I was recently asked what I thought about the command in 1 Cor. 11:1-16 that women should wear head coverings in worship.I have read several different takes on this passage over the years, but the most persuasive explanation I've seen is from Matthew Henry. He argues that Paul's concern is for proper order in worship. In particular he is concerned that the natural order of creation be observed in the relations of men and women in the church. The role of head coverings in this is that, in Paul's day, head coverings were a symbol of submission. Henry points out that in his time, 1600s England, a covered head was a symbol of authority and an uncovered head signified submission. While symbols are not eternal but cultural and may therefore change over time, the realities signified are universal and must be observed always in Christ's church.
In short: no, women do not have to wear head coverings in our culture today, but they must still demonstrate a submissive spirit and avoid all appearance of desiring or trying to usurp the role of men in the church.
Here is an excerpt of Henry's commentary on this passage:
"In this chapter the apostle blames, and endeavours to rectify, some great indecencies and manifest disorders in the church of Corinth...(v. 1-16)...
I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. Christ, in his mediatorial character and glorified humanity, is at the head of mankind. He is not only first of the kind, but Lord and Sovereign. He has a name above every name: though in this high office and authority he has a superior, God being his head. And as God is the head of Christ, and Christ the head of the whole human kind, so the man is the head of the two sexes: not indeed with such dominion as Christ has over the kind or God has over the man Christ Jesus; but a superiority and headship he has, and the woman should be in subjection and not assume or usurp the man’s place. This is the situation in which God has placed her; and for that reason she should have a mind suited to her rank, and not do any thing that looks like an affectation of changing places...
To understand this, it must be observed that it was a signification either of shame or subjection for persons to be veiled, or covered, in the eastern countries, contrary to the custom of ours, where the being bare-headed betokens subjection... And this will help us the better to understand...the reasons on which he grounds his reprehension...
The man that prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonoureth his head, namely, Christ, the head of every man (v. 3), by appearing in a habit unsuitable to the rank in which God has placed him. Note, We should, even in our dress and habits, avoid every thing that may dishonour Christ. The woman, on the other hand, who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head, namely, the man, v. 3. She...throws off the token of her subjection. She might, with equal decency, cut her hair short, or cut it close, which was the custom of the man in that age. This would be in a manner to declare that she was desirous of changing sexes...Note, The sexes should not affect to change places. The order in which divine wisdom has placed persons and things is best and fittest: to endeavour to amend it is to destroy all order, and introduce confusion. The woman should keep to the rank God has chosen for her, and not dishonour her head; for this, in the result, is to dishonour God. If she was made out of the man, and for the man, and made to be the glory of the man, she should do nothing, especially in public, that looks like a wish of having this order inverted..."
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