1 Corinthians 11:6

1 Corinthians 11:6, with a second γάρ, presses the above identity; the Ap. bids the woman who discards the veil carry her defiance a step further: “For if a woman is not veiled, let her also crop (her head); but if it is a disgrace for a woman to crop (it) or to keep (it) shaven, let her retain the veil” (καλυπτέσθω, pr [1619] impv [1620], continuous). P. uses the modus tollens of the hypothetical syllogism: “If a woman prefers a bare head, she should remove her hair; womanly feeling forbids the latter, then it should forbid the former, for the like shame attaches to both.” The argument appeals to Gr [1621] and Eastern sentiment; “physical barefacedness led to the inference of moral, in a city like Corinth” (Ev [1622]). κειράσθω and κείρασθαι, aor [1623] mid [1624], denote a single act on the woman's part, “to cut off her locks”; ξυρᾶσθαι, pres. mid [1625], a shaven condition; the single art [1626] comprises the infs. in one view. Paul's directions do not agree precisely with current practice. Jewish men covered their heads at prayers with the Tallith (cf. the allusion of 2 Corinthians 3:14 ff.) this custom, retained probably by some Jews at Christian meetings (1 Corinthians 11:4), P. corrects without censure; women were both veiled and kept behind a screen. Amongst the Greeks, both sexes worshipped with uncovered head, although women covered their heads at other times (see Hermann, Gottesdienstl. Alterthümer, § 36, 18 f.; Plato, Phœdo, 89B,), while Roman men and women alike covered their heads during religious rites (Servius ad Æn., iii., 407). The usage here prescribed seems to be an adaptation of Gr [1627] custom to Christian conceptions. With us the diff [1628] of sex is more strongly marked in the general attire than with the ancients; but the draped head has still its appropriateness, and the distinction laid down in this passage has been universally observed. The woman is recognised by the side of the man as “praying” and “prophesying” (see note on 1 Corinthians 12:10); there is no ground in the text for limiting the ref [1629] in her case to the exercise of these gifts in domestic and private circles (thus Hf [1630], Bt [1631], and some others); on the contradiction with 1 Corinthians 14:34, see note ad loc [1632] Under the Old Covenant women were at times signally endued with supernatural powers, and the prophetess occasionally played a leading public part (e.g. Deborah and Huldah); in the Christian dispensation, from Acts 1:14 onwards, they receive a more equal share in the powers of the Spirit (see Acts 2:17 f., Galatians 3:28). But in the point of ἐξουσία there lies an ineffaceable distinction.

[1619] present tense.

[1620] imperative mood.

[1621] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.

[1622] T. S. Evans in Speaker's Commentary.

[1623] aorist tense.

[1624] middle voice.

[1625] middle voice.

[1626] grammatical article.

[1627] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.

[1628] difference, different, differently.

[1629] reference.

[1630] J. C. K. von Hofmann's Die heilige Schrift N.T. untersucht, ii. 2 (2te Auflage, 1874).

[1631] J. A. Beet's St. Paul's Epp. to the Corinthians (1882).

[1632] ad locum, on this passage.