1 Corinthians 11:15

But if. woman have long hair, it is. glory to her: for her hair is given her for. covering.

'it is. glory to her' -'that is her pride.' (Nor); 'It gives her that womanly distinction.' (Lenski p. 449) 'Glory in this instance, since it is the opposite of dishonor, must mean something like distinction or honor..it functions as something that distinguishes the splendor of the woman.' (Fee pp. 527-528)

'The ancients, in orderly and honorable society, regarded long hair in women to be praiseworthy. (There are always dissidents, of course.) So when women were punished (for one thing or another) if often took the form of shearing her hair or shaving her head...According to Tacitus, among the Germans an adulteress was driven from her husband's home with her head shaved; and the Justinian code prescribed this penalty for an adulteress, whom, at the expiration of two years, her husband refused to receive again.' (McGuiggan p. 153)

'is given her for. covering' -'woman is obviously proud of her natural covering given her by God; hence, she should see no shame in the artificial covering which the women in Corinth customarily wore.' (Willis p. 376)

While Corinthian society, and for that fact most societies in general have attached "femininity" to long-hair, and have considered the long-hair on women to be attractive and. source of pride. In the final analysis, God did create the capacity for such long and beautiful hair.

'for' -some have suggested that Paul here means that the woman's long hair was given her "instead" of the veil, hence she need not wear the customary artificial covering. On the surface such sounds good, the only problem being that this view would basically make this whole section, esp. verses 4-6 meaningless. Why go through with all this argumentation if what the Corinthian women (who had cast off the veil) had on their heads already (long-hair) was sufficient?