The Hair Question - The Hair, The Head and The Glory

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1 Corinthians 11:1–16 KJV 1900

Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. 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. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. 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. 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. 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. For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels. Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God. Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering. But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.

Review Basic Holiness Principles

The word “holiness” carries the meaning of “separate” or “apart.” Being holy does not only mean withdrawing FROM something, it means withdrawing UNTO something.

We are not separate merely to make others look unholy! Rather, we WITHDRAW into man’s original state of communion with God as we live holy lives.

That is why in almost every place Paul refers to holiness, he does not refer only to CULTURE, but takes us all the way back to CREATION (the original state).

Paul therefore calls for compliance in matters of “PRACTICAL HOLINESS” on the basis of CREATION, because we were created to fellowship with God in holiness.

THREE TIMES IN ONLY SIXTEEN VERSES, PAUL REFERS TO THE ORDER OF CREATION!

Salvation is a process!

When we receive JUSTIFICATION at the time of our initial salvation, we are saved from the PENALTY of sin.

If we then allow God to lead us into a state of holy living, He performs in us an ongoing work of SANCTIFICATION that saves us daily from the POWER of sin.

If we allow that process to continue, we will finally receive GLORIFICATION at the time of the Rapture, and be forever saved from the very PRESENCE of sin.

However, it is vital to remember that we can “short-circuit” this lifelong process and forfeit our salvation entirely if we do not allow God to lead us into sanctification (“separation”).

The Bible teaches that we are not saved BY good works, but we are saved UNTO good works. Therefore, holiness is not a MEANS of earning salvation, but it is always a RESULT of salvation.

Most issues of holiness are not salvation issues; they are Christian maturity (sanctification) issues. That is why these teachings are sometimes mentioned infrequently in Scripture (God expects a mature believer to only need it said ONCE - much like the obedience you would expect of your mature child!). They may even need to be “dug out” by prayerful study of the context, culture, background and language of the Bible (again, something God expects of the mature believer!).

Only as we do not obey God in these areas does our willful disobedience become a salvation issue. It is extremely dangerous to know God’s commandments and not obey them!

The preeminence of internal holiness does not negate the place of external holiness!

Put the Book in Context

The church in Corinth was founded by Paul as a result of 18 months of labour there (Acts 18:1, 11).

After Paul’s departure, grave disorders broke out, and he made at least three visits to Corinth to try to straighten out the problems (2 Corinthians 12:14, 13:1). He also wrote at least four letters to the Corinthian church, but we only have record of two of them (1 Corinthians 5:9, 2 Corinthians 7:8). First & Second Corinthians are really Second & Fourth Corinthians.

First Corinthians (the second letter) was written in response to several questions from the members of the church to Paul (see 1 Corinthians 7:1).

The lowest accusation of the day was to call someone a “Corinthian,” which meant to be sexually immoral. God still wanted to build a church there, but the Corinthian Christians had allowed the sins of the city inside their church! Believers – not sinners – were hindering the work of God!

THE MAIN PROBLEM OF THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH WAS THAT ITS SELF-CENTERED MEMBERS CONSTANTLY TRIED TO EXERCISE PERSONAL FREEDOM WITHOUT REGARD FOR THE NEEDS OF OTHERS OR THE GLORY OF GOD!

Put the Chapter in Context

In First Corinthians, Paul deals with: Envy, strife and division in the church (chap. 1-3), Judgmental attitudes, especially toward those in leadership (chap. 4), Rebuke for the toleration of sin (chap. 5), Reproof for going to court against brethren, warning against moral impurity (chap. 6).

Only after dealing with these pressing issues did Paul turn (see 1 Corinthians 7:1) to the questions asked by the Corinthians. As Jesus said, some matters are weightier than others (Matthew 23:23). It would be of no benefit for the church to be externally holy in appearance and action if they were not first internally holy in the attitude of their heart!

Who is First Corinthians written to? Who is chapter 11 written to? Does it merely deal with a cultural problem at Corinth, or does it contain PRINCIPLES of holiness that apply cross-culturally?

1 Corinthians 1:2 - “in every place” applies to all churches in all cultures (Jew, Greek, Roman, etc.)

Know the Symbolism of Hair in the Bible

Some will say, “I just obey God’s direct commands – symbols don’t matter to God.” Get real! Tell that to Israel who kept feast days, made sacrifices, and built a Tabernacle. Tell it to Moses who forfeited his entrance into the Promised Land because he smote the rock one extra time and broke typology. Tell it to Joash who forfeited victory over the Syrians because he didn’t smite the ground enough times with his arrows. Tell it to Jesus who instituted the Lord’s Supper. Tell it to Peter who redirected first century evangelism to the Gentiles because of one symbolic vision. Tell it to John who received almost all of his grand vision of the last days in symbolic language. SYMBOLS DO MATTER TO GOD!

Hair had a role in the Law of Jealousies (Numbers 5). When a woman’s hair was loosed (“uncover the woman’s head”), she lost her symbol of morality. Scholars believe the sentence for those guilty of adultery was to have their heads shaved (“the woman shall be a curse among her people”).

A Jewish man marrying a Prisoner of War (Deuteronomy 21) would shave her head. Since this was a mark of shame for a woman, it completely repudiated her old life as a Gentile. Scholars agree that, once she became an Israelite, her hair would be allowed to grow again.

The Nazarite Vow (Numbers 6) had three specific restrictions: they could not eat things made with grapes, they could not touch a corpse, they could not cut their hair for a specified time. Other than three rare exceptions (Samson, Samuel, and probably John the Baptist), a Nazarite would always cut their hair after a specified time – usually 30 days according to the Mishna, although double and triple vows for 60 and 100 days were sometimes made. The Nazarite vow resembled the sanctified life of the priest, except that it was done spontaneously unto God by ordinary Israelites. This vow not only set a man apart but also shamed him, perhaps signifying the shame Jesus would endure.

Some contend that because women also took Nazarite vows (Numbers 6:2), they cut their hair as men did at the end of the vow. However, they have overlooked the fact that a woman’s vow was ALWAYS subject to her father’s or her husband’s approval. God Himself specifies this limitation in Numbers 30:1-16. Since the entire point of this limitation was submission, and the Bible explicitly teaches that a woman’s hair is a symbol of submission, many scholars and historians believe that while women let their hair be “UNKEMPT” for the specified time, they did not cut it at all.

Some contend that while Paul taught men to have short hair, he himself took a Nazarite vow, basing this opinion on Acts 18:18 - “And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.” However, the “vow” referred to in this verse is from “euche,” the same word used in James 5:15 for the “prayer” of faith. Paul did not shave his head because he was finishing a Nazarite vow, for the New Testament church did not practice that! Rather, he had just been delivered from the court of Gallio, so he needed to cut (“kiero”) his hair because he was going to prayer! Paul knew that God cared what his hair looked like!

NOTE THAT JESUS WAS NOT A NAZARITE, BUT A NAZARENE (“OF NAZARETH”). He drank the fruit of the vine, touched dead bodies (and raised them from the dead!), and had short hair! All men of Christ’s day wore their hair short. The Talmud states that the hairstyle was Julian (like Caesar) and that priests cut their hair once every 30 days (based on Ezekiel 44:20 - “Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads”).

Until very recently, images of Israelites were not found depicted in ancient artifacts unearthed by archaeologists. This is obviously because of the injunction against the making of graven images. There are plentiful ancient depictions of the Assyrians, Philistines and other heathen nations with long hair and beards, often woven together. However, an image recently discovered in Northern Israel shows Israelites being enslaved by the ancient Philistines. All of the Israelite men depicted have their hair cut very short, unlike the manner of the heathen who lived round about Israel.

God’s judgments on backsliding Israel were symbolized by the shaving of the head or cutting of the hair (Isaiah 3:24 – “instead of well set hair baldness”, Jeremiah 7:29 – “cut off thine hair”), and His blessings when they repented were symbolized by growing hair (Ezekiel 16:7 – “thine hair is grown”). Israel – God’s “wife” – is always symbolically presented as a WOMAN!

Shame or judgment on a MAN was symbolized by the extremes of baldness or shaving the head (Ezra 9:3, 2 Kings 2:23) or by his long hair (Daniel 4:33, the Nazarite vow).

There is not one verse in the entire Bible that looks favorably on a woman cutting her hair!

Recognize the Historical Significance of Hair

Due to the consistent association of hair with rebellion, it would certainly be valid and Biblical for godly leadership to make a case from history for a “church standard” concerning hair. However, because we have a direct Bible standard concerning hair, there is no need for them to do so.

It is still a good practice to investigate the “associations” involved with hair in human history. In doing so, we find that there was no issue at all for the first 5900 years of recorded history!

The widespread practice of women cutting their hair began in the United States in the “Roaring Twenties,” a decade defined by its spirit of frivolity, materialism, immorality and rebellion. The world had survived World War I, but not without paying the price of great societal upheaval. During the 1920’s, no national issue aroused U.S. citizens like that of “bobbed hair.”

Marian Spitzer, “The Erstwhile Crowning Glory” (The Saturday Evening Post, June 27, 1925): “There hasn’t been a newspaper printed for the last two years … that hasn’t carried some sort of little story … about women’s hair. It used to be a woman’s crowning glory, but now it’s just hair.”

Ann Harding, “Your Crowning Glory” (Ladies Home Journal, March 1927): “The most radical change in the costume of women in our times has been the change in hair styles. Hair really is the crowning glory of a woman … her hair still remains the most telling item of her appearance. And now short hair is considered chic. It is also the symbol of the freedom of women.”

The number of hairdressing shops quadrupled in four years. Some department stores and hospitals discharged all their female employees with bobbed hair. Many men divorced their wives. A Missouri court in 1926 awarded custody of three children to private homes with “Christian influences” because their mother bobbed her hair. Hair was the “O.J. Simpson case” of the day!

God brought judgment upon the United States for this decade of open rebellion and immorality on October 24, 1929 when the stock market crashed on “Black Tuesday.” A coincidence? Hardly!

The “Angry Decade” of the Sixties again brought rebellion against God, with rioting, drug use, the hippie culture, unisex clothing, eastern religions, atheism, rock and roll music and free sex. Is it a coincidence that long hairstyles for men entered our culture during this period of time? Hardly! This “hair revolution” was started by the Beatles in the spring of 1964. According to one estimate, barber shops across America were forced to close at the rate of one hundred a month as young men displayed their rebellion against “the establishment” through their shaggy disheveled hair.

It is worthy of note that nearly all subsequent rebellion in society has been identified with hairstyle (i.e. punk rockers, skinheads) or clothing. It is clearly ridiculous to claim there is no association!

Recognize the Spiritual Significance of Hair

If only Christians knew what witches and New Agers know! There is “power on [the] head” because of what we do with our hair! What God meant for good, the devil wants to use for evil!

The Encyclopedia of Superstition, Folklore and The Occult Sciences of the World, page 282: “Women’s hair is a most precious amulet and wards off a great many evils and diseases.”

The Power of Magic Secrets and Mysteries Ancient and Modern, page 74: “Hair has always been considered strong magic; witches casting an evil spell needed a piece of hair from their victim to make it truly efficacious.”

The Women’s Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects, page 313: “Women’s hair carried heavy symbolic and spiritual significance in Oriental Religions. Tantric sages proclaimed that the binding or unbinding of women’s hair could control cosmic powers of creation and destruction.”

The Donning International Encyclopedic Psychic Dictionary, page 269: “Hair has psychical powers that act as a protection from evil entities of the etheric world; cutting of the hair was done in a ritual to discontinue this protection; it is symbolic of strength. It contributes to one’s personality, and is a mark of identification; to shave one’s head is to remove one’s self-image so one can begin a new self-image.”

Encyclopedia on Witches and Witchcraft, page 149: “A witch’s magical power is bound in her hair; by shaking her hair in the wind, the power of a spell is doubled.”

Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, page 572: “Hair has had an occult significance since ancient times. It has been regarded as a source of strength. The association of hair with sexual features of the body has given it remarkable force, and distinctions between male and female hair have emphasized sexual attraction. The unisex fashions of the permissive society and rock groups have tended to create sexual confusion and neurotic behavior.”

Think of the “classic image” of a witch … it is a woman with long, scraggly uncut hair. WHY? Because the evil side of the supernatural realm knows there is power associated with hair!

1 Corinthians

11:1-16

1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

2 Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.

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.

While it is certainly important and enlightening to examine these areas, it goes without saying that such facts mean nothing unless the Bible actually teaches this principle! Note that the 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 passage is longer than either of the “lists” of the Nine Gifts and Nine Fruit of the Spirit and (like them) its contents agree with the entire tenor of Scripture on the subject. If they are important doctrines, this must be important also! To understand “The Hair Question,” we MUST understand this crucial passage.

Find Out What The Bible Says – Put Each Verse in Context

v. 1 – Here and in several other places in the New Testament, Paul teaches that each of us is to be an example for others to follow. It is the perfect transition verse between chapter 10, which teaches us not to damage our witness among fellow CHRISTIANS by our actions (eating meat sacrificed to idols), and chapter 11, which teaches us not to damage our witness in our CULTURE by our actions (women not wearing a veil). The examples given in both cases are specific to Corinth, but the principles taught are undeniably cross-cultural and for all time.

v. 2 – Paul was appreciative of the kindness of the Corinthians to him, but that would not have sufficed had they not kept his teachings! The word “ordinances” here is “paradosis” or “traditions.” In several places in the New Testament, Paul teaches things which are not direct commandments from God, but which he expects to be followed because they have grown out of his experience as an apostle or elder in the church. (1 Corinthians 7:6 – “But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment” / 2 Thessalonians 3:6 – “withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us” / 1 Corinthians 7:12 – “But to the rest speak I, not the Lord”) We never go wrong by submitting to the teaching of godly elders!

v. 3 – The Apostle Paul, when dealing with matters of minor importance (here, the wearing of veils) in his epistles, will usually first enunciate the grand eternal principle on which his conviction rests. Here, before giving an admonition to the Corinthian women about their APPEARANCE, he shows them how they should be under AUTHORITY (“kephale” – “head”). A submissive heart on the inside will always demonstrate a submissive demeanor on the outside!

v. 3 – Is this idea of being under authority culturally determined (like “greet one another with a holy kiss” – Romans 16:16) or is it an absolute principle for all time? The answer is found in the last phrase, “and the head of Christ [humanity] is God [divinity].” The nature of God is in no way culturally conditioned! It is the absolute reality for all time! Our submission is based on that truth. In God’s economy a subordinate role does not imply inferiority, just as Jesus was equal to the Father in His divinity, but submissive to the Father’s will in His humanity.

BACKGROUND:

The problem in the Corinthian church was not with Christian women cutting their hair – every reputable Bible scholar emphatically states that moral women in all cultures of Paul’s day did not! The problem was that Christian women, enamoured with their newfound freedom in Christ, were no longer wearing veils as their culture demanded. This unintentionally identified them with the heathen priestesses in the local temples to Apollo and Aphrodite who offered their worship bareheaded with disheveled hair, and thus by association with the hundreds of temple prostitutes who even cut off their hair to offer it in sensuous religious rites. That is why Paul tells them in the same epistle, “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.” (1 Corinthians 10:23)

v. 4 – Literally, a man is not to worship “wearing something down over his head” (i.e. a veil). This would not be relevant to Paul’s discussion of veils for women, except that he wants to show them the more important principle of headship. A man does not wear a covering which can be seen because his head (Christ) is also invisible.