Devotional 21 January 2026

January 21, 2026 • Steve Torres

1 Corinthians 11:4-5.jpg

“Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven.” (1 Corinthians 11:4–5, ESV)

Paul has spent much of this letter teaching the Corinthians how Christian freedom works. Believers are free in Christ, yet that freedom is never exercised in isolation. Again and again, Paul submits himself to rules he is not inherently bound by so that the gospel might be made clear and God’s order honored (1 Corinthians 9:19–23; 10:23–24). When we arrive at 1 Corinthians 11, Paul is not abandoning that logic, he is applying it to worship.

In 1 Corinthians 11:3, Paul establishes a theological order: God is the head of Christ, Christ the head of man, and man the head of woman. That order is not about worth, but about responsibility and representation. Christ’s submission to the Father does not diminish His glory (1 Corinthians 15:28), and neither does submission in marriage diminish dignity.

Paul then gives concrete instruction. A man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head (1 Corinthians 11:4). Because Christ is his head, to symbolically obscure himself is to obscure Christ’s authority. The man’s posture in worship must make clear that he stands accountable to Christ alone, not seeking the approval of men, but of God (Galatians 1:10).

Likewise, a wife who prays or prophesies without a covering dishonors her head (1 Corinthians 11:5). In Corinth, the absence of a covering communicated a rejection of marital authority. Paul’s strong comparison, that it is as if her head were shaved, shows the seriousness of the issue. The problem is not fabric, but meaning. To worship as though she has no authority over her is to deny the order God has established.

Paul is not issuing a timeless dress code. He is contextualizing a real command so that worship clearly confesses true theology. Paul is being a Corinthian to the Corinthians. The symbol may change across cultures, but the truth does not. Husbands must always present themselves as subject to Christ, and wives must always present themselves as subject to their husbands. Worship is public theology. What we do when we pray and speak before God teaches others what we believe about Him.

God is not honored by confusion. He is honored when His order is joyfully, visibly confessed (1 Corinthians 14:40).