Hats of Humility

Good morning,

When I was a child I attended a small, country church, called Harmony Baptist.  In fact, one of the men who pastored that church in my teens was at my church's dramatic production this past Saturday. He is 85 and, although no longer the pastor, still loves on his former "sheep".  He traveled for over an hour each way today to come see me in the play.  And, he and his wife gave me a great big hug. What a blessing!

At any rate, the point I was getting to was that, when I attended this little church as a child, there was a hat rack on both sides of the wall, in the tiny vestibule.  There was also an old water fountain.  (I used to love to drink water out of that fountain, although it tasted pretty awful.)  The older men of that day (in the early 1960s) would wear their hats to church.  But, they would take them off when they entered the sanctuary, and hang them on those pegs on the wall.  A few women still wore hats to church, and they would leave theirs on.  (I'm describing the older members of the congregation of that day - - my grandparents' generation.  Neither my mother nor my dad wore a hat to church at all.)

Back then, I never thought about these customs being based in scripture.  It was just the way things were done.  It is plain to see, though, when you read the first part of 1 Corinthians 11 that Paul's instructions there underlaid the societal customs I just described.  Let's take a look at the passage in The Message version, verses 1-16:

 1-2 It pleases me that you continue to remember and honor me by keeping up the traditions of the faith I taught you. All actual authority stems from Christ.

3-9 In a marriage relationship, there is authority from Christ to husband, and from husband to wife. The authority of Christ is the authority of God. Any man who speaks with God or about God in a way that shows a lack of respect for the authority of Christ, dishonors Christ. In the same way, a wife who speaks with God in a way that shows a lack of respect for the authority of her husband, dishonors her husband. Worse, she dishonors herself—an ugly sight, like a woman with her head shaved. This is basically the origin of these customs we have of women wearing head coverings in worship, while men take their hats off. By these symbolic acts, men and women, who far too often butt heads with each other, submit their “heads” to the Head: God.

10-12 Don’t, by the way, read too much into the differences here between men and women. Neither man nor woman can go it alone or claim priority. Man was created first, as a beautiful shining reflection of God—that is true. But the head on a woman’s body clearly outshines in beauty the head of her “head,” her husband. The first woman came from man, true—but ever since then, every man comes from a woman! And since virtually everything comes from God anyway, let’s quit going through these “who’s first” routines.

13-16 Don’t you agree there is something naturally powerful in the symbolism—a woman, her beautiful hair reminiscent of angels, praying in adoration; a man, his head bared in reverence, praying in submission? I hope you’re not going to be argumentative about this. All God’s churches see it this way; I don’t want you standing out as an exception.

{We are going to skip over verses 1-2 for the moment.  And, in my next post, I'll come back to those.}

Apparently, in Paul's day, it was customary in the early churches for women to attend worship wearing head coverings of some sort (vs. 16).  I don't know if these coverings were veils or hats or a cloth of some sort worn over the head.  It really does not matter, because it was a cultural thing.  The wearing of a head cloth, or the type of covering it was, is largely irrelevant.  At the moment in America , it is not a cultural custom for women to cover their heads when they go to worship. Customs are not doctrine; and, when we try to make them so, we veer off into legalism.

Paul is using this illustration, however, to remind the Corinthians about spiritual authority, something he writes about a lot.   Christ is the Head of all His children, male or female.  Neither men nor women were meant to "go it alone".  Christ in our hearts means that we are never "going it alone".  Beyond that, God created male and female such that together they make a complete unit, a glorious reflection together of the nature of God Himself.  Both men and women are designed to be complementary and mutually interdependent.  So, although the man is the head of the family, receiving that authority from and through Jesus Christ, all men must of necessity be born from women (their biological mothers).  Spiritual authority transcends custom and is not open for debate.  "Superiority" routines are a distraction and a waste of time, as Paul points out in verse 15. While there is a clear, God-ordained chain of authority, no one can claim superiority, or should, anyway.

When I think deeply about it, all sin is a rebellion against the spiritual authority that God established for us.  Sin began when Satan bucked God's authority in Heaven.  Sin began in humankind when Adam and Eve rebelled against God's authority over them in the Garden of Eden.  When we sin, we are rebelling against God's ways and playing right into the Enemy's hands.  So, we must be "edumacated", as my friend Ali says, about how God means for authority to flow, and submit to that. In godly submission is freedom, peace and joy.

Right now, in our country, peace is becoming increasingly scarce.  Just this weekend, someone shot a law enforcement officer, apparently merely because he was a law enforcement officer!  It was a move that flew in the face of societal authority, not to mention being a "hate crime".

As Christians we need to be very careful about issues and people against which/whom we choose to rebel.  We are to fight and rebel against ungodliness, for sure; but, whenever possible, we are to battle sin within God's established order - - - for the family, for government, for the Body of Christ.  And, we are to make sure we are clothed in robes of righteousness ourselves before we go forth to do battle.  Only a clean heart can the Lord fully use.

James 4:7 says this:

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

The key to spiritual victory is to submit to God.  Some Bible versions say, "humble yourself before God".  Hats of Humility, so to speak.  We must do this necessary step before we begin to resist the Devil.  In Jesus Christ, God the Father has crowned us with glory and honor (Hebrews 2:7).  We should then add humility, submission to our heads.  When we submit to God, HE gives us the strength and power we need to be victorious against Satan.  This is the type of supernatural warfare that makes the enemy flee.

On a lighter note, we women of God can enjoy having "hair reminiscent of angels".  Verse 16 says that our hair is of glorious beauty to us!  Amen!

Good morning, Father.  I am grateful for the spiritual authority that you set down and ordained for us. You did this in the physical as well as in the spiritual realms.  I am convinced that very few of us (especially me) have a full understanding of the extensive warfare that goes on in the spiritual realm, all around us.  But, I do trust in Your Word, Lord, which will stand forever.  And, I choose to put on humility today, Lord Jesus, to submit myself to You, in loving service.  In Your Holy Name, amen.