3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

4 Every man praying or prophecying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.

5 But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.

PARAPHRASE.

you have need to regulate your conduct with much caution, I give you full praise in that you bear me in mind in all things relating to the positive institutions of our religion, and observe them as I de3 livered them to you. But preparatory to this subject, I remark, generally, that I would have you know and consider, that Christ being the spiritual director of every Christian, just as the head is the governing part of the body, is represented by the head of every man, and in like manner the man being the spiritual director of the woman is represented by the head of the woman, and God being the spiritual director of Christ as man, is represented by the head of Christ. Every Christian man therefore, who, when praying or when uttering prophetic truths by divine inspiration, has his head covered, deprives his head of its appropriate honour, inasmuch as by having upon it a token of subjection to human power, he makes it cease to be 5 the representative of Christ. But every Christian woman, who, when praying or uttering prophetic truths by divine inspiration has her head uncovered, deprives her head of its appropriate honour, inasmuch as without that token upon it of subjec

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6. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. 7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the

man

8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.

PARAPHRASE.

tion, her head does not express her submission to the guidance of the man; for the woman so praying or uttering prophetic truths is, as to any mark

of subjection appropriate to these circumstances, bone and the same thing as a woman in ordinary 6.circumstances with her head shaved. It is requi site therefore as an appropriate mark of submission, that under these circumstances she should have her head covered. For if there is no reason for a woman's head to be covered, as an appropriate mark of submission under these circumstances, let her also have her hair cut short on ordinary occasions. But if it is a disgrace for a woman, as a mark of immodesty, to have her hair on ordinary occasions cut short or shaven, let her head under these cir"cumstances be covered. Again, on the ground of the original formation of the man and the woman, this relative distinction should be observed. For the man truly being formed in the image of God, and being a visible expression of his glory, ought not under these circumstances to cover his head, and thus exhibit a token of inferiority; but the woman is the expression of the glory of the man: for the origin of the man is not from the woman,

8

9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.

10 For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.

11 Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.

12 For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.

10

PARAPHRASE.

9 but that of the woman is from the man. On the ground also of the purpose for which the man and the woman were severally created, this distinction should be observed; for the man was not created for the woman, but the woman was for the man as a help-meet for him. Hence, we may infer that, for the following reason especially, a woman ought under these circumstances to have on her head a token of the man's superior power, viz. to intimate that men are the immediate messengers of God, " but women only subordinate ones. Nevertheless, as touching the final salvation to be obtained through the Christian dispensation, they are virtually on an equality; for of that the man cannot partake without the woman, nor the woman without the man. Because, as the woman was originally formed from the man, so also is the man formed anew for the purpose of final salvation through the woman, being redeemed by her seed, and prepared for it by Christian instruction; but they both, as well as all things else, derive their existence and preservation from God, to whom, therefore, they and all things else ought to appear

12

13 Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?

14 Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?

:

15 But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her for her hair is given her for a covering.

16 But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.

PARAPHRASE.

13 in due subjection. Again, judge of the matter by your ordinary notions, Is it decorous that a woman 14 should pray to God with her head uncovered? Is the unsuitableness of this deducible only from revelation, or do not your natural feelings teach you that, if a man have long hair, it is considered a disgrace to him by its taking away from the manli15 ness of his appearance, but that if a woman have long hair, it is reckoned an ornament to her, by giving her a feminine appearance? and therefore do not your natural feelings teach you that her hair has been given her to be even, naturally, as a covering on her head? Do you not from this perceive that nature itself points out the exterior appearance of the head as a mark for distinguishing the relative condition of the sexes; and do you not perceive that as Christianity does not in any way alter this, or any other natural or civil relation, it is improper that women though possessing spiritual gifts, should on that account appear on a footing of equality with men, as if those gifts entitled them 16 to do so? But if any one remains unpersuaded by these reasonings, and chooses to contend the point

17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.

18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.

17

PARAPHRASE.

on the ground that the mode of marking the relative condition of the sexes by the exterior appearance of the head being an arbitrary one, women may wear their heads uncovered without its implying an assumption of equality with men, I add that neither we Jewish Christians nor the Gentile Christian societies, have any such custom of women's so wearing their heads without implying it, and that therefore as the present one of marking the relative superiority of the sexes is universally established among Christians, and any deviation from it by the woman must imply an assumption of equality, it cannot be tolerated. But having praised you, generally, for your observance of the positive institutions, as to this circumstance in the manner of doing it which I am about to notice to you on the private information which I have received, I do not praise you, viz. that you assemble together on these occasions in a manner that does not make your 18 union as Christians better, but worse. For in the first place, I hear that when you assemble together for worship, professedly as a Christian society, there are, in consequence of your valuing yourselves on your spiritual gifts, breaks in the chain of mutual love which such an institution requires; and inconsistent as this is with your Christian profes