Women and Mens Head-Covering and Uncovering in Prophesy - Essay Example

The Corinthian community and Paul: Women and men’s head-covering and uncovering in prophesy Cor. 11:2-16) Apostle Paul has just given an explanation in the third verse that Christ is the head of every man. It is therefore true that the obvious implication in the fourth verse is that each man who prophesizes or prays with his while his head is covered does not honor the Lord, which is his spiritual head. The rationale is given in the seventh verse, whereby we are told that the glory of God should never be covered at the time of public worship. When a man covers his head during public worship, it would signify the abandonment of his place of authority that he has been given by God and, so, debase the Lord who is in authority over him. Let me now try explaining what the Apostle means by prophesies and prayer. The prophesying that is being referred to by the Apostle is the gift of reception and speaking direct revelation from the Lord Himself, particularly regarding future occurrences. Nevertheless, the Bible is not in support of the stance of those who assert that this word also means preaching. Of course, praying continues, however, I now have to ask what according to me, is a significant question: Why did the Apostle only name prophesying and praying, leaving things such as preaching, speaking in tongues, exhortation, speaking the directly revealed knowledge, and singing or even teaching? The meaning of all these things is just the same. This means that they are all of a way of speaking confidently; either giving or direct revelation, calling to action on the basis of revelation, proclamation of revelation, or even the explanation of revelation and its application, or worshiping via singing or praying. For sure, there can never be a reason as to why the Apostle chose prophesying and praying except for the fact that they are two cases in point from the list. Similarly, it is true that the Apostle would come to an agreement that it is not just as right for a man to teach or preach with a cover on his head as it is for him to prophesize and pray with his head under cover. The Apostle simply used the two Christian assembly’s activities to signify all. In most cases, people like to cite First Chronicles 25:1-3 and First Samuel 10:5 as confirming that singing and prophesying is the same thing, but this is not stated anywhere in the respective verses. The most common comprehension of that what is stated by these verses as regards connection between prophesying and singing is that a prophesy may be sung by a prophet. However, not all singing, even that in the saint’s gathering is regarded as prophesying. For the women, prophesies and prayer refers to their position in the gathering, which is done in privacy. The context of First Corinthians is the Christian gathering, and not some kind of prophesying or praying beyond this. In the First Corinthians 11, the Apostle is not talking about the matter of women speaking. In addition, it is not what he is thinking; he has the gathering’s activities in mind or consideration, but does not tackle the question of the speaking of women in First Corinthians, Chapter 11. Their silence, in this chapter is implicit. But in some other places, the Apostle directly asserts that women are supposed to maintain silence in the gatherings. In the text, Paul also talks about the Christian gatherings, and he teaches the men about prophesying and speaking in tongues and says the women should remain silent. In the book of First Timothy 2, the Apostle again teaches about good behavior in the gathering and instructs the men how they are supposed to pray in public and asserts that women should take part by being silent and dressing in an appropriate manner. Going back to the First Corinthians 11, we find that the Apostle is not trying to refer to prophesies and prayer in a restricted and strict sense, but to represent some other things, like teaching and preaching, and also not to merely be speaking, but the silent taking part also. In the gatherings, it is therefore true that the men, whether talking or not, are not supposed put their heads under cover, and the women, who are not supposed to talk, are to keep their heads covered. Reaction As regards the fourth and fifth verses, the point that I would like to make is that they clearly demonstrate the inconsistency of the stance that is normally taken by the Amish and Mennonites, that it is a must that a woman covers her head. According to these verses, a woman should cover her head in the exact same situations that a man is not supposed to cover his head. Nevertheless, if a woman should always cover her head, then it is a must that a man never covers his head, regardless of the weather conditions. However, Amish and Mennonite men usually put on hats. The manner in which they get around this is to have an artificial definition of the covering of the head in terms that are not biblical. In accordance with their definition, the hat of a man is not a covering of the head. Their definitions, in fact, get so precise that they usually define the covering of the head as specifically the kind of covering that is put on by their specific Mennonites branch. This will go to an extent that some of them will consider the covering of heads by some other churches as wrong. However, the Bible never gives us such specific definitions of the covering of the head. Those asserting that women are always supposed to cover their heads do not get correct the connection between the long hairs that the women have all the time and the additional covering that they wear during the gathering of the saints. Although the stress is on the women together with their attire in this context, we find that it does not have some statements that should be taken to heart by the men and apply to themselves. First, we find that there are insinuations of the head that is not covered. The Apostle says that the rational for this uncovered head is that the man should show the ‘God’s image-glory,’ which has been comprehended in the sense that he should resemble and imitate the Lord, as the creation’s ruler. This is actually not an easy or light responsibility for the men. Where it concerns the Christian men, the biblical principle of our connection with the Lord is expressed more perfectly as one of sonship. This metaphor’s incongruity as regards women is apparent; women should not be asked to see themselves as sons that must replicate the father, whereas this is what the Christian men are supposed to do. This stance that is represented by the head that is not covered is going to have repercussions for the manner in which a man worships the Lord and living out his belief or faith. Work cited 1 Cor. 11:2-16 1 Timothy 2 Read More