In the first letter we have that Paul sent to the Corinthians, he wrote to address some specific things. Firstly, there were serious issues in this church. They were divided, arguing, and following different human teachers. They also had a big issue with tolerating sin, even priding themselves on how forbearing they were toward a man in their congregation living and sleeping with his stepmother. Paul had to set them right, and he did so by comparing them to ancient Israel and explaining how the Passover and Festival of Unleavened Bread apply to the New Covenant church.

In the midst of all this, Paul also talked about proper conduct within a church community. One of those passages is labeled in the chapter and verse model of our modern Bibles as 1 Corinthians 11:1-16. It’s a passage most people skip over because it has to do with headcoverings and hair length for men and women. It’s the only place in the New Testament where this topic comes up, and it’s one that generates a lot of debate, offense, and division so we tend to ignore it completely. But we miss something important if we skip this passage, even if we don’t agree on how to interpret it.

The Headcovering Passage

People often approach this passage as just being about women’s headcoverings, but it’s addressed just as much to men. Paul opened this discussion by saying, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” and praising the Corinthians for maintaining “the traditions just as I passed them on to you” (1 Cor. 11:1, 2, NET). He then made a statement about authority in the churches (the ecclesia, or called-out ones) of God.

But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered disgraces his head. But any woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered disgraces her head, for it is one and the same thing as having a shaved head. 

1 Corinthians 11:3-5, NET

In my studies on this topic, I learned that culturally, Jewish men and women covered their heads with scarves or prayer shawls while Greek/Gentile men and women tended not to cover (though they could, mostly as a fashion choice). This passage would have involved a change for Jewish men as well as Gentile women. Men who covered their heads while praying needed to stop, and women who didn’t cover their heads while praying needed to start. Full disclosure, I do cover my head when at a church gathering or praying and studying at home. You can click here to learn more about why and the research I did into the topic.

Context For Paul’s Next Commands About Women

So why can’t we just skip over this divisive passage? For one thing, it’s part of the Bible and if we admit the Bible is the inspired word of God, then there is value in every part of it even if we’re not yet sure what to make of it. This is a significant reason to pay attention to 1 Corinthians 11:1-16, but it’s not the one that we’re going to focus on today. In this post, I want to focus on the important context clues this passage provides for interpreting other parts of the letter.

As the letter continued, Paul covered instructions for keeping Passover correctly (1 Cor. 11:17-34), spiritual gifts and unity in the body (1 Cor. 12), the “more excellent way” of agape love (1 Cor. 13), the use of prophecy or “inspired speaking” in the church (1 Cor. 14:1-25), and proper, orderly conduct during a church meeting (1 Cor. 14:26-40). Paul didn’t address the topic of women again directly until chapter 14, but since he started out this part of the letter by addressing how men and women properly pray and prophecy in the church (men with their heads uncovered, women with their heads covered), we can assume the discussions about keeping Passover, having spiritual gifts and using them properly, and love are addressed equally to men and women in the church. The NET even uses the phrase “brothers and sisters” when Paul addresses believers, because the whole church group is included when Paul uses the word “brethren” (adelphoi in Greek). We all have key roles to play, and very similar responsibilities and gifts.

Then, we come to a place where Paul again addressed women and men separately, with different instructions for each. It’s one of the infamous passages about women being silent in church.

What should you do then, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each one has a song, has a lesson, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all these things be done for the strengthening of the church. … Two or three prophets should speak and the others should evaluate what is said. … For you can all prophesy one after another, so all can learn and be encouraged. Indeed, the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, for God is not characterized by disorder but by peace.

As in all the churches of the saints, the women should be silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak. Rather, let them be in submission, as in fact the law says. If they want to find out about something, they should ask their husbands at home, because it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in church.

1 Corinthians 14:26, 29, 31-35, NET

If you read Paul’s statement about women being silent by itself, it sounds like women shouldn’t say a word the whole time they’re at a gathering of believers. This doesn’t make sense in the context of other scriptures, which show women were deeply involved in the churches. This is where 1 Corinthians 11 can provide much-needed context to help us figure out what Paul is likely saying in this passage.

“In light of 11:2-16, which gives permission for women to pray or prophesy in the church meetings, the silence commanded here seems not to involve the absolute prohibition of a woman addressing the assembly. Therefore (1) some take be silent to mean not taking an authoritative teaching role as 1 Tim 2 indicates, but (2) the better suggestion is to relate it to the preceding regulations about evaluating the prophets (v. 29). Here Paul would be indicating that the women should not speak up during such an evaluation, since such questioning would be in violation of the submission to male leadership that the OT calls for (the law, e.g., Gen 2:18).”

NET study note on 1 Cor. 14:34

Whether you think women should cover their heads today or not, the fact is that 1 Corinthians 11 addresses the proper way for women to pray and/or prophecy. Obviously women can, and frequently do throughout the scriptures, pray and prophecy outside of church meetings. But the context of this section of scripture is how to do things in the churches, when believers are gathered together, as for a formal church service. It follows, then, that Paul talks about how women can properly pray and prophecy in church in 1 Corinthians 11, then addresses a time when silence is more appropriate in 1 Corinthians 14.

Culture Adds More Context

It also helps to take the cultural context into account when looking at Paul’s writings. Now, there are right and wrong ways to do this. Sometimes, people say that Paul just had a backwards view of women because he was influenced by his culture and so we don’t need to listen to him anymore. But in reality, some of his writings indicate he was pretty radical compared to the culture of his day.

Likewise the women are to dress in suitable apparel, with modesty and self-control. Their adornment must not be with braided hair and gold or pearls or expensive clothing, but with good deeds, as is proper for women who profess reverence for God. A woman must learn quietly with all submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man. She must remain quiet.

1 Timothy 2:9-12, NET

We read this today and we might feel offended that he’d say women have to be quiet and submissive and can’t teach. People of Paul’s day, though, would have read “a woman must learn” and been shocked by that. This statement “was a radical and liberating departure from the Jewish view that women were not to learn the law” (NET footnote on 1 Tim. 2:12). Some Jewish girls received Torah instruction while they were young and if they had a good family they might have learned a little more, but women weren’t generally taught very much and they certainly weren’t selected for advanced study with respected rabbis.

Jesus’s interactions with women as spiritual equals was unusual, and Paul continued His practice. He also assured his readers, though, that women serving in the church, preaching the gospel, and learning God’s words did not mean that women were suddenly going to start taking over roles that God entrusted to men. Women are to learn, yes, but they will also be submissive in the sense that God expects. Women can pray and prophecy, but they won’t (or shouldn’t) be disrupting church meetings or usurping male roles.

We often miss it today with our modern perspectives, but Paul isn’t advocating for either the subjugation of women or for doing away with gender roles in 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy. It’s actually a more balanced view than we often find in churches today, which in many cases either try to follow society in doing away with different roles for men and women entirely, or follow traditional (mis)interpretations of Paul that bar women from being involved. However you interpret the passage on hair length and headcoverings, it provides much-needed context assuring us that women were deeply involved in the New Testament church and they still can be in the churches today.

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