What is the significance of Pauls discussion about head covering in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 for the discussion of the role of women in the church?
In spite of certain difficulties of interpretation, 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 provides one of the clearest statements on the fundamental significance of the role differences which must exist between men and women at home and in the church. The lengthy discussion about head coverings can mislead a person today into thinking that Paul majored in minors. In fact, the discussion on head coverings is only secondary to the fundamental principle Paul asserts about the headship of man (“the head of the woman is man,” v. 3, NIV) and of the subordination of woman (vv. 5-10), which must be respected at home and in the church. The principle was being challenged by emancipated Corinthian women who interpreted the freedom of the gospel as freedom from wearing a sign of submission to their husbands (head covering), especially at times of prayer and sharing in the church service. To counteract this trend, which would have resulted in the violation of role distinctions which God Himself had created, Paul e
