(Painting: "A Praying Italian Woman," by Martinus Rørbye, 1836, oil on canvas)
- Paul’s Aims – To understand this
passage, we need to keep in mind the context of what Paul is trying to achieve.
He doesn’t seem to be concerned with gender status (see verses 11-12), so it
must be about something else.
o
#1 – (Practical) Paul wants the
Corinthian women, who apparently have been coming to worship and offering
public prayers and prophecies without head coverings, to scale it back a bit
and put their head coverings back on. This seems to be mostly because it is
culturally inappropriate in their specific context for the women to be without
coverings. (Scholars speculate that with the arrival of Christianity, which was
a radically liberating message for women in the 1st century, some
women took it a little too far and expressed their newfound spiritual freedom
in ways that would have brought cultural shame on the new Christian
community—in this case, by leaving aside head coverings in a local culture
where it would have been considered immodest for women to do so.)
o
#2 – (Theological) Paul wants to put
the men/women issue in the wider context of a theology of worship. The way the
church worships is his predominant concern throughout chapters 11-14. (Note:
his main idea, then, does not concern either gender status or family structure,
but rather the way that male and female roles carry symbolic meaning in the
church’s worship).
-
v. 3
o
Here
is one of the most important clues to this passage, and the point at which most
of our surface-level English readings of the passage go wrong. The word for
“head” in Greek is kephale, which is
the word Paul uses here. However, this word had a different set of metaphorical
meanings in Greek than it does in English. In English, it makes us think almost
immediately about authority (such as
when we talk about “heads of state”). This was far and away not the most common
way to read this word in the Greek, however—very, very seldom is kephale used to give a metaphorical
meaning close to “authority.” (Such a metaphor wouldn’t have made sense to
them, anyway, since they considered the “directive” parts of anatomy to be in
the chest, not the head.) A much more plausible metaphor is that of “source,”
which is how Greeks commonly used kephale.
(In English, our word “head” still retains some of this function when we talk
about “headwaters” or a “fountainhead.”) Thus, Paul is saying that Christ is
man’s source, and woman’s source is man. This reading is confirmed
by Paul’s later allusion to the Genesis account of Eden (see vv. 8-9); and of
course that story shows that Adam’s source was from God, and Eve’s was from
Adam. Thus Paul is using the analogy of the creation story to describe the
symbolic roles of men and women in worship, not any sort of authority structure
that divides them.
o
Note:
depending on what translation you use, you might find references to “woman” all
the way through, or you may find a distinction between “wife” and “woman.” This
distinction does not appear in the Greek. Only one word, gune, is used throughout the passage. This word can mean either
“woman” or “wife” depending on context. My interpretation is that in this
passage, Paul is talking about the symbolic roles of men and women in worship
(not marriage), so “woman” should be used throughout. Just be aware that if
your translation switches over to “wife” on occasion, that’s just an
interpretive choice of the translator, not a distinction within the original
text itself.
-
v. 4
o
When
Paul says, “…dishonors his head,” note that he’s referring not to the physical
organ, but the metaphorical image he just established. In other words, if
Corinthian men were to pray with their heads covered (against the
culturally-appropriate bounds of modesty), it would dishonor Christ.
o
Note
that this is clearly a culturally, locally-bound command. Paul cannot be
thinking of this as a universal command, because Jewish men (including,
presumably, himself) did pray with their heads covered. The important point is
the metaphorical symbolism that Paul is setting up, and he wants that to be
played out in ways that are culturally appropriate in the Corinthian context.
-
v. 5
o
Again,
if “head” means “source,” then Paul is saying that women uncovering their heads
dishonors man. The word that Paul uses for “man” is the Greek word that
specifically refers to the male gender, but many commentators feel that he is
extending that meaning in some parts of this passage to include all of
humanity—i.e., women ought not to go uncovered because it would dishonor their
symbolic position of representing humanity in the relationship of worship.
o
Notice
that the women in Corinth are publicly “prophesying” in worship, and that Paul
doesn’t censure them for it here—this is a hint that he actually does give
equal status and great freedom to women.
-
v. 6
o
Here
Paul uses a bit of hyperbole to jab at those Corinthians who flaunt cultural
conventions by uncovering their heads: “Why not just shave off all your hair,
then? Oh, because that wouldn’t be appropriate? Well, going without a head
covering isn’t appropriate in your context either, so stop doing it.”
-
v. 7
o
Here’s
the central text for my way of interpreting this passage. This is a highly
debated passage, but this is what makes most sense to me. Paul says here that in
worship, men and women worshippers are actually symbolic metaphors that should
remind us of what worship is all about. Since man came from God as his source,
man’s position in worship is a reminder of the glory of God. Worship is all
about God, not about us (i.e., not a place to flaunt our own “glory” and so
take attention away from God), so the fact that men don’t wear head coverings
in Corinth can be taken as a reminder that the glory of God should be unveiled
and magnified in worship. Women, on the other hand, symbolically represent
humanity, because they came from man. In worship, the glory of man is not on
center stage; it ought to be veiled so that we can concentrate our attention on
the glory of God. Thus, in the Corinthian context, the fact that women should
be veiled for modesty’s sake will serve as a reminder that worship is about
focusing on God’s glory, not on ourselves.
-
vv. 8-9
o
Here
Paul clearly invokes the example of the Adam and Eve story, which he has been
alluding to the whole way. Since that story is much more about “source” (and
partnership) than about “authority” where men and women are concerned (male
authority only enters the story clearly as part of the “curse” in Genesis 3,
and thus it can’t be considered as part of God’s original design for humanity),
this adds credence to our hypothesis about Paul’s use of “head” as “source.”
-
v. 10
o
This
verse gives us a clue that we’re on the right track in thinking about this
passage as being all about worship. Paul says that women should wear head
coverings “because of the angels.” The most plausible explanation of what he
means has to do with imagining worship the way that the early church did (and
the way that Eastern Orthodox churches still do): when we worship, it is not
just the local church worshiping. Our worship is a microcosm of the worship of
the entire Kingdom of God, and we actually participate in the eternal worship
of the angels and the departed saints around the throne of God. As such, Paul
reminds them that in their worship, angels are also present—all the more reason
for women to behave modestly! (An alternative interpretation thinks that the "because of the angels" line refers to the way that angelic beings were entranced by women's beauty back in antediluvian days [see Gen. 6:1-2], and Paul wants to make sure that Christian women aren't similarly seducing any wanton angels with their alluring tresses.)
o
This
verse also adds the interesting phrase that says that a woman should have a
“symbol of authority on her head,” which refers to the head covering itself.
This is almost always misinterpreted. Most readers take it to mean that the
head covering is a symbol that the woman is under
authority. But in Greek, if Paul had meant to say that, he probably would
have used the word for “subjection,” not “authority.” The word for “authority”
(exousia) is only used in Greek
relating to things that have authority
or power. Thus, Paul seems to be saying that the head coverings are a symbol
of the woman’s own authority. This makes sense if she is representing the
place of humanity in worship, because the same Adam & Eve story that Paul
has in mind is very clear that humanity is in a position of tremendous
authority over all creation.
-
vv. 11-12
o
Here
Paul realizes that maybe some readers might have misinterpreted him and may think
that he’s been making a case for the subjection of women. To set them straight,
he declares in no uncertain terms the equal status of men and women in Christ.
In fact, he begins v.11 by taking women down a notch (“woman is not independent
of man”), which would make no sense unless he had just finished giving a
teaching about the freedom and authority of women. (Note: a few translations
reverse the order of this verse, putting “man is not independent of woman”
first—this is not the way the sentence is structured in Greek; Paul actually
addresses himself to the women first.) Paul declares both genders
complementary, neither independent of the other, and then goes on to remind the
men that although in a symbolic sense (thanks to the Genesis allusion), they
have their source in God, in an individual sense they all have their sources
from a woman. Paul wants to make sure that the men don’t take his metaphorical
interpretation too far and use it to proclaim men’s total authority over women.
-
vv.13-16
o
Having
finished his theological vision of man and woman in worship, he returns to his
practical concern: getting those Corinthian women to put their head coverings
back on so that they don’t scandalize the neighbors. He even points to the fact
that in most cultures, women have longer hair than men, and says, in effect,
“See! Even nature is trying to cover your head! So don’t do away with head
coverings!”