexes. If already (1Corinthians 11:7) the fact of woman’s having been taken out of man was used as an argument to prove her subordination, there is now coupled with that fact of the origin of woman that other fact of the perpetual birth of man from woman, to show that there is a mutual relation. The first woman was made out of man; therefore woman is dependent on man. Every man has been born of a woman; therefore man is not independent of woman. In the Greek the word rendered “of” represents a finite act—the word rendered “by” a continued process.

But all things of God.—Thus, as usual, St. Paul completes the thought by tracing all up to God. The mediate processes of their origin may differ, but the source of their being is common—they, and all beings, and all things, and the sequence of all things come of God. (See 1Corinthians 8:6; Romans 11:36; 2Corinthians 5:18.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:2-16 Here begin particulars respecting the public assemblies, ch. 1Co 14. In the abundance of spiritual gifts bestowed on the Corinthians, some abuses had crept in; but as Christ did the will, and sought the honour of God, so the Christian should avow his subjection to Christ, doing his will and seeking his glory. We should, even in our dress and habit, avoid every thing that may dishonour Christ. The woman was made subject to man, because made for his help and comfort. And she should do nothing, in Christian assemblies, which looked like a claim of being equal. She ought to have power, that is, a veil, on her head, because of the angels. Their presence should keep Christians from all that is wrong while in the worship of God. Nevertheless, the man and the woman were made for one another. They were to be mutual comforts and blessings, not one a slave, and the other a tyrant. God has so settled matters, both in the kingdom of providence and that of grace, that the authority and subjection of each party should be for mutual help and benefit. It was the common usage of the churches, for women to appear in public assemblies, and join in public worship, veiled; and it was right that they should do so. The Christian religion sanctions national customs wherever these are not against the great principles of truth and holiness; affected singularities receive no countenance from any thing in the Bible.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

As the woman is of the man - In the original creation, she was formed from the man.

So is the man also by the woman - Is born of the woman, or descended from her. The sexes are dependent on each other, and should therefore cultivate an indissoluble union.

But all things of God - All things were created and arranged by him. This expression seems designed to suppress any spirit of complaint or dissatisfaction with this arrangement; to make the woman contented in her subordinate station, and to make the man humble by the consideration that it is all owing to the appointment of God. The woman should therefore be contented, and the man should not assume any improper superiority, since the whole arrangement and appointment is of God.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. As the woman was formed out of (from) the man, even so is man born by means of woman; but all things (including both man and woman) are from God as their source (Ro 11:36; 2Co 5:18). They depend mutually each on the other, and both on him.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The man hath a priority to the woman, being first created, and a superiority over her upon that account, she being made for him, not he for her, this is indeed the man’s advantage; but on the other side, since the creation of the first man, all men are by the woman, who conceives them in her womb, suckles them at her breasts, is concerned in their education while children, and dandled upon her knees; the man therefore hath no reason to despise and too much to trample upon the woman: and all these things are of God, by the wise ordering and disposing of God; so as neither hath the man, by reason of his prerogative, in being first created, and the end for which the woman was created, any cause to insult and triumph over the woman; neither hath the woman any cause, by reason of her prerogative, that the man is by her, any cause to triumph over the man; but both of them ought to look upon themselves as having their prerogatives from God, and in the use of them to behave themselves according to the will of God, behaving themselves in their respective stations as it is the will of God they should behave themselves, the woman being subject to the man, and testifying such subjection by all the signs of it, and the man carrying himself towards the woman as he who is the image and glory of God.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For as the woman is of the man,.... Originally; so Eve was of Adam, made out of one of his ribs:

even so is the man also by the woman; now man is born of a woman, he is conceived of one, and brought into the world by one. This is the way in which mankind is propagated, the species preserved, continued, and increased; and therefore there is no reason why the woman should be despised, or the man should be lifted up with himself above her, since they are so dependent upon, and so useful to each other:

but all things of God. The Arabic version reads it, "all creatures are of God"; which is true, but not the truth of these words, which are to be restrained to the subject of the discourse; as that both the man and the woman are of God; they are made by him, and after his image and likeness; that the man is the glory of God, and the woman the glory of the man; the authority of the man over the woman, and the subjection of the woman to the man, are of God, and according to his constitution and appointment; as also that the woman should be of the man, and for his sake, and that the man should be by the woman, and neither should be without the other: these are not things of human constitution, but are settled by the wise counsel of God, and therefore to be cheerfully submitted to, as the best order of things.

Geneva Study Bible

For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

1 Corinthians 11:12. For, were this not the case, the Christian system would be clearly at variance with the divine arrangement in nature. This against Rückert, who accuses 1 Corinthians 11:12 of lending no probative support to 1 Corinthians 11:11.

ἡ γυνὴ ἐκ τοῦ ἀνδρ.] sc[1791] ἐστι, namely, in respect of origination at first. Comp 1 Corinthians 11:8.

Ὁ ἈΝῊΡ ΔΙᾺ Τῆς ΓΥΝ.] in respect of origination now. Ἐκ denotes the direct origination in the way known to all his readers from the history of woman’s creation in Genesis 2:21 f.; ΔΙΆ again the mediate origin by birth, all men being ΓΕΝΝΗΤΟῚ ΓΥΝΑΙΚῶΝ, Matthew 11:11; Galatians 4:4. Paul might have repeated the ἘΚ in the second clause also (Matthew 1:16; Galatians 4:4), but he wished to mark the difference between the first and the continued creation. And in order to bring out the sacred character of the moral obligation involved in this genetic relation of mutual dependence, he adds: ΤᾺ ΔῈ ΠΆΝΤΑ ἘΚ Τ. ΘΕΟῦ: now all this, that we have been treating of (“vir, mulier et alterius utrius mutua ab altero dependentia,” Bengel), is from God, proceeding from and ordered by Him. As regards this ἐκ, comp 2 Corinthians 5:18; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Romans 11:36.

[1791] c. scilicet.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. For as the woman is of the man] i.e. by creation (Genesis 2:22),

even so is the man also by the woman] By birth.

but all things of God] We are not to dwell too much on the intermediate links in the chain of causation, but to remember that all human beings exist by God’s ordinance, and that therefore each has his own rights as well as duties, which cannot be neglected without injury to the Divine order of this world.

Bengel's Gnomen

1 Corinthians 11:12. Ἡ γυνὴ ἐκ τοῦ) Only here, and at 1 Corinthians 11:10, the articles are added. In 1 Corinthians 11:10, the force of the relative is at 1 Corinthians 11:9, and in 1 Corinthians 11:12 at 1 Corinthians 11:11.—ἐκ—διὰ, from [of]—by) The particles differ; presently afterwards ἐκ is also said of God.—πάντα, all things) the man, the woman, and the mutual dependence of either upon the other.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - By the woman; that is, "born of a woman" (Job 14:1). But all things of God. And all things also "through him and to him," made by him, and tending to him as their end (Romans 11:56). 1 Corinthians 11:12