As a Christian is it wrong for a lady not to Cover her head in Church service?

Is it wrong for a Man to Cover his head in a Church service?

Have you been confused about this subject?

This is the Truth about Covering/Uncovering hair in church

Issa Thread

We have seen many churches follow 1 Corinthians chapter 11 so strictly. To the extent that in some churches you may not be allowed into the church if you don't cover your hair as a lady, and for the men you may not be allowed into the church if found covering your head!

Biko read this thread to understand and not to argue! It may be hard but try!

Now let's do a proper study on this subject!

I praise you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions just as I passed them on to you.
1 Corinthians 11:2 NET

The tradition that Paul is refering to is regarding their public worship; which will include Cultural customs about church order and not necessarily doctrinal matters!

In the verse 3 Paul said

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.
1 Corinthians 11:3 NET

I want you to understand that in this chapter Paul was not dealing on marriage or the role of women in the church.

What Paul was dealing with was appropriate attitude of conduct & reference in public worship. This chapter will make more sense to you if you look at it in the context of the Corinthians culture.

Remember that when Paul wrote this letter, he didn't write it in chapter & Verses.

This is a continuation of his teaching that if our conduct offends and divides the church, we are to change our ways in other to promote unity among Christians. That's why the next verses say

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 11:4-5 NET

Paul applies the general principle in Verse 3 to a question specific to their culture

Let's even look at these verses closely. It says " Disgraces her head" which refers to her husband. Now you can see that even this Verse is particularly about the marriage relationship.

Now I tend to ask churches that adopted this and made it a doctrine....

if a girl that is not married uncovers her hair, who does she dishonour? Since she doesn't have a head yet who does she dishonour?

Now you can see that this doesn't apply to you if you are single in those days.

So why is our single people adopting this?

We see difference in culture. We can see so many cultures in the scriptures where their men covered their head, but the covering of the head meant something else. They even prayed covering their head and their prayers were heard

David went on his way up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he did so. He had his head covered, and walked barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads, weeping as they went along. David was told, “Ahithophel is one of the people conspiring with Absalom.” .....

So David prayed, “Lord, please make Ahithophel's advice worthless.”
2 Samuel 15:30-31 FBV

If you look at this, you'd see that covering of hair for the men has a different meaning.

Shaving of hair for men is kinda seen like a disgrace sef in some culture then

The verse 6 says from TPT "If a woman who wants to be in leadership will not conform to the customs of what is proper for women, she might as well cut off her hair. But if it’s disgraceful for her to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head."

Here it's clear that what was in focus was the custom of their day. A lady cutting of her hair is seen to be a Prostitute. That's how you identify prostitutes in their days, So a lady that shaves her head will have to cover her head so she is not mistaken for a temple prostitute.

In our world or culture today it's not so!

The verse 14 says

"Doesn’t our long-established cultural tradition teach us that if a man has long hair that is ornamentally arranged it invites disgrace, but if a woman has long hair that is ornamentally arranged it is her glory" TPT

You see that it's a cultural thing. Paul was relating to them according to their culture. In the Verse 11 (TPT) Paul went on to say

So then, I have to insist that in the Lord, neither is woman inferior to man nor is man inferior to woman.
1 Corinthians 11:11 TPT

The creation of Woman from man and for man is the order of the first creation, but not the new creation "In the Lord". We live in both spheres right now so what Paul did was balancing "Freedom in the Lord" with what was fitting in their culture.....

So as not to bring unnecessary shame on Christ. This is Paul's goal in this discussion

Just like the Yoruba men, there is a culture that they have when it comes to wearing the fìla gọbi

After wearing, turning the cap to the left side indicates a man is married,

While turning it to the right indicates he is still single.

Imagine a married man wearing and turning it to the right, that will be seen as dishonour

Some even take it farther than just an indication of marital status.

If a man’s cap is lifted up, it shows pride, if it is turned to the front, it indicates he is tired of life, and if turned to the back, it can be said that he is a man who does not care.

Though this view maybe be argued by some yorubas but the point is wearing of that cap has meaning/Symbol in their culture

So for the Corinthians I just wanted you see that it's a culture that was practised in their days, that men ought not to have long hair, Cover their head etc

in some other cultures it's not the same!

In verse 16 Paul says
"But if anyone wants to argue about this, I simply say that we have no other custom than this, and neither do God’s other churches."
1 Corinthians 11:16 NLT

Kindly observe, We have no other "Custom" he didn't say it was a command or a rule. He was indicating how things worked in the church. More like a habit, Paul wasn't stating a command or rule.

Let's look at the Word Custom. The greek word is synetheia which means

A) Custom
B) A being used to, accustomed
C) Intimacy

The greek Word synetheia only appears twice in the new testament, 1 is in this chapter 11 that we are dealing with and another place it was used was in John 17:39 which says

But you have a custom of asking me to release one prisoner each year at Passover. Would you like me to release this ‘King of the Jews’?”
John 18:39 NLT

I love how the Complete Jewish Bible puts this verse,

it says "However, if anyone wants to argue about it, the fact remains that we have no such custom, nor do the Messianic communities of God.

Just incase it's still not clear to you, I love how this other translation puts it

The BBE Translation says "But if any man will not be ruled in this question, this is not our way of doing things, and it is not done in the churches of God."

My Point is, Whether you cover head as a man or you don't Cover as a lady it doesn't affect your fellowship

So you who always look at those ladies who don't Cover their head & you Even Judge them I Just wanted to educate you with this thread.

I hope you do better!

I will be doing a series soon titled "The Body of Christ" on a Bible study group on WhatsApp

DM me if you are interested