Should a Woman wear a Head Covering in Church?

There are some denominations that hold that a woman must cover her head in 
Church meetings with a veil or hat, including the Catholics, some Brethren and 
Mennonite groups, the Amish, and so on. What does the Bible say about this? 
The belief that women must cover their heads comes from this portion of 
scripture:

I Corinthians 11: 3-16 Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is 
Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Every 
man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. And 
every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her 
head--it is just as though her head were shaved. 

If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is 
a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her 
head. A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; 
but the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but 
woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. For 
this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of 
authority on her head. 

In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent 
of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But 
everything comes from God. Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to 
pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not the very nature of things teach 
you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has 
long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. 

If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice--nor do 
the churches of God. 

Alternate reading in NIV of I Corinthians 11:4-7 is: Or [4] Every man who prays or 
prophesies with long hair dishonors his head. [5] And every woman who prays or 
prophesies with no covering [of hair] on her head dishonors her head--she is just 
like one of the "shorn women." [6] If a woman has no covering, let her be for now 
with short hair, but since it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair shorn or 
shaved, she should grow it again. [7] A man ought not to have long hair since he 
is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.

I believe that a woman's head covering is her hair (I Corinthians 11:15 "For long 
hair is given to her as a covering" long of course is a relative term!) ... and I don't 
worry about it ... but a woman has the right to cover her hair with a veil or hat if 
she desires to do so. 

"Having long hair" in Greek is one word komao {kom-ah'-o} meaning to let the 
hair grow, have long hair. Covering in Greek is peribolaion {per-ib-ol'-ah-yon} 
meaning a covering thrown around, a wrapper, a mantle, a veil.

Also about men NOT having long hair ... what was "short" in Biblical times? A lot 
longer than our culture says is short today ... The Romans usually wore very 
short hair - look at the statues of the Caesar's ... but the male Jew wore his hair 
much longer, below the shoulders, but it was still shorter than women's.

"Shaved" in v. 5 in Greek is xurao {xoo-rah'-o} (from a word meaning a razor) 
meaning 1) to shear, shave 2) to get one's self shaved. [Hair] "cut off" in Greek is 
keiro {ki'-ro} meaning 1) to sheer: a sheep 2) to get or let be shorn 3) of shearing 
or cutting short the hair of the head.

So the whole idea of being shaved or shorn (having a very short haircut) has the 
idea of robbing a woman of her glory. In Biblical days, a woman's head was 
shaved because she had committed a shameful act or perhaps she was showing 
rebellion. 

The deal about head coverings, veils, shaved heads, etc. also had to do with 
female priestesses and prophetesses in pagan religions. A prophetess would 
typically either prophesy with unbound, uncombed hair, or with her head shaved. 
There was a pagan "oracle" at Delphi that practiced this in those days. The 
angels referred to here may have something to do with fallen angels The only 
reason I can see why an angel would be attracted to a woman with a shaved 
head was because it WAS a sign of a priestess and maybe an open invitation to 
a delphic spirit. 

Or perhaps a shaven or shorn head was a sign that a woman was not submitting 
to her husband's protective covering, and was an open invitation for harassment 
by demonic forces. For the husband would come under the headship and 
protective covering of Christ, and the wife under the headship and protective 
covering of her husband.

In verse 10, Paul says that "the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her 
head". It is interesting that one meaning of "authority", exousia in Greek is " the 
sign of regal authority, a crown. In the Bible we are told that a woman's hair is her 
"glory", and that she is her husband's crown.

Proverbs 12:4 A wife of noble character is her husband's crown, but a disgraceful 
wife is like decay in his bones. 

Another thought on I Corinthians 11 - is this a passage that is applicable to all 
places at all times... or was it a cultural problem that specifically spoke to first 
century customs ... and although the principles remain, the customs do not? You 
notice in this passage that Paul does not present it as "thus sayeth the Lord", but 
as a custom or usual practice (v. 16). Notice in verse 23, the part about the 
Lord's Supper, Paul claims that his directives concerning that were "received 
from the Lord". Isn't this part of "rightly dividing" the Word of God?

If we are to apply I Corinthians 11:3-16 LITERALLY, then we should all be 
wearing full Bible costumes on a daily basis. Surely that's not what God desires 
or Paul meant here? Being saved by grace are we to go back to works? I do 
believe in marital (not gender) submission of the wife to the husband, and the 
principle of not dishonoring her husband (her head). 

In Biblical days, women were unveiled until marriage, and covering their hair with 
a veil was a sign 1) that she was married and no longer available and 2) that she 
was in submission to her husband. Having her hair unbound and unveiled in 
those days was a sign of having loose morals, viz. the woman who unbound her 
hair and washed Jesus feet with her tears was called a sinful woman. Did Jesus 
rebuke her for not covering her head? No! In another instance Mary of Bethany 
unbound her hair and did the same thing. When rebuked by Judas, Jesus said, 
leave her alone! (John 12:1-8, Luke 7:36-50) 

Anyhow, today we do not veil women and hairdos have nothing to do with marital 
status. So how does a woman honor her marital head in worship? To me, it 
means to respect his authority, to follow his lead, and not to worship in such a 
way to embarrass him. I've seem women who were braying nags, who dragged 
their husbands around and treated them like inferior beasts because they weren't 
as "spiritual" as the women thought they were. You know what I'm talking about. 

Also I see a real danger when a woman feels this way of her getting into some 
kind of independent ministry ... coming out from under the covering of her head 
... and opening her home to attack from satan. So in the first century, unveiling 
her head was a sign that a woman was NOT under her hubby's authority ... not 
sure what the 20th century equivalent would be.... Whatever would denote 
rebellion.

We are running into a lot of judgementalism these days ... A new believer comes 
to Christ and all of a sudden, he/she has got to measure up to someone's ideal 
OUTSIDE instead of us loving them unconditionally and letting the Holy Spirit 
change them on the INSIDE. And letting Jesus tell them what to do on the 
outside ... and accepting them even if outside they don't look like our 
preconceived ideas of what a Christian should LOOK like. And not confusing our 
Christian identity with cultural biases and custom. In Romans 14 Paul tells us that 
in "disputable matters" such as head coverings, we are at liberty to chose for 
ourselves ... just don't judge someone else who makes a different choice. 

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