Why Paul Said Women Should Cover Their Heads — 1 Corinthians 11

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, here we go for program number three this afternoon already. That last half hour I'll have to apologize to my television audience, it just simply got away from me, and if the prompter hadn't been back there making all these contortions I'd have probably still been going. But anyway, we're going to pick right up where we left off as we usually do, right back in I Corinthians chapter 11, and we were in verse 2, so we're about ready to go into verse 3 of chapter 11. I've put it on the board, several have written, and say, well when you start a new program why put your chapter and verse on the blackboard. So if you'll help me remember, and Roy is already putting the program number according to the books on the corner of the board, so keep all those things in mind. Alright, I Corinthians chapter 11, verse 2, and now we're going to 3. I won't even take time to mention the tapes and books in this program. But now in verse 2, where we left off in our last program, he says, "...keep the things that I have delivered, as I have delivered them to you." In other words, go by what I have instructed, because he was the apostle of the Gentiles, and of course this is a predominantly Gentile congregation. I say predominantly, because no doubt there were Jews in the early congregations, because Paul would always go first to the Jew, and then when he saw that it really wasn't going to reap a harvest amongst the Jews, then he would go to the Gentiles. So I'm convinced that in all of his early little congregations there were a smattering of Jewish believers, and I think archeology substantiates that as well. Now in the next few verses, again we're going to deal with something that is probably as far removed from us in America at this day and time, as what we just talked about in the previous chapter with meat offered to idols. And that is women in the Church, and their covering or not to be covered, and so forth. And since it is one of those areas again, that has certainly changed by virtue of customs and environment, not that the Word of God changes, but I certainly think that customs do, and we know that a lot of the things that God mandated for Israel, for example, was because of their national customs, and the way God had taught them. And so we're going to take these coming verses with a little bit of a grain of salt. I'm not going to take it as no longer being the Word of God, not at all. But I do want us to realize that there has been a tremendous change in the position and the attitude of men toward women in Christianity. Now maybe just for openers, before we even get started, I found a couple of quotes the other night as I was looking at some of these things. You want to realize that Paul himself was not anti-woman. Paul in Romans 16 commends so many women who helped him in the ministry, and he certainly recognized the fact that there was a role for women in the Church. Now in this portion in Corinthians, when it sounds as though he's coming down kind of hard on the women, again remember the circumstances in Corinth, the pagan city that it was, and still probably closer to the Orient than it was to what we would call Western civilization. And so many of the things that was part and parcel of the Hebrew, as well as the pagan attitude toward women, is probably epitomized in these two little quotes. Sophocles, a Greek philosopher back even before Paul's time, said it like this. "...silence confers grace upon a woman." You hear what he's saying? The best thing a woman can do is be quiet. Now that was the philosophers of Greece. Now I'm not saying this to promote this, I'm just saying that this is the attitude that was prevalent when Paul was dealing with these early Christian people. Now out of the Talmud, the book of Jewish writings, and actually the Talmud was really a commentary. This comes out of the Talmud, and it lists several plagues that could be laid upon the Jewish people, and of the several plagues, here was one of them. Now you're not going to like this, but I'm not promoting this, I'm just trying to show you that this was the attitude prevalent when Paul was writing. This was in the Talmud. The talkative widow and the virgin who wastes her time in prayers are one of the plagues of Israel. Shall I read it again? A plague of Israel was a talkative widow, or a virgin who wastes her time in prayer. We would never dream of saying something like that today, but this was the attitude. Now this of course backs up what I have taught for years and years and years, and I've made no apology for it. Don't ever accuse the Apostle Paul of being anti-feminist, it's the Apostle Paul's doctrine who opened up the world of freedom to the woman. Really Christianity is what set womanhood free. And you just stop and think about it. Now as we come into these coming verses, keep in mind that even today in the Middle East, an unveiled woman is open to anything. She can be open to verbal abuse, she's open to snide remarks as she walks down the street, she may be even open to various types of attack. But if she is veiled, she now retreats into a world all her own, and even the brastest of men in the Middle East will recognize that that veiled woman is not to be touched. And so we have to take these cultures into view as we now see what Paul is writing here. And so with the culture in view, what he's telling these Corinthian believers is, be careful since this is the way the world around you looks at this situation, be careful how you handle it lest they misinterpret. Now we're in the same situation in many areas of the things today. We have to be careful how we do certain things, lest the unbelieving world totally misinterpret our actions, and they totally accuse us wrongly. Now maybe as we come into the text you'll see what I'm talking about. Verse 4. Ephesians 1. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoreth his head. Now we still, except for the younger generation, we still adhere to that. Those of us who grew up in a generation back, I'll tell you what, you wore your cap into my high school back when I was a kid, and you were in the principal's office just for wearing your cap in the schoolhouse. Well that was discipline. And the same way I think even today, very, very few men would walk into a church sanctuary with their hat on. We just don't do those things. Well you see back here, it again goes back to custom, and so Paul says, it's just common knowledge that a man does not come into an attitude of prayer or worship with his hat on. He removes it. Verse 5. For the woman it's the other way around. You don't expect a woman to go into any kind of a worship situation without her head covered. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth, with her head uncovered, dishonoreth her head, for that is even all one, as if she were shaven. Does that mean that women today have to wear a veil or a hat or something on their head when they go in church? No. I don't think that's what it's saying at all. But in the culture of that day, for a woman to be out in public with nothing over her head when they were used to the veil, what kind of woman would usually flaunt herself in that way? Well the prostitutes. The prostitutes would just flaunt themselves by removing these coverings from their head, in other words to unveil their profession. Now naturally if that is the mindset out of 99.9% of the population, do you see what an impact that makes? And so Paul is dealing with it under those circumstances. Now today we're not bothered with that, and so this is why I think custom has completely changed our interpretation of some of these things. But we're going to look at it because it's still part and parcel of the Word of God. So verse 6. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn or shaved. But if it be a shame for a woman to be shaved or shaven, then let her be covered. Well that's sensible isn't it? If a woman realizes that it's certainly not becoming to have her hair all shaved off, and again making her right down at the same level with the prostitutes, what woman is going to do then? Of course not. Common sense. Verse 7. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and the glory of God. And again that goes back to Adam. That as Adam was created in the image of God, and also then as Adam was the first created, the woman was created next. And that's what he says in so many words in verse 8. For the man is not of the woman, but the woman is of the man. That was the process in creation. You remember how I stressed it, that when God created Adam, Eve was in him. Eve was in Adam at creation. And then it was out of Adam that He created the woman later. Now you see this is why God has maintained all the way up through human history, that that is the way He ordained it. That the husband was to be the head of the woman. Not as a slave master, but in the order of God's things, this is the way He has ordained it by virtue of His creating the man, and then the woman. Now I'm going to skip a couple of these verses, then come on down to verse 11. Now let's go back to Genesis, and maybe this will help a little bit. Come back to Genesis chapter 1, and let's come all the way down to verse 18. It's been a long time since we've taught Genesis, and fortunately for technology we can use our Genesis tapes. One of these days when everybody is catching up with us, I hope television people realize when they burn up 6 of these programs a week, and some stations are, and we're on Sunday all the way through Friday, the day is coming when they're going to catch up, because we're only producing 4 a month. So anyway I'm going to warn them right here and now, that when they finally catch up to where we are in Corinthians, we're going to have those stations. Just go back to Genesis 1, and just start all over again, and the Lord tarries until they catch up, and we've still got money to stay on the air, we'll repeat it again. I've taught some of these people in Oklahoma as much as 7 or 8 times from Genesis to Revelation, so I think television can handle it as well. Genesis 1, and the Lord God said, "...it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make a helpmeet for him." Now then we know that God had already created the animal kingdom, and then you come down to verse 19, and He's going to have Adam name them. So all the created creatures come around past Adam, and He puts a name on them. I'm sorry I said 1, I meant chapter 2, and I'm sorry I said chapter 2, but that's what keeps a guy humble. I goof every once in a while. Chapter 2, verse 18, and God said, "...it is not good that the man should be alone." And then verse 19, "...out of the ground he formed every beast, and he brought them to Adam, to see what he would call them. And Adam named them." Verse 20, and the last half of verse 20, here is an important statement, "...but for Adam there was not found a helpmeet, or a mate, for him." I remember when I taught this back in Genesis, I said, can't you just about imagine that Adam was seeing all these creatures come by him to be named, and they all had their mate, no doubt, the male and the female, and probably after ever so long a time, Adam just almost got a lonely feeling, and said, now Lord why? Why do all these creatures have a mate, and I'm alone? Well God had already said it's not good for man to be alone, so he wasn't shocked by that response, and so now then we come down to verse 21. After all this time, we know how long it took for Adam to name everything, but this isn't a matter of minutes, but however long it was, Adam was alone. And now God says, I'll cause a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs, and I prefer to use the term side chamber, which is also the same definition for that Hebrew word, and he took a side chamber and closed up the flesh instead thereof, and from this side chamber which the Lord God had taken from man, he made a woman, and brought her to the man. Now there was the process of Eve coming onto the scene. Now I always like to turn to Genesis chapter 5, to show that this is exactly how it happened. That Adam was created and was alone for a certain period of time, but that Eve was already inside to a certain degree. Because she had to be, in order to keep Adam as the head, the federal head of the human race when it came to salvation. Genesis 5, verse 2, Genesis 5, Genesis 5, and verse 2 says, "...male and female he created them, and blessed them, and he called their name Adam." So what does that tell you? Eve was in Adam, and she was part and parcel of him, even as God created him and named him Adam. But she was in there, and so she was also. Now you want to remember, she wasn't even called Eve until after the fall, and that of course was when she became Eve, instead of just simply being referred to as a woman. But anyhow, there was the process of creation. God created Adam with Eve within him, and then sometime later, He takes that part of Eve out of Adam, and creates the woman, and so now he has his complement. He is now complete. He is no longer alone. So now this is what Paul is resting on. That the whole order of the sexes is not some modern phenomenon. This originated at creation. God created the man to be the head of the woman, because she was created next, and that was God's ordained way of setting up the home and the family, and it holds to this day because God never rescinded it. Oh, maybe some of our moderns think they can, but God has never rescinded His format for the home. And that is the husband who is the head of the wife, and then of course a family of children. Now I always have to emphasize that does not make the man a slave master. His wife is not a gopher for him. She is a helpmate. She is a complement, and men are to understand that. I Corinthians chapter 11 again, verse 12, we just read it, but read it again. I Corinthians 12. So the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman. In other words, they have come together in a union now that puts them almost on an equal basis, but the man is still the head of the union. And then the man of course came from God in creation. Now verse 13. So he says, Judge, or discern, make up your own mind, is it comely, or is it right that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it's a shame unto him? Now again that goes back I think to the custom of Rome, and I think the men of those days wore rather short cropped hair. Now verse 15. But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering. It's a blessing. And I think any woman will first admit that, that to have a beautiful head of hair is indeed a blessing. Now then, verse 16. See Paul is tempering all this. He's not just coming in with a sledgehammer blow, but he is constantly tempering these Corinthians, because he doesn't want them to feel brow beaten, he doesn't want them to return their feelings in a rebellion, and yet he's got to make some corrections. Things have to be straightened up, and the word he's going to use in chapter 14 is that everything done in the local church must be done in order. Not in a mass of confusion, but everything in order. This is the way God does things. He is a God of order. And even in Israel, when the children of Israel hoisted camp, and they picked up and got ready to move, did the whole several million just go like a mob? No sir boy. I mean they moved out like an organized army. All the tribes in their rightful order, and it wasn't just a hobnob of masses of people. It was an orderly procession. He's a God of order. And the same way in the temple worship. There were prescribed ways to do everything. He's a God of order. In the same way when Paul teaches the resurrections in I Corinthians chapter 15, and we'll be coming to that in another month or two I guess. And what does he say? Every man in his own order. Even the resurrections aren't going to be just a great big jumbled up affair, but every man in his own particular order, it's going to be an orderly resurrection. Now then, verse 16. So he says, "...if any man seem to be contentious," in other words he's always causing problems, he's always differing, he says, "...we have no such custom, neither the churches of God." Now again I think he is tempering the attitude of these people concerning the haircuts of the prostitutes, compared to the haircuts of the Roman citizenry, and he's bringing all this in and says, "...just don't do anything that makes the outside world think that you believers here in the church are a bunch of kooks." Now that's the best way I can put it. Don't let the world think of your church service as just something like a bunch of nuts, or you're somebody that's out there in left field, because they're watching. Absolutely they're watching. And so he says, you have to be careful. Now in the few moments we have left, let's go into verse 17. Now he's coming back to the Lord's table. You see what I told you several programs ago, Paul's shifting gears, he'll be coming along and all of a sudden he just sort of shifts down into a lower gear, and he comes back over to Psalm 84. Now we're going to shift back up into a higher gear, and we're going to get back to the instructions concerning the Lord's table. And the Corinthians had a problem with the Lord's table of all things? Boy did they, did they. I mean they had big problems, more than any church could imagine today. All right, let's look at it in the few moments we have. Now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not. What's the other way of saying that? Hey, I'm finding fault with you. You've got a problem Corinthians, and that you come together not for the better, but for the worse. Now listen, what is it saying? He said the way you're doing things for you to come into the local church, is doing you more harm than good. You are totally mixing up the things that I have delivered unto you. You're doing it all wrong. Now let's look at verse 18. For first of all, when you come together in the church, now remember what the church is. It's a home for just a small group of people, not in some great big edifice, but in somebody's living room, or maybe out in their patio. He says, when you come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you, well we've already covered that back in chapter 1, and what were the divisions? Some said, I follow Jesus. Some said, well not me, I go by what Peter says. And then there were those who said, no Paul is the guy who brought us out of all our darkness, I'm going to stick with Paul. And then along came this smooth, highly polished intellectual order, who was that? Apollos. And so some of them said, well I follow Apollos. So there were four distinct divisions in this little church, unbelievable. And so Paul says, and I believe it. Now remember, he's getting all this by hearsay. Verse 19, for there must be also heresies, see even false teachings were slipping in. For there must be also heresies among you, that they who are proved may be made manifest among you. Now here it comes, we're going to deal with the Lord's Supper. When you come together therefore in the one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper, for in eating every one taketh other of his own supper, one as hungry as another drunken. Now wait a minute. The Lord's Supper in every denomination I've ever visited is nothing more than a piece of unleavened bread of some sort, and a little cup of grape juice or wine. Now that's not enough to satisfy physical hunger or to get drunk on. So what was going on? They were having a great big potluck supper before they had the Lord's Supper. See that's what we call it now. The big city churches, I don't know if they do it anymore now, but I know most of the smaller rural churches still like to have their potluck suppers. People just bring in whatever they feel qualified to bring, and put it on the table, and everybody eats. Alright, the Corinthians were doing that ahead of the Lord's table for an evening service. Now I think the reason it's called supper is because the ancients more or less practiced I think like most of rural America does, that the farmer when he gets up in the morning he wants a big breakfast. He probably won't eat all that much at noon, but then in the evening, and I think even our city people, evening is the big meal. Well it's the same way back here. And so these Corinthians were used to their main meal being in the evening. And so before they practiced the Lord's table, they would come in with a potluck supper. And I haven't got time to go into all the details of it, but between now and whenever you watch the next program, whether it's here in the studio, or whether it's in your living room, just stop and think what is Paul talking about when he says that they were using excesses at this potluck supper. And that's what it all amounted to, and why he has to correct them. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time, for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.