Category: Devotions

MacArthur observed well, “Men and women have distinctive physiologies in many ways. One of them is in the process of hair growth on the head. Hair develops in three stages—formation and growth, resting, and fallout. The male hormone testosterone speeds up the cycle so that men reach the third stage earlier than women. The female hormone estrogen causes the cycle to remain in stage one for a longer time, causing women’s hair to grow longer than men’s. Women are rarely bald because few even reach stage three. This physiology is reflected in most cultures of the world in the custom of women wearing longer hair than men.”¹

Clarke also observes interestingly, “The Nazarites let their hair grow, but it was as a token of humiliation; and it is possible that St. Paul had this in view. There were consequently two reasons why the apostle should condemn this practice: – 1. Because it was a sign of humiliation; 2. Because it was womanish.”

He urged the Corinthian Christians to be willing to objectively judge for themselves by a rhetorical question that begs a negative answer. It is not proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered. It was a custom at that time for woman entering into God’s presence veiled. It was a mark of propriety and modesty for the woman to be veiled.

The Apostle Paul exhorts the man to see the mutual dependence between the man and the woman and warns him not to be puffed up because of the prominence that God places upon him because he was created first. The man is in need of the woman’s help as much as the woman is in need of the man’s help. They are the useful one to the other. This is God’s creative order too.

William MacDonald observed well, “Because of her position of subordination to man, the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head. The symbol of authority is the head-covering and here it indicates not her own authority but subjection to the authority of her husband.”

The Apostle Paul reiterates the creation account for our learning that God created the woman out of the rib of Adam as a companion because he was lonely. As such, the emphasis is on the headship of the man in the creative order.

The custom of covering the head signifies one who is in subjection. This is contrary to what a man ought to be as Matthew Poole puts it well, “to uphold the power, pre-eminence, and authority with which God hath invested him.”

God made man to own the headship of His creation – Genesis 1:26-28 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

William Macdonald observed well, “In verses 7–10, Paul teaches the subordination of the woman to the man by going back to creation. This should forever lay to rest any idea that his teaching about women’s covering was what was culturally suitable in his day but not applicable to us today. The headship of man and the subjection of woman have been God’s order from the very beginning.”

It is observed well, “In Paul’s day, a woman should cover her head. If she failed to do this, she dishonoured not only her own head but also showed disrespect to her husband. She ought to have respected her husband by wearing a head covering in public…We must consider these words in the cultural context of first-century Corinth.” [Hendricksen] Amen

William MacDonald observed insightfully, “Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonours his head, that is, Christ. It is saying, in effect, that the man does not acknowledge Christ as his head. Thus it is an act of gross disrespect.”