(The Head Covering) 06 - When Is It to Be Worn? — Tom Chaplin

Understanding the Head Covering Through the Whole Bible

Our study which I've entitled understanding the head covering the whole bible approach and I confess to you some degree of frustration with this subject because when I taught it several years ago it took me 10 lessons to do it and I was bound and determined to cut it down this time.

But there are so many ins and outs on this passage so many different challenges to it that men have raised that I hope I did it under 10 but I tell you I'm struggling because to do a thorough job I have to deal with all these things that men have challenged this passage with.

They may be things you've never thought of but these tapes are going out to other people and invariably they'll have one issue I that I if I don't deal with them all that'll be the one they need to hear.

So I hope you all will bear with me. You may be getting all you ever wanted to know about the head covering and more than you ever hoped or asked or thought you needed but at least it's going to be thorough hopefully if you have any questions I hope by the time we're done you won't have them answered at least from my perspective as best I know how to do.

Reviewing the Old Testament and 1 Corinthians 11

So we're going to continue with the topic by way of review. Last week we talked about two things we wanted to tie first corinthians into old testament revelation on the subject and we talked to do I thought to do that showing the continuity between the old and the new showing that there was further development of thought in the new testament.

And we're hopefully we'll see as we go through these next few lessons that there's no contradictions but in reality first corinthians chapter 11 is just a harmonious development of what we find starting in genesis.

So we discussed that last week and then we went into first corinthians chapter 11 and we addressed the question of well what is the head covering. And we considered that the two main answers to that have been it is a cloth covering a piece of clothing.

Others have considered it just to be hair. And for the reasons that I went through last week I've come to the conclusion anyway that it is referring to an actual piece of clothing. I didn't share everything with you concerning that position.

When we get to the to the perhaps the central verse that people use when they're when they would maintain it has to do with hair where it says talks about nature. We'll talk about this a little bit more because there's some other things I need to share with you but at least as far as we've gotten we did hopefully hopefully establish that to your satisfaction that what we're dealing with here is a cloth covering and the lessons today will be based on that position.

The Question of When the Head Covering Is Worn

So what are we going to look at today. Well I'll just have to read it to you because I don't have an overhead. But today we want to look at the subject who is to wear the head covering and when is it to be worn.

Who is to wear the head covering and when is it to be worn. We'll actually look at that in reverse order. We'll first see who when it's to be worn and then we'll look at who. But that will occupy our time this evening.

But again before we actually look at the text of scripture and consider these issues let's have a word of prayer. Father we do once again thank you for your word that gives light unto us that directs our paths.

And lord we just pray that you would meet here with us this evening or this subject at least for 20th century modern age people seems to be a very difficult one and many many different approaches have been taken to this passage and I just pray you would lead us through all these various avenues to the true path the actual truth that this passage has to teach us as we begin this evening just be with us.

Meet with us with your spirit give us open heart give us your illumination and just show us what your truth really is. Please keep us from error and draw us unto yourself. We'd ask this in jesus name and for his sake.

Amen. Okay the first thing we want to look at is when is the head covering to be worn. But before I do that it'd probably be good just to read the passage. So let's do that beginning in verse one of chapter corinthians.

First corinthians chapter 11. Be ye followers of me even as I also am of christ. Now I praise you brethren that ye remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I deliver them to you that I would have you to know that the head of every man is christ and the head of the woman is the man and the head of christ is god.

Every man praying or prophesying having his head covered dishonoreth his head. But every woman that prayeth of prophesied with her head uncovered dishonoreth her head for that is even all one as if she were shaven.

For if the woman be not covered let her also be shorn. But it is be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven let her be covered for a man indeed ought not to cover his head for as much as he is the image and glory of god but the woman is glory of the man for the man is not of the woman but the woman of the man neither was the man created for the woman but the woman for the man for this calls off the woman to have power on her head because of the angel nevertheless neither is the man without the woman neither the woman without the man in the lord for as the woman is of the man even so is the man also by the woman but all things of God.

Judging yourself, is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering.

But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God. Amen. Okay, let's consider this first question. When is the head covering to be worn? And there have been several different answers, and I believe I've got the four major ones up there.

Some believe that it's referring to praying and prophesying in a public way in the presence of the church. That's a very common understanding today by those that wear the head covering. Others have seen in this pastor's teaching that you should have a covering when you're praying or prophesying, just in general, whenever that may be, without regard to place, whether it be a church or a private prayer meeting or a meeting like this, or just a spontaneous type of prayer.

Now others would say basically the same thing, but they would not be quite so general. They would say, yes, it refers to times other than in the meetings of the church, but it's more formal times, like a set time for personal devotion, or family devotion, or maybe a prayer meeting, home prayer meeting.

So it's more of a set time, more of a formal time that you would need to be concerned about it, and not just any old time. And then the fourth view, and it's basically the view that I hold true, is that the head covering should be generally worn, not just when praying or prophesying.

Okay, well let's consider those and evaluate them. Let's look at the first one, public praying and prophesying in meetings of the church. Why have people believed that to be the proper understanding of this passage?

Well, usually or normally, as a person would present that position to you, he would note and call to your attention verse 17, where it says, Now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not, that you come together not for the better, but for the worse.

For first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and I partly believe it. Well now, what they do is they say, well here Paul, in verses 1 through 16, is talking about praying and prophesying.

Then we get right to 17, and what's he talking about there? The church meeting. So they connect verses 1 through 16 with verse 17, and they would say, clearly we're dealing with praying and prophesying in a church meeting, and that is when you should wear a head covering at that point.

Well, I mean that's not an implausible understanding, but I have several problems with that, which I'll share with you, why I don't really agree with it. And the first thing I would say is that verse 17 is not verse 1.

I think the case would be clear if chapter 11 started out this way. Verse 1 says this, when you come together as a church, I hear that some of you are praying and prophesying with heads uncovered. If that was verse 1, and then he started into the praying and prophesying, they'd be, hey, we'd have no need for this series.

We'd know exactly when to wear it, because the whole subject would be prefaced with the context of the church. But that's not where the context of the church comes in. It comes in in verse 17, and the question then we have to ask is this, why should we attach verses 1 through 16 to verse 17, rather than attaching verses 1 through 16 to what comes before it?

Okay, what comes before verse 1? Is it dealing with the church in chapter 10 of verse 20? No, it's not. It has nothing to do with the church. Chapter 10 is just dealing with general issues of life. For instance, in verse 27 of chapter 10, if any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and you be disposed to go whatsoever is set before you eat, asking no questions for conscience sake.

So he's dealing with the subject of eating meat sacrificed to idols. Now, why do we attach 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 1 through 16 to what comes after it, and not do it to what comes before it? How do we know how to attach it?

We can't just assume one or the other. I don't think we have a right to do that. So that's my first criticism, and I would further suggest that Paul knew exactly what he was doing in placing the teaching regarding the head covering right where he did.

He placed it right between issues of general life, and he placed it right before issues of church life. Now, why would he do that? Because praying and prophesying cross both issues, right? It does relate to the church, but it also relates to life in general.

I don't just pray in church. I pray every day here. I pray out in the woods if I'm walking, you know, or if I have a need. And so he put it right in the right place, because it's related to both worlds and not just one.

And I don't think we have the right to either say it goes only with this or only with that. It goes to both. To me, that's a very satisfied understanding of why it is where it is. My second point would be this, or third, if Paul is referring only to church meetings, we have a somewhat of a conflict in practical theology.

Prayer and Prophecy Beyond the Church Meeting

You might look for 2nd and 1st Corinthians chapter 14, beginning in verse 26. How is it then, brethren, when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation?

Let all things be done unto Edifying. If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course, and let one interpret. But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church, and let him speak to himself and to God.

Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. If anything be revealed to another, but sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. For you may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.

And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. Now look at verse 14. Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak, that they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.

And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is a shame for women to speak in the church. Now this is in the very same book that the teaching on the head covering is to be found.

And the very context we have here is people praying, and prophesying, and having teachings, and all these different things. And then right in that very context, Paul says that the women are not to speak.

I mean I struggle with that. I mean he's talking about prophecy, then he says women aren't to speak. Now how do we put 1st Corinthians 11 with this passage? If it's the church service, it's almost useless.

Because if women can't prophesy in church, what's the point of giving the instruction in 1st Corinthians 11? In fact he has a pretty strong silence, they can't even ask questions. That's how silent the women are commanded to be in this passage.

And if you go to 1st Timothy 1 verses 8 through 15, and we look at that passage, but as I understand that passage, Paul says the men are to pray with their hands uplifted. That's the way they're to appear in church.

The women are to appear modestly attired, and he in the same section he says they're also to be silent. So he pictures the men praying with their hands uplifted, and the women are there modestly attired and silent.

Now how do we fit this with the idea that it's dealing with a church service? I struggle with that. Like Paul contradicted himself, if the primary focus and concern of 1st Corinthians 11 is what women can do in church.

There's other places he says they're not even supposed to speak publicly in church. The other thing I have as a concern is the fact of the matter is when we go to 1st Corinthians chapter 11 and we read it, it just doesn't say anything about place.

I mean that's not even mentioned by Paul. He just says when you pray and prophesy. He doesn't say where, he just says whenever it happens. This is the way you're to do it. Now I really think Mr. Linsky was right, and he's a very renowned commentator, but he said this, by omitting reference to a place, Paul says this, wherever it is proper and right for a woman or a man to pray or to prophesy, the difference of sex should be marked as I indicate.

Whether men are present or absent when a woman prays or prophesies makes no difference, also vice versa. Each remains what he or she is apart from the other. Okay, I think that's a pretty good statement of what I think the reason is, or what Paul is saying in 1st Corinthians chapter 11.

He's not speaking about place. It's not referred to. Another reason I think that is that there is no qualification to the word prayer. Paul does not say when you pray publicly, does he? He just says when you pray.

Besides that, praying and prophesying, as we've already noted, takes place at times other than in a church meeting, and you know we can see that biblically too. Look in Luke chapter 2 beginning in verse 36, and there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Senual of the tribe of Asher, and she was of a great age and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity, and she was a widow of about four score and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served to God with fastings and prayers night and day.

And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee to their own city Nazareth.

So here you have an instance of this prophetess Anna, and she's prophesying concerning the birth of our Lord and the significance of his birth and who he was, but it wasn't taking place in a synagogue service, it was taking place outside in the courts of the temple, and there it was appropriate and acceptable for her to prophesy.

And obviously there are times other than in a service where a person might prophesy, and likewise I won't go into prayer, that's obvious. We pray many times other than in a worship service, and that prayer may be what?

It could be vocal or it could be inside ourselves. You know the account of Hannah in the Old Testament when she wanted a child so bad, and she went to the temple and she was there kneeling down and praying, and the high priest thought she was drunk, because he could see her lips moving but couldn't hear anything she was saying, because she was in such turmoil of soul.

But so when we pray we don't necessarily speak, do we? We can pray in our heart. And Paul really in 1st Corinthians 11 does not make distinctions, he doesn't say public prayer, he doesn't say out loud prayer, he doesn't say prayer in a church meeting, he just says when you pray.

So do we have a right to add to God's Word and start putting restrictions or qualifications that he doesn't add? I feel uncomfortable with that. And the other thing I'd like to note is this, that the logic underlying the principle of the head covering requires a broader application than just public prayer or prophesying in a church service.

God's Chain of Command and the Head Covering

Now let's talk about that for a second. What is the underlying principle of the head covering that we've seen across all these weeks? Well I think the underlying principle is that God's chain of command is to be recognized and respected, right?

Isn't that the underlying principle? Well what I would suggest to you is that praying or prophesying of any type, whether it be public, private, or silent even, involves a bypassing of God's chain of command.

Now let me let me explain that a little bit. But because that is the case, it's still important that whenever you're doing this, that you, that a woman has a reminder on her head of this chain of command.

Well let's talk about, though, this bypassing of the chain of command. Because we're Christians, what rights do we have? The Bible says that it doesn't matter whether you're Jew or Greek, male or female, bond or free, it says that we can all go boldly before the throne of grace in time of need, right?

That's a right. It doesn't matter whether you're a woman or a man, you can go right into the Father's presence. You don't have to ask your husband. You can go right to the Father's presence, right to the Lord Jesus Christ, and make your petitions known.

God has given each of us that right as his children. My wife doesn't have to come to me and get permission to go to the throne of grace. And Carol doesn't have to go to Roger to get permission. She can go and take her needs to her father.

Now I've never been in the military. Roger, have you been in the military? But I think we would still know that in the military you don't do something like that. If I'm a private and I have a gripe or a concern or a burden on my heart, I just don't go to the general and lay my burden out before him, do I?

I would get in big trouble if I did that, because I'd be breaking the chain of command. I'd have to go to my sergeant and tell him my burden or my problem. Likewise the sergeant, he's not going to go to the captain, he'll go to the lieutenant first, right?

But see, Christians are not bound by that. I can go to the sovereign Lord of the universe, direct, and bypass every single authority, human authority, can't I? So, lady, guess what? You can bypass the chain of command when you pray, and you do.

What about prophesying? Well, in prophesying a woman bypasses the chain of command also, because when a woman prophesies, she has the authority to bind everyone's conscience, doesn't she? She can bind the king's conscience, she can bind her husband's conscience if the word is for him, because she's speaking God's Word.

Look in 2nd Corinthians, chapter 22, this is the account of Huldah the prophetess, beginning in verse 14. So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahicham, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Ezechiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shalom, the son of Tikvah, the son of Herod, keeper of the wardrobe.

Now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college, and they communed with her. And she said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, tell the man that sent you to me, thus saith the Lord. Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read, because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands.

Therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched. But to the king of Judah, which sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, as touching the words which thou hath heard, because thine heart was tender, and thou hath tumbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hath went thy clothes, and wept before me, I also have heard thee saith the Lord.

Behold, therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace, and thine eye shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.".

Now here you have a woman, and who is she directing? Who is she speaking to, and pronouncing certain things of judgment and blessing? She's speaking to the king. This little woman, Hilda. So when a woman prays, or when she prophesies, she is outside of, or actually I won't say violating, but she is not, she's acting beyond God's chain of command.

And it doesn't have to be verbal outside prayer. I mean, if you go to God as a woman in your devotions, you're going, you're going straight to God, and around your husband, and whoever else might be over you as a man.

The head covering is a reminder, both to the woman and those around her, including even the angels as we'll see in a few verses, as to her proper place in engaging in these activities, namely prayer and prophesying, she must not have a haughty, rebellious, disrespectful spirit.

The head covering is designed to remind her of that when she engages in activities which in reality are breaking of God's chain of command. Now to appreciate the importance of this, we need to recognize the fact, the very true fact, that privilege can lead to contempt.

Privilege, Contempt, and Submission to Authority

Privilege can lead to contempt. And let me give you, give you a personal illustration from my own life, and what I'm about to share with you I'm not, I'm not proud of. It was wrong. It was bad. But back in my youth, when I was still in school, and I was working my way through school, I happened to work for my father.

He was a terminal manager, and the company policy that he worked for would permit a son or daughter to work for him as long as they were in school. And I jumped on that because I needed income. And so I was in the very nice position of working for my dad.

In other words, the top man in the company there was my father. Well, I worked as a billing clerk, and at the time I was studying computer science, and I thought I knew a lot about my subject, and I had ideas about how things should be done with computers.

And there was a fellow there that was from, kind of from corporate headquarters, and he was responsible for the data processing functions in our terminal. Well, he had laid out procedures for how to do data entry and how to keep track of things, and he had this all spelled out.

Oh, I didn't agree with what he said. Well, guess what? I say this to my shame, I just did it my way. What did I have to worry about? My dad was the, he was the terminal manager, and I could just walk in there anytime I wanted, and pretty much I did a lot, you know, go in and sit down and talk to him.

And my privileged position resulted in an attitude of contempt to some authorities that were over me. Do you see that? How that can happen? And it was very bad, very wrong. Now there's an account in the Bible we need to look at too, which is similar.

Look in Numbers chapter 12. I'll start in verse 1. And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, now look what they say, hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses?

Hath he not spoken also by us? No privilege. Went to their head. And the Lord heard it. Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses and unto Aaron and unto Miriam.

Come out ye there unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out. And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam.

And they both came forth. And he said, hear now my words. If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a vision, in a dream. My servant Moses is not so who is faithful in all mine house.

With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently and not in dark speeches. And the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. Wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them.

And he departed. And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle. And behold Miriam became leprous, white as snow. And Aaron looked upon Miriam and behold she was leprous. Now do you see what happened here?

Miriam had a privileged place with God. She was receiving divine revelation. And that place of privilege caused her to well up in her heart and to rebel against God's servant. And notice that the person that was stricken with leprosy was not the man Aaron but Miriam, the woman.

Because while it was certainly very bad for Aaron to have done what he did, it was far worse for Miriam because of her place as a woman. And so I tell you these two illustrations to make it pretty clear that privileged communication can lead to a contentious spirit.

And that is why I believe it's important and why God gave a head covering to a woman that when she avails herself of the privileges God has given to her, she must nevertheless not forget her place. And the head covering for her serves as a continuous reminder of that place in God's chain of command.

And she's never to forget that. Even though she can come boldly into God's presence, she can pray and lift up her petitions and tell God what's ever on her heart, she must never let that place of privilege cause her to forget her place in God's order where it is God, Christ, man, woman.

And here again I say whether it's out loud prayer or silent prayer, the principle still holds. Okay? So that's some of the reasons, our second position. And they're good reasons. I think they're very strong reasons.

When praying or prophesying, generally speaking, without regard to place, that's when a head covering is to be worn and that's what's being taught in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Let's look at the third suggestion that I've run across.

Formal Prayer, Spontaneous Prayer, and the Presence of Angels

Now many would almost say that our second position was the proper understanding of this passage. They would want to restrict it somewhat. They would say that the passage, yes, it does apply to more than just the church service and they would include other formal times of prayer, but they wouldn't want to conclude such things as like you're walking down a lane and the Lord burns your heart and you want to pray and it's just a spontaneous, unstructured, informal encounter between you and God.

These types of things they would say, well, you don't really need to have your head covered. And my concerns with that position, number one, one we've already mentioned, where are the distinctions in the text?

Where does it say that that type of praying is exempt? Okay, I don't see it. It just says when you pray. Another thing I note is that we must, we need to note that the only audience Paul seems to be concerned with in 1 Corinthians 11 is what?

Does he mention other men or women? What is the only audience he talks about in 1 Corinthians 11 verses 1 through 16? The angels. The only audience. But there is an audience and it's the angels. They're always watching us, aren't they?

We always have an audience. Potentially we've got angels observing us now, I don't know, but they could be there at any time. And Paul says that a woman should have her head covered because of the angels, for their sake.

And since they're always present, they're even present when you're walking down a lane and spontaneously have a heart to pray. Okay, I've got a third reason here and I'll note this and we may develop it a little bit more in just a minute, but you know, we generally wear clothing even when we are alone, don't we?

We don't just wear clothing when we're at church. I mean that's something that we wear at home, wherever. Most of the time it's appropriate for us to be clothed. And I would note that the same principles that underlie the head covering are the same principles that are used that underlie the way women dress generally.

So, to me, it seems more reasonable to assume that all the time, not just at special times, we should have a woman should cover her head. The same reason that she covered her body generally and not just at special times.

But I'll talk about that a little bit more in just a second. Well, okay, I still think of the three views we've looked at so far, view B or view 2 is the best. But, as I shared with you when we first began, I feel like we need to start with B, but we can move on to even a more general understanding of when the head covering should be worn.

The Case for Wearing the Head Covering Generally

And I, as I've considered this over the years, I believe that yes, it should be worn when you're praying and prophesying, certainly then, but that it is more, even more than that, that it should just generally be worn.

I'd like to look at that and explain why I have moved beyond our second reason and gone to an even more broader understanding. Why do I believe that? Well, one, the first reason I would say is a practical reason.

You know, I talked a lot about a whole Bible understanding of the head covering, but this is something, that view was something that I developed as I studied this whole issue more intently several years ago.

But, like most people, when I first looked at this whole passage, that's all I looked at was 1 Corinthians chapter 11. I didn't really look at it in terms of other scriptures. But, I reached the conclusion even back then, 20 years ago, that we really ought to wear the head covering all the time.

And the primary reason I came to that conclusion, I guess, would be largely practical, because if, in fact, whenever my wife-to-be was going to pray, she was bypassing the chain of command and she needed to have her head covered.

And that could happen at any time, because if you're a godly person, you should have that heart to pray without ceasing. And so a godly woman is going to many times, throughout the day perhaps, lifting up her heart to God in prayer.

Practically speaking, how do you cover your head? I mean, do you wear a shawl on your shoulders and every time you get the urge or the need to pray, you throw it up over your head? Practically speaking, how would you do it?

And it seemed to me that the only reasonable approach was just to have your head covered. That way it was no problem. If you felt the need to spontaneously pray, your head was covered, you could do it.

You didn't have to worry about grabbing a towel or whatever to try and, you know, to have a covered head when you pray. So we very early on adopted the practice that you just wore a head covering just like you wore any other piece of clothing.

And you got up in the morning, you put it on and, you know, at night when you're in bed, and they take it off. And that solved that problem from a practical perspective. But there's some other reasons also, as I have studied this more, that I would want to add to that.

And let me give you my second one. The arguments Paul uses in 1st Corinthians chapter 11 do not lend themselves to just a restricted application. Now you might say, now wait a minute, Paul talks about praying prophesy.

What right do you have to say he means more than that? Aren't you doing what you're accusing others of doing and reading things into the text that aren't fair? I hope not. Let me give you my reasoning here.