Let me help this discussion ( I hope ) by reminding people again, how the bible was written and the importance of knowing the cultural context it was written in order to understand what is being said. this is again, referring back to something I wrote tonight in the post to the Bible/Qur'an forum and deals with revelation.
The way we look at revelation as Muslims and Christians differ. Muslims believe in direct revelation.. that Allah revealed the Qur'an in a number of occasions to Muhammed.
The Bible was however revealed no less directly by God, but to different people and in different cultural settings. The Gospel narratives and the letters to the various churches were designed for a purpose and for the cultural setting they were written for.
Let's now consider that as we consider the verses in 1 Corinthians 11:5.
The Church in Corinth was a church with major problems, some caused by the culture it was positioned in and partly because of internal problems within the church itself.
Chapter 11 through 14 is a discussion on public worship in the church and why it is so important that the worship of the church congregation reflects the relationship between Christians and Christ Himself. We are not just dealing here with right and wrong ways to act, but with the reflection of a Christians relationship to God Himself.
There is a deeper theological discussion going on here.
chapter 11 verses 2-6 discuss that in God's order woman is under the man's headship. This in no way implies inequality as in God's sight, men and women are created equal and stand equal before God. (Galations 3:28 and Ephesians 1:3). Headship does not imply Lordship and this is seen in verse 3 where Paul reminds them that Man is head over the woman, even as the Father is head over the Son. The man and woman in mutual submission are a picture of the submission of the Father and Son to each other.
Now this is then the Theological basis for the wearing of a covering.
Then there is the Social basis...
In the first century culture a veil covering was a symbol of respectable woman hood, something a wife might wear to arrirm herself as a woman of dignity. the Corinthian women were thrilled to hear that Paul was teaching that women and men were equal in a culture which previously had seen them inferior to men. They abused the status that being a Christian woman afforded them and began to assert that status by removing their veils during church services. Paul doesn't put down this aspiration, he even praises them for it,(vs 2), but he does want to show them why the removal of the veil is an inappropriate symbol of equality and shows a misunderstanding of equality.
Now we need to bring both the social and the theological basis together to understand what Paul was saying.
vs 3-10, creation shows that men and women are created different. the reference to the Father and the Son was a reminder that the way that the man should treat and react to the woman is the same as Christians believe that the Father and Son related to each other.. the Son submitted to the Father, but the Father exalted the Son and gave Him a name above every other name. .. infact according to verse 7, as man is the glory of God, so women are the glory of men.
No woman has to be like a man to be equal in God's sight.
vs 11-12 then discusses the interdependence between the sexes.. neither can exist without the other
13-16 then puts the discussion in cultural perspective. No corinthian woman would think of cutting off her hair and appearing in public. She would be ashamed and to do so would deny her identity as a womah. Paul wanted the Corinthian women to think of taking off their veil as a denial of their dignity and worth as women.
So.. these verses are indeed a combination of commands and faith... the command was in a particular cultural background that was teaching to women as to why they should not cut their hair, give up wearing their veils or in anyway look down on their feminity. However, for both men and women, it was a reminder that their relationship to each other and with each other, was a picture of the relationship between man and God and God the Father and God the Son.
Why do nuns wear veils etc? Why do some women still wear them in the churches? It is out of their desire to be seen in submission.. but it is not meant to put them down.. it is meant to be for them an outward reflection of their submission, for some to their husbands, for others to the church they have given up their life for. In the end whether women choose to cover their heads or not, have long or short hair or not.. it is not the practice but the principle that is at stake..
It is that all people.. men and women should be in submission to God and show by their outward actions that they are in submission to His glory.
Carol