1 Corinthians 11:13 – Returning to the main point.

Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? (1 Corinthians 11:13)

The main point: This verse supports the position that the head covering tradition is for church meetings.

After the aside in 1 Corinthians 11:11-12, Paul restates the main point of the passage, i.e. a woman should wear a covering on her head when she prays. Yet, this time, Paul reduced the parameters of head covering. No longer is Paul talking about covering or uncovering when praying and prophesying, he now speaks only of praying.

A synecdoche, you say? Of course. Paul is not now denying that women should cover (and men uncover) when prophesying, but it is interesting that he uses prayer as the term for the whole when specifically referring to a woman’s part in this tradition.

Why?

I think it’s reasonable to suggest that prayer is a far more common circumstance in which a woman would find herself needing to cover.

But where is this true?

Women and men are both to prophesy (Acts 2:18), and there are specific women in the New Testament who are singled out because of their prophesying (Acts 21:9).

The only place where women are far less likely to prophesy is in the church meeting. (1 Corinthians 14:34-35)

So here is another indication that head covering is a tradition taught as practiced in a church meeting.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *