1 Corinthians 11:4 Commentary and Bible Study

Why does he dishonour his head by covering it? Because in that age, in Greece, in Corinth, at that time, to cover the head meant you were a woman. The message of covering the head was that you were the supporter in marriage and in society. That is what it meant. So if a man covered his head he was saying, ‘I don't want to be a man, I want to be a woman. I don't want to exercise my responsibility given by God, and lead in the marriage. I want to be number two, and when I go to church, I am going to put the head covering on to show that I want to be number two.’ He brings shame upon himself by abdicating his role as a man, in wanting to be treated as if he is number two. The second head in the verse may refer to Christ, because he has been mentioned in verse 3. ‘I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, so every man praying or prophesying, having his head’ – his physical head covered – ‘dishonoureth his head’, the head of verse three, Christ. He brings shame upon his profession of faith in Christ. Well, at least, that would have been the case in Corinth in those days, because the head covering had that message. It is not necessarily the same in every age and in every country, because the head covering may not have the same message. At the special service that was held in St Paul's to commemorate 70 years of her Majesty on the throne, we saw the royals and the bigwigs of society going up the steps and into St Paul's Cathedral, and the ladies all wore head coverings, hats. But never for a moment, would you have imagined that the hats we saw were signs of submission. They were very expensive, extravagant hats. They didn't say, ‘I am number two’; they said, ‘I am number one.’ You may not agree with me, but the hat does not have the same message in today's society. For a lady to have a hat now is to adorn her beauty, and to be attractive. It is no longer a mark of submission. However in Corinth, at that time, that is what a man would have said if he had worn a hat, a head covering, in church. Most Protestant commentators have taken the view – not all, but most – that what is going on in 1 Corinthians 11 has to do with the culture. The great Charles Hodge said, ‘The principle insisted upon in this paragraph is, that women should conform in matters of dress to all those usages which the public sentiment of the community in which they live demands. The veil in all eastern countries was, and to a great extent still is, the symbol of modesty and subjection. For a woman, therefore, in Corinth to discard the veil was to renounce her claim to modesty, and to refuse to recognize her subordination to her husband.’ Now it would appear that there were some ladies among the believers who had gone too far in something. Conversion in the Gentile churches was wonderfully liberating for women. They had previously been treated in their society as something pretty near to slaves, and the Christian Gospel ennobled women and restored to them status and significance. It seems that some women went a bit too far with this – ‘I don’t like this veil. I will discard it.’ You cannot do that, says the apostle, because you are saying something scandalous. You live in a culture where all women wear the veil when they are out in public to denote modesty, retirement, submission to their husbands.