Hey, Doesn’t the Bible Say the Hair is the Covering? What’s Up With This?

The knowledge that the woman’s hair is a covering isn’t exactly shocking or surprising to us.

A typical 3-year-old knows their hair covers their head, just ask them. “Hey, what’s on your head”?

So when we get to 1st Corinthians 11:15 to read the woman’s hair is given to her for a covering, there is really no disputing it!

Hair serves as a natural covering for both men and women.

Take a moment and read 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 so it is fresh in your mind.

The discussion in verses 4-6 is limited to times of prayer or prophesying.

If this were not the case, then whatever is being required of a man (or a woman) would be mandated at all times, not just prayer or prophesying.

This leads to the reasonable inference that any covering on the physical head of a man in verse 4 can be removed by the man before he enters into prayer or prophesying. The rest of the time the man is free to cover his head.

Likewise, in verse 5, a woman who is not covered can cure, fix, resolve, or correct the lack of a covering by taking some type of action before she enters into prayer or prophesying.

I’m no rocket scientist and not the brightest bulb in the room. But even I can see that if the woman’s hair is the covering reflected in 1 Corinthians 11:5-6, then the hair is also the covering for men in verse 4.

Whether cloth or hair, the covering in verses 4-6 applies to both men and women.

Stay Focused on the Context

Some people seem to lose sight of this concept that if the hair is truly the covering for the woman, then the hair is the covering for the man that must be removed before he prays or prophesies.

If hair is the covering under discussion in 1 Corinthians 11:1-16, then a man must shave his head to pray or prophesy. The text clearly instructs that a man is to be uncovered and a woman is to be covered.

We talk out of both sides of our mouths if we say that natural hair is the covering for the woman in verses 5-6 while simultaneously saying the hair on the man is not the covering in verse 4.

If the covering in verses 4-6 is the hair, then men need to shave their heads to remove the covering before prayer or prophesying (absent genetic baldness).

Consistency demands that the hair either is the covering or (is not the covering) at issue in 1 Corinthians 11:4-6. It is dishonest (I know this is a strong word) to say that hair is the covering for a woman, but not for a man. The two verses are right next to each other.

If A Woman’s Hair is the Covering; Why Would Paul Bring Up the Subject?

At the end of the day if the woman’s hair is the covering, then why have the discussion at all?

We should be focusing on the requirement for a man to shave his head to remove the covering before praying or prophesying.

No reputable Bible student or scholar to my knowledge takes the position that a man must shave his head to comply with Paul’s commands.

Our objective must therefore be to determine whether the woman’s hair literally serves as the covering identified in verse 5 (the position taken by many brethren).

Atheist Women Have Hair

Earlier I explained that appropriate head covering is a moral obligation, a duty, a debt owed to God so to speak.

Generally speaking, hair grows on the head of all women including atheist women.

It would seem odd that a Christian woman satisfies her moral obligation by naturally having hair on her head when an atheist woman has hair also.

The logical analysis is that the woman must fulfill her duty by taking some action, i.e., covering her head.

Look at the Reasons Paul Gives for Head Covering

Paul goes back to creation and brings angels into view. Head covering is about something much more significant than natural hair. We’ll get more into these thoughts a little later.

The context of 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 demonstrates there is far more to the issue than a woman having natural hair on her head unless you believe that Paul was simply babbling or jabbering regarding some nonessential point for half a chapter.

The letter is written through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We should take great care not to dismiss these verses as inconsequential and put forth a genuine effort to understand what is being said.

Anything the Holy Spirit says is important!

Consider the Greek Words that Paul Used

If Paul was talking about hair as being the covering in verses 4-5, then he could have used the Greek words “koma” or “kome” for hair.

Paul knows these Greek words because he uses them later on.

In verses 14 and 15, Paul uses two variations of the Greek word “koma” that is defined:

Strong’s Concordance 2863 [e]
komaó: to wear long hair
Original Word:
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: komaó
Phonetic Spelling: (kom-ah’-o)
Definition: to wear long hair
Usage: I wear the hair long, allow the hair to grow out.

The second Greek word is the feminine version “kome” that is defined:

Strong’s Concordance 2864 [e]
komé: hair
Original Word:
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: komé
Phonetic Spelling: (kom’-ay)
Definition: hair
Usage: hair, long hair.

Paul Doesn’t Use the Greek words for Hair in Verse 5

Now let’s go back up to 1st Corinthians 11:5 and read what Paul says:

“But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved.” 1st Corinthians 11:5 NKJV

Since Paul did not use the Greek words for hair until later, then this serves as a good indication that verse 5 is not talking about “hair” and therefore suggests an external cover is under discussion.

If Paul had meant “hair” in verse 5, then he would have used “kome” or the feminine term for hair. Since he didn’t, then we need to pay attention. These words were selected for a reason. These are the divine instructions through the Holy Spirit.

We also can see that the word “shaved” in English means something different than “uncovered” in verse 5.

The context of verse 5 implies that the woman already has naturally occurring hair and there is some action necessary before she enters into prayer or prophesying.

There is nothing in the text to cause us to believe these sisters in Corinth were all bald or shaved. If the sisters already had hair, then the covering under discussion must have been some artificial covering.

It’s Nonsense to Say “Shaved” and “Uncovered” Are the Same

It is nonsensical to suggest that “uncovered” and “shaved” are one and the same in verse 5.

Verse 5 says if the woman is uncovered, then this is the same as if her head were shaved.

It is clear in verse 5 that a woman being “uncovered” is not the absence of hair.

Indisputably, Paul is praising the women for wearing an external, artificial covering on their heads as one of the traditions that he gave to them. See verse 1, “. . . keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you.”

Paul did not deliver an instruction for the women to grow hair. He is talking about a moral duty to take action.

[I know he uses the word “traditions.” Remember this word in Greek isn’t about the traditions of men, but the apostolic traditions that are commands.

A Woman Praying Uncovered Should Have Her Head Shaved

“For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered.” 1st Corinthians 11:6 NKJV (Bold added)

Read it, if the woman is not covered, then she should be shaved.

Assuming for the sake of argument that uncovered means “bald”, then what would be the point in shaving the woman’s head?

If the woman is already bald (or doesn’t have hair), then shaving her won’t make a bit of difference. She is already bald.

God does not require anything from us that is outside our control. A woman may not have hair due to an illness or even genetics. To comply, a woman would need to find some way to grow hair to fulfill her moral obligation to be covered in prayer or prophesy.

However, any woman (with or without hair) can put a scarf or some type of covering over her head before she enters into prayer.

Let’s Double Check Just to Be Sure

I often test my own conclusions as a safety check on my thoughts and understanding.

Just to be sure that I am correct, let’s substitute the words in verse 6 to reflect the woman’s hair is the “covering” to see how the verse reads by switching the words around.

Here is verse 6 [modified] For if a woman [has no hair], let her be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her [have hair].

It is wacky to suggest that the woman with no hair needs to be shaved or shorn.

This cannot be the intent.

In Greek “covered” and “uncovered” have the same root meaning in verses 4-6.

It is clear that the man is to do one thing, while the woman is expected to do the exact opposite.

If the duty requires that a man uncover his head, then the corresponding duty requires just the opposite, i.e., the woman is to cover her head with an external covering.

If uncovered is not about a man being expected to shave his head before praying or prophesying, then the root word likewise is not a reference to a woman being given hair for the covering.

Yeah, But The Bible Says the Hair is The Covering!

The Bible does say the woman’s hair is given to her for a covering.

1st Corinthians 11:13-15 NKJV reads:

“Judge among yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering.” (Bold added)

Ah ha! There it is!

Hair is given to the woman for a covering!

Okay, you got me! The Bible says the woman’s hair is given to her as “a” covering.

But before I concede the hair is the covering, how about we explore this position just a little more?

Yes, the words in verse 15 do say the hair is a covering for the woman, but is it the same covering in verses 4-5?

Don’t rule out the possibility that there is more than one covering under discussion.

A woman with a blouse or shirt has a covering.

When she pulls on a jacket in the winter months, she has a second covering. Both articles of clothing are coverings but for completely different purposes.

The blouse covers her for modesty whether Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter.

The jacket covers her for warmth in the colder seasons.

In verses 13-15, Paul is making an analogy. He is saying compare this to that.

Compare what we know from the physical world to the spiritual realm. If a woman is ashamed to go into public without natural hair, then how much more should she be ashamed to enter into the presence of God in prayer or prophesy without an external covering over her head?

In the physical world or nature, the woman has a covering, i.e., her hair. However, in the spiritual world, she needs a different covering to be pleasing to God.

Paul is not stating the woman’s hair is the covering identified in verses 5-6.

Stay with me and I will explain.

Rhetorical Questions Are a Literary Device Used to Persuade

A rhetorical question is used to persuade the audience (or cause the listener to think).

In our day, “How could you be so stupid?” is not a question asking someone to explain their lack of brain power.

The question is a tool to bring the listener to the conclusion, i.e., there was poor judgment involved in what they did.

“Judge among yourselves” is followed by a series of rhetorical questions. 1st Corinthians 11:13 NKJV

Paul is not asking the questions in verses 13 and 14 because he is trying to get answers to his questions.

Instead, Paul asks the questions to direct the listener to the answer that he wants them to reach on their own.

The Corinthians Well Knew What Paul Taught

Having lived in Corinth for 1.5 years, Paul knows the answer that he expects them to provide. He’s the one who taught them! See Acts 18:11establishing the time Paul spent in Corinth.

Paul expects anyone in Corinth reading his questions in verses 13-14 to already know the answer to each specific question. The questions are a manner of speech or a persuasive argument.

Reread the context of verse 15. The context of verse 15 is not in the spiritual realm, but here on earth in the flesh. Paul says the natural hair given to a woman in nature is for her glory. This glory is here and now on the earth.

If a woman has long hair, it is a glory for her – [ glory for whom ] – [glory for the woman].

The long hair of the woman is a gift from God for her personal glory.

The Greek Word for Glory is “Doxa”

The Greek word for glory is “doxa” and is defined as:

Strong’s Concordance 1391e
doxa: opinion (always good in N.T.), hence praise, honor, glory
Original Word:
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: doxa
Phonetic Spelling: (dox’-ah)
Definition: opinion (always good in NT), praise, honor, glory
Usage: honor, renown; glory, an especially divine quality, the unspoken manifestation of God, splendor.
HELPS Word-studies

1391 dóksa (from dokeo, “exercising personal opinion which determines value”) – glory. 1391 /dóksa (“glory”) corresponds to the OT word, kabo (OT 3519, “to be heavy”). Both terms convey God’s infinite, intrinsic worth (substance, essence).

[1391 (dóksa) literally means “what evokes good opinion, i.e. that something has inherent, intrinsic worth” (J. Thayer).] (Bold added)

I Mean Think About It For a Minute!

Is Paul asking the Corinthians to tell him that a woman’s hair is a covering?

The same question that a 3-year-old can happily provide the answer.

Of course not, that would be ridiculous!

So, what is Paul trying to communicate?

Look at Paul’s first rhetorical question: “is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered”? 1st Corinthians 11:13

The answer is obviously “No, it is not proper.”

If the answer is “Yes, it is proper for a woman to pray with her head uncovered, then there would be no reason for Paul to ask the question.

For that matter, there would be no need for Paul to have written anything about a covering on the woman’s head.

The next question Paul asks: “does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him”? 1 Corinthians 11:14

This second question is not asked because Paul is looking for an answer, but to get the reader to think. The question uses another literary device that we call an analogy.

An Analogy Is Much Like a Parable

Using an analogy is closely akin to a parable.

A parable is used to make a point that is not meant literally.

Jesus routinely taught Godly principles using earthly concepts and parables to teach people.

When Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” Mark 4:9 He was talking about people who were willing to accept whatever He had to say.

Jesus was not referring to people who had ears physically attached to the side of their heads.

In Luke Chapter 14, Jesus told the crowd they could not be His disciples unless they first hated their families (fathers, mothers, children, etc.). Luke 14:26

Jesus continued that if the disciples did not bear their own cross, then they could not be His disciples. Luke 14:27

Were These Sayings Difficult for the 1st-Century Folks to Understand?

You bet!

The teachings were so challenging to grasp that many turned away from following Jesus when He said they had to eat His body and drink His blood! John 6:53-58

What happened to those who stopped following Jesus?

The implication seems pretty clear. No one comes to the Father except through Christ. John 14:6

Should the 1st-century folks have continued to follow Jesus in humility and constant prayer for wisdom to understand the sayings?

That’s my opinion. Just because the words spoken by Jesus were challenging to comprehend, did not excuse the people who chose to stop following Him.

No Free Pass!

Similarly, for us today, just because some aspect of the New Testament may prove difficult for us to grasp does not give us a “free pass” to disregard or ignore it.

Is the “covering” question harder to understand than eat My body and drink My blood?

Maybe or maybe not – the concern should be, are we sincerely with honest hearts working to do whatever is asked of us?

What Is the Comparison that Paul Makes?

Let’s go back to the analogy in verses 13-15.

Paul is comparing the spiritual realm to our earthly existence to make his point.

He is saying compare the tradition that I gave you for the woman to be covered in the spiritual activity of prayer or prophesy. He compares the covering given to the woman in nature, i.e., our physical world to the covering a woman needs in prayer in the spiritual world.

Read 1 Corinthians 11: 15. The NKJV and the KJV both say the woman’s hair is for “a” covering, not “the covering.”


The woman needs her hair in the physical world for her glory, i.e., to feel attractive. She feels shame without hair.

In nature or the physical world, a woman’s hair covers her otherwise bald scalp to give her glory here on earth. The woman would not have this beauty without the hair covering the skin of her head. She would suffer personal dishonor from the lack of hair.

The hair being a woman’s glory remains a natural focal point even today. Show nearly any man a video or photograph of a woman with long and flowing hair and generally speaking the man will tell you that the hair captures his attention. He finds the woman’s hair beautiful and attractive.

Don’t believe me – take a look at the wig industry.

A woman with cancer undergoing chemo treatment that results in losing her hair typically feels embarrassed not to have hair. The shame and concern over her appearance seem to be hardwired or embedded in most females.

God’s Gift to a Woman is Her Hair

To avoid a woman feeling shame, nature has given her long hair for her glory. God is the One who ordered nature and arrayed the woman with hair to make her beautiful, i.e., her glory.

The woman’s hair in nature is given to the woman for her own [beauty] glory – the hair like all other attributes is a gift from God.

Thus, two different coverings are being compared from one to the other.

The hair is a covering in the physical realm. God gives the hair for a woman’s glory while here on the earth.

In the spiritual world, she needs a second covering. The external covering is a second and distinct covering for a different purpose than her hair.

The external covering needed for the spiritual world is not to make the woman more physically attractive.

Instead, the external covering is necessary to show that the woman recognizes her rank in God’s assigned chain of command.

Keeping the Distinction Between This World and the Spiritual

1 Corinthians 11:5-6 is about being in the presence of God in the spiritual realm.

When we pray (or prophesy), we engage in activity in a world where we cannot see or hear what is happening. Sure, we may hear the words in our ears in public prayer, but the communication is directed to God who sits on a throne in heaven.

The spiritual is quite different than our earthly existence. We are to live in the world, not be of the world. John 17:6-19 The kingdom of God is outside of this earth, it is a spiritual kingdom.

Paul is telling us to consider the natural world as a type of spiritual one.

He has already told us in verses 5-6 that a woman entering the spiritual kingdom in prayer and prophesy without an artificial covering on her head shows dishonor. He says that she should feel the same shame as having her head shaved.

A Gift and a Debt Are Different

The distinction between a gift and owing a debt is not hard for us to understand. A gift at Christmas isn’t the same thing as the credit card bill that comes in January!

So we shouldn’t mix up the debt owed to God with the gift given to the woman as we read 1 Corinthians 11:1-16.

The debt (moral obligation) that we owe is compliance with God’s head covering commands when in prayer or prophesying.

The gift to the woman is her hair gifted by God for her glory. We must not confuse the debt obligation that she owes with the appropriate head covering when she enters into the spiritual activities of prayer or prophesying.

This Christmas tell your wife and kids that the gift will arrive in the envelope from the credit card company (and those wrapped packages have to be returned to the store).

Trying to substitute the debt with the gift doesn’t work at Christmas (and it doesn’t work with God either).

God expects us to pay our debt (and fulfill our moral obligation).

Treating the Hair as The Covering Results in a Contradiction in the Scripture

If we choose to read verses 13-15 to say the hair is the covering discussed in verses 4-5, a conflict is created. I showed earlier in this post that the hair is not the woman’s covering under consideration in verses 4-5.

If the hair is the woman’s covering, then once again we are in the vicious cycle of needing to shave the woman who already doesn’t have hair.

On the other hand, reading verses 13-15 as a different covering than the one discussed in verses 4-5 allows for all 16 verses to be read with harmony. The scarf or veil is the covering for one purpose and the hair is a different kind of covering for another purpose.

Thus, no conflict between verses 4 -5 with verses 13-15.

Paul Compares Two Different Greek Words for the Coverings

In verses 13 and 14, Paul sets up his closing arguments for the woman to wear a veil with the Greek word (akatakalypton).

The Greek root word in verses 4-5 is “kata” or a derivative.

At the very end of Paul’s analogy, he uses a completely different word that is often translated as “covering.” The Greek word is “peribalaiou” which has the meaning “to wrap around, a wrapper, to throw around, a mantle.” 1 Corinthians 11:15

Paul uses the root word “kata” several times, but he only uses “peribalaiou” one time.

Why?

It stands to reason that it was not Paul’s intention to replace the artificial covering referenced in the earlier verses with natural hair.

I might ask you to get the things out of my truck. If you do not realize that I drive an SUV, then you may be searching the parking lot for a pickup truck. Both are trucks in our common vernacular, but both are distinct types of vehicles.

Paul is saying that by nature, the adorning of a woman’s hair has become her mantle. This mantle is a covering, but one to give glory to the woman.

This mantle is her glory and this glory is what ought to be covered.

To say that the woman’s hair is the mantle that equates to the veil or covering in the earlier verses ignores that Paul used a different Greek word.

A logical reading of 1st Corinthians 11:1-16 shows that hair is not a covering. Otherwise, men would have to shave their heads before praying or prophesying.

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