All,
Paul is dealing with a cultural practice, which became a problem after women began participation in the worship service. The locus of the issue is centered on the women because, according to both Jesus and Paul, women are now allowed to participate in the church service, which included public prayer. For the first time in the history of the Church, by order of Christ himself, women are being treated as equals with regard to worship, specifically public prayer.
In order that we might understand the problem, Paul reminds his readers of the meaning behind removal of the hat.
3 But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. 4 Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head. 5 But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head, for she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved.
Here Paul describes TWO contradictory cultural practices: 1) to honor God, a man removes his hat., 2) To honor her husband, a wife wears a hat. These two contradictory practices are not a problem until a wife is allowed to pray in public. This is a bit tricky so stay with me.
While a women is in public, she wears a hat in order to honor her husband. That is on the one hand. On the other hand, when the woman is praying in public what does she do? If she removes her hat while praying, in order to honor God, she is also, at the same time, bringing dishonor to her husband. In other words, being allowed to pray in public has put her in a double bind. If she keeps her hat on her head while praying in public, she brings honor to her husband, but at the same time, she dishonors God. Or, if she removes her hat while praying in public, she brings honor to God, but at the same time she dishonors her husband.
The church wrote Paul to ask for his advice. What should the women do? We want to allow them to participate; we agree that it is a good and right thing to do. But we have a problem. Will you help us? Tell us what to do in this case. Should the woman wear a hat to honor her husband or should she remove her hat in order to honor God? It seems no matter what she does, she is going to bring dishonor to someone, which is not what anyone wants her to do.
Ultimately, Paul leaves it up to the local church (vs. 13 Judge for yourselves . . .) But he gives them a set of useful criteria by which to make a determination. If I read Paul correctly, I believe his answer is this. Since the husband is the head of the wife, and ultimately Christ and God are the head of the husband, then to bring honor to her husband is to also bring honor to her Lord. So a woman should wear a hat while praying in public, which honors both her husband and her God at the same time.
If wearing a hat had this same meaning in our culture today, then we would certainly follow Paul's instructions. But I wonder if wearing a hat has the same connotation today?
@lforrest
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