1This has been the universal practice of the church from the first century till the beginning of the 1900’s. While there may be individual statements by scholars that questioned whether the practice was needed or not, I believe Rev. Richard Bacon’s assessment is correct: “It is this author’s contention, which has yet to be disproved, that every commentary claiming that the covering was hair has been written since the rise of egalitarian feminism.” In “Paul’s Discourse on the Use of Head Coverings During Public Worship,” Richard Bacon, First Presbyterian Church Rowlett.↩

2Notice that chapter 10 begins with baptism (vv. 1-2) and then moves on to affirm that the Old Testament saints “ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink” (vv. 3-4) as we do in the Lord’s Supper. He does this to show why they are examples of the kinds of judgments that will happen to us if we partake of the Lord’s Supper unworthily (vv. 6ff). Every Old Testament sacramental meal is used to teach us how we can fall into the same judgments in the Lord’s Supper.

To prove judgments can come upon those who misuse the Lord’s Table, Paul appeals to the judgments connected with the sacramental meals in the wilderness (10:1-6), the unworthy partaking of the meals attached to the burnt offerings and peace offerings (10:7), the sacrificial meals of Numbers 15:26 (10:8), the judgments to those who ate in Numbers 16 (10:10) and the temple meals that were being eaten at the time Paul was writing (10:18).

He deals with meat sacrificed to idols in 10:14-31 to say that it is inconsistent to ritually participate in meat offered to idols and also partake of the Lord’s Supper. “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?… You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons” (10:16,21). This is the basis for his discussion of meat offered to idols through the rest of the chapter.

It is clear then, that chapter 10’s theme is picked up again in 11:17-34. If that is so, 11:1-16 must somehow relate. The symbols of head, bread, and wine must all be connected with worship.↩

3It is clear from Appendix A that Paul was bucking the culture, not accommodating himself to the culture. Then, as now, there were pressures to be “with the times.” This appendix examines the pictures of Greece to see if anti-headcovering advocates’ arguments can stand up to the evidence.↩

4Interestingly, there are many references to shame for men connected with a covering over the head. In fact, at points it is called a “garment of shame.” See chapter 2: “Common Objections Answered.”↩

5Some have suggested that Paul forbids all three activities (praying, prophesying, and head uncovered) here as dishonoring to the woman’s head (the male). Others have suggested that women did pray and prophesy out loud, but that they wore head coverings when doing so. While possible, I believe that this interpretation creates far more problems than it solves. Furthermore, as we will see when discussing the three glories of this passage, it fails to account for the immediate context.

Others suggest that Paul is not commenting on whether praying and prophesying is appropriate here. He is simply addressing the problem of uncovered heads here, and deals with the problem of prophesying and praying in chapter 14. Others suggest that Paul is simply arguing ad hominem – assuming the position of the feminists in order to show how inconsistent their position would be. (If they can pray and prophesy, then there would be no need for the covering since they would be taking on the position of a man, and if they need the covering, then they can’t pray and prophesy.)

Others suggest that Paul is simply using the figure of speech used earlier to describe the worship service as a whole. Greg Price comments:

As in the case of men “praying or prophesying” (1 Cor. 11:4), so in the case of women “praying or prophesying” (1 Cor. 11:5), the “praying or prophesying” is to be understood as representative of all acts of worship (a figure of speech in which a part is stated for the whole is known as a synecdoche) in which women are to spiritually engage (even though their participation in praying and preaching is silent, it is nevertheless an active participation of their whole being in the worship of God). Yet, they are commanded along with men to vocally lift their praises to God “in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16).

↩

6Interestingly, evangelical scholar Gordon Fee argues that there is no way of avoiding the traditionalist argument if 14:34-35 is a part of Scripture. His solution? He says that those two verses could not have been written by Paul and therefore they are not part of Scripture and are not binding. He offers no textual support for this conclusion. (See the extensive quotes given under objection #5, page 38.)↩

7Robbins, p. 26.↩

8Κατα κεφαλης εχων meaning literally “having [anything] down the head.”↩

9The Greek word is ἀκατακαλῦπτω and is the verbal form of καλυμμα for fabric covering. It is translated in the Bible as veil or covering. S.T. Bloomfield says, “But from the context, and from its being at ver. 15 interchanged with peribolaion, it should rather seem to mean a kerchief (couvre-chef). So Theophylact, kalumma… it seems to denote a kind of head-gear, like the ancient couvre-chef (or kerchief), consisting of a piece of cloth of a square form thrown over the head, and tied under the chin, and thereby nearly covering the face, except the eyes…” (vol. 2, p. 162).↩

10περιβολαιου is defined in Liddel and Scott as “anything which is thrown round.” Paul carefully uses a different word so as not to confuse the readers. Here it is used to refer to the hair hanging down the head and draped as a “wrap around.”↩

11Ezekiel 44:19 says, “When they go out to the outer court, to the outer court of the people, they shall take off their garments in which they have ministered, leave them in the holy chambers, and put on other garments; and in their holy garments they shall not sanctify the people.” 42:14 says, “When the priests enter them [the holy chambers], they shall not go out of the holy chamber into the outer court; but there they shall leave their garments in which they minister, for they are holy. They shall put on other garments; then they may approach that which is for the people.” Ezekiel 44:20 indicates that the priest must always have short hair (since he couldn’t put it on and off).↩

12For more details on the Old Testament background, see the answers to objection #4 and objection #8.↩

13See my comments on verse 15 for more information on God’s provision of covering both before the fall and after the fall. Prior to the fall God provides the woman with long hair. Though Genesis 3:21 does not specify what kinds of clothing God made for Adam and Eve, we can assume that it would not contradict His will in Deuteronomy 22:5. During the age of clothing, man must imitate God’s covering with an appropriate covering of clothing when meeting before the Almighty. Paul sees nothing new about the practice he is advocating. Being inspired, he has the insight to know how to tie the issues of Adam and Eve’s creation together with the subject of head covering.↩

14Charles Hodge, A Commentary on 1 & 2 Corinthians (Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Banner of Truth Trust, 1978), p. 211.↩

15Gordon Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), p. 518. Thiselton’s commentary spends five pages trying to unravel the passage and comes up without a clear conclusion.↩

16Gordon Clark, First Corinthians (Jefferson: Trinity Foundation, 1975), p. 173.↩

17Fee, Corinthians.↩

18The word “symbol” is not in the Greek, though most translations include it. Literally the text says “the woman ought to have authority on her head…” Jamieson, Fausset and Brown say “Paul had before his mind the root-connection between the Hebrew terms for “veil” (radid), and “subjection” (radad).” For Paul, it seems clear that the covering can be called “authority” because it represents authority. Thus, I have no objection to adding the words “symbol of,” though they are not needed to make the meaning clear.↩

19This interpretation has an ancient Jewish background as explained by Edersheim’s interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11:10. See Alfred Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish Social Life (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), pp. 154-155.↩

20Johann Albrecht Bengel, Gnomon, translated by Charlton Lewis and Marvin Vincent (Philadelphia: Perkinpine & Higgins, 1862), pp. 222-227.↩

21Greg Price, “Headcoverings in Scripture” (Unpublished paper, 1996), p. 26.↩

22The issue of what garment is “proper” (Greek “prepon”) to prayer is commented on by Paul in 1 Timothy 2:8-10 where Paul says that males are to pray with raised hands (showing leadership) whereas women are to pray with “modest apparel… which is proper [prepon] for women professing godliness” [emphasis added]. In both passages there is a fabric covering which is said to be “proper” for prayer and which shows submission. There is only one kind of clothing in either Old or New Testaments which shows submission, and that is the head covering.↩

23Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), p. 844.↩

24Adam Clarke comments, “In ancient times the people of Achaia, the province in which Corinth stood, and the Greeks in general, were noted for their long hair; and hence called by Homer, in a great variety of places, ‘the long-haired Greeks.’” Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible, Abridged by Ralph Earle (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1967), p. 1110.↩

25See for example, Clarke, ibid. He argues, “The hair of the male rarely grows like that of a female, unless art is used, and even then it bears but scanty proportion to the former. Hence it is truly womanish to have long hair, and it is a shame to a man who affects it.” Others point to the propensity for men to go bald more frequently than women and other differences in body hair. For example, they appeal to Epictetus who says that differences in hair for men and women is part of nature, and that men ought not to shave. Instead, “we ought not, so far as in us lies, to confuse the sexes which have been distinguished in this fashion” (Loeb. I, 111.).↩

26Fee, Corinthians, p. 527.↩

27https://web.archive.org/web/20160423031222/http://www.fpcr.org/blue_banner_articles/headcovr.htm↩

28John Lightfoot, Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1989), vol. 4, p. 234.↩

29Ibid., p. 235.↩

30The lack of shame that Adam and Eve had before the fall and the shame that needed to be covered is a theme that needs to be explored more fully. It is clear that Paul draws this issue of “shame” and “dishonor” not just from the other Old Testament passages that I have alluded to elsewhere in this booklet, but also to the Genesis 1-3 account.↩

31Fee, Corinthians, p. 530.↩

32Adam Clarke, The New Testament of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, vol. II (New York: Peter C. Smith, 1831), p. 264.↩

33Some object that Christ as a Jewish man would have worn a head covering when in the synagogues. See a portion of the answer to Objection #8.↩

34There are many different reasons people have given as to why the angels would be concerned, offended, etc. Bengel’s interpretation is this: “As the angels are in relation to God, so the woman is in relation to man. God’s face is uncovered; angels in His presence are veiled (Isaiah 6:2). Man’s face is uncovered; woman in His presence is to be veiled. For her not to be so, would, by its indecorousness, offend the angels (Matthew 18:10, 31). She, by her weakness, especially needs their ministry; she ought, therefore, to be the more careful not to offend them” (Bengel, Gnomon, p. 224).↩

35Gsy at http://www.angelfire.com/wi/godseesyou/headcovering.html↩

36W.H at https://web.archive.org/web/20020220224034/http://www.iit.edu:80/~khoogid/bible/bibprob5.html↩

37Richard Bacon, “Paul’s Discourse on the Use of Head Coverings in Public Worship” (First Presbyterian Church of Rowlett, 1997) at https://web.archive.org/web/20080331095007/http://www.fpcr.org/blue_banner_articles/headcovr.htm↩

38Available at https://www.biblebeliever.co.za/Brethren%20Assemblys/Woman%27s%20Head%20Covering%20%26%20The%20Glory%20of%20God.html↩

39See J. Boyd Nicholson, Sr. at https://web.archive.org/web/20011218055114/http://www.iserv.net:80/~tkoets/church/jbnsr1.htm for more details.↩

40Karen McDaniel, in “Why Do Some Women Cover Their Heads?” at https://web.archive.org/web/19990506115709/http://www.prophezine.com/search/database/is37.7.html↩

41Adam Clarke comments: “The custom of the Nazarite may cast some light upon this place. As Nazarite means one who has separated himself by vow to some religious austerity, wearing his own hair, etc., so a married woman was considered a Nazarite for life, i.e., separated from all others, and joined to one husband, who is her lord. And hence the apostle, alluding to this circumstance says, The woman ought to have power on her head, i.e., wear her hair and veil; for her hair is a proof of her being a Nazarite, and of her subjection to her husband, as the Nazarite was under subjection to the Lord, according to the rule or law of his order” Adam Clarke, The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (New York: Phillips & Hunt, 1884), p. 139. Emphasis his.↩

421 Samuel 4:22 says, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”↩

43Paul points out that since Christ is the only High Priest we presently have, He alone is the head of every man (11:3).↩

44Douglas Bannerman says, “”It is worthy of note that a Jewish priest as such had no special place or rights in the synagogue. If suited in other respects to be an elder or teacher in the congregation, he might be chosen to that position; but his priesthood in itself (with one exception, to be noted immediately) gave him no peculiar privileges. It was expressly enjoined that ‘no one was to presume to wear the dress of a priest in the service of the synagogue’ [Schurer, i. p. 277]. The only exceptional mark of honor paid in the synagogue to the priesthood rested on the ancient rule that ‘the priest, the sons of Aaron, were to bless the people.’ If one or more members of a priestly family were present at the service, they were asked to come forward and pronounce with uplifted hands the closing benediction: ‘The Lord bless thee and keep thee; the Lord make His face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace;’ to which the whole congregation answered, Amen.” “If no one of priestly descent happened to be in the congregation, the blessing was spoken in the form of a prayer by one of the rulers of the synagogue” Douglas Bannerman, The Scripture Doctrine of the Church, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1976), pp. 137-138. He gives many other evidences that the priestly garments had no role whatsoever in the worship of the people in the synagogue, and it is the synagogue which forms the basis for the New Testament church.↩

45Gordon Fee says this:

“These two verses together have a singular concern, that women ‘remain silent’ in the congregational meetings, which is further defined as ‘not being permitted to speak’ (v. 34) because it is ‘shameful’ for them to do so (v. 35). The structure of the argument bears this out. It begins with ‘a sentence of holy law,’ the absolute nature of which is very difficult to get around…” “Despite protests to the contrary, the ‘rule’ itself is expressed absolutely. That is, it is given without any form of qualification. Given the unqualified nature of the further prohibition that ‘the women’ are not permitted to speak, it is very difficult to interpret this as meaning anything else than all forms of speaking out in public. Someone apparently was concerned to note by way of a gloss that all the previous directions given by the apostle, including the inclusive ‘each one’ of v. 26 and the ‘all’ of v. 31, were not to be understood as including women.” “…it is surprising that he should add it here, yet allow them to pray and prophecy in 11:5 and 13…” “The author of this piece seems intent on keeping women from joining in the vocal worship of the churches. The rule he wishes to apply he sees as universal and supported by the Law. It is difficult to fit this into any kind of Pauline context…” “Thus, in keeping with the textual questions, the exegesis of the text itself leads to the conclusion that it is not authentic. If so, then it is certainly not binding for Christians.”

Gordon D. Fee, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1987), pp. 7-5-708.↩

46Charles Hodge, I & II Corinthians (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1978), pp. 208-209.↩

47John Calvin, Commentary on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians, vol. 1. (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979), p. 356.↩

48John Robbins, Scripture Twisting in the Seminaries (Jefferson, MD: The Trinity Foundation, 1985), p. 28.↩

49Robbins, p. 26.↩

50Robbins, p. 16.↩

51The reverse is also true. Women in the Old Testament were shamed when they were uncovered. Numbers 5:18 says, “Then the priest shall stand the woman before the LORD, uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering for remembering in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that brings a curse.” This woman who was accused of rebellion against her husband by way of adultery was shamed in a place of worship by removing the covering. The same shame associated with the removal of a head covering is associated with the cutting of a woman’s hair. For example, when a woman of another nation converted to the God of Israel, God made this provision: Deuteronomy 21:12 says, “then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails.” The sign of her subjection in another religion was removed and she had to grow a new sign of subjection to God. Not until the hair grew out was this convert permitted to marry a Jew.↩

52“We may observe Onkelos renders בְיָד רָמָה with a high hand, by בריש גלי with an uncovered head: as in Exod. 14:8; The Israelites went out of Egypt with an uncovered head; that is, confidently, not fearfully, or as men ashamed; and Numb. 15:30; ‘The soul which committeth any sin גלי בריש with an uncovered head;’ that is, boldly and impudently. So Jonathan also in Judges 5:1; The wise men returned to sit in the synagogues בריש גלי with an uncovered head; that is, not fearing their enemies, nor shamed by them.” (Lightfoot, pp. 230-231).↩

53For example, on page 231 he quotes the Talmud showing how it mandated the veiling of women in public and to have one eye painted and the other not. “But however women were veiled in the streets, yet when they resorted unto holy service they took off their veils, and exposed their naked faces; and that not out of lightness, but out of religion” (p. 231). “When the women therefore did thus meet apart, it is no wonder if they took off the veils from their faces, when they were now out of sight of men, and the cause of their veiling removed, which indeed was that they might not be seen by men” (p. 232). “He went into his school alone privately, and ‘veiled himself and prayed.’ So did men privately, and women also, on the contrary, baring their faces privately. A reason is given of the former, namely, that the men were veiled for reverence towards God, and as being ashamed before God; but why the women were not veiled also, the reason is more obscure” (p. 233).

On page 235 he shows how the Judaizers had completely reversed the reasons for the uncovering and the covering. The veil for the woman was her shame, whereas Paul says that it is her reverence and sign of authority and to be uncovered is a shame.

Lightfoot points out that the Jewish custom of the man also being veiled arose from a hyper-spirituality trying to show the reverence with which they held God. He cites the Talmud: “Where the Gloss is, מתעטף מאימת שכינה ‘He veils himself by reason of the terror of God [or reverence towards God], like a man that sits באים ואין פונה לצדדין in fear, and looks not on this or that side of him.’ And ‘The scholars of the wise men” (in solemn fasts) ‘veil themselves, and sit as mourners and persons excommunicate, כבני אדם הנזופין as those that are reproved by God;’ namely, as being ashamed by reason of that reproof. So נזוף ‘He that was reproved by some great Rabbin’ ‘kept himself at home as one that was ashamed; nor did he stand before him who made him ashamed with his head uncovered’” (Lightfoot, pp. 230).

For a lengthy discussion of head coverings, read Lightfoot’s comments on 1 Corinthians 11 in A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica (Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson Publishers, 1989).↩

54Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, eds., “The Pastor of Hermas,” in Fathers of the Second Century: Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, and Clement of Alexandria (Entire), trans. F. Crombie, vol. 2, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885), 18.↩

55St. Irenaeus of Lyons, St. Irenaeus of Lyons: Against the Heresies, Book 1, ed. Walter J. Burghardt, John J. Dillon, and Thomas Comerford Lawler, trans. Dominic J. Unger, 55th ed., vol. I, Ancient Christian Writers (Mahwah, NJ; New York: The Newman Press, 1992), 42.↩

56Tertullian, “On the Veiling of Virgins,” in Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Part Fourth; Minucius Felix; Commodian; Origen, Parts First and Second, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, trans. S. Thelwall, vol. 4, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885), 32.↩

57Tertullian, “The Chaplet, or De Corona,” in Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, vol. 3, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885), 95.↩

58Clement of Alexandria, “The Instructor,” in Fathers of the Second Century: Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, and Clement of Alexandria (Entire), ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, vol. 2, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885), 290.↩

59Pseudo-Hippolytus of Rome, “Canons of the Church of Alexandria,” in Fathers of the Third Century: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Novatian, Appendix, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, trans. S. D. F. Salmond, vol. 5, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1886), 257.↩

60John Chrysostom, “Homilies of St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, on the First Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians,” in Saint Chrysostom: Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians, ed. Philip Schaff, trans. Hubert Kestell Cornish, John Medley, and Talbot B. Chambers, vol. 12, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1889), 154.↩

61https://web.archive.org/web/20010423032046/http://www.bible.acu.edu:80/terry/bible102/headwear.htm↩