First Corinthians 11:6 says, “For if a woman is not covered, let her hair also be cut off; but if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or to be shaved, let her be covered.” In other words, God is telling the sisters that they should be absolute in everything that they do.
No one can leave her head uncovered yet at the same time keep her hair. If a woman is not covered, her hair should be cut off or shaved. If you feel that it is shameful to have your hair cut off or shaved, you should cover your head. This is what Paul means. A woman should cut off or shave her hair if she does not want to be covered. If a woman thinks that it is shameful to have her hair cut off or to be shaved, let her be covered. She must be absolute one way or the other and not do anything halfway.
Verse 7 says, “For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is God’s image and glory.” A man represents God’s image and glory. He should not have his head covered. “But the woman is the glory of the man.” This is why a woman should have her head covered. A woman cannot express the headship of the man if she does not cover her head.
Verses 8 and 9 are quite clear. Both speak of government. This is why I say that a person might as well forget 1 Corinthians 11 if he does not understand the matter of government. Verse 8 says, “For man is not out of woman, but woman out of man.” This is God’s ordination. Man did not come out of the woman at the time of creation. The woman was made from the rib taken out of the man during creation. The head was Adam, not Eve. Verse 9 says, “For also man was not created for the sake of the woman, but woman for the sake of the man.” A woman must be submissive even for the sake of creation.
Verse 10 says, “Therefore the woman ought to have a sign of submission to authority on her head for the sake of the angels.” The Bible does not say what a woman should use to cover her head. It says only that her head, the part where her hair is, should be covered. The reason for doing this is for the angels.
I have always considered how wonderful this teaching is. It is for the sake of the angels that the sister’s head bears the sign of submission. We all know the history of the angels’ fall. Satan became rebellious, but how did he rebel? He exalted himself to be equal with God. Isaiah 14 says he uplifted himself and wanted to ascend to God’s height. In other words, he exposed his head before God; he was not subject to God’s authority. In Isaiah 14 Satan repeatedly said, “I will.” “I will ascend to heaven;...I will exalt my throne....I will sit upon the mount of assembly....I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; / I will be like the Most High” (vv. 13-14). This was Satan’s ambition. Here we see the fall of the archangel. Revelation 12 shows us that Satan carried with him a third part of the angels when he was cast down (v. 4). Trying to assume headship without first coming under God’s headship was the cause of the fall of the angels!
Today the woman bears the sign of submission. This is for the angels! Only in the church do we find the sign of submission on the sisters’ heads. This sign in effect declares, “Our heads are covered, and we have no head of our own. We do not want to be the head; our head is not exposed. We accept man as the head. We are doing this to testify to the angels that have rebelled that we accept Christ as our Head and we accept God as the Head.” This is the meaning of the phrase for the sake of the angels.
When we have the sign of submission on our head, that is, when we cover our head, we are rendering the best testimony to the fallen angels. This explains why Satan is against head covering. Head covering puts him to shame. We are doing what he did not do before God. What God did not obtain among the angels, He has obtained in the church. Some of the angels did not subject themselves to the authority of God and the authority of Christ. This brought in chaos to the universe. The fallen angels and the fallen Satan pose a greater problem than the fall of man. What God could not obtain from the fallen angels, He has obtained in the church.
When many sisters in the church stand in the position of a woman and cover their heads, an unspoken and implicit testimony is displayed before the angels in the air. It tells them that God has gained what He is after in the church. Therefore, the woman should have the sign of submission on her head for the sake of the angels.