What does it mean that a woman's long hair is her glory (1 Corinthians 11:15)?

(3) The unshorn head was evidently a sign of dependence — of weakness clinging to strength. Long hair is the woman's glory; it is the mark of her dependence as the weaker vessel upon man. This is the place in which God has put her, and true glory is the perfect filling of the place in which one is set. But of the man it is said: "Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame to him, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God." 1 Cor. 11:7-15. The man's place was to lead; he was made lord of this creation; others were to depend upon him, but he was to rely only upon God. Alas! in the fall he sought to be independent of God; thence all the sorrow and woe and death.

(Vv. 13-15). The Apostle, having asserted the creation order, now appeals to nature, therein to learn what is comely. Inasmuch as, in her long hair, the woman has a natural covering, nature indicates her place of subjection, and tells us that a hidden woman is a beautiful woman, while a woman who cuts off her hair and apes the man is held in contempt by all. Even so, the man with long hair brings shame upon himself.

In I Corinthians 11:14, 15, the apostle refers to nature as a further evidence of the distinction between man and woman and of her proper place of subjection. "Does not even nature itself teach you, that man, if he have long hair, it is a dishonor to him? But woman, if she have long hair, (it is) glory to her; for the long hair is given (to her) in lieu of a veil" (New Trans.). God has given long hair to woman and short hair to man as a distinguishing mark between them. It is natural for woman to have long hair and for man to have short hair.

Long hair is generally in Scripture a symbol of dependence, submission, and of that modesty that becomes woman as "the weaker vessel" to which man is to give honor (I Pet. 3: 7).The passage before us in I Corinthians 11 speaks of woman's hair as her glory. A woman only manifests the glory and beauty put upon her when she abides in her God-given place of dependence and subjection and maintains her feminine character. The more feminine woman is, the more beautiful and pleasing to God she is. The more woman tries to appear like a man and to take his place, the more she loses her true beauty and virtue.

Therefore, Scripture emphasizes the long hair of women. It then adds that it is her glory. The word "glory," "doxa" in the original Greek, means the expression of glory. We use "doxologies" in Scripture for expressions of worship to God. Long hair is a glory for a woman.

Our Authorized Version says in I Corinthians 11:15, "for her hair is given her for a covering." From this some teach that a woman's long hair is her head-covering and that no other covering is needed. But this phrase is incorrectly translated and does not give the meaning of the original Scripture at all. An altogether different word in Greek is used here from the one correctly translated "covered" in verse 6. There the word is "katakaluptespho" and means "to cover up, covering one's head." Here in verse 15 the word is "peribolaiou" and means "that which is thrown around" (Liddell and Scott Lexicon).

Thus the New Translation correctly renders this phrase "for the long hair is given (to her) in lieu of a veil." That is, long hair is given to a woman by nature as a veil cast around her. It is not the covering for her head which the apostle is insisting on in the foregoing verses. If man's glory is to be covered in the presence of God, as we have previously explained, then surely woman's long hair which is her personal glory, must be covered in His presence also.

First Paul sets forth the difference between man and woman and says that man should have his head uncovered and woman should have her's covered. Then he further appeals to the sense of propriety and comeliness, based on the different constitution of man and woman by nature, as another reason why she should have her head covered and appear different from man before God. "Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not even nature itself teach you?" (v. 13, 14).Even in nature God has given woman long hair as a veil to conceal herself. That which is becoming to a woman, then, is to cover her head when she prays to God.

Some would argue that since a woman's hair is given her for a covering, there is no need of any other covering, but this assumption ignores the force of the entire passage. The apostle is rather showing that, since God has on His part given her the covering of long hair to indicate her place of subjection, then on her part she is to acquiesce in this, by using a covering on her head.

This being the case, the assembly is told to judge in themselves, is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? How could we ever dare to answer yes to this? And it is added, "Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?" In the world today things are so out of course that people cannot even discern this evident lesson from nature. But believers should have no difficulty with this. Also, if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her. Nature teaches us this also, though it is often ignored, not only by unbelievers, but sadly also by too many believers. "For her hair is given her for a covering." This is what God has done, in effect telling the woman that it is her glory to be covered. Her willing consent to this will induce her to also cover her head when prayer or prophesying is exercised.

That some have endeavoured to teach a woman's hair is all she needs on her head has already been dealt with. Long hair, given as a veil, suggests modesty* and thus, it is her glory as representing womanly virtue. As noted earlier, she covers her head in submission to the man according to the divine order, and at the same time, that which is her glory is covered, thereby indicating that the man is the image and glory of God.

It is beyond our purpose to attempt to explain all that these verses teach; the one point we would press is that man is head, not only in the Church, but everywhere; and in like manner is the woman's place in subjection. Long hair is her glory; because by it she shows her ready submission to the place given her of God in nature; and on special occasions she is to have, in addition to her hair, a covering of some kind to give emphasis to the fact. If she refuses this, the apostle, in evident irony, says, "Let her also be shorn," i.e., be altogether like the man. Some, to their shame be it said, have of their own accord gone to this length, showing thus their utter contempt for what is written in God's Word, and the rebellion of their own hearts against their God-assigned place since the Fall. The man, on the other hand, and for a like reason, must not have long hair like the woman; for, says the apostle, "Doth not even nature itself teach you that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?"

Given by God as an ornament and a protection for the head. The Israelites were not to "round the corners of their heads," doubtless in allusion to some heathen practice, one of which has been described as "cutting the hair in a ring away from the temples." Lev. 19:27. Neither were they to make any baldness between their eyes for the dead. Deut. 14:1. Baldness should come as a judgement. Isa. 15:2; Jer. 9:26, margin; Jer. 48:37.

Long hair is referred to in the N.T. as the natural covering of a woman, as owning her subjection to the man, and is a glory to her; but nature teaches that if a man have long hair, it is a shame to him. His head must not thus be covered, for "he is the image and glory of God." 1 Cor. 11:6-15. "Hair as the hair of women" is a symbol of subjection to a head, and effeminacy. Rev. 9:8.