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1 Corinthians 11:4-16
In 1 Corinthians 11:4-16 is the continuance of 1 Corinthians 11:2-3 in the roles of the man and the woman in Christ. The Apostle Paul is teaching togetherness and equality in this passage with individual purposes in God’s divine design for man and woman. The belief, historically, was that the beauty of a woman was created for the man – to be his personal attraction to her in a private setting, which would also prevent other men from being attracted to her, thus creating a private relationship that would be a solid bond between the man and the woman. The question in this passage is of the women being in public without wearing their head coverings as if this was “advertising” the woman’s beauty to other men and breaking the bond with her husband as the custom is that no other man should see her beauty which is intended only for her husband. The man, however, is not the beauty of the woman but the woman for man as woman was created for man (Genesis 2:18-24). But with the specifics of head coverings, Paul declares that this custom is not a requirement of the Church, which implies that it is more about respect for one another with the right intentions in a marriage to be sincere to one another. Paul comments in 1 Corinthians 11:16 (NKJV), “But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.”
This is a promise that man and woman were created in separate roles for life together as one.
This custom of proper head coverings may seem superficial and unimportant to many of you today, but it was a way of preventing outside temptation to disrupt a marriage in which many of the marriages were arranged. This custom is continued to be practiced in some cultures around the world today. The intention is innocence and purity between a man and a woman in marriage; something that in many cultures today have forgotten.
Dear LORD,
Please help us to realize and understand that Your intentions for a marriage is for one man and one woman to be united with a bond that is reflective of being able to experience Your great love for us. A purity that is bound like no other that in itself will draw us to You – the only love that is greater – in Christ. In Jesus name I pray, amen.