Greetings to trish123 and all my friends who check in on this thread. The CS minister (self-proclaimed) has returned! I hope this thread finds everyone healthy and happy in the new year. And, as promised, my first post back is concerning the infamous "God thread" that terrorized believers and non-believers alike for so long. While I was away, trish123 posted some scriptures and then commented later about no one having anything to say about them. Well, you know that I can't let that lay there, so here goes.
I'm going to start with I Corinthians 11:14-15 as it has personal connections to me - I have long hair. Paul wrote "Doeth not even nature itself teachyou, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering."
The verb komao from kome, "hair", means to have long hair or to fix the hair in such a way as to distinguish a woman from a man. It occurs only in these two verses. "If a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her." The noun doxa comes from the verb dokeo, which means to recognize something for what it is. Long hair, and that, of course, involves that a womans hair ought to be longer than a mans hair to distinguish her from the man, causes her to be recognized as a woman. Paul brings out the point that at no time should a woman make an attempt to look like a man, and, by the same token, a man to look like a woman. God made them different, and even natural propensities show forth their particular nature. And then Paul says, "for her hair is given her for a covering." Actually, it is "for the hair has been given to her (dedotai, the perfect tense of didomi, 'to give,' which means that at some time in the past it was given to her and continues to be hers) in lieu of a covering." This word "peribolaiou", or "covering," occurs only here and in Hebrews 1:12 and is made up of the preposition "peri", or "round about", and the verb "ballo", meaning "to place," something that one places around him, a covering, or mantle. In other words, Paul says here that if a woman has sufficient hair to distinguish her from looking like a man, that is the same as if she wore a covering on her head. The fact that a woman has the capability to care for her hair in a somewhat different manner than a man was a gift given to her at creation and continues to be her distinctive gift.
To find out why Paul was telling the church at Corinth these things, see I Corinthians 14:33-40. All translations were aquired from my "Hebrew/Greek Key Study Bible," compiled and edited by Spiros Zodhiates, Th.D.
Trish, I hope you find this interesting at least, and if you would like my take on any of the other scriptures you quoted, feel free to email me here. And to everyone, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
