John Calvin Commentary 1 Corinthians 11:4

"Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoreth his head." — 1 Corinthians 11:4 (ASV)

Every man praying. Here there are two propositions. The first relates to the man, the other to the woman. He says that the man commits an offense against Christ his head if he prays or prophesies with his head covered. Why is this so? Because he is subject to Christ, with the understanding that he is to hold the first place in the government of the house—for the father of the family is like a king in his own house.

Hence the glory of God shines forth in him, in consequence of the authority with which he is invested. If he covers his head, he lets himself down from that preeminence which God had assigned to him, so as to be in subjection. Thus the honor of Christ is infringed upon.

For example, if the person whom the prince has appointed as his lieutenant does not know how to maintain his proper station, and instead of this, exposes his dignity to contempt from persons in the lowest station, does he not bring dishonor upon his prince? In like manner, if the man does not keep his own station—if he is not subject to Christ in such a way as to preside over his own family with authority—he obscures, to that extent, the glory of Christ, which shines forth in the well-regulated order of marriage. The covering, as we shall see before long, is an emblem of authority intermediate and interposed.

Prophesying I take here to mean—declaring the mysteries of God for the edification of the hearers (as later in 1 Corinthians 14), just as praying means preparing a form of prayer and taking the lead, as it were, of all the people—which is the part of the public teacher; for Paul is not arguing here concerning every kind of prayer, but concerning solemn prayer in public.

Let us, however, bear in mind that in this matter the error is merely insofar as decorum is violated and the distinction of rank, which God has established, is infringed upon.

For we must not be so scrupulous as to consider it a criminal thing for a teacher to have a cap on his head when addressing the people from the pulpit. Paul means nothing more than this: that it should be apparent that the man has authority and that the woman is in subjection.

This is secured when the man uncovers his head before the Church, even if he should later put his cap back on for fear of catching a cold. In short, the one rule to be observed here is το πρέπον—decorum. If that is secured, Paul requires nothing further.