Questions on head covering and long hair

Iyer@brahminbeliever.com | | Updated on Sat 11 September 2021

The version used is KJV

This is an essay on my reading of 1 Corinthians 11 and how I understand it, in my short walk with my Messiah, so far. As I get increased understanding, I might update this post. This was response to a question one of the sisters asked.

Since this is a long post, I will summarize up front, my simplified view of head covering and long hair from 1 Cor 11:1-16.

Summary for Men

Here then is my summary of what a brother in Christ ought to do around these two commands.

  1. Dont wear a head covering when you pray or prophesy or fellowship. [1Cor11:4]
  2. But, wearing a head covering like wide hat for protection from elements is advisable, for health and well being while working, given it doesnt become a status symbol [1Peter3] applies here as well.
  3. If a head covering like hat is being worn to protect against the elements and a man needs to pray, even in private, remove the head covering to pray. [1Cor11:4]
  4. On long hair: keep hair trimmed and short around ears and a clear neck. [1Cor11:14] Growing a beard might be encouraged to clearly demarkate you as a man.
  5. Following Levites [Lev16:4] or other pagan symbols [see references 1,2] to wear some kind of head garb while praying, like the prayer shawl etc. goes against the scriptures from 1 Corinthians 11. Therefore be careful in how to interpret the full body of scriptures.
  6. If your woman wears a head covering, that puts more pressure on your shoulders to carry out your role in the house and to bear the burdens for your family. [1Cor11:3]
  7. Encourage your wife, if you are married, to read the scriptures around head covering from [1Cor11:1-16]. If she is not convinced nor convicted, my suggestion is to pray and let the Holy Spirit convict her to seek the scriptures and then adopt the practices. Forcing a head covering on your wife, who is a new believer or a believer who is coming to the understanding, might provide the outward appearance of obedience, but might not change a rebellious heart. Remember, your role is to lead the house, be her covering and love her. No where is that conditional upon her wearing the head covering.
  8. Always realize you are the head of your house and your head is Christ. Therefore how you handle your household will be answerable to Christ in the end.

Summary for Women

Here then is my summary of what a sister in Christ ought to do around these two commands.

  1. Wear a head covering while [1Cor11:5]
    • praying and prophesying
    • in fellowship with other believers in any kind of setting
  2. Some practical thoughts on this might be that, the head covering should be a cloth and not just long hair, balancing it with
    • your husbands advise
    • not for outward show and adornment, but for modesty and simplicity
    • simpler and plain material that is natural
    • breathes and has airflow using meshy or looser material
    • can be washed on a periodic basis
    • In the end make it light, utilitarian, stays in place (pre-tied and wig head bands), washable, not troublesome during the day as you might be doing work in it
  3. Dont get carried away with social media around head covering and what might seem pious or holy. For example, https://wrapunzel.com/ is a popular site for women looking to cover and it leads you down a path of fashion, glitter and glam. Most of the women showing how to wear a head covering wear makeup defeating the purpose of the head covering.
  4. If you are married and your husband is not a believer
    • explain your convictions thru the scriptures, indicating its to honor him and wear what is acceptable in that given instance. Submitting to your husband (within God's law) is better than having the perfect head covering that goes against that.
  5. If you are married and your husband is a believer
    • explain your convictions from the scriptures and decide what would honor him the best and then follow that.
  6. If you are not married, ask your father. if you have neither a father or husband in the picture, then prayerfully seek how to apply God's word and then be obedient in following the full counsel of God and His Spirit in you. If you are unmarried, without any covering, seek a covering in a man.
  7. Grow your hair long if possible [1Cor11:15], and not too long, so as to not have a medical or health detriments. Balance the biblical command with practicality and your life situation and context. Also ensure you can spend time caring for it, given your primary responsibilities as help meet, mother, care giver and overall executor of the home. If you cant care for it or have other challenges, keep your hair long enough to have a pony tail or pull into a bun. Even if you follow other principles to not adorn elaborate decorations on your long hair, having long hair comes with a maintenance cost. So weigh the odds, based on your season in life, then keep the hair as long as its conveniently manageable without cutting it off to look like a man.
  8. Headcovering and long hair commands in the bible must be a lifestyle and not a fad or fashion or for outward appearance.
  9. Know that we are called to be set-a-part from the world and if the longer hair and head covering makes you feel uncomfortable, then that is the small price for carrying the cross. If you are afraid that being labeled and identified a radical christian or other terms and the scorn of those around you, then you need to search your heart about what you make of Hebrews 11. In most cases, it comes as pity and/or hatred to towards your man, as the society at large, including professing christians, think a head covering symbolizes bondage.
  10. If you are unclear on any of these, I earnestly pray that you will seek the scriptures diligently and be convicted in your own heart as to what it is to obey our God. Anabaptist setting provide a great way to understand head covering. Some details are in [ref 3]. You can google a local Mennonite church to see what they believe and why.

And now for the details.

Principles

I have come to surmise that in order for me to be a berean, I need to base everything on the Word of God. For me to do these properly, I need to understand the principles behind some of these commands and customs and ordinances from Paul and other Apostles. The reason why it has to be principles is that: - these were mostly epistles written during the early church, so we have to be careful to construct doctrines out of letters written - need to be weighed against the teaching of Jesus and then against the Tanak - apply any cultural or historical context that was happening around the time of writing to see if there were other motivations for the statements being made in the letter

Once the principle is clear, then we can apply the statements from the epistle as commands. This concept of principles, is a broader treatise and I will not expound on this here, but to state that we need to look at the principles behind these verses. A detailed writeup on why looking at principles behind the epistles will be coming soon.

Covering the passages

Here then are my interpretation of the 16 verses from 1 Cor 11.

  • the head covering, long hair and Lord's supper were ordinances/customs/practices (using the word paradosis G3862) that was delivered by Paul [1Cor11:2]. This means that it was not something that Corinthians knew about, but it was delivered to the church in Corinthians as it came from Paul.
  • Man is the head of the house, therefore head of the woman [1Cor11:3]. Christ is the head of man and God is the head of Christ.
  • Man should not have his head covered while praying or prophesying [1Cor11:4], while a woman should [1Cor11:5]. Dishonoring of her head comes, when she is uncovered or with short hair or shaven [1Cor11:5]
  • Man is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man [1Cor11:7]
  • Woman was created for man and not for the angels, therefore she needs to cover her head because of the angels [1Cor11:10]
  • All of this is for God [1Cor11:12]
  • We need to evaluate using these passages if its appropriate for woman to pray without her head covered [1Cor11:13]
  • Long hair on man is a reproach [1Cor11:!4]
  • Long hair on woman is her glory [1Cor11:15]
  • Men having long hair is not the custom of the churches of God [1Cor11:16]

Head covering

When I first became a believer, reading thru the Bible, I skimmed thru the passages from 1 Corinthians 11 and didnt really dwell. Neither in the subsequent reading, other than the parts about Lord's Supper. But in the last year, I have been more convicted to reason about these commands and traditions from Paul, as it applies to me and my household. Most of this has to do with what I have seen from recent past and how the culture has shifted from our history as believers since the resurrection of our Messiah.

The statements are simple from 1 Cor 11:1-13 - women should wear a head covering when they pray and prophesy and in general - men should not wear a head covering when they pray and prophesy - these were the accepted practices of the calledout/churches of God as it came from Paul and the apostles

Reasons for why women dont wear a head covering

These are some reasons cited by scholars and other leaders to point out why modern women dont need to wear a head covering. These I uncovered talking to folks and listening to preachers explain away the practice using any one of these means:

  • Cultural: the practices given was during a time when women with uncovered heads were prostitutes and whores, therefore, to distinguish the righteous ones, Paul advised on head covering.
  • Only for Corinth: since the letter was addressed to Corinth, this applies only to that church and not to other churches, less be it to our modern day
  • Hair is the covering: citing 1Cor11:6, hair is the covering and there is no separate covering needed
  • Not for today: since our culture has progressed tremendously with awareness and we have a better understanding, we dont need the practices of old around head covering

Refuting the reasons above

Here are then some points I have learned that nullifies the above reasoning.

  • Cultural: If it was cultural for that time as pointed out whether for prostitues and otherwise, why did the early church and all the way thru 19th century did women stay covered in all denomination of churches. I am not posting any evidence, but ask the reader to look thru web or other encyclopedia to see this for themselves. From my personal experience, churches in India, the women had their head covered even as late as 1990s when I observed. When I went to the Serbian Orthodox church in 2017, I saw all women had some form of viel or covering. Also, we see that this practice was not native to Cornith, as it was delivered by Paul.
  • Only for Corinth: If we accept this, then most of the doctrines of modern church from Paul's teaching cant be applied, as all of Paul's writing were to specific churches. There is no context to say this was for only Corinthians
  • Hair is the covering: Per 1 Cor 11:6, if Paul is implying hair is the covering, then all men need to be bald, since men should not have their head covered. In addition, the word used for hair is typically G2359 (thrix) which it nor any derivative is used here. The long hair mentioned in 1 Cor 11:14 is the word G2863 (kamao) which is only used twice in the entire new testament, both in the same chapter. There is there is no concluding evidence that hair is the covering. In addition, the word for covering used in earlier verses is G2619 (katakalypto), but the one in reference to long hair in verse 15 is G4018 (peribolain). They are not the same words nor have the same meaning, albeit the same english word is being used.
  • Not for today: If the custom of head covering is not for today, then women can speak and lead churches as the commad from 1Cor14:34 should also not apply. If any one is consistent and take the position that various things are not for today, then we can be immoral and eat and drink Lord's supper as we desire. Beware the spirit of the age which drives various worldly constructs, which when chosen to apply for our exegesis of the passages and understanding of scriptures, can lead us to the slippery slope of where many have fallen - based on country practices or culture of the day.

About man's head cover

From the historical context, men, especially high priests wore head coverings or veils. You can see that from the bible about the Levites, who wore turbans. You can also see from early Roman pictures of Ceasar or Marcus Aurelius, that they wore the veil when they were offering sacrifices to their gods. This practice and ordinance of not wearing a head covering for a man is counter cultural even for those times.

Current understanding

Here then is my current understanding around this topic for women.

  • Head coverings are then a custom and a command for the sister saints. Independent of culture or social shame or taboo, a woman believer must wear a head covering, as acceptable (style etc.) to her husband and manageable by her on a day to day basis. Include practicality with the desire to follow this ordinance.

  • Head covering is a cloth based covering and not just long hair. Therefore, keeping with the principle of adorning to glory of Yah and to subjection to their husband (see 1Pe3:1-6 ), woman should cover their head with a appropriate covering most of the time - definitely in public, for prayer and prophesying, while meeting with brethren and any fellowship event. This means, expensive silk or fancier clothing as a head covering, which is more for show and status, directly goes against this principle.

  • Head covering is an illustration of the headship order established from Genesis onto Revelation, which Paul highlights in his first epistle to the Corinthians. A woman honors her head (her husband or father), when she is covered in public. But a man should not have his head covered in fellowship and in place of prayer and worship as he dishonoreth his head (his Messiah Jesus Christ). Therefore, if a woman is wearing a head covering, but is ruling the house instead of her husband and not submitting to her husband, then that head covering is a mere fashion statement and not true to the command in scriptures.

  • Head covering is also about modesty. Covering the most glorious part of a woman's body, her hair, from the angels as well as from other men and women, is a form of modestly that is spoken of in 1 Peter 3. Again, if the woman wears an full head covering, but has tight fitting clothes, revealing her figure or cleavage, that again defeats the purpose of wearing a head covering.

In all, head covering has to go with following the rest of the scriptures, in being modest, humble, submitting to her own husband (or father) and fulfilling her role as the helpmeet in the house.

Long hair

I have always admired and enjoyed long hair on my woman. You can ask my bride about this. Therefore, I want to leave my personal biases aside and look at what Paul is talking about here.

The statements are simple from 1 Cor 11:14-16 - men should not have long hair - women should have long hair - these were the accepted practices of the calledout/churches of God

As we have already seen, the word used for long hair is G2863 (kamao), both of which show up only in the 1 Cornithian epistle in verse 14 and 15; and the covering used in the context of long hair is G4018 (peribolain).

The reason Paul says women should have long hair is that it is her glory. The word for glory here is G1391 (doxa) also means praise, dignity and worship as well. Incidentally, this is the root word for doxology - which is the formal term for the praise of God.

Men are not to have long hair as it is against nature and becomes a shame, dishonor, reproach to him, as indicated by the word used G819 (atimia).

Long hair then becomes a distinguishing characteristic for a woman. If the woman is able to grow long hair and the situation allows it, then having long flowing hair is acceptable. If they are not able to have long hair, then with a covering it should not matter. Either way, staying diligent to the scriptures is what should be desired.

A word of caution

Although the command of Paul are clear: woman should wear a head covering and have long hair, there are some practical challenges one should consider. I have heard of the following situations from woman who have had long hair: - keeping really long hair in pony tail and pulled up causes undue stress on the neck due to the weight of hair and causes head aches, especially if it needs to be wrapped for the head covering - to wear head covering (cover the hair and head), as most woman have to pull their hair up, having the hair not breathe for prolonged period of time might cause cases of alopecia or cause hair to break due to the stress and strain of the hair in a constant bun and under a tight covering. - there also might be hygiene issues with long hair, which will require time and care, and based on the situation where a mom has several children and a household to manage, she might not have time to care. These hygiene issues can be from dry hair, split ends to dandruff.

Therefore combining the two commands, women should prayerful seek God's wisdom and their husbands counsel to honor these commands and apply them in their life that best suits the situation.

Conclusion

As the reader looks to understand the passages from the first epistle to the Corinthians, the immediate modern day comeback will be that, head covering is not a salvation issue. For any one professing to be a believer in our Messiah Jesus Christ, I urge to consider, why then was these words and commands given. Search the scriptures and your own hearts to decide if you are being obedient, since you are now saved by our Messiah. If you want to be obedient to the word of God and still unconvinced or confused, pray diligently, with fasting if necessary, and the Most High will reveal His wisdom and guidance to you to follow. Donot fall in the trap of modernism or drive by scriptures to make a smorgasbord of picking and choosing what has been given, but by being a berean in fully squaring the entire word of the Most High. Search your heart to ensure your motivations and reasonings are purely from the desire to follow Jesus and not to prove or disprove fads or any other man made doctrines.

May the Most High God, Father of our Messiah Jesus Christ, give you the understanding in your walk with Him.

References

  1. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/0_Relief_-Marcus_Aurelius_proc%C3%A9dant%C3%A0_un_sacrifice_-Musei_Capitolini(1).JPG
  2. https://c.pxhere.com/photos/54/26/caesar_augustus_sculpture_roman_archeology_museum_palazzo_massimo_alle_terme_him-690382.jpg!d
  3. https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/86026/JAPAS_Anderson_vol6-issue1_pp26-60.pdf