Did Paul let his hair grow long?

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by ManOfWord

No he did not. Show me where. And before you use Cor. you had better look at your Greek NT and see what Paul really wrote and how it is completely mistranslated.


The sentence is a statement, not a question. The text reads: "Nature itself does not teach you that if a man has long hair it is a dishonor to him."

Nature teaches us that a man's hair grows long. It is the culture which teaches us that something is shameful or not......as long as it is not expressly prohibited in God's word.

Paul's letter was a response concerning an issue reportedly troubling the Corinthian church. Paul’s primary attention through the first portion of the passage was concerning head coverings. If men were to pray or prophesy with their heads covered (as Jews did and still do) they would dishonor their “head” (meaning Christ, for he is the head of every man). If a woman were to pray or prophesy with her head uncovered (or veiled) she was immodest in public and dishonored her “head” (her husband, for the man is the head of every woman). Paul states that if a woman will not be “covered” (veiled) she is just as modest as a woman who’s hair has been shaved or shorn (treatment issued to prostitutes caught in immoral acts). Paul then ties an argument from nature itself to emphasize that even nature teaches us that women should be veiled and men should be uncovered by pointing to hair as a natural example. Nature (the natural order) illustrates that it is a “shame” for a man to have long hair because long hair is a feminine attribute and nature itself appears to thin and shorten a man’s hair as he ages. And for a woman to have short hair is like being uncovered, for long hair is a woman’s glory.

Paul’s teaching essentially emphasized head coverings as propriety and modesty in worship, drawing an example from nature itself. But the shame of the feminine styles being worn by men of the day can be seen in the Hellenistic styles of that day.