Church, we are picking up right where we left off in 1 Corinthians 11:2–16, and this morning we are digging into the text itself. The two arguments against head coverings fall apart under the slightest scrutiny. The claim that this command was merely cultural collapses the moment you realize Paul anchored his entire argument in the created order, which transcends every culture and every time period. Be warned: the same people who make cultural arguments to dismiss this passage use the identical tactic to excuse homosexuality and every other debased practice the culture celebrates. And the claim that a woman’s hair is her covering makes Paul out to be a schizophrenic, contradicting himself within two sentences. Verse 6 is unintelligible if hair is the covering in view. The consensus of church history is overwhelming. Tertullian, Chrysostom, Augustine, Calvin, Luther, Knox. Not one credible scholar from the early church or the Reformation held the “cultural only” position. The contention today exists only because feminism has conditioned even Christians to see submission as degradation. Let God be true and every man a liar. But here is the glorious truth you need to grab hold of: our physical acts of worship have real and lasting spiritual effects. When men lift uncovered heads before the assembly, they display the glory of God and declare war on the enemy. When women veil the glory of their hair in worship, they humble themselves so that no glory rivals the Lord’s, and it is a shot fired into the heart of Satan’s rebellion. Paul tells us this is done “because of the angels,” and Hebrews 12 and Ephesians 3 confirm that our worship is a spectacle before innumerable angels and a testimony to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This is not about earning salvation; Christ has earned our standing entirely. But now that we are adopted sons and daughters, we desire to live according to the family patterns of our Father’s house. And when your practice in worship confronts your sin, whether a husband’s failure to lead or a wife’s refusal to follow, it drives you to conviction, confession, repentance, and sanctification. That is the Christian life, and it is all to the glory of God.
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