Even though we belong to Christ’s heavenly kingdom, this heavenly kingdom does not undo the differences and order between the genders. In terms of equality and worth, there is no Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, but we are all one in Christ (Gal. 3:28). But in terms of order and structure, the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. We still live our lives within the good created order that God ordained by his good and perfect will.

We might not always like it, but the fact of the matter is that our clothes make a statement. What you wear says something about who you are: your nationality, wealth, generation, occupation, and even your position on certain movements or issues in culture. After all, your clothes are the first thing people see, and you have to wear them.

We use clothes to make ourselves look “cool” and attractive, to identify with a certain group, or to rebel against our parents or authority. In fact, clothes can pigeon-hole us so much (especially in our pop-culture) that some people emphatically want to assert that clothes mean nothing: “It is not the outside that defines me but the inside.”

Yet, ironically, those who take such a dogmatic stand often end up being concerned with clothes just as much as the next person. Of course, it is good not to be vain (true beauty is of the heart) or too concerned about our clothes, but we cannot escape the fact that what we wear is a factor in who we are and how we interact with and respect other people.

In chapter 11 of First Corinthians, the apostle Paul brings up this issue of dress, especially in worship, and he calls us in Christ to respect and follow the order of God’s creation, an order through which Christ has revealed himself and his salvation to us.  

God Is a God of Order

After commending the Corinthians for maintaining the traditions he gave them in 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul uses the occasion to instruction them on another topic. The Corinthians are holding to some of the apostolic traditions, but there is one more tradition with which they need help. And Paul begins this topic of instruction by setting forth the undergirding principle in verse 3:

But 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. (1 Cor. 11:3)

Headship is the key truth that must be kept in mind through our passage. By head, Paul means authority. To be the head is to be the one over another, to be in leadership. Yet, Paul is not evoking some heavy-handed image of authority. Rather, head is an organic image.

Head Is an Organic Image

The head is over the body, but the head acts for the body. The body serves the head, but what is good for the head is good for the body—there is mutuality. Thus, this structure of heads does not negate equality. Surely, Christ is equal to God in power and glory, but God is the head of Christ. So also, man and woman are equal in value and worth, even though man is the head of woman.  

Certainly, there is a difference between Christ and man, but this verse shows that this structure of different heads is not about inherent worth, but about order. The apostle is setting for an order that God ordained and through which he works. In any army or business, there are levels of structural authority: workers, middle management, senior management, and a CEO. So also, God’s kingdom has a structural authority.

Indeed, since Christ is essential to the structure of heads, it is clear that Paul is thinking primarily of Christ’s kingdom—the church. Paul will bring in creational order as well, but the crosshairs of his instruction are aimed at the church. 

Of course, when we hear that man is the head of woman, we immediately wonder how this is worked out? What is Paul saying specifically here about “headship”? 

In order to understand Paul’s argument here, it is critical to know the world, or cultural context, in which Paul and the Corinthians lived, especially how they dressed, for the Greco-Roman world was one that had a defined dress code. People’s clothes were to be in accord with their status. As historian Thomas A. J. McGinn comments in Prostitution, Sexuality, and the Law in Ancient Rome, “you were what you wore.” [1]

Yet, the Greco-Roman world was quite diverse, and the dress varied between cultures. Greeks did not dress exactly like Romans, and the difference between Romans and Greeks would have been especially felt in Corinth, which was a Roman colony in the middle of Greece. It would be like working at the United States embassy in Egypt—your different dress would be noticeable.

The Church Has a Dress Code for Men

Paul begins with men—yes, Paul is concerned with men just as much as he is with women in this passage:

Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head” (1 Cor. 11:4).

First, Paul identifies a very particular activity of men: praying and prophesying. By prophesying, Paul is referring basically to preaching God’s word—to pray and prophesy is to be officially active in public worship.

Paul states in the above verse that the man who prays and preaches in public with his head covered shames his head. This head covering looked basically like a hood: the fabric covered the back of the head, not the face, with a piece of robe going over the head. But why is this so shameful?  

It is clear that Paul is being a pastor to a church in the context in which they lived. For God commanded that Aaron and all the Old Testament priests had to cover their heads as they ministered in the temple. Aaron, as high priest, had to wear a turban, which covered his head. So, Paul’s point is not some universal prohibition against wearing hats in worship; rather, he is focusing on something different.

For the Romans, when their priests officiated in worship—praying and sacrificing—they would cover their heads. The male Roman priests would drape their togas over their heads. The emperor Augustus (and others after him) would do this as well, since he also performed pagan priestly duties. Augustus covered his head in prayer to show that he was also the religious head of the empire, and numerous statues have been found around the Roman Empire depicting Augustus with his head covered while praying. This image is also found on coins, as it was a form of Roman propaganda—showing Caesar as a religious head.

As this image was propagated in the Roman Empire, men started to copy it in their dress while praying. To copy the emperor was a way to elevate your own status. It said, “Look at me—I am noble as the emperor.” Therefore, the Corinthian men were copying a pagan dress as they conducted worship that stated, “Look at me and my high status. I am elite.”

Besides Copying Pagan Worship, the Corinthian Men Also Were Copying Female Clothing by Covering Their Heads

There was another thing wrong with this male covering of the head in worship. When the Greeks looked at a man with his head covered, they thought he looked like a woman. The normal dress for a married woman was to wear a covering over her head.

There is one relief of Augustus praying with his head covered next to a woman with her head covered, and being clean shaven, he looks just like the woman. For a man to cover his head was effeminate; it was to blur the line between genders for Greeks. 

So, the Corinthian man who was wearing a head covering was officiating in worship in a manner that said, “Look at my high status,” but everyone in the congregation was thinking, “he is dressing like a woman.” It is no wonder that Paul says that a man who does this shames his head. And in light of 1 Corinthians 11:3, there is double sense to ‘his head.’ As his head, it refers to the man himself—he shames himself. But the head of every man is Christ, so the man also shames Christ. He brings dishonor to Christ by drawing attention to himself and looking like a woman.

Paul then uses the hypothetical example of what it would mean for a woman to be leading prayer or prophesying with her head uncovered in verses 5 and 6:

But every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. For 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. (1 Cor. 11:5-6)

It is critical to note that Paul is clear in 1 Corinthians 14 that women should not be praying or prophesying in an authoritative role in the public assembly of the church; thus, he is not condoning such actions here in chapter 11. Rather, Paul is using hyperbole to show the men how inappropriate it was for them to dress like a woman via the example of a woman who is flaunting both cultural and church standards.

The Church Has a Dress Code for Women

Again, we need to be familiar with the normal dress for women in the Greco-Roman culture. First, to get married was known as “putting on the veil.” So only married women wore the head covering (hood-like; not over the face). Young girls got married at about 14, when they hit puberty. So women did not cover their heads until they were married, and young girls did not go out in public. Widows and prostitutes did not wear the cover. Wives, however, did not wear the cover at home, where they spent most of their time. The head covering was specifically for married women in public settings.  

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