What's Really Underneath Head Coverings (1 Corinthians 11:2-16)

Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. [3] But 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. [4] Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, [5] but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. [6] For 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. [7] For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. [8] For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. [9] Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. [10] That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. [11] Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; [12] for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God. [13] Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? [14] Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, [15] but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. [16] If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.

I. Three Kinds of Writings

I want you to picture a family leaving their house in the morning, each with something printed in their particular bag. The daughter, for example, is leaving the house with a history textbook in her backpack. Meanwhile the father, a police officer, is leaving as well, but he has his department's code of conduct booklet in his laptop bag. Finally, the mother is leaving to visit a relative with a printed email from her dad in her purse. Now, think with me. Which of these is most like the two-thousand year old printed collection we call the New Testament (NT)? Well, all things considered, the NT is like a combination of all these. It is an historical snapshot of the earliest Christian communities and their lives in the Greco-Roman world. It is also a code of conduct, providing for us a moral compass by which we can walk. Finally, by faith we believe it's a word, a gift, from God our Father. I hope you'll keep these ideas in mind as we think together about the Apostle Paul's letter to Christians in the ancient city of Corinth; specifically 1 Corinthians 11:2-16.

II. The Passage: “We Have No Such Practice” (11:2-16)

Now, having just heard this text, I'd like to help us understand these verses better by telling you a few things about the passage. First, I'd like to tell you something about the context. Second, I'd like to tell you something about the culture. Third, I'd like to tell you something about the Corinthians. Fourth, I'd like to tell you something about the creation. So, in regard to the context...

First, in chapter 11 we find ourselves moving into a section of the letter that's concerned with the gathered church. All the way through chapter 14, Paul will be focused on what they should and should not be doing when they come together as a God's people; as a community of Christian disciples. After our text for this morning, Paul will move on to address their observance of the Lord's Supper, and after that, an extended treatment of spiritual gifts and how to use them when the church comes together. So in verse 1 Paul gives them a general affirmation. Do you see that? “I'm thankful that you are, in fact, gathering as a church to pray, to prophesy (which means to speak forth God's word), to sing, to worship; and that you've remembered to practice the Lord's Supper.” But as we'll see in this section, this general commendation quickly turns into specific corrections regarding how these things were being carried out. But at the beginning of this section, in our passage today, the focus is on the topic of women's head coverings.

And it's that peculiar issue that leads us, second, to consider the culture in which this conver-sation is taking place. Like many in centuries past, all over the globe, and like many places in the world today, women have and women do cover their heads when in public spaces. This may be unusual to us, but it wouldn't be to many, many other cultures. Going back to the first-century, writers like Philo, Plutarch, as well as many rabbinic sources, confirm that in both Jewish and Greco-Roman cultures, women often covered their heads, according to Philo, as a "symbol of modesty", or... of chastity, or if married, as an indication that they were sexually or, we could say, spousally unavailable. Again, head coverings still function in this same way today in many places.

Okay, as I mentioned, third, it's also important to tell you something about the Corinthians themselves. As we've already heard about in this letter, many Christians in this community were walking around saying things like, “All things are lawful (or permissible) for me!” (6:12; 10:23) You see, they wrongly believed that their freedom in Christ meant they could and should, in any and every circumstance, cast off many of the religious traditions and cultural expectations of their day. An example of this relates to one's diet. We've saw in the last section that something like eating meat that had been sacrificed to a pagan idol, while in and of itself not wrong, it was not helpful, in fact, it was not loving, and even sinful, in certain contexts.

But as we see in this passage, their misguided permissiveness also seemed to have affected this issue of women (specifically, wives) covering their heads in public worship. And so, on one level, this would have been viewed by many as simply (and socially) unacceptable; as an unnecessary cultural offense; and as such, as an unhelpful distraction when the people of God gathered. But that brings us to a final observation of this passage...

Fourth, it's extremely important to understand why Paul takes issue with this practice of wives (at least some of them) not covering their heads when the faith family gathered for worship in Corinth. If we look back at the text, we see, beginning in v. 3, that Paul begins to argue in light of God's design in creation (the created order). We could summarize his OT/NT argument this way...

1. In the creation, the man was created first by God, as the (v. 7) “image and glory of God”.

2. The woman was created from and for the man, and in some sense, is (v. 7) “the glory of man”.

3. Therefore, (v. 3) in the home, the man is the head of his wife, himself being under the headship of Jesus Christ.

4. But according to vs. 11-12, both men and women need one another, and are equally under God (for “all things are from God”).

Now, to give us a fuller picture of God's design for the marriage relationship, there are a number of places we could turn in Scripture, including chapter 7 of this letter. But the reason Paul is raising these biblical arguments here is because what is happening in Corinth, in light of their cultural setting, is simply out of step with God's good design in terms of marriage and gender.

You see, it wasn't ultimately about doing what was socially acceptable. Paul has just argued in the previous section about the importance of Christians not giving any unnecessary offense to those inside and outside the church. But as is clear from the fact that he preached (1:23) “Christ crucified”, Paul also had no problem with rejecting what was socially acceptable if it contradicted what God said was divinely acceptable. So as we see from the way he argues here, Paul's main concerns are issues of marriage and gender. Wives who risked sending the cultural message that they were sexually/spousally available were not honoring the head of their home, nor God, who is the head over all things.

Finally, when it comes to creation, Paul also provides an argument here about hair itself. Did you see that in verse 6, as well as in verses 14 and 15? Science simply confirms what most people know or suspect: women can grow more hair and longer hair than men. Therefore, throughout history, in countless cultures, hair length was a distinguishing feature between women and men. Additionally, short hair on a woman was seen as mark of humiliation or servitude. Paul took all these ideas into consideration as he called the Corinthians to not ignore or minimize, in fact, to honor, the differences between men and women, especially when the church gathered for fellow-ship and worship. For these are differences (and an ordering) that reflect God's good design.

III. When We Begin with Jesus

Okay. Go back with me to my opening illustration. Remember the daughter with her history text-book, the father with his code-of-conduct booklet, and the wife with that printed email from her dad? I go back to that illustration because what we have here is certainly an interesting historical snapshot from the Greco-Roman world, isn't it? And clearly, it was meant to provide a kind of code-of-conduct for those who confessed the name of Jesus, right? But in light of those things, how might it be, even today, a letter to us from God our Father?

If this inspired word is just as much the voice of God for us today as it was for Paul's first audience, are the wives in this church dishonoring their earthly husbands and their heavenly King by not covering their heads when we gather? Or should we chastise any wife who shows up with a 'pixie cut' (i.e., a short hairstyle)? Are such women (and the men who support them... are they) giving offense to others in the body of Christ, maybe even to angels who observe us, since angels are “ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” (Heb. 1:14)(NIV)

To reach those conclusions about our gathering today, I think we would need to ignore the fact that Paul doesn't argue here for head coverings themselves as part of God's original design for marriage and gender. No. The practice was simply one way in which that culture (and many others) actually aligned with God's design. When in the title of this message I ask, “What's really underneath head coverings?”, I'm really asking, “What timeless, culture-spanning principles do we find underneath or standing behind the Apostle's concerns and corrections in this passage?”

And so as those living in a different culture, the question we would need to ask is, “With what cultural expressions do we honor God's design in marriage and gender, and... how might we be tempted to ignore that order in the name of Christian freedom and personal preference?”

As you know, we live in a world in which many people are deeply confused about gender and deeply cynical about the institution of marriage. Practices and values labeled 'traditional' are often seen as antiquated, even oppressive. And in many cases, the confusion and cynicism is understandable, given how sin and selfishness have distorted what is often held up as the ideal.

But God's design really is good, and there are many ways to make a case for that goodness, from sociology to psychology, from biology to theology. But I think Paul, in light of the first ten chapters of this letter, would want us to begin... with Jesus. If this group of Corinthian wives had done that, I'm not sure Paul would even be addressing this topic. You see, they (like so many in this church) were seeing Jesus as the bringer of personal freedom, rather than, the example and 'empower-er' of selfless service to others. Remember the first verse of this chapter? Paul wrote, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” When a Christian wife or woman comes together with God's people, and her concern is to spiritually protect her Christian brothers and to spiritually promote (among other things) the goodness of marriage, and sex, and godly femininity, then she is imitating Christ. In the same way, when any one of us gathers for fellowship and worship (as Paul said in 1 Timothy 5:21, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels...”, when we gather, humbly, reverently) with a mindset focused on seeing God's best realized for our brothers and sisters, we are imitating Christ... and... giving glory to God. And we can trust God's best, we can embrace what is (v. 13) “proper” in regard to things like gender and authority and freedom, because God first embraced us through the sacrifice of his own Son. The gospel gives fullest expression to the idea of a letter, a treasured letter, from our Father. As we navigate history and the Bible's 'codes of conduct', it's critical that we always begin with the gospel, the Good News about Jesus. For that's where God's heart is most clearly known. In giving us his Son, God has given us every reason to trust him, and to trust that he is incomparably good. So in our homes and in our gatherings, may we honor his good design, as we honor one another.