6. The Context of Corinthians

Now, let's take a look at the context of the rest of the letter. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians was devoted, in its entirety, to dealing with the one issue which was troubling Corinth:the invasion of the ways of paganism into the ecclesia and their need to be rid of it. Pertaining to which, Paul's point in 1 Corinthians 11 is that the Corinthian ecclesia was still so steeped in their former ways - that of the pagan society from which they came (see ch. 12:2) - that they have begun even to treat the Lord's supper as a pagan feast, and what a tragedy that is!Mourn and weep!

The Corinthian ecclesia had a unique situation, with some unique problems. Acts 18 records Paul's visit to Corinth. In Acts 18:5-6 Paul said he would go to the Gentiles. And so he did, with the result that a significant proportion of the Corinthian believers were Gentiles - formerly idol worshippers.

This is evident from some of the other issues Paul addresses in this letter to Corinth:

- chapter 1:10-16 - sectarian divisions within the ecclesia

- chapter 5:1-13 - sexual immorality

- chapter 6:1-8 - lawsuits against each other

- chapter 7:1-16 - marriage and divorce questions

- chapter 8:1-13 - food offered to idols

- chapter 10:19-21- continued attendance at pagan rituals

- chapter 11:20-22 - riotous feasting at the Lord's table

- chapter 14:26-33 - abuse of the Spirit Gifts

- chapter 15:12-19 - false doctrine about the resurrection

It is clear that, although the Corinthian ecclesia had accepted the Truth regarding the Kingdom of God and the Name of Jesus Christ, they were having difficulty letting go of some of their old pagan habits. They needed to learn that commitment to Christ is a very different thing from worshipping idols. The pagan temples in Corinth were dedicated to goddesses - or rather, the goddess, as there really was only one, who was called different names in different places. In Corinth, she was Aphrodite. In Ephesus, she was Diana. In Egypt, she was Isis. In Canaan, she was Ashtoreth. In other places she had other names, such as Astarte, Aurora, Semiramis, Venus, or Ishtar. She had different names in different temples and different places, but the basic worship of the goddess was the same throughout. Women had the roles of priestesses and conducted the ceremonies, which typically revolved around the gratification of lusts, through both feasting and prostitution. Male prostitutes - called " sodomites" in the KJV - were extremely popular at the goddess's festivals, and were readily identifiable in Corinth because of their long hair, which was not condoned by decency standards of that time in that place, and hence the shame Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 11:14.

Paul's argument in 1Cor 11:2-17 is that these pagan ways must be left behind. Such practices as the Corinthians would have been familiar with were not to be brought into the ecclesia under the guise of liberty in Christ, since the ecclesia does not have liberty to disobey Him. Christ rules over the church, and the church does not rule over Christ. Instead, she must obey Him as a wife obeying her husband. They were to mourn their behaviour and walk in the new life, not the old.

To reinforce the point of obedience to the things of God, and to openly show the necessity of changing their ways, Paul recommended that the Corinthian ecclesia put on some visual, outward show of the women mourning the behaviour of the ecclesia since, in their role of representing men - mankind, they represented the ecclesia, Christ's bride. Hence, the uncovered male head because he represents Christ and the covered female head because she represents the ecclesia. It would have been unsuitable for the men to cover their heads because they represented Christ and Christ should not be represented as mourning. He has already conquered the flesh and received the joy set before Him.

The women would not have wanted to shear their hair because, in that time and place, it was a symbol of both slavery and of punishment for prostitution and so would have brought great social disgrace to them. It would have also made it very difficult to preach the Truth to women of their same class because they would no longer have been accepted by their peers. So, instead of suggesting an unacceptable symbol of mourning, Paul opted for a more reasonable, scriptural solution - cover their heads. This was not a hat, but a bourka, veil or similar garment, completely covering the whole head. This would have supported the standards of decency current at that time and place and also reinforced the whole issue of mourning in a scripturally acceptable manner. By women showing the mourning they would have also shown their “place” in ecclesial life, that being representative of men (mankind).