What Paul did not mean by head covering in 1Corinthians 11.

1. Woman Hair Covering
To show that the covering Paul meant and was
concerned about was not Long Hair.
by
Samuel Awojuola

2. We know that,

3. Short Hair is not Long Hair

5. and,

6. Shaved Head is not Long Hair

8. Therefore,

9. If
Long Hair is What Paul meant by a Covered Head

11. Then, an Uncovered Head is either Short Hair or
Shaved Head ( i.e. no hair at all )

13. We can therefore substitute Uncovered head for
either Short Hair or Shaved Head

14. Now, 1 Corinthians 11:5 reads as follows:

15. “And every woman who prays or prophesies with her
head uncovered dishonours her head—it is just as
though her head were shaved.”

16. So, since a Shaved Head is the same thing as an
Uncovered Head, we can substitute them in this verse and
rephrase it as follows:

17. “And every woman who prays or prophesies with her
head uncovered dishonours her head—it is just as
though her head were uncovered .”

18. Or

19. 1Corinthians 11:5
“And every woman who prays or prophesies with
short hair or shaved head dishonours her head—it
is just as though her head were shaved.”

20. In this verse the Apostle Paul was making a
comparison,
“…it is as though…”

21. Therefore, we know that to have
Long Hair is not what Paul meant by a Covered
Head

23. We know this because,

24. when making comparisons, you do not compare a
thing with itself.

25. The verse that follows confirms our conclusion:

26. 1Corinthians 11:6
“If a woman does not cover her head, she should
have her hair cut short; (a)
and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair
cut or shaved,
she should cover her head.” (b)

27. Please take note from the (b) part of the verse that:
Cutting the hair is not shaving the head, rather it
simply means cutting the hair short.

28. Let us break down this verse:

29. 1Corinthians 11:6a
“If a woman does not cover her head, she should
have her hair cut short…”
This clearly means that to Paul, that a woman has
her hair cut short does not mean that her head is
uncovered.

30. Uncovered Head is not Shaved Head

32. 1Corinthians 11:6b
“…and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her
hair cut or shaved,
she should cover her head.”
Clearly, an uncovered head is neither short hair
nor shaved head.

33. That a woman has her Head Shaved or Hair Cut
Short is not the same thing as Uncovering Her
Head.

36. Spiritual and Natural

37. Paul was simply making a comparison between the
Spiritual and the Natural. He was sort of saying:

38. “Just as by natural standard it is not proper for a
woman to be without long hair,
so also,
by spiritual standards, it is not proper for a woman to
pray or prophecy without covering her head.”

39. Paul knew, or at least expected that the women he
was writing to would be opposed, in fact, repulsed by
the very thought of cutting their hair short or shaving
it off,

40. This is why he asked them to cut short or cut off their
hair if they would not cover their head.

41. So, just as they wouldn’t want to remove their natural
covering of long hair, they should not fail to cover
their head while praying or prophesying.

42. He was only trying to drive home the point by making
a comparison with nature, he didn’t mean that the
long hair was the covering they had to have while
praying or prophesying.

43. Spiritually it is shameful and dishonoring if you don’t
cover your hair while praying or prophesying, just as
it is a disgrace in natural things to have cut short
your hair or shave it off totally.

44. In Conclusion

45. To those who may oppose this doctrine, there are
two points they need to take note of:

46. First,

47. This was the practice of all the churches during the
life time of the apostles

48. “If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we
have no other practice—nor do the churches of
God.” 1Cor 11:16

49. Second,

50. Disobedience to this ordinance, which is an act of
dishonoring our respective heads—men, Christ and
women, men—, was not without consequence.

51. “For this reason, and because of the angels, a
woman ought to have a sign of authority on her
head.” 1Cor 11:10

52. Those who erred in the matter of the communion or
Lord’s Supper, suffered for dishonoring Christ, even
though they did not realize it.

53. “Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup
of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of
sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.
This is why many among you are weak and sick, and
a number of you have fallen asleep.” 1Cor 11:27, 30

54. Finally,

55. This ordinance was not based on nature, or culture
but on the scriptural account of creation.

56. “Did the word of God originate with
you?” 1 Corinthians 14:36

57. If ‘Yes’, then feel free to modify and trivialize this
ordinance that all the churches of God practiced.
samuel_awojuola@yahoo.com