Wednesday, June 11, 2008

"Head covering, not shoulder covering"

clevsea at yahoo 360 answers the following question, using 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 and an understanding of the Greek language in the Bible:

Has anyone been told that if you're not wearing a headcovering that covers, your neck, possibly even wrapping around the shoulders, that you're not following the Biblical example of the headcovering? ... that since most who wear the headcovering aren't even wearing the "right kind" that those who do, might as well give it up.

She relates personal experience, plus the following explanation:

Paul chose Katakalupto for his word choice for the head covering. Paul did *not* choose the Greek word for face covering. He did not choose the word for neck covering. He did not choose the word for ear covering or chest covering. Paul worked with the word for head covering and he chose the word kaphale (Strong's # 2776) which is clearly the word for head.

At the end of the head covering teaching Paul teaches the church that the long hair is a peribolaion (Strong's #4018) and that word nicely translates as a vest or mantle. So at the end of the passage we see that the Lord covers our vest area, our chest area, with a covering of long hair. Peribolaion also denotes the ability to throw the covering around oneself like you can throw a shawl around yourself, which you can do with long hair. But the head covering, the katakalupto, it is clearly a head (kephale) covering not a neck, chin, face, ear, shoulder, chest, etc, covering.
[Links added by me - LisaM] You may read the entire blog entry at clevsea's yahoo 360 page.

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