1 Corinthians 11:4

Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoreth his head.

Having his head covered ... Here is where the misunderstanding of this passage begins. This clause, as rendered in the popular versions, is commentary, not Bible. As Echols noted:

"Having his head covered" is a commentary, not a translation. Lenski translated the sense correctly: "having something down from his head." What the "something" is is neither stated nor implied in 1 Corinthians 11:4.[13]

The logical understanding of this would refer it to "long hair," being long enough to hang down from the head, as clearly indicated by the apostles' words a moment later: "If a man have long hair, it is a dishonor to him" (1 Corinthians 11:14).

The ancients accepted Paul's dictum on this and went so far as to define the length of hair that was considered an infraction of Paul's words.

The hair of the head may not grow so long as to come down and interfere with the eyes ... cropping is to be adopted ... let not twisted locks hang far down from the head, gliding into womanish ringlets.[14]

Significantly, the words "hang far down" strongly resemble Paul's words "having something down from his head." The above is from Clement of Alexandria and was written in the second century.

The notion that Paul in this place referred to the [~tallith] (shawl), or [~yarmelke] (skull cap) worn by Jewish worshipers is refuted by the fact that the Greek New Testament does not indicate in this verse an artificial covering of any kind.[15] This does not mean, however, that Paul would have approved of the use of either in Christian worship. "For Paul such a covering probably symbolized that the Jewish male continued in spiritual darkness, from which Christians had been liberated."[16] We may therefore interpret this verse as a simple admonition that it was a disgrace for any long-haired Christian male to participate in praying and prophesying; and this interpretation certainly harmonizes with verse 14. History has certainly vindicated this view; because universal human behavior has departed from it only in isolated instances and for relatively very short periods of time.

Every man ... It is wrong to understand this in the generic sense as "every man or woman." Russell said:

There are two Greek words for "man"; one for man as a human being; the other contrasting man with woman or child; the latter form is used for man in every instance in this chapter (1 Corinthians 11:3-16).[17]

[13] Eldred Echols

[14] Clement of Alexandria, in the Ante Nicene Fathers (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1956), Vol. II, p. 286.

[15] Eldred Echols

[16] Paul W. Marsh, op. cit. p. 397.

[17] John William Russell, op. cit., p. 421.