Head Covering

Extremely important in all aspects of God’s role for women is that God has made this determination – not man! God is the One saying this, not the woman’s husband or the male elders of the church.

The emotional reaction by some women (that this is something that men have done to women) defies the reality that God has done this!

Before shaking a fist at God, there are a lot of accounts in the Bible of people asked to endure significantly more than putting on a scarf or head covering.

Did Job feel like he got a raw deal?

Do Christians who suffered severe persecution, beatings, and painful deaths get a fair deal compared to you and me?

How about His only begotten Son – what did He deserve?

Having a proper perspective is essential.

We are discussing head covering instructions for both sexes.

Being asked to wear or not wear something is not harsh or unfair to either gender. It’s just what we are told to do.

A scarf or head covering is a symbol showing the woman understands and yields to her position of a rank underneath men in general. Significantly, this does not mean a woman must be in submission to every male or every man. She does not because the headship under discussion in 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 is not about a woman’s submission to her husband in marriage.

It is about submission to God!

Woman being the glory of man while man is the glory of God certainly does not sound like “equality.” There’s a reason for that.

It’s not equality – just like a worker is not equal to his supervisor in rank – God appointed the woman in a role underneath the man.

The fact that I can’t dribble, jump, and score in basketball means that I am not equal to those NBA players who get massive contracts to play. Whether I like it or not, I am not equal.

The traffic cop is not equal to the Chief of Police. So what, he’s not equal to the head honcho!

People (who want everyone to be “equal”) don’t like the fact that God gives man a different rank – a higher rank than a woman – they don’t like that God says man is superior in rank.

Yes, I know! I just said the man has a superior rank. Well, it’s just like in the military where superior officers have a higher rank. God assigns our rank and we are in no position to argue.

Rank has absolutely nothing to do with the value of women to Him.

Women are made in the image of God, just like men. God loves women!

God loves me just as much as those NBA players who jump, dribble, and score a lot of points on the court.

Many professed Christians don’t like the notion that God has rules for headgear.

God is well aware people will reject His design. “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.” Matthew 7:13 NKJV

The Creator does not need my approval or yours. He is God! He can make any rules and impose any symbols that He chooses!

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The head covering commands carry theological significance that is precarious to overlook and ignore.

“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. For man is not from woman, but woman from man. Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man. For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.” 1st Corinthians 11:7-10 NKJV (Bold added)

Paul takes the symbols of proper head attire all the way back to the creation of mankind. He spells out that woman was created for man, not the other way around.

Consider verses 7-10 quoted above with an eye towards the bigger picture that we see from Genesis.

Genesis 2:15-22 NKJV “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.

And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.” (Bold added)

From the foregoing in Genesis, we learn that:

–Man was created first, before woman.
–Man was created from the dirt.
-Woman was taken from Adam’s rib.
-Adam was told not to eat of the tree before Eve was even on the scene.
–Adam named the animals, not Eve.
-God named Adam; Adam named Eve.
-Eve was made to be a help meet for Adam.

Paul says the root of the head covering commands goes all the way back to Adam and Eve
and the creation account. This strongly indicates that head covering is serious, not just a cultural phenomenon in Corinth.

Scripture that carries a significant theological emphasis requires greater weight to be given to the importance of the passage. That’s my opinion, you will have to make up your own mind.

Throughout the scriptures, God uses types in the physical realm to depict the spiritual realm.

Types are a common means used in the Bible to show us the heavenly domain with earthly types because we can not see the spiritual world. It is hidden from us. Therefore, the Bible uses things in our physical world that we can see and understand to illustrate the spiritual world to us.

The creation account including the order or sequence is spelled out in the Bible for a reason. These show us: (1) God’s plan, (2) His design, and (3) His purposes (to the limited extent that He reveals these things to us).

The theological significance closely connected to the head covering instructions should not be shrugged off. The culture may not like God’s thoughts on the roles and ranks of men and women, but Christians in God’s army had better not disregard God’s directives.

Those who discount the theology behind the head covering give excuses that fall short of
sound logic and a fair-minded approach to 1st Corinthians Chapter 11.

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