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because her hair has this function. This appears on the face of it to contradict what we have in verses 5 and 6 where it is quite clear that a woman's head should be covered when praying or prophesying. However, it may be pointed out that the word for veil in verse 15 is quite different from the word for covering in verses 5 and 6. In verse 15 the thought is that the hair on the head covers what otherwise would be a bald scalp. A human being's body needs to be covered because man and woman were created naked (Genesis 2:25). Most animals have fur or hair covering their bodies and therefore do not need clothes. There are exceptions such as elephants, but they have a thick hide, so again do not need clothes. However a human's head is not left naked, but is covered with hair so does not require a covering as does the body. As proof that this is what Paul means one would point to Hebrews 1:11/12 where the same word is used in the original and is translated covering (or vesture in the AV). Thus we have "They (the earth and heavens) all shall grow old as a garment, and as a covering shalt thou roll them up". The word is not used elsewhere. What this would tell us is that a women does not have to wear something on her head, (such as a wig) all the time, as she does the clothing for her body, because nature has given her hair to cover her head.

In verses 5 and 6 we have a woman's hair spoken of. But here it is in connection with the matter of praying and prophesying. A woman is not to do this without covering her head. She is not to display her glory (her hair). The passage says that not covering herself is "one and the same as a shaved [woman]". What this last clause means is not immediately clear. Not wearing a veil is not on the face of it the same thing as having a shaved head. Physically it is not. However, Scripture is much more concerned with moral implications than what is merely physical. Those translations which attempt to give the underlying meaning of sentences, word the clause as: "she is no better than the woman who has her head shaved" (Mgr.Knox translation). Then again we have: "It is as bad as if her head were shaved" (New English Bible). Put another way, what the apostle Paul is saying is that there is no moral difference between failing to have a covering and having a shaved head. The note in the Mgr Knox translation indicates that there were women in Corinthian pagan society who shaved their heads to look like men, and therefore Paul could say that behaving like men by not wearing a covering on the head was the same as imitating them by having a shaved head. This is not without its importance today, in that women cutting their hair short and ignoring the injunctions as to the covering are clearly an expression of the desire to be like men.

In verse 6 we have it said that if a woman be not covered, let her hair also be cut off. It is given as an option, an option which the apostle thinks a woman would consider shameful. What it amounts to is that if a woman wants to be like a man by not having her head covered, then she should go all the way and have her hair cut off or be shaved. A woman's hair is her glory and it is not to be in evidence when praying or prophesying. It is therefore to be covered or else cut off. The effect is the same, in that there is no glory in evidence. The hair (the glory) grows on the top of the head and it may be because of this that woods growing on the top of a hill are sometimes called glory woods. (see Ezekiel 16:7 where the growth of hair is connected with the fulness of beauty) Nevertheless, both Paul and Peter warn against women concerning themselves with the adornment of their hair (plaited hair: 1 Timothy 2:9 and tressing of hair: 1 Peter 3:3)

As evidence that the shaving of a woman's head is not something to be desired one would point to Deuteronomy 21:10-13 where it is connected with mourning. The captive woman was to shave her head when mourning for her father and mother. This was only to be a temporary thing (a full month). In Isaiah 3:17 it is said: "The Lord will make bald the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion"; clearly something to shame them. Again in verse 24 of the same chapter we have: "Instead of well-set hair, baldness". Finally it may be said as to verse 6 of 1 Corinthians 11, where Paul speaks of a woman having her hair cut off or being shaved, that the alternatives mentioned are probably intended to make it clear that neither simply removing

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