Context Matters: New Testament BackgroundsSample

Topic 1: What do we make of head coverings today?

In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul teaches that women should keep their heads covered when worshipping. Does this mean head coverings are mandatory for women in churches today? Understanding the original cultural context of the first century can help us understand the principles behind Paul’s teaching so we can understand how to apply this passage in our own context today.

We need to start by understanding the purpose of head coverings in Paul’s day. In the first century Greco-Roman world, women’s hair was the prime object of male lust. Unmarried girls kept their hair uncovered to attract potential husbands, but married women in the eastern Mediterranean culture covered their hair to prevent others from seeing it. To not wear a head covering was considered a deliberate attempt at seduction. The distraction might be roughly equivalent to walking into church in a bathing suit today.

But there was another problem: upper-class women didn’t like to cover their heads. Whenever the Empress changed her hairstyle, it started a new wave of fashion throughout the Empire. Wealthy women paid a lot of money for their hairstyles, so they didn’t want to cover them up. Plus, the churches met in their homes—why should they have to act like they were out in public?

What the wealthier women may have meant as ostentation, which was bad in itself, the poorer women would have understood as seduction, which was much worse. Churches met in the larger homes with both poorer and richer Christians meeting together. This issue of head coverings could cause class conflict and disrupt the unity of the church.

In the previous chapters, 1 Corinthians 8–10, Paul has been talking about giving up rights, including his own, for the sake of the gospel. Here, he urges the wealthier women to give up their rights in order to avoid the appearance of seduction, ostentatiously showing off their wealth, and to maintain church unity. These principles behind Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 11 are more relevant for today’s churches than the specific application of head coverings.

Learn more about this passage on hair coverings in the video below.