As I was reading in my Bible last night I came across a section in the New testament that left me perplexed. The section I was found is 1 Corinthians chapter 11:1-16
Verse 2 Now I praise you brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. To me he is saying ok remember these traditions that I tell you and do not change them up.
Verse 3 But I want you to know that the head of every man in Christ, the head of every woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. This verse gives us the order of authority it goes God,Christ, man, woman.
Verse 4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head so what i see here is that Paul is saying if a man wears something to cover his head while he is praying or teaching is dishonoring God.
Verse 5 But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one in the same as if her head were shaved. Well hes saying that if a woman does not cover her head while praying or teaching she is dishonoring man and that is the same as shaving your head if you do not cover your head.( v-15) says that a woman's hair is her glory so this is a big deal.
Verse 6 For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or saved, let her be covered. So if a woman is not covered she might as well have a shaved head, but since a shaved head is shameful then why not cover it??
Verse 7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. This one sounds kinda harsh to us girls but when you read on it is nicer. So here it is saying man should not cover his head because he is the image and glory of God and the woman is the glory of man.
Verse 8 For man is not from woman, but woman from man. This is the reason why woman are the glory of man because in Genesis woman came out of man literally we are made from mans rib.
verse 9 Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man. remember back in Genesis we were made for man.
Verse 10 For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels So what I am thinking here is that we girls are to wear a head covering not just for praying but so the angels and see it and protect us from harm. In my mind this harm would consist of harmful thoughts and such.
Verse 11 Nevertheless neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord. My thought on this one is that in the Lords eyes we woman and men need each other.
verse 12 For as woman came from man, even so man also comes though woman; but all things are from God. Again us girls came from man (his rib) but a man comes though us women meaning in birth. If there is no woman there wouldn't be anymore men and if there were no man then there would be no women, but remember everything is from God.
verse 13 Judge among yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Here I believe that he is asking a rhetorical question here. Because in this time it was just a no brainier that woman wore a head covering and he is asking is it okay for her not to?
verse 14 Does not even in nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? Here again I believe is another rhetorical question saying don't you think it is dishonoring to him if he has long hair?
verse 15 But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering. So here he is saying the a womens long hair is a glory to her. The wording of this passage can lead you to believe that long hair of women is her covering but I believe it is saying that since uncovered hair is like having your hair shaved and since it is a shame for woman to shave her hair is should be covered, and should have long hair. It just provides another conformation to me that a woman's head should be covered.
verse 16 But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God. okay so this one took me a while. This goes back to v-13 to answer the questions in v 13-15 if any man seems contentious (meaning loves to quarrel) and says that he sees nothing wrong with woman praying with their head uncovered, let him know that non of the churches have any custom of praying uncovered. So they all have a custom of praying covered.
(1) Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. (2) Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. (3) But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. (4) Every man praying or prophesying, having head covered, dishonors his head. (5) But every women who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head is shaved. (6) For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to shorn or shaved, let her be covered. (7) For a man indeed ought not to cover his head since he is in the image and glory of God: but woman is the glory of man. (8) For man is not from woman, but woman from man. (9) Nor was a man created for the woman, but woman for the man. (10) For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. (11) Nevertheless, neither is a man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord. (12) For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman, but all things are from God. (13) Judge among yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to pray to God with her head uncovered? (14) Does not even nature itself teach you that if man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? (15) But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is giving to her for a covering. (16) But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.
Okay so lets start with verse 1 Imitate me, just as I imitate Christ. This is Paul talking here saying do as I do because I do what Christ has does. That's pretty simple to understand.This is just my ramblings of what I believe these verses are saying I am not a pastor or anything like that I am just a mother and wife who wants to follow Jesus
Verse 2 Now I praise you brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. To me he is saying ok remember these traditions that I tell you and do not change them up.
Verse 3 But I want you to know that the head of every man in Christ, the head of every woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. This verse gives us the order of authority it goes God,Christ, man, woman.
Verse 4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head so what i see here is that Paul is saying if a man wears something to cover his head while he is praying or teaching is dishonoring God.
Verse 5 But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one in the same as if her head were shaved. Well hes saying that if a woman does not cover her head while praying or teaching she is dishonoring man and that is the same as shaving your head if you do not cover your head.( v-15) says that a woman's hair is her glory so this is a big deal.
Verse 6 For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or saved, let her be covered. So if a woman is not covered she might as well have a shaved head, but since a shaved head is shameful then why not cover it??
Verse 7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. This one sounds kinda harsh to us girls but when you read on it is nicer. So here it is saying man should not cover his head because he is the image and glory of God and the woman is the glory of man.
Verse 8 For man is not from woman, but woman from man. This is the reason why woman are the glory of man because in Genesis woman came out of man literally we are made from mans rib.
verse 9 Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man. remember back in Genesis we were made for man.
Verse 10 For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels So what I am thinking here is that we girls are to wear a head covering not just for praying but so the angels and see it and protect us from harm. In my mind this harm would consist of harmful thoughts and such.
Verse 11 Nevertheless neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord. My thought on this one is that in the Lords eyes we woman and men need each other.
verse 12 For as woman came from man, even so man also comes though woman; but all things are from God. Again us girls came from man (his rib) but a man comes though us women meaning in birth. If there is no woman there wouldn't be anymore men and if there were no man then there would be no women, but remember everything is from God.
verse 13 Judge among yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Here I believe that he is asking a rhetorical question here. Because in this time it was just a no brainier that woman wore a head covering and he is asking is it okay for her not to?
verse 14 Does not even in nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? Here again I believe is another rhetorical question saying don't you think it is dishonoring to him if he has long hair?
verse 15 But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering. So here he is saying the a womens long hair is a glory to her. The wording of this passage can lead you to believe that long hair of women is her covering but I believe it is saying that since uncovered hair is like having your hair shaved and since it is a shame for woman to shave her hair is should be covered, and should have long hair. It just provides another conformation to me that a woman's head should be covered.
verse 16 But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God. okay so this one took me a while. This goes back to v-13 to answer the questions in v 13-15 if any man seems contentious (meaning loves to quarrel) and says that he sees nothing wrong with woman praying with their head uncovered, let him know that non of the churches have any custom of praying uncovered. So they all have a custom of praying covered.
So here it seems to be said pretty bluntly that a man should not cover his head or have long hair. That a woman should cover their head and have long hair otherwise it is dishonoring to your head meaning for the man dishonoring to God and for a woman dishonoring to man. I also believe that if you are dishonoring to man it would also be not following a commandment and would also be dishonoring to God.
"When you are to wear a head covering"
Ok so when are we supposed to wear a head covering? It says in prayer and prophesying. Well if you take into consideration 1 Thess 5:17 pray without ceasing it would mean always.
Why did the churches stop having women wear head covering?
So I was reading an article I wish I could find it but one of the things why this person thinks women stopped wearing them was because back in early 1900's a reporter asked one of the head priest of the Catholic church on there thought of women wearing head covering in church he said something on the line of that is not important right now they had bigger things to worry about so this reporter wrote an article saying that women didn't have to wear them anymore. Then they asked the reporter to write a retraction to say that it was taken out of context and the reporter refused so out of confusion a lot of women just stop wearing them.
So I was reading an article I wish I could find it but one of the things why this person thinks women stopped wearing them was because back in early 1900's a reporter asked one of the head priest of the Catholic church on there thought of women wearing head covering in church he said something on the line of that is not important right now they had bigger things to worry about so this reporter wrote an article saying that women didn't have to wear them anymore. Then they asked the reporter to write a retraction to say that it was taken out of context and the reporter refused so out of confusion a lot of women just stop wearing them.
What should a head covering be?
No where in these verses does it say exactly what a head covering is to look like, my thought is that it needs to be something that covers their head so I guess you can be creative. There are many churches that give guidelines on what they need to look like. My first thought as I was reading this was there is no way I could wear the things like in Amish pictures. I believe that you should wear it out obedience to God. So if you want to wear a bonnet, scarf, veil, pretty hat, or a doily. It should be done out of love for God. It is a symbol of you being Christian.
In conclusion
Is the head covering for today? The answer is "YES"! It is important that this passage not be tossed aside like has been for the last 100+ years or so. This is also a hard on for me I am feeling convected of it but my pride is in the way of this. I will have to do some soul searching and praying about this.
Love jen
Love jen
