Comments on Christian Unity: First Corinthians: Head Coverings

Greetings,i have just started covering my head now...

2008-11-11T17:15:00.000-08:00

Greetings,

i have just started covering my head now when go to church or bible study ppl say I look like a muslim oh well. Im trying to make sure that I reach God when I pray so GOD let your will be done in my life and in others life. I just want to do what GOD says to do ppl may stare I dont care I love GOD that much to obey him obiendance is better than sacrifice. So God bless all the woman thats just start to cover there heads.

Hello brother in Christ from your North River Sist...

2008-09-27T19:22:00.000-07:00

Hello brother in Christ from your North River Sister.

I found your blog in my search for head coverings info on the net. I have spent hours after hearing Bercot last week.

I think I am at the same conclusion as you.

hi my 2 bobs worth goes like this. paul says its a...

2008-06-28T06:58:00.000-07:00

hi my 2 bobs worth goes like this. paul says its a sign of authority or power on the womans head when she prays or prophesies and also its because of the (angels) one more thing if the man prays or prophesies with his head covered he dishohours JESUS, i cannot see any of these things as cultural, or for the times past, as men, women, praying, prophesing, covering, angels, hair, power ,or heads, men, GOD, JESUS, have changed, but what has changed is mens stedfastness to do GODS will, i red an interesting scripture this morning in john 8-44 where JESUS refers to satan when he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources. i believe given the warnings for the days we live in, we need to not speak out of our own resources or understanding but pay the more earnest attention to the things that are written in GODS word its interesting we seem to be going up a track that israel went up many times where they all did what was right in there own eyes, or resources, how instead of saying its no big deal to pray or prophesy with our heads covered so just in case we will cover them, if it has something to do with the angels i dont think its worth the risk of erring on the side of slackness thats all i want to say thankyou

Hi MellieThanks for adding to the discussion. I d...

2008-03-01T09:51:00.000-08:00

Hi Mellie

Thanks for adding to the discussion. I do think Matthew Henry's comment would be more persuasive if the scriptures themselves made the command conditional upon the current customs, as MH did. I'm not comfortable allowing a fallible human judgment to be given precedence over what is literally stated in scripture.

To Harmony:good points, though I found interesting...

2008-03-01T09:19:00.000-08:00

To Harmony:

good points, though I found interesting this quote from bible commentator Matthew Henry written in 1706: "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 being covered superiority and dominion. And this will help us the better to understand, ...." I mention it only to say that there have been different views throughout history about meaning of a headcovering.

salguod:Historically speaking, it has only been in...

2008-01-29T07:33:00.000-08:00

salguod:

Historically speaking, it has only been in the last half century or so that women have not worn coverings regularly. Up until the 60's, it was extremely common to see married women wearing hats or bonnets or something - especially in church. And think how common it is for men to take off their hats before doing something they consider solemn, like coming into church or taking a vow. The nun's habit is a modern version of the clothing that many women wore in the Middle Ages. And, going even further back, the early church had issues with this passage, too. Tertullian wrote about the veiling of virgins, debating whether it was only married women who needed to be covered, whether the covering could be sheer (like a bridal veil of today), and whether a woman should even wear the coving in the privacy of her own house. But at that point in church history, there was no doubt that the passage still applied.

Also, Paul is very reluctant to give commands based on culture. And when he does, he uses reasoning more like that of Romans 14 (do it for the sake of your brother) than the more universal reasoning he uses in this passage.

I'll be honest: I don't like this passage. I tried for about 6 years to get around it. But in the end, I couldn't do it.

I think it connects to us today in the same way th...

2008-01-28T17:29:00.000-08:00

I think it connects to us today in the same way that any other biblical teaching connects to us. If we can discard the woman's head covering because things are somehow different today, why not also discard the teachings on subjects like homosexuality, or adultery, or baptism, or communion, or any other subject on which we would like to do things differently?

I should clarify. I agree, that a woman should co...

2008-01-28T17:22:00.000-08:00

I should clarify. I agree, that a woman should cover her head is the plain reading of the text, no doubt.

What seems disconnected is how it relates to the culture of today. It seems to come from left field. There's no mention of such coverings in the rest o the NT for sure, and I cannot recall it being mentioned in the OT either. It certainly isn't common today, so I wonder where it comes from.

So while it seems plain as day what he was directing the Corinthian women to do, how it connects to us now is much more tenuous for me.

To me this seems to be the plain and obvious meani...

2008-01-27T19:35:00.000-08:00

To me this seems to be the plain and obvious meaning of the passage. The views that eliminate the need for head coverings are the ones that seem forced to me.

My sister once held to this conviction, but I don'...

2008-01-27T18:48:00.000-08:00

My sister once held to this conviction, but I don't think she does anymore.

I have to admit that I find the arguments for it a little forced, but I can't say that it's because I don't want to believe it or not. The logic seems to follow, but it feels like a path of logic where the end is so far from where you started, you wonder if you made all the correct turns a long the way.

Then again, maybe I just would prefer to disagree, so I do.

I'm always surprised when folks I look up to and respect come out with contrary opinions to what I believe on something. Of course, it mostly means nothing on matters oc conscience such as this.

Still, I feel a moments twinge of doubt. Pavlovian response from the days when we all had to agree on everything.