Head Coverings For Christians?

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Question: Some accuse Christians of being hypocritical in their attitude toward Muslim women wearing burkas, since 1 Corinthians

7:2-16 seems to teach that Christian women should also wear head coverings: “But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is the same as having her head shaved” (1 Cor. 7:5).

What does the Bible teach concerning head coverings for men and / or women?

Answering this question requires that we look not only at the content of 1Cor. 7:2-16, but also at the context and culture surrounding this instruction to Christians.

Context

1 Corinthians 7:2 – 14:40 gives teaching and instruction specifically concerning the church in worship: (Head Coverings, 11:2-16; The Lord’s Supper, 11:17-34; and using the Spiritual Gifts, 12-14). Since that is the focus, the instructions do not necessarily become principles for Christian behavior beyond the worship setting.

Verse two distinguishes between “traditions” passed on and the principles behind those traditions. A tradition is not a Law. A specific “tradition” may change over time while still faithfully communicating the principle it represents. With the Lord’s Supper, for example, the “bread” and the “cup” shared by believers across time and cultures changes in various ways, yet without losing their significance in memorializing Christ’s sacrificed body and shed blood.

Culture

The use of a veil or head covering by NT women in the worship setting (v.5) is one such “tradition.” Veils (head coverings) were a common practice among Jewish women, especially during public worship, as a symbol of respect to their husbands and to God. This was not the case among the Gentile women. Consequently, when the Gentile believers mingled with the Jewish believers for worship the Jewish women would be easily offended by Gentile women who prayed and prophesied without veils. To Jewish eyes, these unveiled women were flaunting their sexuality rather than showing modesty and humility in worship.

Content

1Cor. 11:2-16 teaches a three-fold spiritual principle:

(1) Headship: God has established an administrative hierarchy of roles:

         1Cor. 11:3 But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

(2) Equality Under God:

         1Cor. 11:11-12 Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.

(3) As Male and Female, Honor God:

         1Cor. 11:14-15   Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering.

Out of respect and honor to God, women should neither hide their femininity nor seek to look male (“have her hair shaved”, v. 6)—that would be a “disgrace” (v.6)—nor flaunt their femininity in corporate worship (her long hair is her God-given glory—v. 15).

That’s why, in that cultural setting, “…if a woman does not cover her head…it is a disgrace” (v.6). For the same reason, men were to keep their heads un-covered during corporate worship, and not have feminine-looking hair (“it is a disgrace to him” — v.14).

Conclusion

For men and women alike, worship is about honoring Christ, their head, even as Christ honors God who is His head (vv. 3-5). Both the context and content show that the “tradition” of women wearing head coverings was not required outside of the corporate worship setting, nor was it intended as a “law” for all time.

Likewise, the tradition of a head covering during corporate worship was an appropriate means in that culture for reinforcing the spiritual principles of headship, equality, and giving glory to God. 

What Happened To The Gifts Of The Magi

Biblegems #254

Question: Is there any record in the Bible or history as to what happened to the gifts brought by the magi to Joseph and Mary?

The Bible does not tell us what happened to the gold, frankincense and myrrh brought by the magi. There are only traditions and some reasonable speculations.

Tradition

The Monastery of St. Paul at Mt. Athos, Greece, once displayed a 15^th century box containing, according to tradition, the gold, frankincense and myrrh presented by the magi. These were originally displayed at the Holy Palace of Constantinople since the 4^th century. Following Constantinople’s fall to the Ottoman Empire in the 1400’s, the godmother of the Empire’s king offered them to the Monastery of St. Paul, where they remained until Christmas, 2014, when they were sent for display to Ukraine and Belarus. We don’t know for certain the legitimacy of the items inside the box.

Another tradition claims that the two thieves crucified along side of Jesus had stolen the gifts of the magi, while another tradition points to Judas, treasurer for Jesus’ disciples, as misappropriating the items for his personal gain.

Other Possibilities

One other tradition that has some merit suggests that Joseph and Mary used some portion of the gifts of the magi to pay for their hasty escape from Bethlehem to Egypt.

         Matt. 2:13, 15    When they [the magi] had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him”  …where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Jesus’ family had little financial means to support their journey, their extended stay in Egypt and their eventual return to Nazareth, other than these gifts. While there is no direct evidence, the speculation is reasonable.

Another reasonable possibility is that these treasures—or at least a portion of what remained—may have been used for Jesus’ burial. While the tomb was provided at no expense (Matt. 27:57-61), the spices used to cover the body were costly. Not only so, but myrrh was one of the standard aromatics used in the burial of the dead. Mary may well have chosen to use it for the burial of her son.

In the end, what matters most is that God chose not to include this tidbit of information in the Scriptures. God guides our focus away from relics, and away from satisfying curiosity for curiosity’s sake. He knows our tendency to slip into worship of created things rather than the Creator (Rom. 1:25), and He knows our tendency to focus on trivia at the expense of eternal matters (Matt. 23:16-19).

The gifts of the magi are not about the gifts; they are examples of human beings sacrificing their wealth, their time, even their lives to worship Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords. The magi we will see in heaven; the gifts we will not.

Is The Pledge Of Allegiance Idolatry?

Biblegems #238

Question: Is the pledge to the American flag idolatry?

What the Pledge of Allegiance Means

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America…”

To “pledge allegiance” is to promise your loyalty. To pledge allegiance to a flag is to promise loyalty to whatever entity that flag represents. Therefore, to pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America is to promise your loyalty to America as a country and the fundamental ideals America is founded upon. Those ideals are stated in the pledge itself: “the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

What Idolatry Means

According to the Bible, Idolatry is an act of worship to a deity represented by some object. The idol itself is typically viewed as containing the power or essence of the deity it represents, which explains why idolaters worship material objects. As Paul writes:

         Rom. 1:25  They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator…

When God spoke through Isaiah the prophet about the powerlessness of idols made from wood, He gave this revealing example:

         Is. 44:15 Then it [wood] becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. 

To worship something as a god is to treat it as deserving total, unquestioning trust, obedience and submission. For this reason, God commanded through Moses:

         Ex. 20:4  You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

As Romans 1:25 suggests, an idol is not restricted to man-made objects. Anything in the created realm can become an object of misplaced worship. Throughout history humanity has worshiped the sun, moon and stars (Jer. 8:2), animals, fish, birds and reptiles (Rom. 1:23), the power of military strength (Ps. 20:7), and our own ingenuity and technology (Gen. 11:3).

Is The Pledge Idolatry?

Anything can be made an object of idolatrous worship, including a flag or the nation it represents. However, the pledge of allegiance is a personal commitment to the high ideals of 1) a representative form of government and the rule of law (Republic), (2) to a nation unified under God, (3) and to the equal availability of liberty and justice for every citizen.

Nothing in that pledge either assumes or requires a slavish trust, obedience, submission to, or worship of the flag or the ideals it represents. Even less does the pledge assume or require an idolatrous worship of the nation’s elected government. In fact, the pledge of allegiance assumes the right of American citizens to replace any elected officials who do not represent true American ideals with representatives who do!

To promise our loyalty to the American ideals represented by our country’s flag is not an act of worship; it is an act of honor.