For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
Argument from man's more immediate relation to God, and the woman's to man.
Man ... image and glory of God - being created in God's "image" first, and directly; the woman subsequently, and indirectly, through man's mediation. Man is representative of God's "glory" (this ideal being realized fully in the Son of man, Psalms 8:4-5: cf. 2 Corinthians 8:23). Man is both the "image" ( tselem (H6754)), and made in the "likeness" х homoioosis (G3669), demuth], of God (cf. James 3:9). "Image" х eikoon (G1504)] alone is applied to the Son of God (Colossians 1:15: cf. Hebrews 1:3, "express image" х charakteer (G5481)], the impress). The Divine Son is not merely 'like' God, He IS God of God, 'of one substance (essence) with the Father' (Nicene Creed).
Woman is the glory of the man - not also 'the image of the man.' The woman is created in the image of God as well as the man (Genesis 1:26-27). But as the moon in relation to the sun (Genesis 37:9), so woman shines not so much with light direct from God as with light derived from Man 1:-1 :e., in her order in creation-though in grace she comes into direct communion with God. Even here much of her knowledge is immediately given her through man, on whom she is dependent. Ministry to man, whom she elevates in his more responsible position, is her "glory." She is more passive: he active.
Verse 8. Is ... of - takes her being from ('out of'). Woman was originally "taken out of man" (cf. Genesis 2:23). The woman was made by God mediately through man, who was, as it were, a veil between her and God, and therefore should wear the head-covering in public, in acknowledgment of this subordination. The man, being made mediately by God as His glory, has no veil between himself and God.
Verse 9. Neither - rather, 'For also.' Another argument: the immediate object of woman's creation. 'The man was not created for the sake of х dia (G1223), with accusative] the woman, but the woman for the sake of the man' (Genesis 2:18; Genesis 2:21-22), as his "help meet." Just as the Church is made for Christ: yet in both the natural and the spiritual creations the bride, while made for the bridegroom, in fulfilling that end attains her own true "glory," and brings "shame" and 'dishonour' on herself by departure from it (1 Corinthians 11:4; 1 Corinthians 11:6).