Questions or Statements: 1 Corinthians 11:13-14

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timothy_p_mcmahon
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Joined: June 3rd, 2011, 10:47 pm

Questions or Statements: 1 Corinthians 11:13-14

Post by timothy_p_mcmahon »

13 εν υμιν αυτοις κρινατε πρεπον εστιν γυναικα ακατακαλυπτον τω θεω προσευχεσθαι
14 η ουδε αυτη η φυσις διδασκει υμας οτι ανηρ μεν εαν κομα ατιμια αυτω εστιν
15 γυνη δε εαν κομα δοξα αυτη εστιν οτι η κομη αντι περιβολαιου δεδοται

I've always taken vv 13 and 14 as questions, but have recently encountered the proposition that these are declarative sentences: "Judge among yourselves. It is proper for a woman to pray to God unveiled. Neither does nature itself teach you that if a man grows his hair long it's a dishonor to him."

This doesn't seem to me to fit the context, but is it a viable take on the passage?
Robert Emil Berge
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Re: Questions or Statements: 1 Corinthians 11:13-14

Post by Robert Emil Berge »

Well, the context makes it not viable. Both are rhetorical questions, the first understood from κρίνατε, the other from ἡ φύσις αὐτὴ (that's what the editions I have found online say, without the ἤ as first word in 14, but with that there is no way it wouldn't be a question). If it had not been a rhetorical question it would seem strange to introduce "nature herself" here. Still it is not clear to me what the implication of the first rhetorical question is. Should the long hair of a woman be regarded as a substitute for a veil, so that she doesn't need another?
Stephen Carlson
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Re: Questions or Statements: 1 Corinthians 11:13-14

Post by Stephen Carlson »

This is basically the view of Alan G. Padgett, As Christ Submits to the Church: A Biblical Understanding of Leadership and Mutual Submission (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2011), 107-108, and Alan Padgett, “Paul on Women in the Church: The Contradictions of Coiffure in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16,” JSNT 20 (1984): 69-86 at 82. It has not caught on.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
timothy_p_mcmahon
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Re: Questions or Statements: 1 Corinthians 11:13-14

Post by timothy_p_mcmahon »

Thanks, guys.
Andrew Chapman
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Re: Questions or Statements: 1 Corinthians 11:13-14

Post by Andrew Chapman »

Robert Emil Berge wrote: March 17th, 2017, 4:25 am Still it is not clear to me what the implication of the first rhetorical question is. Should the long hair of a woman be regarded as a substitute for a veil, so that she doesn't need another?
Is it proper for a woman for a woman to pray to God uncovered?

In answer, a lesson from nature, in the form of a sort of analogy. Short hair for the man, long hair for the woman. The woman's long hair takes the place (ἀντί) in this analogous natural situation that the headscarf takes with regard to spiritual activities, specifically praying and prophesying.

That's how I am inclined to understand it.
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