Head Coverings (Part 5): Conclusion
Notes
Transcript
Point #1: The question of head coverings in Corinth cannot be handled simplistically.
The apostle Peter says that there are some things in Paul’s letters that are difficult to understand (2 Pet. 3:16).
So our first task is to come to grips with the fact that his teaching on head coverings is among them.
Some difficult passages are simply difficult.
No one quite knows what a parbar is (1 Chron. 26: 18).
But there are other passages that present difficulties because they seem so clear in themselves when taken on face value.
Which leads many to handle them with a “here’s your verse, what’s your problem?” sort of way.
This approach is why some Christians think the Bible forbids all oath-taking whatever (Matt. 5:34-37),
even though the Bible repeatedly affirms the appropriateness of taking oaths (Deut. 6:13; 10:20; Is, 65:16; Heb. 6:13, 16).
Some Christians even go as far as thinking that the sixth commandment (“thou shalt not kill) forbids the taking of any human life whatever (Ex. 20:13)
when the very next chapter requires capital punishment (Ex. 21:12).
But if we want to be “all-the-Bible” Christians—then we need to look at all of Scripture.
And this is very much necessary when it comes to the subject of head coverings for men and women.
Point #2: There are numerous places in the Old Testament where men prayed or prophesied with their heads covered.
Paul says that if a man prays or prophesies with his head covered, he dishonors his head, who is Christ (1 Cor. 11:4,7).
All of should want to figure this out and obey it.
But do we have any examples in Scripture of men praying or prophesying with their heads covered?
Well, yes we do.
While the high priest was in the course of his ministry, he was not to uncover his head (Lev. 21:10; see also Lev. 8:9, 13; 10:6).
Ezekiel was told to bind a turban on his head (Eze. 24: 17), and then to prophesy to the people (Eze. 24:20).
Moses spoke the Word of God to the people with a veil over his face (Ex. 34:32-33).
When Elijah went out to hear the Lord speak to him, he wrapped his face in a mantle first (1 Kings 19:13).
When David was fleeing from his son Absalom, he covered his head (2 Sam. 15:30), and he prayed as he went (2 Sam. 15:31).
In a time of drought, the men of Israel covered their heads in humiliation (Jer. 14:3-4), and they prayed to the Lord (Jer. 14:7).
All of this is stated to indicate that the issue might not be as simple as has “here’s your verse, wear the your hats ladies.”
Point #3: This is not a single issue, but is rather part of a complex web of issues.
Third, the question of head coverings during worship is distinct from,
but cannot be entirely separated from other issues
such as hair length for men and women both,
feminine clothing,
sexual guidelines,
etc.
They are all connected issues.
Point #4: The explicit requirement that women be covered specifically applies to them while praying in a public meeting, or while prophesying there.
Paul says that if a woman prays or prophesies while uncovered, she dishonors her head (1 Cor. 11:5), that is, her husband.
As we said earlier, we want to figure this out in order to obey.
The first thing to notice is that Paul’s words are not applied to “women while in church,”
but rather to women who are going to pray or prophesy.
And this refers to them praying or prophesying in the course of the church’s gathering for worship.
Point #5: In Hebrew culture, there was no cultural expectation that women be covered generally.
There is no indication in Scripture that women were required to be veiled throughout the course of ordinary life.
The burka was brought in by Islam,
and is not found in the Old or New Testaments.
Rebekah does veil herself when she sees her future husband coming (Gen. 24:65),
but that appears to have been a “first look” kind of thing, as is sometimes even done at weddings today.
She had been unveiled for all the rest of that trip and earlier, when she had talked with Abraham’s servant (Gen. 24: 47).
The veils mentioned elsewhere in Scripture do not refer to the kind of clothing that would cover the face (Ruth. 3:15; Song 5:7; Is. 3:23).
Sarah did not wear a veil because when they came to Egypt, all the Egyptians could see how beautiful she was (Gen. 12: 14).
Rachel was not wearing a veil when Jacob first met her and kissed her (Gen. 29: 10-11).
When Tamar tricked her father-in-law into having sexual relations with her (Gen. 38: 14-15), she did it by covering her face.
This would indicate that women generally did not do this, and that covering the face meant the opposite of sexual decorum.
And when Paul admonishes women about ornate hair styles (1 Tim. 2:9), and when Peter does (1 Pet. 3:3), such exhortations would be entirely beside the point—neither here nor there—if the woman’s hair style, whatever it was, was completely covered up with a veil.
Point #6: At Corinth, the men were covering themselves and the women were not. This leads us to wonder why.
Sixth, the men in Corinth were n covering themselves in worship, and Paul tells them not to,
and the women were uncovering themselves, because Paul makes a point of saying that if they pray during the meeting, or if they bring a prophecy, they must do so covered.
So what might those reasons be?
Well first off, in the pagan Roman religion, it was common that men would cover their heads when they prayed, prophesied, and offered sacrifices.
and it seems, that when some of these Romans became Christians, they continued that practice.
And, we know from historians that Caesar Augustus covered his head, as seen on the coin,
because he believed he was the great the high priest of the people.
And understanding this, Paul’s point is, - Don’t do that.
Keep your pagan Roman religious practices out of your new Christian faith.
In Fact, the Greek historian Plutarch commented on this wondering why they were doing it when the Greeks didn’t,
since he saw this as a feminine practice that showed submission, not authority.
Interesting isn’t it?
Point #8: Despite the fact that worship services were conducted in private homes, the apostle urges that the public decencies be kept and maintained, especially if a woman were to pray or prophesy in the meeting.
So Roman married women would wear a covering, especially when out in public, to show that they were married
It was like wearing a wedding ring today.
But why then would any of them be uncovered in the course of a Christian worship service?
Remember that the early Christians worshiped in homes (Rom. 16: 5; 1 Cor. 16: 19; Col. 4: 15; Philemon 2).
It would have been very easy for the women to assume that they were “indoors now, in a private setting,”
while the men were thinking that a worship service should be treated as more of a public event.
So in a general way Paul urges that public decorum be maintained,
and he particularly requires a head covering if a woman prays or prophesies in the course of the church’s meeting.
Point #9: The worship of the Lord, for men and women both, when they are functioning as the congregation, must be conducted with unveiled faces. This would not preclude the typical headdress that signaled that a woman was married, for that did not cover the face.
All Christians in a worship service have gathered to worship God with unveiled faces.
18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
This includes men and women both (“we all“),
and the word for unveiled here (anakalypto) is the same root that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 11 when talking about being covered and uncovered.
At this point, everyone is uncovered.
Point #10: The requirement here might be affected by cultural expectations, but the principle itself is creational and permanent. Which means we should still be observing Paul’s central point today.
The apostle excludes the possibility that this was “just a cultural thing,” like having a slave take off your guests’ sandals to wash their feet.
He tells us explicitly that nature itself teaches us the central lesson that we are to observe here.
He also tells us that nature provides the remedy.
A woman’s hair is given to her for a covering (v. 15).
But he does not say that “the Greco/Roman cultural practices teaches us” but rather he says that “nature teaches” us this lesson (v. 14).
There obviously would have been certain details that would have been communicated via cultural practices,
but the central issue of sexual appropriateness, as shown by hair and headdress.
This is because in Paul’s use of nature, he does not exclude human nature and/or customs.
The point is that many of our customs are a grounded in nature, in other words.
Point #11: There is no inherent sin in the use of head coverings, but like everything else, sin can get into it.
For women to wear a head covering is not sinful.
So if women wear a head covering that signals a respectable modesty, there is nothing wrong with it.
The things to be avoided would be a legalistic binding of the consciences of others, on the one hand,
and a dishonoring or rebellious display on the other.
Another sin to avoid—since the covering is meant to signal a demure and submissive spirit—would be if the demand for coverings is being driven by women,
or if there is an imbalanced relationship between the size of the head covering and the amount of actual submission that goes on in the home.
Basically, it would be quite hypocritical for a women to wear a head covering in worship, which is meant to be a sign of submission to her husband,
And then being a rebellious Jezabel at home.
Point #12: The doctrine that long hair is effeminate and contrary to nature should not be taken as a wooden absolute.
Paul’s teaching that long hair is a disgrace for a man also needs to be placed in a larger biblical context.
The first thing to reckon with is the fact of the Nazirite vow.
Samuel never had his hair cut (1 Sam. 1:11).
Samson was a Nazirite also, and he only had one time when his hair was cut—and that was his downfall (Judg. 16:13-20).
His strength was in his hair, which means that long hair need not be essentially effeminate.
The Nazirite vow was a lifetime vow, but it was also a custom for men to take Nazirite vows for a specified period of time.
This is what Paul did one time as recorded in the book of Acts.
We are told that Paul spent a year and a half in Corinth (Acts 18: 11),
and then a few verses later we are told that he spent “a good while” there (Acts 18:18).
So when he departed, he came to Cenchrea—which was the eastern seaport for Corinth, right next door—and had his hair cut there, for he had taken a vow (Acts 18:18).
This was the conclusion of his vow, which means that he was growing his hair long while he was at Corinth.
Point #13: According to Scripture, there are legitimate instances for a woman to have short or shorn hair.
Here, we need to make a similar point with regard to women having shaved heads.
Paul here is referring to a woman’s shaved head as a sign of public shame.
but there were other situations where this would not be the case.
For example, in ancient Israel, shaving your head was a sign of extreme mourning.
When disaster befell Job, that is what he did (Job 1:20; 2:11,13).
This was done by men and women both.
24 Instead of perfume there will be rottenness; and instead of a belt, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty.
Israel, being compared to a woman, is told this:
“Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath” (Jer. 7:29).
And this was not an obscure custom (Eze. 27:31; Micah 1:16; Amos 8:10; Is. 15:2; 22:12; Jer. 16:6; 48:37; Ezra 9:3).
If an Israelite soldier decided to take a wife from among captives of war, it was required of him that he have her shave her head, and mourn for her parents for a month first (Deut. 21:10-14).
A modern example of this would be when a woman has her head shaved because of chemotherapy.
A wig or head covering is welcome in such circumstances, but there is no need to feel bad about the need for it.
Point #14: Paul’s reference to the disgrace of shorn women is most likely a reference to cult prostitutes there in Corinth.
Paul’s reference to the disgrace of women is likely a reference to cult prostitutes there in Corinth.
Although there is some dispute about the actual conditions in Corinth, this is the best way to make sense of Paul’s argument in vv. 5-6.
First let’s address the argument, and then the background for it.
If a woman prays or prophesies uncovered, Paul argues, that is such a disgrace that she might as well go all the way and shave all her hair off—her hair is not doing her any good as it is apparently.
So this would imply that at least some prostitutes at Corinth were distinguished by (or known for) their shaved heads.
So if a woman is going to be rebellious in the church service, she might as well go all the way and shave her head.
Now the city of Corinth was notorious in the ancient world for its sexual sin - it was basically Los Vegas.
Aphrodite, the goddess of sexual love, was the patron deity of the city,
and there were five temples to her in the city or surrounding area.
The temple at Acrocorinth was the most famous.
We need to know here that the Greek city of Corinth was destroyed in 146 B.C.
and then was rebuilt a century later as a Roman city in 44 B.C.
the temple at Acrocorinth included.
The writer Strabo, speaking of the first temple, said that it was staffed by over a thousand prostitute slaves who brought in significant revenue for the temple.
And there is little reason to believe that conditions were significantly different in the time of the rebuilt temple.
and we can see this in the fact that the new members class for the Corinthian church needed to be specifically taught not to visit temple prostitutes. (1 Cor, 6:15-20).
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Point #15: The woman’s hair, given to her for a covering, did not mean her hair was to be wild and free. It was to be long and it was to be “done.”
The fact that Paul says that a woman’s hair is given to her for “a covering” (v. 15). does not mean that her hair was to be loose or hanging down, to be used as an actual covering.
This is because loose hair, hair that was not “done,” was in biblical times a sign of a number of things—none of them good.
Loose hair, hair undone, was a sign of mourning, or of leprosy, or of a Nazirite vow, or of suspicion for adultery.
18 And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord and unbind the hair of the woman’s head and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And in his hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse.
In addition, as the Greeks of Corinth would know, the Maenads, the crazy women dedicated to Dionysus, were characterized by wild, windswept hair, and nobody sensible wanted anything to do with that.
Thesis #16: The central message that a woman needs to communicate with her hair is one of modest respectability, as well as submission to her husband.
The connection between absolute biblical principle and cultural meaning needs to be handled with wisdom.
For example, the fixed biblical principle is that Christians must avoid crass talk and coarse joking.
But what words are considered crass and are respectable are determined, largely by the culture.
For example, we are reading the Lord of the Rings right now as a family,
and they use the words gay, queer, and faggots, but in the way it’s used today.
Not even close.
For another example, the biblical principle is that you should dress appropriately when going to a wedding.
But what determines what is and isn’t appropriate is determined by the culture.
If you wore high end first century wedding garb to a wedding today,
you would likely be escorted off the premises.
This is because, while principles are unchanging, the language varies.
Point #17: How women adorn themselves for church shouldn’t cause dissension in church, but rather should be intended to prevent division in the church.
Here we need to at least a basic understanding of that cryptic phrase “because of the angels.”
We don’t want to get too far off track, but this actually might help us to stay on track.
10 That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.
In the verses just prior, Paul has said that woman is of the man, not the other way around, and that man was not created for the woman, but rather the woman for the man (vv. 8-9).
Then he says for this reason a woman needs to have authority on her head because of the angels.
This is either A. “angels are watching and they hate disorder.
Or B. it’s pointing back to Genesis 6 sons of God, \
which is buh-NAY ha-eh-loh-HEEM,
and always refers the fallen angels.
So this could be saying, “Keep things orderly, or you’ll attract the gaze of fallen angels who like disorder and will come and join in with it.
Which never goes well.
and even if it doesn’t draw the fallen angel’s gaze,
it might draw men’s attention to your rebellious and disorderly conduct, and invite them into it.
which also never goes well.
Either way, when women are not clearly and obviously in submission to their husbands, disorder breaks out,
and the women become prey to immoral people - whether demons or men.
I know that this seems crazy to the modern materialist mind,
but in the last few years we have seen multiple displays of unsubmissive women in our streets who appear to be demon-possessed, or mentally ill, or both.,
So Paul appears to be striving to maintain proper order in the churches,
and one of the fundamental drivers of disorder is human sexuality when off the leash.
If Helen of Troy starts attending one of your small group Bible studies, you can expect trouble shortly.
In our flesh, men like prize-fighting and women like being the prizes.
Men want to lust, and women want to be lusted after.
In contrast to this, Paul wants men to lift up holy hands,
not clenched fists that are ready to fight (1 Tim. 2:8).
And in like manner, the women need to dress in a way that does not cause a commotion (1 Tim. 2:8-10).
8 I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; 9 likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, 10 but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.
1 Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 5 For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.
And so the point is, even how women do their hair matters.
and if something as small as their hair matters within a church,
What does that have to say about swimsuits,
Gym clothing,
And other garments, or lack thereof, that we try to pass off as clothing.
The truth is, all cultures recognizes hair styles that are modest and suitable,
and Christian women should be shooting for that.
And the same goes for modest, not lust-enticing clothing.
The point, a woman is to be the glory of ONE man in public (her husband), which is quite different than trying to be a public glory.
Let’s compare 1 Cor. 11:1-16 with Isaiah 4:5.
1 Corinthians says: “For over all the glory there will be a covering.”
This is what Paul is looking back to
a godly wife is to her husband what the Shekinah glory was to the tabernacle.
This is what John Newton was referring to in his great hymn Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken.
“For a glory and a covering, showing that the Lord is near.”
All of this ties in with our foundational theology of marriage, and what we believe marriage actually is.
The Bible teaches that a woman is the glory of her husband.
She is his crown.
Proverbs 12:4
4 An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.
And a man does not despise his own crown, or shower contempt on his jewels.
The challenge for her is to be his glory in public without doing so in such a way that other men begin to covet that glory for themselves.
Now, some women in our culture hear this and they thinks, “That’s hit problem, he needs to get his urges under control - I’m going to wear what I want.”
Not only is that failing to follow the law of love,
but it’s failing to understand the vainglory that exist sin your own heart.
because we said earlier, in our flesh, men like to lust and women like to be lusted after.
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or vain conceit (vainglory), but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
Now, men can go to far with this, where they think women should only show the slits of their eyes, like some Muslim cultures do,
So we don’t want that either.
But we need to work to avoid both of these ditches.
Point #18: In modern times, the only time when it might be necessary for a woman to change her modest hair arrangement with a cloth covering would be if she were going to pray publicly at church.
At this point, some women will be looking for more specific direction.
“Yeah, all this is great but what am I supposed to do? Do I have to wear a head covering to church or not?”
The answer to that question is, for almost all circumstances: “No, you do not.”
But you do have to dress yourself and arrange your hair in such a way as to achieve the effect that the apostles were striving to see all Christian women cultivate in the churches.
The only two situations where you would need to worry about an obvious additional head covering would be if you were going to lead the congregation in prayer or you were going to prophesy.
And as the gift of prophesy no longer exists, we don’t have to worry about that one.
So when would a woman might want to wear a head covering?
The is one situation I can think of are these
First, if you go to a soft complementarian church
which is another problem but not today’s topic
And when you are there, they ask you, a Christian woman, to lead during the prayer time,
I would urge you to do it.
But find the largest white shawl you have in your house, take it up there with you, and put it on your head before you pray.
Because if you do, I can promise you will never have to worry about being asked to pray in church again.
So in the end, when we approach passages like this, we need to remember that the The Bible was written for you, but it was NOT written to you.
Are there good arguments for interpreting this passage to suggest women wear head covering in worship still today?
Yes.
But this probably the most confusing passage in the entire New Testament,
and so even if a woman is convicted she needs to wear one, she needs to do so in a non-judgmental way.
Don’t rub your conviction in the face of others,
and vice versa.
SO, Hold firmly to the essentials, but hold loosely to the non-essentials, with grace.
10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; 11 for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” 12 So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. 13 Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.
So the big takeaways of this passage are:
Live submissively in your assigned role
Live out biblical principles within your culture
Live out the law of love and do nothing that divides or distracts from the gospel.
