Joshua 1:8
"...[B]ut you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." (Joshua 1:8).
"You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me." (John 5:39).
"And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13).
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ReplyDeleteWith this chapter, there seems to be a focus on what was socially appropriate, and how a Christian ought to behave. At first glance, I thought - great, now I'm going to have to wear a head covering, or great now I can't chop my hair off again. Yet if we really had to keep head coverings or our hair a certain length I'm sure that there would be specific guidelines as to length of hair etc. So I thought, that can't be the point. Maybe it has more to do with the fact that at this time, prostitutes had short hair, or your hair was shaved to dishonor you therefore a Christian woman should not have short hair or a shaved head? Especially if you are to be leading by example?
DeleteSo naturally because I don't feel clear on this issue I looked it up. R.C. Sproul had this to say about it:
Sproul says:
DeleteIt is one thing to seek a more lucid understanding of the biblical content by investigating the cultural situation of the first century; it is quite another to interpret the New Testament as if it were merely an echo of the first-century culture. To do so would be to fail to account for the serious conflict the church experienced as it confronted the first-century world. Christians were not thrown to the lions for their penchant for conformity.
Some very subtle means of relativizing the text occur when we read into the text cultural considerations that ought not to be there. For example, with respect to the hair-covering issue in Corinth, numerous commentators on the Epistle point out that the local sign of the prostitute in Corinth was the uncovered head. Therefore, the argument runs, the reason why Paul wanted women to cover their heads was to avoid a scandalous appearance of Christian women in the external guise of prostitutes.
"What is wrong with this kind of speculation? The basic problem here is that our reconstructed knowledge of first-century Corinth has led us to supply Paul with a rationale that is foreign to the one he gives himself. In a word, we are not only putting words into the apostle’s mouth, but we are ignoring words that are there. If Paul merely told women in Corinth to cover their heads and gave no rationale for such instruction, we would be strongly inclined to supply it via our cultural knowledge. In this case, however, Paul provides a rationale which is based on an appeal to creation, not to the custom of Corinthian harlots. We must be careful not to let our zeal for knowledge of the culture obscure what is actually said. To subordinate Paul’s stated reason to our speculatively conceived reason is to slander the apostle and turn exegesis into eisogesis.
The creation ordinances are indicators of the transcultural principle. If any biblical principles transcend local customary limits, they are the appeals drawn from creation. (27)
Sproul goes on to say, “What if, after careful consideration of a biblical mandate, we remain uncertain as to its character as principle or custom? If we must decide to treat it one way or the other but have no conclusive means to make the decision, what can we do? Here the biblical principle of humility can be helpful. The issue is simple. Would it be better to treat a possible custom as a principle and be guilty of being overscrupulous in our design to obey God? Or would it be better to treat a possible principle as a custom and be guilty of being unscrupulous in demoting a transcendent requirement of God to the level of a mere human convention? I hope the answer is obvious.” (28) Unfortunately it seems that Sproul’s hope is out of place in the easy-going churches of our day. We are quite willing to be guilty of being unscrupulous. We would rather dismiss the apostle’s reproof as “cultually conditioned” and emulate the easy-going Corinthians, who represent the Christian liberty which is so precious to the modern church. But this only shows that we are creatures of a like culture.
*So after reading this I thought, well Sproul seems to indicate that the point is not really the head covering, but that we are to be different from our society and stand out. He also seems to indicate that if we're unclear on whether or not we are instructed to wear head coverings that perhaps we ought to err on the side of just wearing head coverings...
Very interesting... I would agree with you in your interpretation. Although, doesn't v. 16 essentially state if there's a problem with such a tradition, don't worry about it as it is not that important? I think what Paul's getting at is the issue of humility. Women ought to submit to men who ought to submit to Christ who submits to God. I think you should start wearing a head covering, Mary ;)
ReplyDeleteYou're just jealous of my head of hair.
ReplyDelete