What did Paul mean when he asked the question, “Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? (1 Cor. 11:14) That question has been difficult for many to really understand. How does nature teach us that? Some have stated that in nature we often find that the male is the brightly colored one, the one with the longest feathers or hair. The male lion, for example, has the long shaggy mane while the female has no mane at all.
Let us try to understand. We won’t go into a long study of this entire passage, which has been misunderstood by many, but will look briefly at the context here and look at the word “nature” as used here.
Let us begin our study in verse 4, “ Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.”
The word "covered" here in verse 4 is literally "having (something) down the head." [Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words] Most of the many studies that I looked at on the internet made the assumption that this is speaking of a veil, a piece of cloth. Taking this verse by itself we could not know. However, in all Bible study one needs to look at the context. Jumping ahead to verse 14 we see that Paul is speaking about long hair.
Why would Paul use the word "covered" and not long hair? Actually, he is saying the same thing. What most of us don’t recognize is that Paul, trained in the Torah and in Hebrew, is using a common form of Hebrew poetry called parallelism. The Angus-Green Bible Handbook says that the writings of the prophets are for the most part in poetical form. It is further stated that the leading characteristics of Hebrew poetry "may be described generally as consisting in the ornate and elevated character of the style, in the use of certain words and forms of words, in the sententious manner of expression, and especially in what is entitled parallelism; ..." There are a number of different varieties of parallelism. What we see here is where "the second member is an echo of the first, expressing nearly the same sentiment in a varied form." An example given in the Angus-Green handbook is that of Psalm 19. "The heavens declare the glory of God;" being the first member. The second which echos the first is "And the firmament showeth His handywork." It is further pointed out that "parallelism often affords important aid in interpretation, by exhibiting the salient points of the passage in their true relation. It is especially useful where the construction is complicated or elliptical, or where uncommon words occur; one member of a sentence which is clear assisting to determine the meaning of another which is ambiguous. Very greatly, too, does this rhythmic arrangement of the thought enhance its force and beauty." Paul uses the word "covered" in this verse and the next several verses. The meaning is enhanced by the clear statements about long hair in verses 14 and 15.
In this study we won’t take the time to look at the following verses but will jump right on down to verses 14 and 15. Just let me state, and you can check it yourself, Paul talks about the creation of man and woman.
Now we come to verse14 that we quoted at the very beginning of this study, “Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?”
Paul makes a plea to nature, stating something like this, “Look around, you can see it in nature; men have short hair and women have long hair.” Notice the word nature. The Greek word is phusis, Strong’s G5449. Let us look at some of the definitions as given in Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, “the nature of things, the force, laws, order of nature” It continues, “as opposed to what is monstrous, abnormal, perverse” And, “birth, physical origin.”
Phusis is used in about a dozen places in the New Testament with the same meanings as given by Thayer’s. Let us look at one passage, Romans 1:26, 27. When men and women participated in homosexual relationships, Paul states that such relationships are “ against nature (phusis)” It is against the original intent and design for man and woman. God’s design for plants, animals and humans were to maintain their nature and reproduce after their kind. Man and woman were distinct by nature in sex and hair.
The uniqueness of hair length, I believe, was given originally by The Creator with the angels looking over His shoulder. Angels recognize the importance of nature as it relates to the purpose in God’s design, what He created was good. When angels recognize a woman without a covering (long hair) they recognize something out of order (nature) or creation (God’s original design). Men and women have basically maintained their hair in accordance to God’s creation (nature); much even till this day. Men with exceptionally long hair are given a second look, just as much as a woman with extremely short hair.
In Gen 1:26-28 we read of the creation of the man and the woman. I’m almost certain that the woman was not given a veil at creation. I think Paul is telling us that she had long hair from the beginning; even “nature” indicates that. Clearly nature teaches that long hair for the man “is a dishonor to him” and long hair for the woman “is a glory to her.” (1 Cor. 11:15, “ But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.”)
Paul isn’t stating that we need to look at the lions and the various other animals around us, but was just stating that the “very order of nature,” “the normal,” the way God created and set things should teach us that for a man to let his hair grow long is shameful, that he dishonors his head. I believe that it is interesting to read Revelation 9, verses 7 and 8. John is relating the vision he had seen and speaking of locusts (just what they may be I’m not prepared to say) but in verse 8 he tells us “they had hair as the hair of women,...” Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary says, “long and flowing.” Some translations say “long hair.” I believe this is a verification of the “normal” state, the “natural order.” Women are to have long hair, men shorter hair.
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