Transcript of a published teaching by David K. Bernard, transcribed from YouTube. An attributed primary source — not Acts 2:38 Life doctrine text.
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Summary
Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the transcript below — the preacher’s words follow in full.
The question, creation, and the law
- The question posed (in the host's frame): first-time visitors to apostolic pentecostal services often note that pentecostal women wear their hair long, and paul addresses christians and hair in first corinthians chapter 11 — does god really care about our hair, what did paul say, and how does it apply today?
- The short answer is yes — god actually does care about our hair, but that is just one symbol of a much bigger reality, traced through the bible; in genesis 1 27 god created everyone male and female; that was god's plan, for males and females to be distinct — a plan under attack today, just as god's plan for marriage is under attack.
- And in the book of deuteronomy 22 5 there is a very clear teaching that a man should not look or dress like a woman, and a woman should not look, act, or dress like a man — under the law of moses, god established a principle that goes beyond the law, starting from creation and continuing till now: there should be a distinction.
Scriptures: Genesis 1:27; Deuteronomy 22:5
Corinth and Revelation: the distinction assumed
- In first corinthians chapter 6 there is a warning against men being effeminate — conduct and sexuality, but encompassing appearance as well. And in first corinthians 11 there is very clear teaching that a woman should let her hair grow long and a man should cut his hair short.
- Even the book of revelation assumes it: speaking symbolically of demonic forces, it says they had hair as the hair of women. There is no difference in the substance of a man's hair and a woman's hair — texture, appearance, color — the only difference is that men typically cut their hair short; so for the author of revelation to say 'hair as the hair of women' assumes every reader will immediately understand: long hair. And that has been true generally throughout most cultures.
Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 6; 1 Corinthians 11; Revelation (book-only)
Nature's own witness
- Paul's appeal — does not even nature itself teach you — is mainly an instinctive teaching of nature found throughout human history and cultures, though culture can override it. Nature still bears witness: a man is 10 times more likely to grow bald than a woman, because baldness is associated with the male gene and triggered by male hormones. A bald man draws no thought at all — common, natural, normal for a man — but a bald woman immediately draws attention, because in nature it usually means disease, extraordinary stress, chemotherapy, or some unnatural treatment: it is not natural for a woman not to have hair. So nature still teaches us.
A minor symbol with major ramifications
- The basic principle is gender distinction: god wants a visible, obvious distinction in dress and hair between a man and a woman. When our culture systematically breaks down these distinctions — with dress, and now with hair — it changes the way people think: children are raised with no clear distinction or teaching, identity is affected, and the bigger issues follow — homosexuality and lesbianism, transgenderism. when you break the natural teaching and the simple instruction god has set up for human families and cultures, you start losing the bigger issues of human sexuality and going contrary to god's will. What seems a relatively minor issue in itself has major ramifications.
- He likens it to the american flag: the flag represents our nation and our national values, so burning it — though it is just a piece of cloth someone bought and has a right to destroy — reads as rejecting america, democracy, freedom, freedom of religion. The piece of cloth is relatively minor; what it signifies is significant. So for someone who does not know the lord, not following this teaching may be minor beside weightier moral choices; but for someone who knows god and is in church, it is a visible sign of a whole lifestyle and its values — god's plan for marriage, for male and female, for sexual morality — valuing god's instructions and wanting to be obedient to god's word. The teaching itself is quite clear, not ambiguous at all; our culture has made it seem ambiguous.
The reading from 1 Corinthians 11 and the conclusion
- He reads from first corinthians 11 in the new king james, verse 13: judge among yourselves, is it proper for a woman to pray to god with her head uncovered — not a hat, as the reading continues: does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair it is a dishonor to him, but if a woman has long hair it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for a covering. And the next verse, verse 16: but if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of god.
- The point is not legalism or hunting a loophole — 'it doesn't say it's a sin' — but god's will: if god says long hair on a man is dishonorable, and long hair on a woman is her glory, and even nature teaches it, then what god wants is obvious, and those who want to serve him will do it without argument. Verse 16 refutes the 'just a cultural teaching' claim directly: paul says nature teaches it, god wants it, and all the churches agree — in his day churches of different cultures on different continents, jewish churches, churches in asia, churches in europe, all agreed on this point. His own books treat the chapter in detail, and contemporary scholarship across the spectrum — conservative and liberal, bible-believing and cultural-relic alike, taking an objective look — understands what it says.
- In summary: in god's plan he wants a clear distinction between men and women, and one of the ways is that women let their hair grow long — don't cut it, let it grow to its natural length — and men cut their hair noticeably short, so it is obvious they are different from the women in their culture. That is an expression of god's intention from creation (genesis 1), under the law (deuteronomy 22), and in the expectation you see in the book of revelation — with its particular expression for the new testament church in first corinthians chapter 11. And of course, as christians, we want to follow god's plan for the church.
Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 11:13-16
Scripture index: Genesis 1:27; Deuteronomy 22:5; 1 Corinthians 6; 1 Corinthians 11; Revelation (book-only); 1 Corinthians 11:13-16.
Transcript
the short answer is yes god actually does care about our hair but that is just one symbol of a much bigger reality so let's trace this throughout the bible in genesis 1 27 god created everyone male and female that was god's plan for males and females to be distinct and of course in our day that's under attack just like god's plan for marriage is under attack so now god's plan for male and femaleness is under attack in uh the book of deuteronomy 22 5 there's a very clear teaching that a man should not look at or dress like a woman a woman should not look act or dress like a man so here's another example under the law of moses where god established a principle that goes beyond the law of moses that starts from creation continues till now that there should be a distinction and then in first corinthians chapter 6 we have a warning against men being effeminate which would be uh conduct and sexuality but also it would even encompass appearance and then now in what you refer to first corinthians 11 there's very clear teaching that a woman should let her hair grow long that a man should cut his hair short then it's interesting that to note in the book of revelation it's a symbolic but when it's talking about some demonic forces it says they had hair as the hair of women well what is hair is the hair woman there is no difference in in the substance of a man's hair in a woman's hair as far as its texture or its appearance or color the only difference is that men typically cut their hair short so for for to say hair's the hair of women it's an assumption that the author of revelation makes and he thinks all his readers will immediately understand that would be long here that's what he's talking about and i think that's been true generally throughout most cultures as as paul said in first grade it doesn't even nature teacher it's teach this but i think it goes beyond culture they're easy you know biological point um what did paul say doesn't even nature teach you and i think he's mainly saying there's an instinctive teaching of nature that is uh throughout human history and cultures although of course culture can override that so people don't have that natural teaching but even so nature bears witness and here's why a man is 10 times more likely to grow bald than a woman and that's because baldness is associated with the male gene and can and is triggered by presence of male hormones the point is if you see a man who's bald what do you think you don't really think anything that's just pretty common natural normal for for being a man so all the bald men can say amen but if you see a woman that's bald immediately your attention is drawn to that because in nature it usually means she's had some disease or some extraordinary stress or as undergoing some chemotherapy or some unnatural treatment in other words it's not natural for a woman not to have hair so nature still does teach us that a man with no hair is considered very typical a woman with no hair is considered quite unusual abnormal exceptional so i do think nature still teaches us uh now the basic principle is gender distinction that god wants there to be a visible obvious distinction in dress and hair between a man and a woman and as we see in our contemporary society in ages past we might have wonder what's the big deal does it what difference does that make but what we're seeing is when our culture systematically breaks down these distinctions which is done with dress and now and then with hair it actually starts changing the way people think so children are raised in this environment where there's no clear distinction or no clear teaching and it starts affecting identity and so now we're dealing with bigger issues of homosexuality and lesbianism of transgenderism so when you break the the natural teaching and the simple instruction that god has set up for human families and cultures then you start losing the bigger issues of human sexuality you start going contrary to god's will so obviously what seems to be a relatively minor issue in itself has major ramifications and i liken this to um to the american flag you know the flag represents our nation and our national values so if you see someone burning the flag you could say you know they bought it with their own money it belongs to them they have a right to destroy it it's just a piece of cloth why do i care but most of us respond no that's wrong because when you burn the american flag you're saying i i reject america as a nation i reject democracy or i reject freedom or freedom of religion you wonder what values are you denying so the piece of cloth is relatively minor but what it signifies is pretty significant so for someone that doesn't know the lord if they don't follow this teaching it's maybe pretty minor in the big scheme of things compared to say more more important moral choices but for someone who does know god who is in church this becomes a visible sign of your whole lifestyle of the values that you value god's plan for marriage god's plan for male and female god's plan for sexual morality you value god's instructions you want to be obedience to god's word so it is very important now the actual teaching is quite clear it's not ambiguous at all it's just our culture that has made it somewhat ambiguous but let me just read from first corinthians 11 and i've got the new king james here at verse 13 judge among yourselves is it proper for a woman to pray to god with her head uncovered now if you just stop there you might think it's talking about uh you know a hat but that's not what it's all about keep reading does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair it is a dishonor to him so that's clearly god is saying it's not my will for a man to have long hair but if a woman has long hair it is a glory to her for her hair is given to her for a covering so that's the coverings talk about now somebody says well it doesn't say it's a sin but we're not trying to be legalists we're not trying to quibble is there a loophole here can i get out of this can i do what i want the real issue for christians what is god's will what does god want and if god says it's dishonorable for a man to have long hair it's obvious what god wants if god says it's a glory for a woman to have long hair even nature teaches you this well it's obvious what god wants so if you really want to serve god and follow him then you'll do what god wants there'll be no argument in fact the next verse verse 16 but any but if anyone seems to be contentious we have no such custom nor do the churches of god so he's saying if you want to argue about this we don't have any other custom some people say well this is just a cultural teaching just a first century teaching just a teaching in corinth but paul directly refutes that first of all he says nature teaches you second of all he says god wants this and then he says all the churches agree well in paul's day there were churches of different cultures on different continents you had jewish churches you had churches in asia you had churches in europe and he's saying even though our cultures are different we all agree on this point that we should follow god's plan and it's interesting to look at some of the other modern translations and even commentaries if you'd like i've got three books that deal with this my my two books on holiness in search of holiness in my book practical holiness the second look both of those discuss first corinthians 11 in detail also if you'd like some of the contemporary research and even from theologians across the spectrum my book the apostolic church in the 21st century has a book a chapter on here which discusses the the latest contemporary translations the latest scholarship and it really says when people take an objective look scholars take an objective look with no personal agenda some are very conservative some are very liberal some believe the bible is absolutely the word of god some believe it's just a cultural relic but they all understand what it's saying and what it's saying is that in god's plan he wants a clear distinction between men and women and one of the ways is women should let their hair grow long don't cut it but let it grow to its natural length and women and men should cut their hair noticeably short so it's obvious they're different from the women in their culture so that is actually an expression of god's intention from creation genesis 1 under the law deuteronomy 22 and even the expectation that you see in the book of revelation but it has particular expression for the new testament church in first corinthians chapter 11 and of course as christians we want to follow god's plan for the church
Scripture references as spoken: Genesis 1:27; Deuteronomy 22:5; 1 Corinthians 6; 1 Corinthians 11; Revelation (book-only); 1 Corinthians 11:13-16.