Paula

‘morning Cheryl,

I too believe Paul is quoting the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 11:4-6. Although there is no explicit “he” afterwards, I believe the Corinthians are presenting the problem the Christian women were facing, concerning the impossible position they were in regarding head coverings. To uncover was to indicate loose morals, yet to cover was to shame Jesus who paid for their sins. Here’s how I see it:

Now I want you to understand that the source of every man is the Anointed One, the source of the woman is the man, and the source of the Anointed One is God. [You write,]
It is disgraceful for a man to pray or prophesy with his head covered, but it is disgraceful for a woman to do so with her head uncovered, because it would be like having her head shaved. Because if she doesn’t cover then let her be shaved too. But if being shaved is shameful then let her wear a covering.
Certainly a man shouldn’t cover his head since he is the image and glory of God. Yet at the same time, the woman is the glory of man, because she came from man and was made for him. So she has the power to decide what to do with her own head. After all, she too will judge messengers.

However, woman and man are not independent of each other in the Master. Woman came from man, but after that all men have come from women, but we all really come from God. You figure it out! It is proper for a woman to pray to God without a head covering. Nature tells us nothing about hair being a disgrace for men or a glory for women; it is a natural covering for both. But if anybody wants to argue about it, consider that none of God’s communities of believers has any such custom.

The passage just seems to flow much more smoothly with that being a quote Paul is responding to. He told them not to cover in worship as had been the Jewish practice signifying guilt before God, since Jesus took that away. But if women did not cover their heads, they would incur the wrath of society and their husbands, since only “bad” women didn’t cover at that time. They were between the proverbial rock and a hard place.

So that’s their question (indented and italic), and Paul’s answer is first of all to explain that women are the glory of men and therefore should not be covered. Yet neither could society be instantly overturned. So Paul’s solution is to let the women themselves decide, since it’s literally their “heads” that are on the line.

I also included the verses about long hair. Most translations render it backwards (the ISV is the exception). It isn’t even a question in the Greek, but a statement of fact: nature tells us nothing about hair length since both men and women can grow it long.