Before we examine 1 Corinthians 11 itself, it is important to remember the overall context of New Testament teaching.

According to Hebrews 10:20, in Christ we have “a new and living way”. This is in contrast to the previous approach to God where specific physical regulations were laid down such as headcoverings for priests, clean and unclean food, and types of animals to be sacrificed. The temple in Jerusalem was the only place where sacrifices could be offered. The mark of entry to the community of the people of God was circumcision (male only). A good religious Jew would keep physically separate from Gentiles (Acts 10:28, Galatians 2:12), and ritual washings were observed both for people and for objects (Mark 7:4).

With the coming of Jesus there was a radical change.

But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

(John 4:23-24)

The end of the old system was marked at the crucifixion when “the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom” (Matthew 27:51). Previously there was a barrier between ordinary people and God. This is removed, as the writer to the Hebrews says:

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

(Hebrews 10:19-22, TNIV)

Where before there had been a barrier under the Law, now we all, male and female, have access to the Most Holy Place – to the presence of God Himself. Paul commented:

Now before faith came, we were confined under the law, kept under restraint until faith should be revealed. So that the law was our custodian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a custodian; for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

(Galatians 3:23-28)

The consequences were revolutionary and the previous regulations were swept away. Entry now was by baptism, and this applied to both men and women; sacrifices were to be offered, but they were to be spiritual ones:

Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

                                                                                  (Hebrews 13:15-16)

The temple was no longer a literal one in Jerusalem but a spiritual community:

... you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.   (Ephesians 2:19-22)

… like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.                                                                                   (1 Peter 2:5)

When Jesus had been challenged as to why his disciples did not live “according to the tradition of the elders”, he was very critical:

“You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.”

                                                                                  (Mark 7:8)

His teaching removed the regulations on clean and unclean animals:

“Do you not see that whatever goes into a man from outside cannot defile him, since it enters, not his heart but his stomach, and so passes on?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)                                          (Mark 7:18-19)

And Jesus gave the reason. What is needed is a transformation of the heart, an internal change, not an external one.

And he said, “What comes out of a man is what defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man.”                                                                  (Mark 7:20-23)

So, as Jesus said to Nicodemus:

“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

(John 3:3, KJV)

Since the “new and living way” involved an inner transformation, no longer an observance of external forms, both Old Testament commands and subsequent Jewish traditions were affected. Believers from a Jewish background found this difficult to accept, and controversy ensued over circumcision, food regulations, and whether Jewish Christians should eat with Gentile believers in Jesus.

The apostle Paul took a strong stand against any return to the Law and to compulsory external regulations for believers. He opposed Peter when Peter refused to eat with Gentiles (Galatians 2:11-21); he opposed those who sought to insist on circumcision for Gentile converts (Galatians 5:2); he opposed those who sought to enforce the regulations of the Jewish Law, such as keeping special days like the Sabbath (Galatians 4:10, Colossians 2:16-17). He taught that Christ had abolished what he called “the law of commandments and ordinances” (Ephesians 2:15), uniting Jew and Gentile as one new person on a new basis. Paul taught that we are “called to freedom”, a freedom to be used not as an opportunity to do wrong or to be selfish, but through love to “be servants of one another”:

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”                                                                   (Galatians 5:15)

In putting this into practice Paul was careful not to disturb the faith of new converts who were shaky in their understanding. Where problems about eating meat arose (in a Gentile context), he advised caution in exercising the full Christian freedom to eat anything (Romans 14, 1 Corinthians 8). He was nevertheless adamant on preserving the true position in Christ:

On circumcision, he says:

.. we are the true circumcision, who worship God in spirit, and glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh. Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If any other man thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law a Pharisee, as to zeal a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.                                               (Philippians 3:3-7)

On food:

I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for any one who thinks it unclean. If your brother is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. So do not let your good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit; he who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.           (Romans 14:14-18)

On special days:

You observe days, and months, and seasons, and years! I am afraid I have laboured over you in vain.                                         (Galatians 4:10-11)

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath. These are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.

(Colossians 2:16-17)

It is evident that Paul considered that to insist on physical, external, observances is to undermine the Gospel.

Contrasting the Old Covenant with the New, Paul says:

But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.                                     (2 Corinthians 3:14-18)

In the New Covenant, arranged by God in His grace, freely entered into by each one of us at baptism, we all have freedom – not the legalism of Judaism. When we look closely at 1 Corinthians 11, and at the detailed minutiae presented in the following analysis, let us remember that the New Covenant is a matter of the spirit, not the literal; of the heart, not the external appearance; and any outcome needs to be understood in the light of our freedom in Christ.

Paul is an enthusiastic advocate of this new freedom in Christ. We would expect to find him consistent. In 1 Corinthians 11 there appears to be an insistence on external requirements: short or long hair; covered or not covered; veils or no veils; honour or dishonour ascribed to physical things. These look like the legalism which Jesus and Paul denounce.

There are two immediate possibilities, even without looking at the passage:

(1) It might have been appropriate to specify headcovering/non-headcovering if there were a need to show consideration to others, just as with the eating of food sacrificed to idols (Romans 14:20-21).

(2) The passage has been misinterpreted. We should consider whether there are other ways of reading it in conformity with life under the New Covenant.

At any rate, we must guard against any practice which would fail to recognise the New Covenant and seek to put us once more behind a veil. We must not revert to a type of practice before the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Let us rejoice with Paul that “whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away” (2 Corinthians 3:16).