“But if one is inclined to be contentious, we have no other practice, nor have the churches of God.”

The final argument for the headship symbolism in this extended passage (1 Cor. 11:3–16) is that of universal practice of the churches of Paul’s day. In other words, this teaching wasn’t an isolated problem in Corinth. All of Paul’s church plants (we may extend this to all the churches of that time) embraced or were taught the principles of this passage. Thus, the argument that Paul was limiting his teaching to a problem of a particular church is specious.

There is a translational difficulty here, depending on which version is consulted. The ESV and NKJV render this “we have no suchpractice,” whereas the NIV, NLT, and NET render it similar to the NASB as “we have no otherpractice” (emphasis added). So what is the apostle saying?

If by this verse he means no other churches have the practice of head-covering, then he diminishes his entire reasoning up to this point as being optional and not worth debating or being contentious about. That seems hardly to be Paul’s character in writing, much less denigrating this section of his writings as being somewhat less than “God-breathed” (2 Tim 3:16).

There are two ways of seeing this verse that would easily fit the context. First, Paul could be saying that no other churches have the practice (or literally “custom”) of arguing about head-coverings. In other words, it is a settled issue in other churches; only in Corinth was there a concern. The second way of understanding this is that in no other church was there the practice of women worshiping uncovered or men worshiping covered. Both of these better fit the context than the alternative interpretations.

Some people assert that since the head-covering is only talked about here in 1 Corinthians and is completely absent elsewhere in Scripture, this therefore should be given minor consideration, if any at all. However, Paul’s final appeal makes it clear that it was a universal truth for all churches. Why would it not be the same for today’s churches?

We finally conclude this issue by answering the question, “Why spend so much time on this issue, found only once in Scripture?” The answer is this: with fourteen verses given to this subject, the theological detail included, and the issue of God’s glory being involved, no meditation on 1 Corinthians can bypass this passage with a few superficial comments. There is no legalism here, but there is rich material for meditating on the nature of gender roles, our relationship to God and His glory. That merits our undivided attention and appreciation!

Lord, help me to see Your truth and Your glory in the Word and in worship.