1 Corinthians 11 3 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. 4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. 5 But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. 6 For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. 7 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. 8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. 9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. 10 For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels. 11 Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. 12 For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God. 13 Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? 14 Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? 15 But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering. 16 But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.
I thought I had posted on this before. If so, nevertheless I cannot find it. That is one of the problems with blogs. It is too much of an “in the moment” platform on which it can be hard to go back and find old material. Or perhaps I never created it to begin with. With that explanation (in case a similar post already exists and pops up), I proceed to consider some points about the woman’s head covering discussed in 1 Corinthians 11:3-16.
Reasons for the woman’s head covering:
- 1. The headship of man, verses 3-6.
- 2. God’s order in creation, verses 8-9.
- 3. Because of the angels, verse 10 (power/ εξουσιαν).
- 4. All things are of God, verses 11-12.
- 5. A sense of propriety, verse 13.
- 6. The very nature of things, verses 14-15 (including the distinction between male and female, and the woman’s natural head covering).
- 7. The practice of all churches, verse 16.
Each of the reasons given for the head covering is taken from permanent facts. Paul writes nothing of period hairstyles or Corinthian social customs.
On 1 Corinthians 11:14. I don’t know about you, but I think most people, myself included, tend to hear “nature” and first think the world of the outdoors and the living things in it (trees, animals, etc.). However, other connotations of “nature” are meant, such as the character of things, the natural order of things, the very nature of things. Vincent’s Word Studies puts it this way – “Nature (φύσις) The recognized constitution of things. In this case the natural distinction of the woman’s long hair.” The general order of things is that normally & naturally the hair of women tends to grow longer & more luxuriant than the hair of men, that men normally & naturally are the more dominant physically, that women are normally & naturally more nurturing, and things like that. There can be exceptions to this natural order of things, but in general it is replicated over and over in the circle of life. Barnes puts it a little differently, speaking of a natural sense of propriety in mankind generally, which is expressed as common customs in cultures across time and geography. The view of Barnes may prove helpful, but if not careful it gets broken down by people just going along with the practice of their culture or society. Then, people wind up arguing that what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11 has no real application today, because he was just trying to get the church at Corinth to act acceptably within the Corinthian cultural standards. Whatever nature is, Paul puts it forth as a kind of universally & generally accepted truth or established fact on par with the five reasons he gives before it and the one he gives after it.
This word is for today. Once we know it is for today, we must wrestle with its meaning to discover how it applies in 2024.
6 comments:
i think this may need some work:
"...that women [and] normally & naturally more nurturing, and things like that."
"are" maybe?
"Whatever nature is, Paul puts it forth as a kind of universally & generally accepted truth or [establish] fact on par with the five reasons..."
"established" maybe?
Alex, thanks for your keen eye and helpful corrections. I appreciate your help.
The whole thing may need some work. I think I wrote that out hastily with little editing, and looks like lack of clarity.
I have not yet been satisfied with my own thoughts and conclusions on head coverings for women. I appreciate your bringing it up.
E. T. Chapman
Thanks, Brother Chapman. I am much the same. I am dissatisfied and uncertain regarding some matters of how this should be interpreted. On the other hand, I think modern Baptists (and probably modern evangelicals, conservatives, and fundamentalists as a whole) have approached this text too dismissively, as though it means nothing to us today.
i refrained from bringing up the subject matter in my comment yesterday, but since you all did...
it is one of those difficult areas for several reasons from my point of view (which may be the problem right there!). It is not a translational problem though, it is just one of thise spots in scripture that require more scripture and meditation and contemplation and prayer and reading more scripture and .... then repeat.
The head is discussed in terms of authority over and in terms of physical covering and then angels are thrown in for an added complexity.
But the other thing to consider when hitting these latter chapters in First Corinthians is that Paul has been answering specific questions from the Corinthians that they have sent to him starting in Chaper 7:...
1Co 7:1 "Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: ..."
And thus we have Paul addressing things that they had specific questions about...
And this was one of them.
So we require read more scripture and meditation and contemplation and prayer and reading more scripture and .... then repeat.
Alex, thanks for your comments on the subject. You are probably right about our point of view being a problem. This is probably one of those things, if you live in a society where women wear head coverings, the meaning of this text seems so obvious -- and living in a society where is rare and uncommon, that may be a hard leap to get over.
It is my opinion, and that is all it is, that in the past this did not seem as "weird" as people see it today. I was not alive in the early 1900s, but I have seen plenty of pictures from our community in that period, and it was common to see women in bonnets. By the 1950s when I came along, it had become uncommon, though some of the old women might still wear hats or bonnets to church. Of course, by then, the society had long since gone through the "bobbed hair" phase -- something opposed by preachers here. (I guess perhaps until they could fight it no longer and gave up. This would come back to haunt them when they tried to use the same text against long hair on men in the 1960s.)
In my time and experience -- for the Baptists who tried to make this something that should be practiced by Christian women -- the head covering has been interpreted as the hair itself. Regardless of how one determines to apply what Paul teaches here, I struggle to see how Paul can mean the same thing by hair and head covering (and he seems to be using the natural covering, hair, as support for the extra covering). Of course, there are good brethren who seem this differently than I.
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