There are many hard to understand sections in the scriptures. I’ve always seen these sections as time and places where we have the opertunity to wrestle with God’s word much like Jacob wrestled with the Angel of the Lord. And like Jacob of we try with out might having faith in God then we will come out of the struggle blessed.
This past week we had an opportunity in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. You know the section about head coverings.
In my preparation for a lesson I was teaching on Sunday I reached out to a number of friends to hear their favorite parts and the stuff that stood out to them from the come follow me chapters. (Side note really quick this was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done in scripture study. Each of you that responded did so in heartfelt ways and I am very much appreciated your input. Thank you. And I’m probably going to reach out like that more. Back to the topic at hand.) I was surprised at how many commented about either not understanding, seeing the relevance or flat out not liking the start to chapter 11.
I figured this was a thing worth wrestling with, but oddly I had done so already. I had notes in my scriptures and memories of seeking an understanding of this section previously. So I figured a bit that most people had already done this as well. I am no special case and well understand that the paths I walk have been walked by many others before. But remembering back on my friends responses I figured it would hurt to cover it in the last few minutes of my lesson.
So about 5 mins before the end the conversation had come to a natural conclusion and I figured what the heck might as well. And I dived into the topic.
What happened next was not entirely novel. I explained best I could what was going on and why it was important in our day concluding with a line I was pretty proud of “this is an ancient answer to problems that persist in modernity” (pretty good line right)
Having finished up the lesson and closed I kinda felt like I had waisted the last few minutes, but Figured I hadn’t done much if any damage.
Then a novel thing did happen. People started coming up and thanking me for having gone over the start of chapter 11. Including a previous Bishop of mine who commented that he had never understood that section before.
It then occurred to me maybe I could help people with this wrestle. And so I write this here post.
First thing that needs to be understood to understand this section is that it is still important today. This will give us the desire to wrestle through the night.
Second thing is to understand the culture that was prevalent in Corinth at the time Paul was writing.
Corinth is a city on a 4 mile wide isthmus that separated the Adriatic and Aegean seas. By crossing over this 4 miles of land merchants could cut 200 miles out of the shipping roots. Nowadays there is a canal cut through it so boats can cross easier but back then salors who have to hop out of their ships and travel the land with their cargo to ships awaiting in the other side or even carry their ship accross the land in some cases. This resulted in 2 majorly important influences in Corinth. First was the money. Few places in the reach of Paul’s travels had as much money coursing through it. If you wanted to get rich quick in the roman world Corinth was the place. As a result a lot of the culture revolved around the betterment of one’s position economically and politically. There were classes, rich and poor as in all places but in Corinth the paths between were well oiled.
The second major influence was of course Rome. The conquer of the mediterranen was not going to let the jewel that was Corinth put of their sight. The people of the day understood this. As fast as quick money could build you up disrespect for Rome could cut you down.
The Corinthian who sought to better themselves and a volatile system to navigate between Corinthian culture and Roman Culture. Then stick in the middle of the concophony a growing church who doesn’t quite get it and we have the setting to whom Paul was writting.
Now we don’t have the letter that the Corinthians wrote Paul, so we don’t know exactly why people where asking about head coverings but there are 4 main reasons that it’s likely Paul was responding to. 2 for men and 2 for women.
Now when it comes to applying this in our lives I’d like to point out that Paul is not saying what gender rolls should be but is working with in the gender rolls that were prevalent at the time. Any of the 4 things we are about to go over is fully applicable to each of us.
The Reasons
Men covering their heads. The two main reason for bringing this up are as follows: Capite Velato and social climbing.
Women uncovering their heads. The two main reasons this was brought up are as follow: Prostitutive hair and Dishonoring spouse.
Now those 4 are not the easiest of things but don’t stop here, I’ll bring it together in the end. I promise. Also as I mentioned earlier these are going to apply to pretty much everyone nowadays and aren’t so gender focused as they were in Corinth.
Capite Velato
This was a Roman religious practice of covering their heads while preforming religious acts. It is a part of their pagan religion.
Social Climbing
In the quick shifting social class of Corinth if you could convince people you were someone of a higher station then more business would flow to you and more money and all of a sudden you belonged to the higher station. An easy way to do this was to flaunt a nice head covering. Basically if you could buy a nice hat and convince people you fit that hat then soon enough you were a person who could afford nicer hats.
Prostitutive hair
In the Roman Empire and especially Corinth the prostitutes all wore their hair down. The common style for a woman was covered hair, flowing headdresses, and beautiful coverings. But the prostitute sought to entice the salors and weaker souls with their uncovered hair.
Lastly was dishonoring of spouse
In Corinth a married woman wore a mark or kind of crest on their head dress that showed they were married. By removing this in public it is akin to pointedly removing your wedding ring in front of your spouse.
Now let’s talk about why Paul is teaching this. The rest of chapter 11 is on the same topic. The times that men and women were covering and uncovering respectively was in what would be our sacrament meetings nowadays. So let’s go back and look at this again with that understanding taking a look to see how Paul was meaning it then and how it could be understood were the advice given today.
Capite Velato
Don’t bring out side influences into our most sacred of meetings. Don’t dishonor Christ’s sacrifice by bringing in outside and unworthy practices. Paul is saying here not to bring the Roman influences into the church meeting. This is still valid today even though we aren’t Roman. There are plenty of things in the world arround us that fill the place that Rome held in Corinth and we need not let them have place in our meeting.. Dont make the sacrament service about your teams, your political views, or your personal interests and influences. You don’t need to bring in anything that, by its addition, dilutes the sacredness of that time.
Social Climbing
By bringing this up Paul is telling them not to dishonor Christ’s sacrifice by trying to use the church as a platform to launch their social plots or reachings.
Don’t spend your time in our holiest of meetings trying to advance your career. This applies exactly the same way today. You need not dishonor Christ’s sacrifice with networking, politicking, and conniving for worldly gain. There may be a time and place for this but is is not here.
Prostitutive Hair
Do not distract the people arround you with your actions or attire. It doesn’t matter if it was your intention or not, if you are doing something that is likely to make someone arround you fall short, trip up, or fall short, stop it. Go read chapter 8 again. Paul has strong opinions on not doing things that will cause others to fall short regardless of what the intention behind them is. It is unlikely that the people in this meeting were trying to draw the connection between themselves and the popular prostitution style of the time but Paul is seeing that the connection is being drawn anyway. Why on earth would anyone want to put a stumbling block in front of their brother or sister in Christ? Why on earth would anyome want to set a potential stumbling block in a church meeting. The sacrament meeting is a time for everyone involved to draw nearer to God don’t do things that will dishonor the people arround you.
Dishonoring the Spouse
Paul is talking on a problem that is still running rampant in our society. The means wherewith fights are displayed are different but they nevertheless persist. How often has a meeting been diminished by ire or contention?
Dont start fights or bring fights into this holy time. You dishonor yourself and those who are distracted and caught up in the arguments. Contention is not of God, don’t bring it into His meeting.
We need not do things that cause ourselves or those arround us to lose out on the single most important event of the week.
I would reckon this is the message Paul is trying to get accross. This is a message that is still needed today.
It is not happen stance that immediately after this section Paul talks on how our actions can make it to where we are taking the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner. If we are doing anything to take away from the meeting for ourselves or those arround us, we are missing the purpose.
An ancient answer to problems that persist in modernity.
As always Im praying for thee; please pray for me.