The Third Curveball Catches The Edge - 37
A sign of authority, what is with that?
This one is not so easy. I remember as a younger man my brother Mitch had told me, “When I get married my wife is going to wear a hat to church.”
His words caught me by surprise. He made the statement during a conversation we were having about men and women and the different roles they played in the Church. We both thought that men were supposed to shoulder the burden of the office of elder and deacon. We both felt clear, “Scripture said so.” But I wasn’t about to agree with him regarding women wearing hats in church. That seemed “dated” to me.
I am sixty years old, which marks me as one of those who can still remember when all the women in church wore hats to worship. It was the norm back in the early 1960’s. And, truth be told, most people would have assumed that Paul’s teaching from 1 Corinthians 11 was the cause of it. What did Paul write?
1Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. 2Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. 3But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. 4Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, 5but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. 6For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. 7For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. 8For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. 11Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; 12for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God. 13Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, 15but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. 16If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.
I had to admit the more I read the passage and Paul’s reasons for “head coverings” the more my hermeneutical rules called me to account. If my greatest concern is to respect the writer’s intention, then what did Paul intend? Did he want women to wear some type of symbol on their heads? Or at least wives? And, if so, then when and where? Everywhere? Or only during worship in the divine assembly? Also, if so, then were women (or wives) required to cover their heads only when they prayed and prophesied? And what has long hair got to do with it? And why should it matter to the angels?
And what is Paul saying to men (or husbands)? Is it inappropriate for a man to pray and prophesy with a hat on? Today, you still frequently see men remove their hats when a group of them begin to pray.
I recently hosted a training day for customers at our Gappa Security Solutions company’s location. Three men attended from an area school district. None of them spoke of their faith, if they had any at all. And I didn’t ask. However, when it was time for lunch, I told them that it was our habit to thank the Lord for the meal. None of them objected. And when I began to pray, one of the attendees immediately took off his hat (that he’d been wearing the entire morning). This told me that he had some experience in a Christian culture.
I confess, as a man, I will not wear a hat when I pray; and that is whether I’m in Church worship or praying anywhere. But is it because of an unbiblical and strained tradition I grew up under, or did the Apostle and the Christian Church hold to ideals and practices that still hold water with God and therefore convict me?
Determining this is a burden for each of us who claim to want to understand and obey God’s Word. Proper bible interpretation is our task. And in regard to head coverings we ultimately must return to Paul. What was his intention? Toward what was he driving? Why did he want the women to cover their heads with a symbol, while he wanted men to keep theirs uncovered?
My brother, Mitch, stuck me with a text that haunted me. I did not want to be mocked or scoffed at because I believed a teaching no one else believed. But as I tried to debunk the need to obey Paul’s instruction, I realized that commentators throughout history agreed with my brother. They were even unapologetic. Consider just a few:1
Tertullian (approx. AD 155–225), a prolific writer and apologist from Carthage, North Africa, wrote the earliest and longest defense of head covering that we possess today. He said, “I pray you, be you mother, or sister, or virgin-daughter—let me address you according to the names proper to your years—veil your head.”
St. Augustine (AD 354–430), bishop of Hippo (modern-day Algeria), wrote theological books, including The City of God and Confessions which are still widely read today. He wrote, “It is not becoming, even in married women, to uncover their hair, since the apostle commands women to keep their heads covered.”
Also according to Augustine, “It is not as though one part of humanity belongs to God as its author and another to darkness, as some claim. Rather the part that has the power of ruling and the part that is ruled are both from God. Thus the apostle says, “A man certainly should not cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but a woman is the glory of man.”
Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), an Italian Dominican friar, priest, and influential philosopher and theologian, is considered by the Catholic Church to be its greatest theologian and one of the thirty-three Doctors of the Church, wrote “A veil put on the head designates the power of another over the head of a person existing in the order of nature. Therefore, the man existing under God should not have a covering over his to show he is immediately subject to God; but the woman should wear a covering to show that besides God she is naturally subject to another.”
John Calvin (1509-1564) French lawyer, theologian, and ecclesiastical statesman. He was the most important figure in the second generation of the Protestant Reformation. Calvin wrote, “Here there are two propositions. The first relates to the man, the other to the woman He says that the man commits an offense against Christ his head, if he prays or prophesies with his head covered. Why so? Because he is subject to Christ, with this understanding, that he is to hold the first place in the government of the house — for the father of the family is like a king in his own house. Hence the glory of God shines forth in him, in consequence of the authority with which he is invested. If he covers his head, he lets himself down from that preeminence which God had assigned to him, so as to be in subjection. Thus the honor of Christ is infringed upon….Here we have the second proposition — that women ought to have their heads covered when they pray or prophesy; otherwise they dishonor their head For as the man honors his head by showing his liberty, so the woman, by showing her subjection. Hence, on the other hand, if the woman uncovers her head, she shakes off subjection — involving contempt of her husband.”
Matthew Henry (1662-1714) was a British Noncomformist minister and author who was born in Wales but spent much of his life in England. He is best known for the six-volume biblical commentary Exposition of the Old and New Testaments. He comments, “The woman was made subject to man, because made for his help and comfort. And she should do nothing, in Christian assemblies, which looked like a claim of being equal. She ought to have power, that is, a veil, on her head, because of the angels. Their presence should keep Christians from all that is wrong while in the worship of God. Nevertheless, the man and the woman were made for one another.”
Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) a Baptist pastor in London, is highly regarded cross-denominationally and is known as the “Prince of Preachers” said, “The reason why our sisters appear in the House of God with their heads covered is ‘because of the angels.’”
R.C. Sproul Sr. (1939-2017) was an American Reformed theologian and ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church in America. He was the founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries said, “It does disturb me, that the . . . tradition of the woman covering her head in America did not pass away until we saw a cultural revolt against the authority of the husband over the wife.”
I decided to quit fighting the Apostle. I determined to practice and teach God’s Word to the best of my understanding. My wife complied. I preached on 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 when I worked through the epistle. However, I never harped on the practice in our church, for I determined not to die on the hill of male and female propriety in worship. This doesn’t mean I have changed my views. My wife wears a hat during worship and has for thirty-some years. She is the only one.
In the sermon I taught that head coverings for women within the divine assembly of worship are normative (for today), as well as men not covering their heads in the service. I spent additional time on Paul’s reasons and other details. And, yes, I brought up the standard arguments that are used to get rid of the passage by modern Christians (her long hair is the symbol; coverings had to do with authority in the culture of the day, Corinthian prostitutes had shaved heads, etc.)2
I choose not to belabor those points here, but I do recommend - as I have along the way - that the reader must not put words into the Apostle’s mouth or take them out of his mouth. Paul wrote about coverings and authority and symbols and angels and the creation order and headship and the relationship of the Godhead in this passage. Those are his proofs and points. And they either continue to exist for us today or they never did.
The above quotes are taken from a book by: Gardiner, Jeremy. Head Covering: A Forgotten Christian Practice for Modern Times.
I said I remember all the women wearing hats to worship in the early sixties. Jeremy Gardiner cites an historical reality from the days soon after. I was unaware of this until recently. Gardiner writes, “The National Organization for Women (NOW) is a feminist organization founded by Betty Friedan (author of The Feminist Mystique). In 1968 they rallied their troops to have a “national unveiling.” Here’s what they said: ‘Because the wearing of a head covering by women at religious services is a symbol of subjection with many churches, NOW recommends that all chapters undertake an effort to have all women participate in a "national unveiling" by sending their head coverings to the task force chairman. At the spring meeting of the task force of women and religion, these veils will be publicly burned to protest the second class status of women in all churches.’ NOW rallied their various chapters to “undertake an effort” to stop the practice of head covering. They were so disgusted with the symbol and what it represented that they had a public burning of women’s veils. Sadly, their efforts achieved what they hoped it would.”