1 Corinthians 11:4-16 (NIV)
Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is the same as having her head shaved. For if a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should cover her head.
A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. It is for this reason that a woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.
Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God.
Paul continues his instruction to the Corinthians on the structure that God has put into place regarding men and women. Paul shared the structure of responsibility and accountability in verse 3: God the Father at the top, with Jesus directly accountable to Him. The men are directly accountable to Jesus for the responsibilities that have been given to them, responsibility to show sacrificial love to his wife and family, and to ensure their physical emotional and spiritual welfare. And the women, are accountable to their husbands for the responsibilities they have been assigned by God: the organization and maintenance of the home, and the health and welfare, physical and spiritual, of the children.
This hierarchy does not mean that women must stay home at all times and can’t work outside the home. But, just as the fact that the husband’s work responsibility does not relieve him of the responsibilities God is given him for the welfare of his family, so the woman’s work outside the home doesn’t relieve her of the responsibilities of care and nurture of the children and the management of the house which God has assigned her.
But now Paul turns to how this issue affects propriety in worship. Some of the women in Corinth were throwing aside the social boundaries, exulting in the freedom that they had found in Christ. This included refusing to dress modestly within the confines of the church gatherings. Societal norms of the day were for women to cover their heads with a scarf in public. And in that society, only prostitutes uncovered their heads to more effectively attract a clientele. But many of the Christian women in Corinth were covering their heads in public but taking their scarves off in the church services.
Paul’s response to this is made in view of the interdependent structure for men and women that God had given from the beginning. God had created men and women with clear differences, both physical and emotional differences, as well as differences in the way they think and perceive the world. He instituted in women a deeper sense of modesty which God intended to be nurtured and supported by society, and especially by the men in their lives.
A symbol of this modesty was the covering that God had given them from the start: the long thick hair that women are blessed with. And their modesty was enhanced by covering the head while in public. This clarifies Paul statement that if a woman was to abandon her modesty in public, she might just as well shave her hair off as well, an idea that he found abhorrent.
Men, however, were created to protect the modesty of women. They were not themselves to take on the feminine modes of dress such as head scarves, nor the long hair that God created to be the glory of women. Instead they were to appear before God boldly in Christ, strong in character and holiness, and faithful in fulfilling their role in God’s kingdom, and in their own families.
Father, so many people today, Christians, too, seemed to think that “different” must include a meaning of better or worse. But You made us male and female (Genesis 1:27), neither better or worse than the other, but very different from each other, each with strengths and abilities (and weaknesses) unique to them. And You have given each of us roles to play in society and in Your Church. Unfortunately, when we try to re-engineer what You have created in those roles and functions, we don’t make things better and more secure, but less stable and more prone to anarchy and chaos. Help us to see Your God-designed structure for what it truly is: not a restrictive set of regulations, but a way of operating the way you designed each of us, the way that we will find the most fulfillment, and our own approval from You. Amen.