John Calvin Commentary 1 Corinthians 11:5

"But every woman praying or prophesying with her head unveiled dishonoreth her head; for it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven." — 1 Corinthians 11:5 (ASV)

Every woman praying or prophesying (1 Corinthians 11:5). Here we have the second proposition — that women ought to have their heads covered when they pray or prophesy; otherwise they dishonor their head. For as the man honors his head by showing his liberty, so the woman, by showing her subjection. Therefore, on the other hand, if the woman uncovers her head, she shakes off subjection — involving contempt of her husband. It may seem, however, to be superfluous for Paul to forbid the woman to prophesy with her head uncovered, while elsewhere he wholly prohibits women from speaking in the Church (1 Timothy 2:12).

It would not, therefore, be allowable for them to prophesy even with a covering on their head, and thus it follows that it is pointless for him to argue here about a covering.

It may be replied that the Apostle, by condemning the one here, does not commend the other. For when he reproves them for prophesying with their head uncovered, he does not at the same time give them permission to prophesy in some other way, but rather delays his condemnation of that vice to another passage, namely in 1 Corinthians 14.

In this reply, there is nothing wrong. However, it might also be quite appropriate to say that the Apostle requires women to show their modesty — not merely in a place where the whole Church is assembled, but also in any more dignified assembly, either of matrons or of men, such as are sometimes convened in private houses.

For it is all one as if she were shaven (1 Corinthians 11:6). He now maintains from other considerations that it is unseemly for women to have their heads bare. Nature itself, he says, abhors it. To see a woman shaven is a spectacle that is disgusting and monstrous. Therefore, we infer that the woman has her hair given her for a covering (1 Corinthians 11:15).

If anyone should now object that her hair is enough, as being a natural covering, Paul says that it is not, for it is such a covering as requires another thing to be used for covering it.

Thus, a conjecture is drawn, with some appearance of probability — that women who had beautiful hair were accustomed to uncover their heads for the purpose of showing off their beauty. It is not, therefore, without good reason that Paul, as a remedy for this vice, sets before them the opposite idea — that they be regarded as remarkable for unseemliness, rather than for what is an incentive to lust.