Head Coverings??

Not too long ago, I met an acquaintance that attends a Plymouth Brethren church. I had been looking for a church to attend, and so I looked into this denomination to see what they were about. As I was reading I found that the women all wore head coverings to church. Their reasons were based mostly on the scriptures found in 1 Corinthians 11. The verses are as follows:

"2Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. 3But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. 4Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, 5but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. 6For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. 7For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. 8For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.11Nevertheless in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; 12for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God. 13Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, 15but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering."

Now it seemed to me at this point that the scriptures were very clear. We are supposed to wear a head covering! But when? What does it look like? What exactly IS this head covering!!?? If God wants us to wear it.... where are all those details explaining clearly the guidelines of this head covering?? And so I did some searches online, to see what others had discovered about these verses and I listened to a pastor that does vs. by vs. bible teaching where I used to attend church, and I wasn't satisfied with their reasons why women don't need to wear a physical head covering. Some important facts that I did learn in my search were that, historically, a prostitute would wear her hair short (shorn or shaven) and that if you assume the head covering is a woman's hair the verses no longer make sense. So, the reason to have long hair was probably to distinguish a woman from a prostitute. However, long hair all by itself isn't the covering the verses are referring to. Still, I felt like I didn't have a clear answer.

I let the whole subject go, for the most part. But every once in awhile I would think on it, and wonder if we were mistaken to be seemingly disregarding scripture just because it didn't fit into our social mores and comfort zone. Is scripture no longer relevent to us if it isn't culturally relevent? I hope not!

Once, a long while back, I heard a pastor say that the best commentary on the Bible, is the Bible itself! And in this situation, that really proved to be true! I was reading in 1 Peter 3, not too long ago, and I came across these verses:

1Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 5For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, 6as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. (italics are mine)

I saw so many similarities in the verses that I could not ignore! I was very excited, because I felt like God was really giving me an answer to something that had been weighing on me. I truly felt like the Holy Spirit was communicating something very special to me.

Here I want to say that when reading scripture, be sure not to miss the main point that the verses are trying to make. The main point of these verses is submission, a wife's submission to her husband, and her husband's submission to Christ. If we replace the physical "head covering", with a spiritual covering of our heads... meaning our husband is our cover over our head, and Christ is the covering over our husband's heads, the verses still make sense, and the main point is not lost. As a matter of fact, the point is driven deeper, and the verses make better sense.

I looked up the original word for "adorn" in 1 Peter 3, in the greek lexicon, and that is exactly what it means: to adorn, embellish. But interestingly it also means to "put in order". Which supports this idea even further. We are to put ourselves in the proper order. Now in 1 Corinthians when it says that a woman might as well shave her head, they seem to be saying that you might as well be a prostitute if your husband isn't your head, or if you aren't submitting to him. And when the verses refer to a man covering his head being a disgrace to his head (his head being Christ), it is possibly referring to a covering other than Jesus... such as his wife! Or anyone/thing else for that matter.

And what about this "symbol of authority" that should be on our heads from 1 Corinthians 11:10? The King James version is more accurate, and leaves out the word symbol and has only the word "power"and the original word is actually "exousia" and it means, authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power, right, strength. The original greek simply says "Therefore, it is our duty as a married woman to wear this authority on our head because of the angels". Well, that's my crude translation of the original Greek! But of course, I am definitely not a learned translator of the Bible! And I wonder what the angels have to do with it all?.....We'll leave that for another time and blog!

So, when a woman is covered by the proper "head", her husband, she is his glory. Just as when a man is doing the will of God, submitting to Christ, he is the glory of God. How would a physical hat or covering of some sort glorify her husband? And how would a hat or head covering for a man be a disgrace to Christ?

Now I am not saying that wearing a physical head covering to show submission to your spouse and obedience to the scriptures is bad or wrong. It very well could be a physical outshowing of a heart response. However, I don't really believe that it is what the scriptures are asking of us. We could wear a head covering until we are covered like a muslim in a burka, but if our hearts are wrong.... it is useless. Our hearts are what matter. We must have a gentle and quiet spirit. We must submit to our husband's as our head.

I would love to hear anyone else's thoughts, opinions, hearts, research, etc, on the matter. But please no haters! I am on a lifelong journey of seeking the will and heart of my Father. And I don't claim to be wise or have it all figured out. I was just excited to share a piece of my story. :)