Bishop's Epistle: The Christian Woman's Headcovering III

“Ought The Woman” Previously, we looked at the statement from verse 10 “for this cause,” and there we found four causes; here we examine the next statement, “ought the woman.” These three simple words from verse 10 inform us that there is a moral devoir that rests on women to maintain a dress code that does not apply to the men (see verse 7). In this case Christian women are morally obligated before God to display a symbol of their rank in Godʼs economy of order. From verse 10 we learn that the women “ought” to do the very thing that verse 7 says the men “ought not” to do: namely, cover their heads when praying or prophesying.

(As a “by the by,” the “ought not” of verse 7 and the “ought ” of verse 10 serve to illustrate that hair is not the covering being required by the Apostle. Men “ought not” to cover their heads when praying or prophesying, the Apostle writes. Is the Apostle saying: Men “ought not” to grow hair long before praying or prophesying? As if that would be possible. Further, is the Apostle instructing the Christian women that they, on the other hand, “ought” to, indeed, grow their hair long upon entering the assembly to pray or prophesy? As if they could. In that the covering is required only in the assembly when praying or prophesying, and not required otherwise, militates against the covering being hair. Simple reasoning would lay the hair issue to rest, if one were honest.)

In Ephesians 5:28-32 the Apostle Paul draws a parallel between a husband and wife, and Christ and his Church. In this apostolic teaching the man represents Christ, and the woman represents the Church. Therefore, each gender of the Lordʼs congregation has a moral obligation to manifest Christ and his Church to the world at large. The Bible tells us that we are living epistles read of all men (2 Corinthians 3:2). The world may never read the Holy Scripture, but they see and read the Christian life every day. So then, just as the Church is to be in submission to Christ (her head), so is the Christian woman to be in submission to her male head (her husband in particular). She should demonstrate this in her life, but particularly in the assembly of the saints.

The church must practice scriptural order; only by doing this can the angels (who are ministering spirits sent forth from God to minister in behalf of those who are heirs of salvation [Hebrews 1:14]) minister in the fashion heaven intends. The Scripture teaches clearly that women are to have a covering over their heads “because of the angels.” If we desire the angels to minister TO US on heavenʼs behalf and TO HEAVEN in our behalf, then we must exercise the order of headship that God Himself has placed in the Church through His faithful apostle: Paul.

“To Have Power On Her Head”

Here we come to the central statement of the text. The woman is to have “power on her head.” What could such a statement mean?

Now, admittedly the King James Version (KJV) has a difficult rendering at this place for modern English speaking people, because of its attempt to give a word for word rendering of the Greek. Therefore, one should considered a thought to thought translation of the original language. When the apostle said “to have power...,” the Greek word is “exousian;” the sense in the Greek is: “to have a symbol of authority” (semeian exousias).

Todayʼs English Version of the Bible translates: “have a covering over her head to show she is under her husbandʼs authority.”
Philips Modern English Version of the Bible translates: “to bear on her head an outward sign of manʼs authority.”
New American Standard Bible translates: “therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head.”
The Amplified Bible translates: “Therefore she should [be subject to his authority and should] have a covering on her head [as a token, a symbol, of her submission to authority, that she may show reverence as do] the angels [and not displease them].”

Going back to the King James Version rendering, the word “power” is, of course, the Greek word for authority. This strange rendering is, nonetheless, biblical. Many times, throughout the Word of God, the symbol of the principle is often named as the principle itself. Therefore, the headcovering is here called the “power” or “authority” that the Christian woman is to manifest. Many examples can be found throughout the Word of God where the symbol of a thing is actually called by the name of the thing that it symbolizes. Included here are three examples:

The act of circumcision is actually called “the covenant” (Genesis 17:10-13), when in reality it is the symbol of the covenant;
The lamb slain at the time of Passover is actually called “the passover” (Exodus 12:21), when in truth it is but the symbol of all the Passover entailed;
In this present case (1 Corinthians 11:10) “power on her head” means that the Christian woman is to display on her head a sign or token that she is under the authority of her male head.