13 “Judge among yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14 Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? 15 But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering. 16 But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.”
Paul now turns to an argument about the role of women in worship from common sense or propriety. He casts two rhetorical questions:
Is it proper for a woman to pray publicly with short hair? (11:13)
Does not culture teach us that if men have longer hair than women do, it dishonors his masculinity? (11:14)
11:13
Judge among yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?
The Greek expects a negative answer to the question in this verse. It is not proper for a woman to pray with short hair because it indicates masculinity if she does. Male testosterone speeds up the loss of hair, while the female hormone estrogen causes her hair to grow longer and fall out less. We rarely see a bald woman. Femininity and masculinity are different, both chemically and naturally.
11:14
Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?
The Greek expects a positive answer to the question in this verse. Nature (instinct or an innate sense of what is right) does teach us that women wear longer hair than males. A woman who wears hair shorter than males is a dishonor to the male. This would confuse the sexes. Uni-sexuality and androgyny are not biblical. There are Christians in many places who want to blur the distinction between male and female.
11:15
But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering.
A woman’s longer hair is glory or glamour to her. Both nature and custom demonstrate the headship of the man and the response to that leadership by the woman. A woman whose hair looks like the worst end of a mop is a distortion in God’s economy!
The observation in this verse is very general. Some cultures have longer hair for men than others, but the principle still stands that a woman’s longer hair indicates her femininity. The Bible does not indicate how long a woman’s hair should be, but it should only be longer than males’ hair to distinguish her as feminine. Most women do not look good in a brush cut!
Note that Paul’s idea for a “covering” is hair, not a hat. Her hair is in itself a covering. The word “for” is literally against. God gave women hair instead of a covering! The words “is given” mean that God made the woman have longer hair.
PRINCIPLE:
God made male and female different, so their roles are different.
APPLICATION:
Men must take spiritual leadership in their homes by manifesting their masculinity. It is also vital that women respond to and support that leadership by manifesting their femininity. Remember that God did not create the woman inferior to the man but as a responder to man. Men need to respect and give dignity to the inherent responder nature of femininity.
We live in a day that diminishes the idea of femininity. The philosophy of androgyny wants egalitarianism and a unisex view to prevail. There is no such custom in the Word of God! The Bible enhances the dignity of femininity. Denial of femininity robs women of their natural beauty.
The argument from verse two forward is an argument of authority. Jesus was subject to the Father’s authority, and the Holy Spirit is subject to the authority of the Son. This does not diminish the personhood of the Son or of the Spirit but is a matter of function. The wife is to be subject to her husband as a matter of function, not personhood. She may be more intelligent, have more modus vivendi, and so on, but she understands the importance of authority to function in a family or church. Femininity is a manifestation of this attitude. If she is going to be masculine, she might as well shave her head bald (11:5)! That is a “disgrace” to femininity – all femininity, whether saved or lost. The male reflects the authority of God (11:7), so he should not be feminine in his orientation. A woman reflects the glory of man, so she should be feminine in her orientation. She was made from man and is not a direct creation like the male. That is why the woman/wife should have the symbol of authority of longer hair on her head (11:10); the angels dealt with the very same issue of authority and volition. The male is not autonomous of the woman; there is an interrelated dependence between them (11:11).
is there any measurement for how long hair should christians women have?
What about some christian band who have long hair?
Gigi, this passage only says women should have longer hair than men to show their femininity.
So, how much longer – and longer than which men – all men on the whole planet or her husband? My husband's head is shaved – so if I have ANY hair, its longer than his… My hair is to my shoulders but I know a man who has hair to his lower back… should my hair be longer than his? I know a woman who has no hair due to cancer – and a woman who has PCOS and her hair can't grow out… very subjective… and the word in the original is 'shorn" which means shaved.. NOT SHORT… just like we know women and men shouldn't dress alike, right? BUT men wore dresses in those days.. they weren't called dresses, but that's what the were… long – one piece outfits.. so did women.. but ONE was for a man and ONE was for a woman.. just like pants… I'm only dressing like a man if I wear MAN'S PANTS…. look at the spirit of the word, folks.. and stop getting so caught up in religion.. Jesus hated religious spirits….
Stephanie, I would make a number of suggestions:
1. Read the whole argument from the beginning of the chapter.
2. This should not be a "contentious" issue in the church.
3. We need to take the explicit statements of Scripture seriously and not cast them off as so much "religion." The issue is not religion but exegesis of the Word of God. To allow prevailing culture to minimize Scripture is a serious issue.
I would like to know the answer to Gigi's question regarding men in Christian bands with long hair…
Thank you,
Kathie
Regarding “long” in reference to hair mentioned in this scripture:
In certain translations “long” means uncut. Therefore, if that is accurate, the length is insignificant, but the fact that your hair is uncut is significant. Women’s hair grows to various lengths without being cut and some hair may be longer than others, so it makes me think that “long” in this scripture may in fact mean uncut.
Stephanie, the Greek word contains the idea simply for long hair. Note this Greek lexicon: κομάω: to wear long hair as part of one’s attire—‘to have long hair, to appear with long hair, to wear long hair.’ γυνὴ δὲ ἐὰν κομᾷ δόξα αὐτῇ ἐστιν ‘if a women wears long hair, it is a pride for her’ 1 Cor 11:15. In a number of languages it may be necessary to translate κομάω as ‘to let one’s hair grow long’ or ‘not to cut one’s hair.’”
Kathie, the reason it is a shame for men to wear long hair is that long hair is a feminine feature. A man is to keep the appearance of masculinity. However, the Bible nowhere says how long. It may be a cultural determination.
Should women wear hat to church. I still don’t understand the verses 5-6 and 13-15
Margaret, the argument of this passage is that women are to wear longer hair than men as an indication of femininity.
this is really a heart issue, If the holy spirit speaks to your heart and says let your hair grow longer ladies then do so, guidelines to help you determine if your hair length pleases the Lord, he then says it should be longer then your husbands, if your single and the culture you live in has men with what you consider long hair then yours should be longer in an effort to distinguish to others that you are blessed by God to be a woman and glorify his decision in his wisdom for the gender he gave you.