Smoodock's Blog

With all the problems mankind faces throughout the world, do you really think God is obsessed with a man’s or a woman’s haircut (1Corinthians 11:14-15) or the manner in which he or she combs their hair (1Timothy 2:9)? What issues do you think are important to God, as that applies to mankind? In a world where ‘trickle down economy’ ended as a cruel joke, do you really think God views the woman in the workplace, who is trying to feed, clothe and house her family, is a disgrace? What if she’s there, because she aspires to have a fulfilling vocation? Is that wrong? What’s important to God, when it comes to male/female relationships? Is it the same, as what the male of our species says is important? Are most men who believe a woman’s place is in the home sensitive to the heart of God?

For this study, let’s consider what Paul wrote in 1Corinthians chapter 11. What is the theme behind his words?

Now I praise you, brethren, because you have remembered me in all things, and you are keeping the ordinances in the way that I delivered them to you. But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who has a covering on his head when he is praying or prophesying puts his head to shame. But every woman who has her head uncovered when she is praying or prophesying puts her head to shame, for it is the same as being shaved. For if a woman is not covered, let her be shorn. But if it be shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered. For, on the one hand, a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but, on the other hand, the woman is the glory of man (1 Corinthians 11:2-7).

Is the Lord so trivial that he is concerned about his people wearing or not wearing hats, when they pray and preach/teach? If we take what Paul wrote in the above scripture literally, we have to say the Lord is obsessed with trivialities. However, if he is speaking symbolically, the whole matter makes good sense. So, what is Paul really saying here, and why the ‘code-like’ message to the church?

First of all, the culture throughout the Roman Empire embraced patriarchal authority, whereby men were in authority, and women had to submit to their husbands in all matters. Slaves had no authority whatsoever. So, if it made no difference in Christ, if you were a Jew or a Greek, or if you were a free man or a slave, or if you were a man or a woman, how could Paul teach this to the Church, if by doing so he would be silenced by the Empire? To speak against Rome would bring down the fury of the emperor upon the whole church. However, if Paul spoke symbolically to believers, whom he had taught to consider the symbols aright, Rome would be unaware, at least in the beginning, that the Church stood in opposition to Roman law – against slavery and against the oppression of women.

Keeping in mind that the Corinthian church was separating into sects (1Corinthians 1:10-13), consider Paul’s words above, once more. Let the man in the passage above be the pastor or minister of God’s word. Therefore, if he prays or prophesies/teaches with Christ covered, that is, if he preaches what men say rather than what Christ has said, he covers and dishonors Christ, his Head/Lord (1Corinthians 11:3, 4). On the other hand, if we allow the woman to be the pastor’s flock or the church assembly, her head is the pastor or teaching minister. When she prays or prophesies, she does need to cover her head (the pastor). The point being, don’t lift up the man they liked to follow or believe (cp. 1Corinthians 1:10-13). Cover him and preach/follow/submit to Christ. By uncovering their head, they were lifting up men, vis-à-vis male or female preachers, and in doing so, they were exalting man and not Christ

According to the Law of Moses, it was shameful for the children of the high priest to shave their heads in honor of a man who had died (Leviticus 21:1-6). The reason being, it was a pagan practice to shave one’s head in the presence of the gods to honor the dead. In our present context, it would be shameful for the children of Christ (our High Priest) to shave (expose) their heads by exalting men over Christ (1Corinthians 11:6). Therefore, the head of the man, who is Christ, is the image and glory of God, but the glory of the man/pastor is the woman/church in submission to Christ (1Corinthians 11:7).

Thus, in the patriarchal Roman culture, the Gospel is preached, veiled to the unbeliever but unveiled to the believer, who has been taught the meaning of the metaphors in use. In this manner the believer with unveiled face beholds the glory of the Lord in a glass/mirror and are transformed into that same image, from glory to glory by the Spirit of God (2Corinthians 3:18). Likewise, as the world looks upon the obedient Church with unveiled faces, and the unsuspecting non-Christian is changed by observing Christ in the manner in which he is lived out in the believer. The world is forced to reconsider its ways, when they see the way of Christ lived out in the believer.