Numerous churches have a tradition specifying that women should wear a veil, a hat or some other kind of head covering when attending church services. Claiming that their teaching derives from the custom of the early New Testament church, these churches say that the apostle Paul specifies that women should wear a head covering. As proof, they point to I Corinthians 11:5, where God inspired Paul to write, "But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved."
MYTHS ABOUT HAIRCOVERING
Myth #1: Only prostitutes went about with their heads uncovered and Paul did not want the Christian women associated with prostitutes
Myth #2: The headcovering in 1 Corinthians 11 was based on cultural practices
Myth #3: The Corinthians wore the veil because it was the "oriental" (Middle East) custom.
Myth #4: The teaching of the headcovering was written (solely) to the church at Corinth.
Myth #5: Paul is the one who gave this command (rather than God)
Myth #6: Hair is the head covering – as in the New International Version (NIV) footnote
Principle and Balance
For if a woman will not be covered, then let her be shorn! But since it is disgraceful for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.
"For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered" (verse 6). On the surface, this seems to be a clear command by a leading, first-century apostle.
Paul is making the point that a woman should wear her hair long enough so that she looks feminine and honorable. This is why he says in verse 15, "If a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her." A woman should pay particular attention to her hair and make certain that it is long enough and properly groomed and styled to enhance her appearance and femininity
What is more Paul identifies that their refusal to wear the head-covering comes from a defiant attitude that goes against God’s creation order: that Christ is the head of the church and man is the head of the woman (see Ephesians 5:23). His reasoning is that if a wife of a man in the church comes with her hair uncovered it would not bring honour to her husband because the uncovered hair is a sign that she is like the adulterous, sexually promiscuous women in the pagan world. It is as though she is not recognising her duty to honour her husband and is behaving like an unbeliever.
So he argues that in order to honour their husbands the woman should show the proper restraint and wear the head-covering. It is an issue of submission. The woman who covered her head was showing that she submitted to her husband’s authority and therefore to God’s order.
What does all this mean for us today?
Paul wants the women to dress appropriately for Christian meetings. Not to ignore the normal cultural conventions (which can be helpful) or to go against God’s creation order because that would simply give rise to further problems in the church.
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