📖WEB · 1 Corinthians 11:6
What does 1 Corinthians 11:6 mean?
"For if a woman is not covered, let her hair also be cut off. But if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or be shaved, let her be covered."
— 1 Corinthians 11:6 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head.
But every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered dishonors her head. For it is one and the same thing as if she were shaved.
For if a woman is not covered, let her hair also be cut off. But if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or be shaved, let her be covered.
For a man indeed ought not to have his head covered, because he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man.
For man is not from woman, but woman from man;
for man wasn’t created for the woman, but woman for the man.
Explanation
This verse comes from a longer passage (1 Corinthians 11:2-16) in which Paul addresses the practice of head coverings during worship in the church at Corinth. In plain language, Paul is making an argument by comparison: if a woman refuses to wear a head covering while praying or prophesying, she might as well cut her hair short or shave her head, since in that culture doing so was associated with the same kind of dishonor. But since everyone agreed that a shaved or shorn head was disgraceful for a woman, Paul reasons that she should therefore wear the covering to avoid that shame.
To understand this, it helps to know the context. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians to a young, diverse church in the Greek city of Corinth, a place known for its mixed cultural customs and its blending of Jewish, Greek, and Roman social expectations. In that setting, a woman's hair and head covering carried social meaning tied to modesty, marital status, and public honor. A shaved head was sometimes associated with shame, mourning, or even punishment for immorality. Paul is not inventing a new moral rule out of nowhere; he is applying a principle of honor and propriety to a very specific cultural symbol that the Corinthians already understood.
Theologically, Paul's larger concern in this passage (seen in verses 3-16) is about order, honor, and the visible expression of relationships within worship — particularly the relationship between men and women, and ultimately each person's relationship to Christ and God. The specific instruction about coverings and hair reflects that broader concern: he wants
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