Head Coverings in the Church (Part 1)
If Paul says that a woman's hair is given as her covering, how could she pray or prophesy with her head uncovered?
Passage: 1 Corinthians 11:3-9, 14-15 (Part 1)
Topic: Head Coverings
Question: If Paul says that a woman’s hair is given as her covering, how could she pray or prophesy with her head uncovered?
Read Part 2: How angels affect our worship.
3 But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.
Paul begins his response to the Corinthian church regarding, what we imply is the reason for his writing, women apparently removing their head coverings and casting off submission to her authority in the gathering. Before making specific arguments, he appeals to God’s divine and created order. God is the head of Jesus, Jesus the head of man, man the head of woman*. Head, here, is kephalē, which is a position of authority. This appeal to order displays that the issue he is addressing is regarding the submission of woman to man (On a side note, to avoid heresy, a proper understanding is needed of the incarnation/condescension of Jesus in the flesh).
4 Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head.
If a man covers his head while praying or prophesying, he dishonors Jesus. Consequently, if a woman’s hair is the covering being referred to in his argument, then a man’s covering would be long hair (v.14). However, if Paul is referring here to a material covering of some sort (hat/cloth/veil/etc.) and argues for continuing to use such an item, then it would likewise be referring to a man not physically covering his head with such an item/cloth during prayer or prophecy.
5 But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head, for it is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved.
While it cannot be unequivocally asserted, it does appear that it was a custom in first century Jewish culture to wear some sort of garment over the head. The reasons for this garment also vary greatly. Verse 5 indicates that a woman can apparently have long hair and her head still not be covered. So the issue being addressed, as indicated in verse 3, is much greater than hair and clothing. This comports with other passages, like 1 Peter 3:4, indicating that God is concerned with the heart over appearance.
6 For if a woman does not cover her head, have her also cut her hair off; however, if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, have her cover her head.
Paul states that a woman who prophesies or prays in the gathering with her head uncovered is disgraced, as though she had her head shaved. Paul is not encouraging women to shave their heads, he is asserting that throwing off her covering is not an act of liberation but of degradation. She might as well shave her head, a sign of disgrace (offense/injury to reputation).
7 For a man should not have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. 8 For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man; 9 for indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake.
Paul appeals to creation, Genesis 1:26-27, that woman was made from man and for man, as an ally in accomplishing God’s purpose for creation. In marriage, a man is the head, the authority, of the woman and household. Departure from this created purpose and order in marriage dishonors God and distorts his image, since the man is the image and glory of God.
14 Does even nature itself not teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him, 15 but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her? For her hair is given to her as a covering.
Some take verses 14-15 to indicate that a woman’s hair is given to her in place of her covering. However, Paul is using this in addition to his other lines of reasoning, from special revelation now to natural revelation, that because women are given long hair as her covering, she ought to wear a covering in the gathering. This is due to the rendering of anti “as” or “for”, rather than “instead of”. Resolving the impact of this small variation can be done simply by upholding a consistent interpretation. If a woman’s hair is a replacement for her covering, it does not explain the act of uncovering her head in verses 5-6. Male and female are distinct by nature. Long hair is a woman’s glory as it distinguishes and displays her womanhood by nature. Similarly, men ought not look or otherwise present themselves like women.
Application:
Paul appeals to creation to assert God’s purpose for submission and authority for men and women.
A man is to be in submission and subjection to Christ, as the image and glory of God.
A woman is to be in submission to man as Jesus was in submission to the Father, as the glory of man.
Any outward practice/display of a woman that signifies or otherwise portrays that she is not subject to man, or that a man is in subjection to woman, is in sin.**
*This post has been modified to use the more accurate usage of woman ‘γυνὴ’ (gynē) in the NASB.
**Sub points to application #4 have been removed to add and expand on in Part 2.
Part 2 will cover verses 10-13, as I feel it should be its own post.
Context:
Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.
2 Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I handed them down to you. 3 But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. 4 Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head. 5 But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head, for it is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved. 6 For if a woman does not cover her head, have her also cut her hair off; however, if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, have her cover her head. 7 For a man should not have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. 8 For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man; 9 for indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake. 10 Therefore the woman should have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. 11 However, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12 For as the woman originated from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman; and all things originate from God. 13 Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14 Does even nature itself not teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him, 15 but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her? For her hair is given to her as a covering. 16 But if anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor have the churches of God.
17Now in giving this next instruction I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better, but for the worse. 18For, in the first place, when you come together [m]as a church, I hear that [n]divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it. 19For there also have to be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become [o]evident among you. 20Therefore when you come together it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, 21for when you eat, each one takes his own supper first; and one goes hungry while another gets drunk. 22What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What am I to say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I do not praise you.