1 Corinthians 11:16

If any of his readers still did not feel inclined to accept Paul’s reasoning, he informed them that the other churches followed what he had just explained. This is one of four similar statements in this epistle that served to inform the Corinthians that they were out of step with the other churches in their conduct (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Corinthians 8:2; 1 Corinthians 14:37). Some women were evidently discarding their head-covering in public worship because they were repudiating their place in God’s administrative order.

This section contains five arguments for women wearing head-coverings in that culture. First, Paul referred to the divine order (God, Christ, man, and woman; 1 Corinthians 11:3-6), second, creation (1 Corinthians 11:7-9), third, the angels (1 Corinthians 11:10), fourth, nature (1 Corinthians 11:13-15), and fifth, universal church practice (1 Corinthians 11:16).

As with the issues of eating in idol temples and meat offered to idols, Paul dealt with a cultural practice when he dealt with head-coverings. As should be clear from his argumentation, he did not feel that this was a major issue. He appealed to maintain a custom, not to obey God, and he used shame, propriety, and custom to urge the Corinthians to cooperate, not Scriptural imperatives or apostolic authority. However, important issues lay behind the practices. In the case of head-coverings, the issue is women’s position in the life of the church, in particular their relationship to the men. Today no item of clothing consistently identifies a woman’s acceptance or rejection of her role in God’s administrative order. At least none does in western culture. It is usually her speech and her behavior that do. The important thing is her attitude toward her womanhood and how she expresses it, not whether she wears a particular item of clothing.