Calvin commentary on head coverings

[chuckd]

1 Cor. 11:4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, 5 but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head

Calvin establishes in v4 of this passage that "prays or prophesies" refers to the pastor:

Prophesying I take here to mean — declaring the mysteries of God for the edification of the hearers, (as afterwards in 1 Corinthians 14,) as praying means preparing a form of prayer, and taking the lead, as it were, of all the people — which is the part of the public teacher, for Paul is not arguing here as to every kind of prayer, but as to solemn prayer in public.

He maintains that in v5 and essentially reasons: women should not be praying or prophesying anyway (1 Cor. 14). So there's no occasion for them to wear a head covering in the first place. Am I understanding him correctly?

John Calvin: Commentary on Corinthians - Volume 1 - Christian Classics Ethereal Library

ccel.org

 

[lynnie]

http://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/koers/v82n2/03.pdf

Under #5, page 11, this resource about Calvin ( google search result, I have no idea how good it is) says that Calvin wrote that the four daughters of Phillip who prophesied had the gift of foretelling the future, which didn't fit with the rest of what he said about prophecy.

That doesn't answer your question, but I can't imagine he'd say those four women should not have worn one in that situation. Intriguing. I wear one and have read many other sources on the subject and I'd say it is still valid today and Calvin is wrong, but there are so many old threads on this subject I won't go there.

Interesting post.

 

[chuckd]

http://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/koers/v82n2/03.pdf

Under #5, page 11, this resource about Calvin ( google search result, I have no idea how good it is) says that Calvin wrote that the four daughters of Phillip who prophesied had the gift of foretelling the future, which didn't fit with the rest of what he said about prophecy.

That doesn't answer your question, but I can't imagine he'd say those four women should not have worn one in that situation. Intriguing. I wear one and have read many other sources on the subject and I'd say it is still valid today and Calvin is wrong, but there are so many old threads on this subject I won't go there.

Interesting post.

I think Calvin advocated them as a matter of decorum. I just don’t understand his comments on v5.