1 Corinthians 11:13-15

“Judge in yourselves: Is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? 14. Doth not nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? 15. but if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.”

After appealing to the sacred analogies mentioned in 1 Corinthians 11:3-6, and to the relation established by creation between the sexes (1 Corinthians 11:7-12), Paul finally takes to witness a fact nearer to us, inherent in the human person itself. We here come to a formula similar to that with which he had closed the previous discussion 1 Corinthians 10:15: “Judge of yourselves!” These words appeal to the instinct of truth which ought to exist in his readers themselves.

The following question finds its solution in 1 Corinthians 11:14-15, where the fact is stated which should serve as the basis of their judgment.

The addition of the words τῷ Θεῷ, to God, is difficult to explain; for it appears as if it were precisely in speaking to God that the woman could speak without impropriety unveiled. But let us remember that we are here in full public worship, and that it is at the moment when the woman's voice is uttering the deepest impressions and the holiest emotions of adoration and love, that a feeling of holy modesty ought to constrain her to secure herself from every indiscreet and profane look. For the very reason that she is speaking to God, she ought in this sacred act to veil her figure from the eyes of men. These words: to God, are therefore, whatever Holsten may say, perfectly in place.