One thing about the Bible, you can make it say or support anything you want if you take a verse in isolation or out of context.
The use of 1 Corinthians 11:4 as proof text for prohibiting hats in places of worship is a classic example of this abuse of Scripture, as we shall see.
Any part of Scripture must be understood in the context of the whole to be truly biblical.
So to understand Paul's instructions in 1 Corinthians 11:4, we must read the surrounding verses.
We must take it from verse 1 to 16, and when we do, we get to see that Paul is not talking about hats at all.
In fact, there is no mention of hats anywhere.
We just assume when Paul speaks of 'head covered', he is talking about hats, which is not the case.
Even the word 'veil' is only used once in the whole chapter, and that is in verse 15 where Paul basically says long hair is basically a woman's veil, so they don't have to wear a veil on their heads when they go into worship gatherings.
So contrary to popular belief, Paul is not talking about clothing items but heads (metaphorical and literal).
He is basically attempting to provide a link between head (metaphorical) and head (literal) to convey an important biblical principle that as believers, gender distinctions must not be confused in worship gatherings (or in general).
In other words, gender differences must be visibly acknowledged by believers in places of worship (and life in general).
And the way they are to do this is by what they do with their literal heads; specifically, their hair. (see vs. 14 &15)
That a man is not to have long hair (have his head covered) and a woman is not to have short hair (have her head uncovered).
The reason for this, Paul explains, is because of headship (metaphorical).
For the man, keeping his hair short expresses his acknowledgement of his male gender, his role as the head of woman and his submission to Christ (see vs. 7), while for the woman, it expresses her acknowledgement of her female gender, her acceptance of male headship and her submission to it. (see vs. 8-10)
This is the link between the metaphorical head and literal head Paul is trying to make in order to help them understand his instructions concerning how the genders are to be visibly different in places of worship.
In short, the person seated behind you in the church pew should be able to tell whether you are a man or a woman just by looking at your head and your hair.
Paul's instructions were especially important to a church (the church at Corinth) that was grappling with a lot of cultural influences (as is the case with the church today).
It was generally regarded as disgraceful for men to don long hair because of its association with homosexuality and pagan worship.
On the other hand, women with short hair were associated with lesbianism, promiscuity and pagan worship.
As a believer, you need to understand that what you do with your hair is more than a fashion statement.
It has serious cultural and religious implication.
Paul was concerned about Christians sending 'mixed signals' about things like their gender, sexuality and who they worshiped by their choice of hairstyles.
It was important for Paul (as it is for God) that there be glaring differences between men and women in how they look.
Paul instructions are still cardinal to the church, more so today, where it's becoming harder and harder to distinguish between men and women.
As a believer, one should not question whether you are a man or woman in (and out of) church. It should be clear as day and night.
Paul actually says this is of significance to angels who attend our services, though he does not say why. (see vs. 10)
It is offensive to God when we try to obliterate all differences between men and women.
We must be careful as Christians not to embrace the LGBTQ and feminism agenda that is contrary to the word of God.
The horizontal gender differences established in Genesis 2 still hold true for us as believers.
Salvation does not wipe out our gender and functional differences. If anything, it further reaffirms them and invites us to gladly embrace them as Christians.
The truth is, when it comes to our vertical relationship with God, as Paul says in Galatians 3:28 (a verse feminists love to hail as Paul's endorsement of God's obliteration of gender differences and gender-specific pronouns), there is neither Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female.
However, when it comes to our horizontal relationships between each other, gender differences and inequalities still hold true and are of utmost importance to God for a myriad of reasons.
In fact, Paul appeals to God's order of creation and gender sensitivity in 1 Corinthians 11. (see vs. 3, 7,8, 9 and 10).
So 1 Corinthians 11 has nothing to do with hats but everything to do with headship and hair.
That the men look like men and the women look like women.
Based primarily on this portion of Scripture, we can speculate that Jesus donned short hair, contrary to how He's portrayed in modern day pictures and movies.
Infact, it was customary for all the Jewish men to don short hair with exceptions of groups such as Nazarites who donned long hair as a symbol of consecration.
Samson and John the Baptist are a good example.
If we insist on reading hats into this portion of Scripture, then by the same token, Paul is saying women should always wear hats in church, which seems quite extreme.
That said, this is by no means an invitation for you to go and challenge your Church officials next time they ask you to take off your hat in church.
Knowledge puffs up but love edifies, Paul says. (see 1 Corinthians 8:1)
Just because a fellow believer may not be at your level of understanding is not grounds for insubordination or causing him/her to stumble.
As Christians, Paul says we should subject ourselves to God established authority (see Romans 13:1) and resolve to never do anything that would make others Christians to stumble in their faith or fall into sin. (see Romans 14:21)
So if even one believer in your church believes wearing hats in church is wrong, for their sake, don't wear a hat in church.
You will not be acting in love if you argue with them, wear it contrary to their conviction(s) and offend them simply because you think you have a greater revelation on the matter. (see Romans 14:15)
Infact, Paul calls it evil and you'd be wearing it offensively, contrary to the word of God. (see Romans 14:20)
Even our Lord Jesus was careful not to cause any offense even though He was on the right. (see Matthew 17:27)
Bottom line, we should not let the lesser matters of the faith divide us or cause pain and hatred among us because the kingdom of God is not a matter of what to wear or not wear in church (though important), but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (see Romans 14:17)
So my advice, which is actually Paul's advice, is don't let your liberty become a stumbling block to others. (see 1 Corinthians 8:9)
If they're not at your level of faith yet, be understanding and come down to their level for the sake of love and peace and in doing so, Paul says God is pleased. (see Romans 14:18)
God bless you.
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