Paul takes his readers back to the history of creation. He reminds them of God’s words in Genesis 1:26: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
However, instead of the word likeness,
Paul uses the word glory.
This may be a reference to Psalm 8:6, where man’s dominion over the earth is described as a crown of glory
that God has placed on him.
Both the man and the woman were made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). For that reason Paul does not say, as we half expect him to say, that the woman is the image of the man. Yet it is also true that the man and the woman do not reflect God’s image in exactly the same way. This is clear from the creation account in Genesis 2:1–25, and it is primarily on this account that Paul bases his argument.
The man is God’s image and glory in a direct way. He reflects God’s rule over creation, and he also reflects Christ’s headship over the church (Ephesians 5:23). The woman is God’s image in an indirect way. She stands under the man’s authority. We might say that she is God’s image through the man. She is the man’s glory.
This can be taken to mean that the woman’s glory belongs to the man to enjoy, just as the man’s glory belongs to God to enjoy. In this regard we can think of Adam’s joyful exuberance when he saw Eve for the first time (Genesis 2:23).
7 For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man.