1 Corinthians 11:3
1 Corinthians 11:33But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
The Watchtower cites 11:3 as clean proof of Christ's permanent subordination: "the head of Christ is God." If God is the head of Christ, Christ is a subordinate under God — therefore not God. This is deployed especially against Trinitarian claims of equality, pairing with ("the Father is greater than I") and (the Son will be subjected to the Father). The verse becomes a standard Watchtower proof-text for ontological hierarchy between Father and Son.
The Watchtower conflates role-order with nature-hierarchy. Paul's analogy is telling: "the head of the woman is the man." Husbands and wives are equal in nature — both bear the image of God — and distinct in role. The same pattern governs Paul's description of the Father and Son: equal in nature, distinct in role during the incarnation and its economy of salvation. is the controlling text: Christ "was in the form of God" and "equal with God" before emptying himself into the servant role. The headship relation in 11:3 is within that economy, not against it. At the door: "If 'head of the woman is the man' meant the wife is not human, the verse proves too much. The Watchtower's reading turns equality-of-nature with distinction-of-role into hierarchy- of-being — the same category error in both directions."