Bow with me, please, in prayer before we come to the Lord's Word. So just still ourselves in God's presence and take these moments to prepare our hearts and our minds as we meet with the Lord around the Scriptures. Our God and Father, we pray that we will know Thy presence as we come together to read Thy Word and to consider the very message for this hour We ask, Lord, for help from Thee and for the leading and the direction of the Spirit. We pray, Lord, that Thou wilt be pleased to speak to our hearts and abide with us now. Breathe on us from heaven and do us good, we pray. We ask in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen. Now, we're turning today to the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 11. Please turn with me to that portion, 1 Corinthians chapter 11. And we're going to read a portion of the chapter together. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, reading from verse 1. as I delivered them to you. But I would have you to know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoreth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered, dishonoreth her head, for that is even all one, as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn. For if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, for as much as he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels. Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman. But all things of God. Judge in yourselves. Is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering. But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom neither the churches of God. And the Lord will bless the reading of His own infallible truth. Now earlier this year, I entered into a series of messages that dealt with, first of all, the great principle of the Lord's headship in His church. And then during the course of that study, we looked at various issues that devolve from that central truth. I did not get time to finish the series because the summer months came in and I felt I should leave it until we would all be back again under the ward here and all the holidays would be over. And there were a few other messages that I had planned to deliver, which I want to do so over the next few weeks before entering into any other field of study or preaching. And during that series and earlier months, I did indicate that it was my intention to speak to you on the subject of the head covering, which I purpose to do today. It's a subject, whether you recognize this or not at this point, that does relate to both male and female. for the simple reason that in the passage that we have read, the Holy Spirit addresses both genders. He addresses both men and women concerning this matter of head covering. This is a passage, therefore, that should be of great interest to every one of us. I have dealt with this subject before in the adult Bible class, speaking to the young people, but I think it's a subject that needs to be dealt with from the pulpit in a worship service such as this. I say that for a number of reasons, one of them being that there is, as you will be aware, a departure from the practice of the head covering as far as the female is concerned. In most churches today, there is no observance of this practice whatsoever. In fact, in many evangelical churches, the drift is on there as well, and the head covering is being abandoned, and that particular standard is no longer being upheld. That's one reason, and I say it, I mention it because it's important that we as a church and indeed as a denomination realize that there is a standard that needs to be upheld and we are not exempt from influences that would come along and seek to persuade us that it's, as some will say, it's only a local custom of 2,000 years ago. It is not for the church today, it's just an old-fashioned idea. All these supposed arguments are brought and people are being sometimes persuaded to think, well, is it really necessary? And free Presbyterians are not exempt from those influences or from that kind of thinking. So, it's good that we come and look at this for that reason. Another reason is, of course, that you women folk need to know why you wear a head covering. If someone challenged you about this, could you answer? You could say, well, it says it in the Bible. Well, that's not enough. They might say, well, where is it? And you tell them. And then they say to you, well, will you please explain it to me? And it's important, therefore, that both men and women who might be challenged on this question know how to give an answer to this whole subject of the head covering. I think you should pay heed to the fact that the Apostle Paul gives a very lengthy discussion to it here in 1 Corinthians 11. People will say, well, you know, it's only mentioned once in the Bible. Well, that's right, but he gives a very lengthy portion to it by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. That, of course, is no argument whatsoever against it because, remember something, the virgin birth actually gets less attention in the Bible as far as Scripture verses are concerned than the subject of the head covering. Now, does that make the great doctrine of the virgin birth of non-importance simply because it's not set forth very often, so to speak? Although, when we go through the Scriptures, we can deduce from the Scriptures a lot about it, but I'm simply pointing out to you that's a dangerous way to approach the Bible. The Bible, for example, only says once that the saints will judge the world. says it in this very book of 1 Corinthians back in chapter 6, but that's a truth. The full extent of it, of course, is a study that requires a lot of attention to bring out its meaning, but it does say only in one verse that the saints will judge the world someday. But because it says it only once, does that mean it's not important or we should disregard it? That is a very dangerous approach to the Bible. Just because there's only one verse or one passage that deals with a subject does not mean that it's not essential, does not mean that it's not important. It is important. God says it only once, we should pay attention to it. So there are reasons for dealing with this subject. I won't enter into it right away. My time always runs away with me and is doing it again today. But let's just look here at it immediately without any further remarks by way of introduction. And I want us to notice here to begin with, and this is very important, this thought I want to leave with you at this juncture, and that is that Paul's teaching on the head covering is based on the principle of submission. Look at verse 3, because this is really where this passage begins. But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. The principle of this verse is the principle of submission. It teaches three areas of submission. The submission of men in the church to Jesus Christ. The head of every man is Christ. Secondly, the submission of the woman in the church. Of course, in the home as well, but right here the context is the church. whether married women or single women or whatever, young or old, the submission of the woman in the church to the man, because it says the head of the woman is the man. Now, pause with me and note that the woman's submission is really to Christ, because since she is to be in submission to the man who is in submission to Christ, then, or to be in submission to Christ, then her submission is ultimately to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then there is thirdly, the submission of Christ to God the Father. It says the head of Christ is God. So it is very clear that the basis of Paul's teaching in this passage on the head covering is this principle of submission, a vital biblical truth or principle. God is the God of order. the God of control in every realm, including that realm of the church where proper rule and proper government are to be exercised and submission is to be given. That is the setting here, that is the theme of this very passage and that is the basis of what Paul teaches then about the head covering. So the head covering is important in that it essentially pertains to the matter of recognizing the respective roles of men and women within the church of Christ. Now, get a hold of that. It's important, that is the head covering, because it belongs to this matter of recognizing the respective roles of men and women within the church of Jesus Christ. Notice here, then, that the greatest example of submission for men and women is Christ's submission to the Father. I didn't pause when I read the words, and the head of Christ is God. I wanted just to deal with the principle and then move on, but I want to just take a little time here now and explain to you what this means, where it says, the head of Christ is God. The focus there is on the Lord's submission to His Father. It has to do with His work as the mediator of His people in which He humbled Himself to God the Father, submitted Himself in that great work. You see, the New Testament makes it clear that the only sense in which the Lord Jesus Christ submitted to God the Father or to the Father's will is in the realm of redemption. when He became the Mediator and the Saviour. And it was essential that the Lord Jesus submit to the Father and come into the world and do His will that you and I might be saved. But that's the sense of these words. The head of Christ is God. It pertains to redemption, His work as the Mediator in which He submitted Himself to the Father wholly and unreservedly in order to save our wretched souls. We think of the great words of Paul in Philippians 2 where it says, Christ made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself. He humbled himself. To whom? To the Father. And he humbled himself unto death, even the death of the cross. And I would say to you right now that just as Christ submitted to the Father, so you and I, male and female, are to submit ourselves to the Lord and to the roles within the roles that He has appointed for us. And with regard to this whole matter of the head covering, and since it especially pertains to the woman folk, You are being taught here today that your submission in this matter is ultimately for Christ's glory and for Christ's sake. The One who humbled Himself and yielded Himself to save you is worth all the submission that we can give Him, that He might be glorified and that He might be honored and that He might be praised. So, we notice here, therefore, that the basic principle is that of submission, and the greatest example of submission for men and women both is the submission of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, that leads me on to say this, that the assumption of these submissive rules should be reflected when we gather in the church worship service. It should be reflected there. That is, the roles of men and women, the fact that the woman is to be in submission to the man, which is the great underlying theme here as it deals with the woman, that should be reflected when we come together to worship God. This passage is dealing with worship, public worship in the church sense. And it is proved by various references as you read through the passage. There's a reference to praying and prophesying. There's a reference in verse 10 to the presence of the angels, and I'll come back to that a little later. by the help of the Lord and seek to explain verse 10 to you, but there's a reference to the angels in verse 10. And then in verse 16, there's a very clear reference to the churches. Look at verse 16 for a moment. If any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God. I just draw your attention to that verse because it mentions the churches, plural. And it's concluding that the passage here that teaches on the head covering, and therefore verse 16 tells us, listen carefully, this wasn't a local custom that was confined only to Corinth or the church in Corinth. Verse 16 tells us that all the churches of the New Testament era were under this binding teaching of the Apostle Paul on the head covering. For he mentions the church as plural. That's the point of what you see in verse 16, to let you see that the whole scene here is a worship scene, a church scene, a public gathering to worship God. I may come back to verse 16 in a moment, or a little later if I get time and explain it fully with regard to that statement. If any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the church nor God, no such custom. I wonder if I will just mention it now when I read it, because there are those who will take you to verse 16 and they'll say, well, there you are. Paul is saying in verse 16, after all he has said before, that if anybody doesn't like this, it doesn't really matter whether you do it or not. That's how some will explain verse 16. My friend, that is nonsense. Do you imagine that the Holy Spirit would move the Apostle Paul to lay down his clear teaching in the first 15 verses, and then suddenly say, well, after all, we don't really care, and if you don't like it, or somebody gets contentious about it, well, don't try to have them obey this teaching, just let them go. I don't believe for one moment the Holy Spirit leads in that fashion. What does it mean, verse 16? If any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom. Here's what it means. If anybody contends against the teaching of the Bible on the head covering, we have no such custom as allows that contention to be accepted and that person or those individuals do what they like on this matter. That's what it means. The Lord is saying here very, very categorically that He does not permit contention in that sense that I've just explained to you. He's saying here, we don't allow this contention, people coming along saying, we don't have to wear the head covering, it's something we just can set aside and disregard. Paul says, we have no such custom as allows the practice of the neglect of the head covering. That's what verse 16 means. But, to move on from there, as I say, this is a church worship scene that we have here in 1 Corinthians 11. And, of course, in church worship, men are to lead, while women are to be in the submissive role. That is taught in other scriptures. 1 Timothy 2, Paul says, Let the women learn in silence. I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. It has to do, there in 1 Timothy 2, with preaching, teaching and governing that has taken the offices of the New Testament church. And the apostle says very clearly, it's just not open to women. 1 Corinthians 11 or 1 Corinthians 14 verse 34, he says basically the same thing, where the women are to be in silence. So, remember that is not Paul's own teaching, that's the teaching of the Lord by his spirit. Paul has been charged with being a male chauvinist, a man who didn't like women and wanted to put them down and all the rest of it, and of course that is nonsense. He is delivering the mind of the Lord when he makes those statements. I am simply showing you that the New Testament makes it clear that in the church worship situation, men are to lead while women are to take the submissive role. And the point of this passage is that in the public congregation where male and female meet together to worship God, there is to be a sign of the distinction between the respective roles of male and female in the form of the head covering. There is to be a sign of this distinction, and it is simply this. The women of the congregation are to wear a head covering while the men are not to wear a head covering. That is the plain, simple meaning of verses 4 and 5. Let's read them. Verse 4. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoreth his head. The Lord says there plainly, a man is not to come to the public worship service with his head covered and enter into that worship service and continue to have his head covered. Then verse 5, "...but every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head, for that is even all one, as if she were shaven." So verse 4 teaches, and there are two heads in verse 4, and there are two heads in verse 5. Let me show you that. Verse 4, every man praying or prophesying, having his head, that's this, his physical head covered, dishonoreth his head, that's his spiritual head, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in verse 5, a woman praying or prophesying with her physical head uncovered, she dishonors her head, that is, her spiritual head. First the man, or it may be her husband beside her, it may be an elder, it may be the minister, but ultimately it's Jesus Christ, because Christ is the head of the woman as well as the man. As I said earlier, But the point is that the physical head is not to be covered by the man, otherwise he dishonours his spiritual head. That's Christ. And the woman is to cover her head, for if she doesn't, she dishonours her spiritual head. And that is, ultimately again, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the plain teaching of verses 4 and 5. That's where he lays down his basic teaching. His basic argument, you might say, whatever you would care to call it, that's where he lays it down. But then he goes on from there to support that argument. in a two-fold way. He brings in two other arguments, two other reasons as to why men are not to cover their heads, and women are. And they are found, first of all, in verses 7 to 9, where you have the argument of creation. Verse 7 is dealing with creation. It says, "...for a man, indeed, ought not to cover his head forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God." There you have it. There is creation in view. Paul is giving a reason here. For a man ought not to cover his head, because he is the image and glory of God. And those terms, his being the image and glory of God, are a direct reference to creation. When a difference, of course, was made between male and female, but more importantly, man was given a position of leadership. Whenever God made Adam, He made him head, He made him leader. He had that position because the woman was not yet created at that moment or that point when Adam was created. And for that reason he is said here to be the image and the glory of God. In other words, in his leadership role, in his headship role, he is to function in a way that he brings glory to God by virtue of being the head and being the leader. And that is the work or the role of every man in this congregation today. As the head and the leader in your home or in your family, you are to bring glory and honor to the One who made you the head. And you are to signify that in the public worship by not covering your physical head, because you are reflecting the One who made you to be the head, that is God Himself. And my friend, God is in submission to no one. And you are to signify that in the worship service by not covering your head. Do you see the point? God is in submission to no one. You are the image and glory of God, therefore you do not cover your head when you come to worship God, because that would give the impression that God and Christ are in submission to some other authority. And that, of course, would be entirely wrong. Here's a reason why you're not to cover your head, brethren. Here's a reason why, for example, maybe when you're on your own and you sit down to eat your lunch, you take off your hat, your cap. Remember the old man? I can remember it very vividly. The old man sat down at the dinner table, living out in the field, to have the tea the women brought out to them. And they never would have taken it without removing their caps. Why? Because they knew, we are the image and glory of God, and we must not give the impression that God is subject to any other force or power, for He is head of all. And God has made me to reflect that. And that's what Paul's teaching here. And therefore he brings in the argument of creation. The man enjoyed a position of honour before God that the woman does not have because there was no woman when Adam was made. And therefore the woman's creation was different from the man's. And by her creation she became the glory of the man, as it goes on to say at the end of verse 7. The woman is the glory of the man. And she is the glory of the man, as Paul goes on to show, that position belongs to her exclusively in two ways. She is the glory of the man. Look at verse 8. For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. The woman is the glory of the man because her life was derived from his. The woman is of the man. And we all know from Genesis 2 that is so. Adam made first, and then the woman's life went into existence because God took Adam's rib and He made the woman. Therefore, she's of the man. And for that reason, she's the glory of the man. In other words, she is to submit to her husband, or she's to submit to the church elder, whatever the case might be. And she's to show that by covering her head when she comes to worship God, to signify, I know my place. I know my God-ordained role. I know what I am to be in the house of God, and I want to, I gladly, willingly signify it by covering my head, because my life was derived from the man whom God made." And then you see, she was also made to be his helpmate. It says there, In verse 9, neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. And again, that's creation, to simply bring out that point. And it says in Genesis 2 that she was made to be his help, a help suitable to Adam. And therefore, on the basis of creation, the woman here is to be in submission to the man. Isn't it interesting, men and women, whenever the Holy Spirit comes in the New Testament to deal with things like this? Even He did with marriage, as He does in Ephesians 5, or hear the head covering in this passage. He takes us back to creation, back to the very beginning. Because God is a God of order, and God established these laws and these ordinances, and He hasn't set them aside. And even the very worship service, when we come together, we are to obey this passage in the light of what God did at creation. And then there's the argument of nature. I'm not going to deal with verses 11 and 12 right now, because they don't really come into what I need to say today, and for the sake of time I'll just leave them. But go down to verse 13. Judge in yourselves, is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not even nature... now look at this. Doth not even nature itself teach you So... Just pause there and look at those words. Here's an argument now from nature, and by nature I am speaking of how men and women are, how they're constituted, how they have been made by God. We've seen back in the earlier verses that creation's in view, God has made male and female, but the point is He made them different one from another. He only made them in their creation one to lead and the other to follow, one to be the head and the other to be in submission. with their out of function, but He also made them different from each other. And that difference is what's in view here when you come to verses 14 and 15, where He refers to nature teaching us something. So, what does it teach us? It teaches us there's a distinction between male and female. And that, of course, is true in so many ways. No one would dare to argue with that. When you consider the physical constitution of both male and female, we are different one from another. The Bible says the woman is the weaker vessel in 1 Peter chapter 3. What that simply means is she's made different from man, in that emotionally and nervously, as well as physically, a woman does not have the powers and the strengths that the man has. It doesn't mention, by the way, intellect there, because there are a lot of women far smarter than men. I may get lynched for saying that, but it's true. There are a lot of women who are far smarter than men when it comes to intellectual powers. But it's also true that a woman's nervous constitution, her emotional constitution, is entirely different from a man's. And that is why it is so ludicrous And I'm digressing here. But it's so ludicrous for women to want to be what God never intended them to be. And the whole feminist movement and the whole women's lib movement is based on an anomaly. It's based on the thinking that women are equal to men in every department. And they get very annoyed. or the likes of me if they hear me preach this kind of stuff. You see, my dear friend, my dear sister in Christ, the Lord made you in a special way. He made you to have the support and the nurture, the encouragement of the man whom the Lord may give you. And if you haven't got a husband yet, well, you are missing something. So pray hard that the Lord will give you a good man to be your support and your encouragement and to nurture you. That's what God intends. That's why He made you different. But the thing is, there's a distinction there between male and female. I don't need to labour that any longer. You may say, that's right, get moving on there. But the distinction that the Lord has made between male and female in the worship service has to be signified in a certain way. And what is it? Well, it is that there is to be a difference between male and female, or the difference between male and female is to be distinguished by the means of the head covering, because nature, teaches us with regard to the hair that the Lord has put on the woman, that there is a distinction between male and female. And the point is men and women. It's the Holy Ghost who in verses 14 and 15 is talking about hair literally and physically. And we should pay heed to that. Just read these verses. Verse 14, "...does not even nature itself teach you that if a man of long hair is a shame unto him, if a woman of long hair is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering?" Now, the term there, long hair, refers especially or refers specifically to a distinctly feminine hairstyle. The term long hair is just one word in original language. It comes from a root word that means to arrange or to order. The term therefore refers to hair that is arranged or ordered in a distinctly feminine manner. And in everyday public life, And in order to maintain the God-ordained distinction between male and female, the man is told here that he's not to adopt a feminine hairstyle. That's essentially what that means. It doesn't so much pertain to the length of the hair, as some will try to make out, although I personally do not like long hair on a man where it comes to the point where the distinction is blurred, that is wrong, that's entirely wrong. Men's hair should be short enough, well some of us are not really in trouble about this because our hair is disappearing, but men's hair should be short enough so that people looking on will know that there's a distinction. But the word, as I say, really has to do with a feminine hairstyle. And therefore, Paul is speaking in verse 14 of the shame and the disorder of a man having a feminine hairstyle. You see, by creation, a woman has a natural covering. By nature, God has given her a natural covering for everyday life that distinguishes her from the man. And let's face it, there's something different about a woman's hair. There definitely is. Here's the Bible talking about a feminine hairstyle. You pay heed to that, for that's the meaning of the word. Therefore, the Bible does allow the woman to go to the hairdresser. The Bible does, by inference here, say that a woman's hair needs attention. So you men who may grumble at your wives for paying a little too much attention in your estimation, you need to stop and think here, because God is telling you right here, there is such a thing by nature, the way He has made women, that they have hair that requires attention. when it's fixed and done up, signifies that they are women. That's what God's teaching here. And He's simply saying a man should not adopt that feminine hairstyle, because then he is blurring the distinction that God has made between the male and the female. Now that's the teaching of those verses. But here's the question. Why does Paul bring that in? What has this got to do with the head covering that he has mentioned in the earlier verse? What has it got to do with the whole subject of public worship when we come together? Well, his teaching is simply this, that this matter of the distinction between male and female that is shown here to be signified with regard to the question of the hair, makes it absolutely clear that it's a supportive argument for Paul's earlier teaching. Just as in the natural realm there's a distinction between male and female, so in the spiritual realm there should be a distinction between male and female. And the distinction is that in addition to the natural veil that God has given the woman, she is to have another covering that in the public worship service makes it absolutely clear that she knows her place and she observes her role. In other words, creation teaches you today that God is an order and you're to observe it. And nature teaches you, by virtue of how God made you, by giving you a natural covering and a natural veil for everyday life. for the public life that you live before your fellow men, that when you come to the house of God, you are to remember that you are to have a covering there in addition to your hair. That is the understanding of these verses that I want to set before you. That is what Paul is teaching in this passage, that by nature you are taught that your head should be covered, because the Lord has given you a covering naturally in the form of your hair, And you are to remember, therefore, when you come to the house of God, that that is to be reflected in having the head covering on your head. Now, I've covered that very, very rapidly there, but I know that having said all that, there are those sitting here today who will say, well, what about verse 15? Because it's verse 15 to which people will bring you who oppose this particular position. And verse 15 says, at the end of the verse, Well, let's read the whole verse. If a woman hath long hair, that's a reference to the feminine hairstyle, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering. And I say, there you are. It's simply saying in verse 15 that a woman's hair is the covering that is the only thing essential for the place of worship. Her hair is given her for a covering. Well, those who say that have not understood verse 15 at all, I must put it that way. Because, first of all, the words of verse 15 must be interpreted in their own context. Remember, I explained it to you. It's a supporting argument for the basic premise that a woman is to be covered in the place of worship. And the supporting argument is that the Lord has given the woman a natural veil and that teaches her. that when she goes to worship God, she should be covered. So, to take these words in verse 15 and take them back into the earlier passage, and therefore on that basis say, well, it's the hair's the covering in the place of worship, is to fail to understand what Paul is teaching in verse 15, and is to misinterpret those words. But there's something else here, and let's look at it closely. It says in this verse, her hair has given her for a covering. The word for covering in verse 15 is an entirely different word from what you have back in, say, verses 4, 5 and 6. It's a different word altogether. Because back in those verses, and listen to this, where Paul says a woman should cover her head, the word for cover there means something placed on the head. And the inference is, when she comes before the Lord, she places something on her head. Now, that would be meaningless, and indeed unnecessary, if her hair is the covering, because your hair is already there. It doesn't have to be placed on your head. The Lord tells you to put something on your head when you come to worship. That's the meaning of the word cover earlier on. But in verse 15, the word for covering there is a word that refers to a covering that envelops the entire body. that covers a woman from head to toe. That's the meaning of the word covering in verse 15. Now, what is Paul doing here? Well, let me explain it to you very quickly. In pagan and heathen religions to this very day, many of them require their woman folk to wear not merely a covering on their head, but a covering that encircles their entire body. And the greatest example, of course, is the Muslim religion, where the womenfolk are left peering out through a kind of a slit in the front of their eyes, and they're covered from head to toe. Let me tell you something, that was the kind of covering that was in existence in Paul's day, in heathenism. And it was a badge of degradation. It was a badge of shame. And Paul is simply saying here, a woman doesn't have to wear that degrading covering that covers her entire body from head to toe, because the Lord has given her a natural veil for everyday life in the form of her hair. That's all is required. So read those words again. Her hair is given her for, and the word for there means in place of. Her hair is given her in place of a covering, this degrading, pagan, heathenish cloak. covering that women had to wear, that wrapped around the whole body. Her hair is the natural veil given by the Lord. She doesn't need to wear that heathenish thing that degrades her and shames her and makes her feel that she's worthless and so on. Therefore, the verse 15, those words are hers, given her for a covering, is simply a reference to what by nature has been given by the Lord to the woman, so that she is either not asked to wear the graven covering, or if she's in that situation she is wearing it, she's delivered from it. But those words are not to be understood as referring to the public worship service, as so many will do where they will say, here you are, her hair's the covering and she doesn't need a hat in the church or a veil or whatever you care to mention. Those words in verse 15 are simply to be understood in the way that I have explained to you here as quickly as I possibly can. The natural veil, her hair, is what is in view in these verses. It takes taking the heathen woman, as far as she was concerned, she needs to understand that her hair is given to her by God, so she does not need to wear that degrading covering, for that's the meaning of the word in verse 15, the word covering. It refers to something, as I say, that wraps around the whole body. And therefore, what the Apostle Paul is saying here is very, very obvious. that you have the basic premise, a woman is to be covered in worship, a man is not to be. Therefore, the woman is to have something in addition to her hair when she comes to worship God, to signify that she knows her place and she's recognizing the authority of God over her, the authority of Jesus Christ. That's all that Paul is doing here, and then he supports that by the argument from creation and the argument from nature. May I say this, that if, as many do, if we were to accept that the hair is the covering, then those earlier verses make no sense. Absolutely none. They become absurd. Let me just show you that quickly. Look at verse 5. Every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonors her head. That is, dishonors Christ. So, if the hair is the covering, then this verse would read this way. Every woman that prayeth or prophesieth without hair on her head dishonors Christ. Because it says, if she prays or prophesies with her head uncovered. Now, here's the point. If the hair is the covering, then when a woman comes before the Lord and she comes before the Lord, she can only worship the Lord without hair. That doesn't make any sense. On the other hand, look at verse 7. a man indeed ought not to cover his head." Because, you see, the same must be true of the man. If the hair is the covering, then in verse 7 the Lord is saying, a man ought not to have hair on his head when he comes to worship God. And that, of course, becomes absolutely ridiculous. You see, the Lord is simply saying here to the woman who loves the Lord, I have made you differently, and I've also saved you. And you're to take up the role that I have for you when you come to worship me, that submissive role. And you're to signify it by having a covering on your head. And when you do that, then you glorify me. You see, it says there that the woman's hair is her glory, verse 15. If a woman has long hair, or that hair's got the feminine feature to it, I think you should pay heed to that. As I said earlier, a man's hair should never look like a woman's. But by the same token, a woman's hair should never be so shaved up that the distinction's gone. Her hair should have that appearance that is sufficient to show her femininity, to show her female gender, to uphold what God wants her to be. And her hair is given to her, it says, for her glory. Her hair is her glory. God says that. Your hair, the way He's made you, is a glory to you. But when you come into God's presence, The Bible says that no flesh is to glory in His presence. Therefore, you put on a covering, not only to show your place and your role of submission, but in order that in the presence of God, as I just quoted, no flesh will have any glory, but that all the glory will be the Lord's. And he will have all the honor and all the praise and all the esteem. And therefore, brothers and sisters, think today carefully what Paul is teaching here, that in the worship service all the glory is to be the Lord's. right down to this very matter of the feature of the covering. The men do not wear the covering so that they will glorify God, their head, and they will reflect that God is under submission to no one. And yet the woman wears the covering to signify she knows her place and she understands her position. and she desires to glorify her Savior, and therefore she covers her head. I trust God will use this today to make this passage at least a little more clear, and that the Lord will write these things upon our hearts, and that womenfolk in our own congregation will endeavor by the grace of God to maintain that standard that is set before us here. And in spite of all the prejudice and all the trends of our day, away from it, maintain it for the Lord's glory and for the Lord's eternal praise.