Cheryl Schatz

I am going to go through Mark’s comments on this post and responding to them even though Mark apparently is not wanting to keep to the blog rules, I still believe that his challenges/comments deserve to be answered.

In post #177 Mark quoted me and said:

“We can’t agree here at all because my point is that the “cultural practice” of the head covering is an ungodly practice and Paul states so by saying that it shames Christ.”

Yes, for the male. Not so however for the female. The opposite is true…

Mark is here claiming that wearing the head covering for the woman does not shame Christ. This is an unwarranted assumption. The issue of shaming Christ is akin to the issue of the glory of God found in verse 7.

1 Corinthians 11:7 (NAS)
7 For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.

For the first 16 verses of 1 Corinthians 11, Paul is referencing cultural issues of shame and glory and he also lists one issue of spiritual shame and glory. Paul keys in on shame and glory for the relationship between man and Christ as well as wife and husband. His purpose is to discuss two related issues but not to set up a pattern of exclusion. For example although Paul only mentions that the man is the image and glory of God, this does not exclude the woman as being in the image and having the glory of God. We know for sure in the book of Genesis that the woman was also made in the image of God so Paul’s failure to mention this does not mean that Paul is teaching that the woman is not in the image of God. Paul’s failure to write that the woman is the glory of Christ is also not to be taken as if she is not the glory of Christ because Paul himself writes in 2 Cor. 3:18 that we are all to reflect Christ’s glory.

So what about the issue of shaming Christ? Just because Paul does not write that the woman wearing the head covering while ministering before God (praying) and ministering before the assembly (prophesying) is shaming Christ by wearing the head covering, it does not mean that there is no shame to Christ just as there is shame when the man wears this symbol. Just as we cannot assume the other things about God’s glory and God’s image, we need to be open to the fact that a woman could be shaming Christ if she wears the covering. How will we know?

The only way that we can know for sure is to investigate the cultural and/or spiritual meaning of the head covering. Once we know what this sign meant if worn during service to God or service to man, we will know whether the woman wearing her head covering during spiritual service shames Christ.

This is why I kept pushing Mark to answer the question regarding how the head covering shames Christ. Until we know why wearing a piece of cloth shames Christ, the passage is not going to be understood.

In my DVD in the section on 1 Corinthians 11, I document the meaning for the head covering during spiritual service. The meaning is humility before God because of the shame of our sin and an unworthiness to come before God with an unveiled face because of that sin. How does that shame Christ? Paul writes in 2 Corinthians that our purpose is to reflect Christ and as we come boldly before the throne of grace, we will be changed from glory to glory as we communicate with our Lord and we reflect His glory. We are able to do this because Christ has died for our sin and shame and taken that upon Himself. But if we come before God with the symbol of shame still upon us, we are acting as if Christ’s work did not fully cleanse us or make us worthy to be heirs of God and come into His presence with full confidence. The symbol of shame on our head shames Christ because it puts the shame of sin back on us instead of remaining on Christ the true shame bearer.

With this understanding of the symbol during worship that shamed Christ, can you see that the woman’s head covering which was also a symbol of her shame if worn during service to God or service to the assembly would also shame Christ? Since both men and women have had their shame born by Christ, the covering symbolizing our unworthiness and our shame must be given the same spiritual meaning.

So with my questioning of Mark, I have asked him why the head covering worn by the man shames Christ. If I would have received an answer from him, I could have tested that answer to see if the sign that shamed Christ because of the man would have also shamed Christ because of the woman. But Mark has consistently refused to answer. Why would that be? I believe it is because he has not answer. There is no other spiritual answer to the shame of Christ other than the fact that Christ wants us to reflect His glory rather than once again bear our shame when He has born our shame once and for all.