Paul is dealing here with our outward appearance, in the Sunday A.M. Meeting. Verse 18 – “when you come together in the Church”. Paul is dealing with a problem here that arose thirty years after Jesus left … and that is long hair in men and short hair in women. It is the same problem we are dealing with today.
Paul would never have made that statement “if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him” if he was in anyway a contradiction to what Jesus lived and taught. The reason all the pictures show Jesus with long hair, is because the coins and stone carvings of that day are with men with long hair, which would be men of renown in the eyes of the world, in that day. You can be sure that no picture of Paul or Jesus ever got on coins or carvings, because of the world’s attitude towards them.
In this chapter, Paul is seeking to correct four things, before we partake of the Bread and Wine: Hair, Divisions, Heresies, and Eating lunch in the Sunday worship Meeting.
The first thing he mentions is “be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ”. In other words, he is using himself as the example for the Christians. Phil. 3:17 – “Brethren, be ye followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample”; I Tim. 4:12, I Peter 5:3 and Phil 4:9 also prove this. If Paul is using himself as the example here, then we are safe in saying, any hair or sideburns that is longer than the brothers’ in the Ministry, would be long hair. Here we have a definite line between long and short hair. Using the same standard for the sisters, we are safe in saying, any hair that is shorter than the sisters’ in the Ministry would be short; any skirt that is shorter than the sisters’ in the Ministry would be short. Here is the line between modesty and immodesty, as far as the people of God are concerned. We are not concerned where the world draws this line. Here we can see that the human controlling influence of the Church, is the Ministry, which Paul says is the example and which is controlled by the Holy Spirit.
Verse 3 – before he deals with the hair problem, which is our outward appearance, Paul says, “the head of every man is Christ”. Man is subject to Christ in the affairs of the Kingdom. “The head of the woman is the man.” When a woman is subject to the man, there is no possibility of two heads controlling and two standards being produced, in the home or in the Kingdom. The same thing is true, as Paul said, “the head of Christ is God”. When this order is kept, there is no problem in the Kingdom.
Verse 4 – “Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoroth his head”. Our outward appearance here, is associated with praying and prophesying, or in other words, taking part in meeting. When we use the word covering as referring to a woman’s hair in verse 15, the covering here would also refer to man’s hair. When a man prays or prophesies, when covered (long hair), he dishonoreth his head, which Paul says, is a shame. In other words, he dishonoreth Christ and the Ministry; he is neither subject to Christ nor the
Verse 5 – “but every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered, dishonoreth her head”. She is dishonoring and disregarding her husband as head of the household. This shows that we must be right in our outward appearance, as well as right inwardly, with God, before we take the Bread and Wine.
Verse 10 – “For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels”. Angels are neither male nor female, and are in perfect subjection, as the messengers of God. For this cause, ought the woman to have a symbol on her head, that she is subject to authority, even as angels who show reverence and respect to authority.
Verse l4 – “Doth not nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him”. In other words it is a shame for a man to look like or resemble a woman. I Cor. 6:9 – Paul says that an effeminate (man) shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. He puts him on the same level as a thief and a drunkard. When women wear pants, it is destroying her femininity, just as much as the men with long hair destroy their masculinity. Nature teaches me that no other creature has despised their species by the male copying or looking like the female. God by creation has left it up to the human kingdom not to narrow that gulf. That gulf is just as wide today between the lion and lioness as it ever has been and this is true between all other species.
Verse 18 – “I hear that there be divisions among you”. This shows that there were two standards that were producing two different products. In other words, if I am doing something, or going places, contrary to the teaching of the Ministry, and that is producing two different standards in the Church, I am causing divisions. Verse 19 – “there must also be heresies among you”. Heresies mean, “opinions contrary to orthodox opinions. Someone was teaching something that was contrary to the Ministry which Paul was teaching. Verse 16 – “but if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God”. Another translation puts it, “if anyone wants to argue about this, all I can say is, we never teach anything else than this.” If we are teaching something different by our outward appearance, or something that is not orthodox to the teaching of Jesus, and the Ministry, we are an heretic. “That they which are approved may be made manifest among you.” It just shows up who are controlled by the Spirit of God, and who are controlled by heresies, which is human reasoning.
Last of all in the chapter, he deals with the breaking of bread. V.22-“What? have we not houses to eat and to drink in, or despise ye the Church of God”. In other words, do I have the right respect for the home where the Church meets? Eating is feeding the human. There should be nothing in the Sunday A.M. Meeting that distracts ones attention or that feeds the flesh. Verse 27-“Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread or drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord”. There is no provision made for any sin, apart from confessed sin, and sin that is put away. Here Paul is trying to show the danger of things not being, put right, that we’d be partaking unworthily and would be drinking damnation to ourselves, which causes weakness, sickness and sleep.
H.E.S.
HAROLD STEWART
ALBERTA
Truth Archive 