If man and woman are joined together in the Lord, are they equal, or is the man still the head?
When a man and woman are joined together in the Lord, their union places them almost on an equal basis, yet the man is still the head of that union. This near equality does not remove the man's headship within the union.
Les explains that the man and woman have come together in a union that puts them almost on an equal basis, but the man is still the head of the union. He also notes that the man came from God in creation. Paul is tempering these instructions to the Corinthians, not wanting them to feel browbeaten or to return their feelings in rebellion, yet corrections still have to be made. The word Paul will use in chapter 14 is that everything done in the local church must be done in order, not in a mass of confusion, because God is a God of order.