It's good to be home from vacation and to be back into the word of God with you. We ended up coming home a day later than we originally planned, and I have really missed studying the Bible with you.
We pick back up where we left off in Chapter 11 with Paul instructing the Christian women of Corinth to cover their heads in worship. In Paul's day and in his area of the world it was customary for respectable women to wear a veil over their hair. We discussed in our last study that the veil signified that the woman was under the protection of a man. In the case of a young single lady, she was under the protection of her father. In the case of a married woman, she was under the protection of her husband. Men who spotted a veil-wearing single woman in the marketplace knew they could not approach her and make a pass at her. Any man who wanted to court her would have to possess honorable intentions toward her and would have to be approved by her father. Men who spotted a veil-wearing married woman in public knew the woman was unavailable to them for courtship. Making a pass at her might earn him a bloody nose from her husband.
The veil also signified being under the authority of the man of the house. A daughter was under her father's authority as long as she lived in his household. A wife was under the authority of her husband. We discussed in our last study the need for us to remember that Paul is speaking to Christian households where a husband's authority does not mean he is free to mistreat his wife or to disregard her opinions or to treat her as if she is less important than he is. It is simply that God has chosen the husband to be the spiritual leader of the household: a very serious responsibility. In the Christian home the husband should be setting a wonderful godly example for his wife and children to follow. The Christian man ought to take time to consider whether he is fulfilling his God-given duties. If it is the wife who is setting the spiritual example for the household, the husband needs to repent of shirking his responsibilities. He needs to step up his game and work on his relationship with the Lord so that he can be the man his family needs him to be.
Since in Christian households the man is supposed to be the spiritual leader of the family, and since the woman is supposed to follow the spiritual example of the man, Paul says that (due to the customs of his day) the woman should wear a veil over her hair in church to demonstrate her willing submission to her husband's spiritual authority in the home. Paul feels that if the woman does not appear this way in church, it's as shameful as if she shaved off all her hair. Priestesses who served at various idolatrous temples in Corinth often shaved their heads. Many of these co-called priestesses were actually temple prostitutes. It was also the custom in various cultures for a woman caught in adultery to have her head shaved to mark her as an immoral woman. So Paul is saying that the Christian women of Corinth who don't cover their heads are bringing shame to their husbands. "But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head---it is the same as having her head shaved. For if a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should cover her head." (1 Corinthians 11:5-6)
My husband and I attend a Baptist church, and there is no custom there that a woman should cover her head. Because it is not our custom or part of our culture, it does not shame our husbands if we don't wear head coverings in church. So how can we apply Paul's instructions to our modern conduct? What would shame our husbands? What would make us look like women of the world instead of women of the Lord?
Dressing immodestly in church or in public would be a good example. We can still be stylish and up-to-date without displaying more of ourselves than is respectable. There are lots of cute outfits in the stores that won't make us look like we might be available for illicit relationships. Imagine how embarrassing it would be for a Christian man to have a wife who enjoys dressing in skimpy clothes so that other men will turn around to stare at her. This tells the husband that his love and attention is not enough for her; she has to also have the admiration of men she passes on the street.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to look our best. I color the gray in my hair and I wear an average amount of makeup and I like to shop for cute clothes. I bet most of my female readers like doing these same things. We want our husbands to think we look pretty. We want everyone we interact with to think we look pretty. Our husbands enjoy knowing we want to look our best for them, plus they enjoy having others think, "Wow, Joe sure found himself a pretty wife!" What they don't enjoy is having those around them think, "Joe's wife looks cheap. Have you seen how she dresses?", or, "Joe's wife sure dresses sexy. I think she might be interested in running around on him. Maybe I should find out."
What about women who are not married and who do not have to consider the opinion of a husband? Women who are in Christ should still dress like daughters of the living God. Skimpy clothes may attract the attention of a single man (even a single Christian man, because he has eyes in his head) but it's going to attract him for the wrong reasons. How can he be attracted to a woman's character and intelligence and talents if he doesn't even know she has them? He doesn't even know she has a pretty face if all he can look at is what is displayed by a low-cut top or mini skirt. It's natural for a man to be attracted to a pretty face, and there's nothing wrong with a woman enhancing the prettiness of her face, but after attracting his attention by lovely eyes or nice smile there needs to be something of substance to keep him interested. A man should stay interested because he realizes a woman is beautiful on the inside too. He should fascinated by intelligence and charmed by a sense of humor. He should admire a woman for her talents and for her love of the Lord. A man who is attracted by the "whole package" is a man worth going on a date with and even considering as marriage material. A man who is only attracted by the goods on display will soon wander off when the next skimpily clad woman walks by.
If we remember who we are in Christ, ladies, we will attract the right kind of admiration. We will be treated with respect. We will be valued for all the wonderful things we can contribute to the world. If God intended women only to be ornamental, or worse yet to be nothing but sex objects, He wouldn't have given us equal intelligence with men. He wouldn't have given us so many great talents. He wouldn't have gifted us with the ability to do amazing things in this world. So let's be who He created us to be. Let's be women of substance and character. Let's be women who understand that Christ values and respects us. And because Christ values and respects us, we should value and respect ourselves.
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