1 Corinthians 11:5-6

1 Corinthians 11:5-6

[5] But  every  woman  that prayeth  or  prophesieth  with her head  uncovered  dishonoureth  head:  for  even  all one  as if  she were shaven.  [6] For  if  the woman  not  covered,  also  be shorn:  but  if  for a woman  to be shorn  or  shaven,  let her be covered. 

What does 1 Corinthians 11:5-6 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

A woman who shaved her head in Greco-Roman culture did so to appear as a man. This resulted in the blurring of the relationship between men and women, particularly the sexual distinctions. Men typically wore their hair shorter, and women wore theirs longer. If a woman cut her hair short, it indicated that she wanted to be regarded as a man. Not covering her head made the same statement in that society.
"The prostitutes wore their hair very short, and they did not wear a head-covering in public. Their hairstyle and manner announced to others just what they were and what they were offering....
"In Jewish law, a woman proved guilty of adultery had her hair cut off ( Numbers 5:11-31)." [1]
It was a shameful thing for a woman not to cover her head in the early New Testament churches. Such an act made a statement that she was repudiating her position as a woman or that she was an immoral woman. It was not so much a repudiation of her submission to her male authority as it was a repudiation of her origin as being a woman who had come from man ( 1 Corinthians 11:3). The issue is primarily origin throughout the passage, not primarily authority. Obviously a woman who repudiated her origin as a woman might also repudiate her authority to function under her male head. However in this passage Paul seems to have been dealing with the more fundamental issue of origin.
Today it is not shameful for a woman to have short hair, but it was in Paul"s day. There are many short hairstyles that no one regards as disgraceful. However in Paul"s culture short hair for a woman represented rebellion, and people considered it shameful. Paul used the common reaction to women"s short hair in his day to urge his female readers to wear a head-covering. His point was that since it was shameful for a woman to have short hair it was also shameful for her to have her head uncovered when she prayed or prophesied.
Must a Christian woman cover her head in church meetings today? I think not. Covering the head and wearing short hair do not normally mean the same thing in modern times, at least in the West, as they did in Paul"s culture. If he were writing to a western church today, for example, I do not believe Paul would have said it is a shameful thing for a woman to have short hair. Therefore I do not think he would have said she ought to cover her head. Covering the head was a sign of acknowledgement of origin in Paul"s day, which implied some acknowledgement of authority, but it is not today typically. Today there is no item of clothing that makes such a statement, nor does the length of a woman"s hair. Perhaps her willingness to take her husband"s family name when she marries does, or her willingness to wear a wedding ring might, or the way she speaks about her husband to others, or her modest dress, but not necessarily. A woman"s whole personal demeanor, especially how she views herself as a woman, reveals this about her. [2]
"Although various Christian groups have fostered the practice of some sort of head covering for women in the assembled church, the difficulties with the practice are obvious. For Paul the issue was directly tied to a cultural shame that scarcely prevails in most cultures today. Furthermore, we simply do not know what the practice was that they were abusing. Thus literal "obedience" to the text is often merely symbolic. Unfortunately, the symbol that tends to be reinforced is the subordination of women, which is hardly Paul"s point. Furthermore, it would seem that in cultures where women"s heads are seldom covered, the enforcement of such in the church turns Paul"s point on its head." [3]