1. Followers (uunrai). Lit., émtators, as Rev. This verse belongs to the closing section of ch. x.
2, Ordinances—delivered (zapadcoceis—mrapédwxa). There is a play of two kindred words, both being derived from mapa- dupe to gwe over. Ordinances is a faulty rendering. Better, Rev., traditions. By these words Paul avoids any possible charge of imposing his own notions upon the Church. He de- livers to them what had been delivered to him. Compare 1 Tim, i. 11; 2 Thess. ii, 15.
4. Having his head covered (cata cedars éyov). Lit., having something hanging down from his head. Referring to the ¢alith, a four-cornered shawl having fringes consisting of eight threads, each knotted five times, and worn over the head in prayer. It was placed upon the worshipper’s head at his entrance into the synagogue. The Romans, like the Jews, prayed with the head veiled. So Aeneas: “And our heads are shrouded before the altar with a Phrygian vestment” (Virgil, “ Aeneid,” iii. 545). The Greeks remained bareheaded during prayer or sacrifice, as indeed they did in their ordinary outdoor life. The Grecian usage, which had become prevalent in the Grecian churches, seems to have commended itself to Paul as more becoming the superior position of the man.
5. Her head uncovered. Rev., unveiled. The Greek women rarely appeared in public, but lived in strict seclusion. Unmarried women never quitted their apartments, except on occasions of festal processions, either as spectators or partici- pants. ven after marriage they were largely confined to the gynaeconitis or women’s rooms. Thus Euripides: “As to that which brings the reproach of a bad reputation upon her who remains not at home, giving up the desire of this, I tarried in
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my dwelling” (“ Troades,” 649). And Menander: “The door of the court is the boundary fixed for the free woman.” The head-dress of Greek women consisted of nets, hair-bags, or ker- chiefs, sometimes covering the whole head. A shawl which enveloped the body was also often thrown over the head, es- pecially at marriages or funerals. This costume the Corinthian women had disused in the christian assemblies, perhaps as an assertion of the abolition of sexual distinctions, and the spirit- ual equality of the woman with the man in the presence of Christ. This custom was discountenanced by Paul as striking at the divinely ordained subjection of the woman to the man. Among the Jews, in ancient times, both married and unmarried women appeared in public unveiled. The later Jewish authori- ties insisted on the use of the veil.
All one as if she were shaven. Which would be a sign either of grief or of disgrace. The cutting off of the hair is used by Isaiah as a figure of the entire destruction of a people by divine retribution. Isa. vii. 20. Among the Jews a woman convicted of adultery had her hair shorn, with the formula: “ Because thou hast departed from the manner of the daughters of Israel, who go with their head covered, therefore that has befallen thee which thou hast chosen.” According to Tacitus, among the Germans an adulteress was driven from her hus- band’s house with her head shaved; and the Justinian code pre- scribed this penalty for an adulteress, whom, at the expiration of two years, her husband refused to receive again. Paul means that a woman praying or prophesying uncovered puts herself in public opinion on a level with a courtesan.
6. Shorn or shaven (ketpacIa 4 EvpacIa). To have the hair cut close, or to be entirely shaved as with a razor.
7. Image and glory (eix@v «al ddfa). For emage, see on Apoce. xiii. 14. Man represents God’s authority by his position as the ruler of the woman. In the case of the woman, the word image is omitted, although she, like the man, is the image of God. Paul is expounding the relation of the woman, not to God, but to man.