Question: 1 Corinthians 11:4-14 takes about a man dishonoring his head by covering it when praying; and that a man brings shame unto himself by wearing long hair. Does this mean that it is wrong for a man to have long hair? What is the significance of this portion of the Bible?

Pastor Chris Proffer:
So, we go straight 1 Corinthians 11 and I want to read from verse 1, so that you can be in good perspective with this and I might even take you to the previous chapter a little later. Alright 1 Corinthians 11:1 “Be ye followers of me, even as I am of Christ. Vs 2 “Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. Vs 3 “But 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. Vs 4 “Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. Vs 5 “But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth... Read More Pastor Chris Proffer:
So, we go straight 1 Corinthians 11 and I want to read from verse 1, so that you can be in good perspective with this and I might even take you to the previous chapter a little later. Alright 1 Corinthians 11:1 “Be ye followers of me, even as I am of Christ. Vs 2 “Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. Vs 3 “But 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. Vs 4 “Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. Vs 5 “But every woman that prayeth or prophesiethh her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. Vs 6 “For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. Vs 7 “For Man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. Vs 8 “For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Vs 9 “Neither was man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. Vs 10 “For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels. Vs 11Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. Vs 12 “For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all the things of God. Vs 13 “Judge in yourselves; is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Vs 14 “Doth not even nature itself teach you, that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? Vs 15 “But if a woman have long hair, it is glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering. Vs 16 “For if any man seem contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.” Alright, Question; does this mean it is wrong for a man to have long hair? What is the significance of this portion of the Bible? How long is long? How long is long hair. I’m not sure that the Bible, in any place in the bible or in Bible history was a definite length that was given for a man’s hair to grow after which it becomes long. We have to understand here what the teaching is about by being in the context, understanding the context of presentation and so, I am going to take you in the previous chapter, so you will know where Paul was coming from in this teaching here and so you can understand the instructions, so this is chapter 11 and so will would move backwards here to chapter 10 and pick a comfortable place because it’s a long chapter he dealt with so many different things and I will go straight to 1 Corinthians 10 verse 31 “whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. You see in that chapter, you see in that chapter 10, he addressed several issues in the house of God and that he also talked about their environment, others amongst whom they lived and the things that had happened between them and others and so he got here over in the 31st verse, he says “whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Vs 32 “give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:
Look at that again, he says don’t offend anyone, don’t offend the Jews, don’t offend the gentiles and don’t offend the church of God. What is he dealing with here, he is talking about our way of Life. The things we do should be to the glory of God and we should not become an offence to those around us whether the Jews, the Gentiles or to the church of God for that matter.
Look at that verse 33 “Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.
Now remember the Bible was not written in chapter and verses and so we might has well read all the way to chapter 11 because that is the way it was written. It was written in chapter and verses; chapter and verses were given for easy reference. So, the way Paul wrote it will go from verse 33 chapter 10 into verse one chapter 11 as a continuous passage of his letter. So, read again from verse 33 “Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. 1 Corinthians 11:1 “Be ye followers of me, even as I follow Christ.”
He says hey! Don’t be an offence to the Jews or Gentiles or to the church of God even as I please all men around me, I please everybody, I don’t want to do it for my own profit, I do it for the profit of others for their salvation because I want them to be saved then he goes on to say copy my example that’s the beginning of verse 11, copy my example as I also I am following Christ. Then he says in verse 2 “Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.”
Then he brought up and new thought in verse 3 “That I will have you know, so it is still in the context of dealing with our environment, we are dealing with those around and so he comes up with this customary thing about men covering their hair or not covering their hair, women covering their head or not covering their head and, in that society, they cover their head and so he compared it to natural situations. He is trying to say look this custom is alright there is nothing wrong with it, he says judge yourselves. I mean it is wrong he says men have short hair; women have long hair because the long hair was giving to them for covering. So, if in a society we find that this group covers and the other group doesn’t cover, he says hey, I want you follow what’s available there not be an offense.
Now, look at this because when they went into the churches, the Gentiles were there, the Jews were there, they also came to the churches for the Jews, the women vailed their hair as in submission, a sign of submission to their husbands. They covered their hair, it was a sign of humility, that’s what it was and then the Gentiles also did the same thing, they covered their hair and those who were caught in prostitution shaved as a sign of disgrace and then those women who were harlots went around without covering their hair. So, it was a sign either a woman had been caught in harlotry or was a harlot. If she was caught she will be shaved, if she was out patronizing those who are coming for her, she left her head as a sign that she wasn’t under any man and so Paul said if you are not going to cover then also be shaved because it is the same thing.
If you are ashamed to be shaved then why don’t you get covered, do he was dealing here with a customary thing, this is very important, it’s very important because of what we are going to see a little later. So, he was dealing here with a customary thing and then he related it to natural circumstances and said hey, is it alright for a man to pray with his head covered because see he is the image of God. Let’s go there, he says here in, from verse 7 “For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and the glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. Verse 8 “for the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. And then he says in verse 13 “Judge in yourselves; is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?
Verse 14 “Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
So, he is here looking at a customary thing that was not offensive to Christianity and that had something to do with natural teaching and he says this is okay and I want you to act this way, see remember something, the priest of the old testament covered their hair, they covered their head, in their full regalia the high priest had his hair covered, did God not hear is prayer? So, this is not a suggestion all by the apostle Paul that men should be uncovered because the priest was a man and God gave the instructions and Paul is looking at natural circumstances and so we have to understand that he wasn’t given a law to the church. Incidentally, because of this paroral view by many even some of the translations of the bible are misleading in this regard. I am going to show you something In a few verses down here, so it doesn’t mean that a man must not have long hair but we already understand that naturally when a man has very long hair it does get the attention of those around us. You know is much like smoking for example but the Bible doesn’t say anything about smoking and if you were smoking around certain Christians they are going to be surprised they say hey men why because they think it’s a dirty habit, they think something is wrong with it , you know many things like that the Bible doesn’t say anything about but naturally around us the people will be raising eye braw, okay they are raising eye braw because of what you are doing not because that thing is wrong necessarily in the sight of God but around you, they will be Judged wrong and that’s what the Bible teaches us how to behave in the sight of God and that’s actually the submission of Paul’s talk here. Now, let me show you something, I am going to read from verse 14 to the end of that particular discussion which is 16. Verse 14 “Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? Verse 15 “But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering. So, you see her hair is given her for a covering why must she need a vail? So, this are expressions of symbolisms. Okay, notice something verse 16 “But if any man seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God”. Now that’s the scripture that many have wrongly translated and held to these things and we must have the women cover their hair and the man not cover their hair and they forget that this is not exactly what the scripture is presenting at all because the priest cover their hair and they were the ones who to lead the prayers to God, you see Verse 16 “But if any man seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God”.
Now some have said that these scriptures means that we have no other custom except custom of hair covering, that’s not what Paul was saying, what he is saying here is very simple, if any man seems to be contentious, If you want to become argumentative, actually he said if you are fond of argument, that’s the expression of the word that was translated “contentious”. The Greek word means to be fond of argument, to be argumentative as a way of life as an attitude to life. That’s what he is saying, now he says we have no such custom, when he says we have no such custom he is not referring to the custom of covering hair, it means we have no such, the Greek word is SUMITIA which means attitude, means a way of doing things, it means we have no such way of this argumentative behavior. So, if you want to be argumentative about these things, we don’t have that kind of life style we are not going to argue with you, we are not to join issues with you that’s exactly what he is saying, we will not join issues with you, if any man is man is going to be contentious about it, we are not going to join issues with you. If you are fond of argument, you love argument because of these things that I have said, he says hey, we don’t have that attitude and the churches of God don’t have that attitude, so we are not going to argue with you, so wasn’t referring to the custom of covering hair or not covering hair, so don’t make an issues out of it, don’t make an issues out of it, with definite length of hair that makes a man hair long or that makes a man’s hair short and it is important not become offensive to our society in a way in structure of our society that is the teaching he was giving us. So has long as those things that are demanded of us or desired of us not offensive to God Less