What Does 1 Corinthians 11:3 Mean in the King James?

But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

1 Corinthians 11:3 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

One Greek word for “head” binds the man–woman relation into the same three-part chain as Christ’s relation to God.

THE MEANING

This verse sets out an order: Christ is head of every man, man is head of woman, and God is head of Christ. It presents the relation between man and woman as asymmetrical and places it alongside the relation between Christ and God. The same word names all three links, though the verse does not explain whether each relation works in precisely the same way.

THE ROOT

κεφαλή

kephalē

GROWS FROM

κεφαλ-

kephal-

Head; by extension, a chief or foremost point.

The same head-word names all three relations, while its word-family also names the chief point and the act of summing things together. That makes the clauses a connected order, though the word itself does not specify whether each relation means authority, source, or both.

ALSO GROWS

kephalaion: Chief point, sum

κεφάλαιον

This related word names the main point in Hebrews 8:1, showing how the head-family can mark what is foremost in a structure.

anakephalaioō: Sum up, bring together as a whole

ἀνακεφαλαιόω

Used for gathering things together in Ephesians 1:10 and summing them up in Romans 13:9, this branch echoes how one repeated word joins the verse’s three relations.

χριστός

christos

GROWS FROM

χρι

chri

To anoint.

“Christ” in this verse is christos. The Greek word means “the anointed one,” not merely a personal name. The first link identifies the head of man by this title, carrying the sense of one set apart for a purpose.

ALSO GROWS

chriō: To anoint

χρίω

The verb gives the title its action: Christ is the one anointed.

chrisma: Anointing

χρῖσμα

This related noun makes the anointing itself visible behind the title used in the verse.

THE PATTERN

Scripture uses “head” to name the leading point that orders a relationship or a whole.

The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.

Psalm 118:22 · KJVThe rejected stone becomes the head of the corner, taking the foremost structural place.

For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

Ephesians 5:23 · KJVThe same head-word orders the husband–wife relation and the Christ–church relation.

And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

Colossians 1:18 · KJVChrist as head of the body is linked with his preeminence, showing headship as a leading place within a whole.

THE THREAD

For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

Ephesians 5:23 · KJV

Ephesians repeats ⁨κεφαλή⁩ (kephalē, “head”) for both the husband–wife relation and the Christ–church relation. It makes the paired analogy explicit and adds that Christ delivers the body.

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