1 Corinthians 11:2-6 – Recognizing your identity

In these verses Paul dealt with the issue of the concern about the covering of women’s head in worship. It seems unusual for Paul to begin by commending the Corinthians. For Paul had heard that despite the differences in the church, the people had high regard for Paul and remembered what he had taught and held on to them.

Paul began in verse 3 by reviewing Christ’s relationship to man, then the man’s relationship to his wife and finally Christ’s relationship to God. The word headship is not describing superiority. Between Christ and God there is equality and dignity and they each fulfill a different function. The significance about headship is that one does not function independent of the headship. Since Christ is the head of the man, He should be the man’s model in family relationship.  The headship of husband to his wife should not be viewed as a chain of command for him to act as a dictator. Instead it is an indication of responsibilities that the man must practice to ensure order in the family

 Evidently we could see that in a worship gathering, the congregation were engaged in praying and prophesying. There seemed to be evidence of confusion in identities in their midst. Praying as we know is man talking to God and prophesying is God using the instrumentality of man to speak to men about Himself.

Paul here told them that it would be a shameful thing for men to pray or prophesy with their heads covered. In the original language, this word refers to having a lengthy hair that dangled from the head to touch the shoulder like a veil. A man who purposely dressed to look like a woman to conceal his manliness is a disgrace to his Creator. Paul was probably using this as an illustration and not that there were actual incidence of such practice. He wanted to show how ridiculous that would be in contrast to a wife. But Paul here criticized the wife for doing the opposite, i.e. to pray and prophesy without covering their head. They were not wearing a veil or not bunting up their hair. Veil or hairdo would indicate their marital status and hence they were not free to act independently from their husbands. For the married women who prayed or prophesied without the covering it would reflect her desire to act in independence. Woman who let their hair down or did not cover with a veil would give the signal that they were single and available. Some scholars believed that prostitutes in those pagan temples wore short hair and also did not wear a veil.  So to jostle them into sanity, Paul used a shock treatment saying, if they did not mind being mistaken as shameful women like the prostitutes by not wearing a veil, then have their hair cut off as well.

Paul wanted a woman to look and dress like one and not to dress like a man. There was a possibility that women when they prayed or prophesied they wanted to look like men. This could be attributed to the culture where women were seen as inferior to the men. But we all know that for a woman to be effective in church, she need not be a man or look like a man. Trying to do so would violate how God had used women in the Bible. Paul wanted the husbands and wives to recognize their identities and live by it.      

We need to be clear about our identity in Christ and family relationship. In service for Christ, let’s do all things to honor Him. We shall not give the slightest hint of rebelliousness. A husband and wife can mutually and satisfactorily serve God and further His purpose without compromising on their identity.