The Veil as a Symbol of Our Sacred Calling

As I was explaining the Bible story of Cain and Abel to my children the other night before bed, something about the story struck me like a lightning bolt. Let me tell you what it was.

My children were asking me, “Why didn’t God accept Cain’s offering?” I gave them my best explanation. Though there are several possible reasons why God did not accept Cain’s offering, one of them may have been that it was not an animal sacrifice, and this is the answer I gave them.

God had demonstrated to Adam and Eve after their fall into sin that it was necessary to sacrifice an animal for sin. Why? Because it had to foreshadow Christ dying for our sins one day on the cross. Blood had to spill. A life had to be cut off in place of ours. The skin of that animal had to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness and shame just as Jesus’ sacrifice would cover our unrighteousness. Of course, the animal couldn’t take away sin. But it pointed to the One who could.

And Fruit is not a good representation of that.

Whether or not Cain’s offering was not accepted because of that, I will leave for the reader to decide. However, one thing I think we can all agree on is that in the Bible animal sacrifices were indeed very symbolic and were supposed to point to the ultimate sacrifice Christ would make for us on the cross.

In fact, God uses a large variety of symbols in the Bible. Can you think of some? How about the rainbow after the flood? The blood of a lamb during the first Passover? Manna in the desert? The serpent on a pole? Baptism? The Lord’s Supper? Our Creator often speaks to us through signs.

Think of the enormity of this and how it relates to headcovering: God has given us certain symbols that point to important spiritual truths. Replacing those symbols with something else would cause the meaning to be lost. So, similar to how an animal sacrifice couldn’t be replaced by fruit (if that sacrifice was for sin), if we try to replace the veil with an alternate object, we lose the spiritual connection God intended.

What sort of things does the veil symbolize? Why is it that only the veil can symbolize them?

♥ Headship (1 Cor. 11:3).

This is the main reason given for headcovering. God has established a hierarchy of roles (God-Christ-man-woman). According to this hierarchy, the woman is supposed to be in submission to the man; she is not in authority over him, but he is in authority over her. The roles for the man and woman are expressed through either uncovering or covering their heads while praying or prophesying. All the other arguments given in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 seem to buttress this main point.

The woman’s role is not meant to be oppressive, but beautiful: The woman represents the Church as the Bride of Christ (which is a very honored and special position!), while the man represents Christ. Just as the Church is subject to Christ, so the wife is to her husband. She covers her head, not only to symbolize submission to her husband and male leadership in general, but to symbolize the Church’s submission to Christ (Ephesians 5:22-33; Colossians 1:18, 3:18-19).

The veil is placed over the head of the woman, symbolizing that she is under the authority of male leadership. She is not the head (meaning, authority), so she covers her own, physical head.

Huge symbolism here!

Some people think that when God commanded the woman to cover her head that the covering He was referring to is her long hair (or at least, a feminine style of hair) and not a piece of cloth. But, hair cannot do a good job of demonstrating hierarchy. Yes, long hair is feminine and can help show that a woman accepts her feminine role; I don’t disagree that hair is certainly A Natural covering. But, it cannot show that the woman is under authority like the veil can.

♥ Creation Order (2 Cor. 11:7-9).

The woman was created from the man and for the man. He came first, so he is the one who initiates and she is the one who follows his lead and supports his decisions. She is an aide to him as he obeys God’s directive for his life. The woman helps the man fulfill his calling. His calling is hers. She is not independent of him. Hers is the somewhat hidden role of helper and supporter, not the dominant role of leader and initiator.

This almost sounds as if she doesn’t have an identity apart from the man. Of course, as a Christian her central identity is in Christ! However, this doesn’t negate her created role as help meet. Her purpose as a woman while on this earth hasn’t changed over time. Yes, she can have her own dreams and goals. But, the big question is: How do those dreams and goals mesh with those of her husband? If they don’t fit, maybe they need to be reconfigured.

Think of how the headcovering can be a tool to help us remember the woman’s role as helper: When wearing a veil, her head is less visible, just as she has the less visible (and less audible) supportive role.

Less visible, but not less important, I would like to emphasize.

In my opinion, this whole concept can reasonably apply to her home life, her church life, and even her general role in society — basically every sphere of her life. What is God’s will for women in the 21st Century? Has it changed any since Bible times? I don’t think it has.

If we are to be consistent with what the Bible says about the creation of the woman and her God-given purpose, her role as helper should be focused on the home (Titus 2:3-5). This is where she’s needed the most. This is her calling. She is the guardian — the keeper — of her home and the children who live in it. This is her domain. She doesn’t have to be there all the time, but in order to be faithful to her duties as wife and mother, she needs to be there most of the time, under the roof of her own house.

Inherently, she is the “weaker vessel,” and as such her husband is supposed to protect her and care for her. What a wonderful place of protection her home can be for her, with a godly man for a husband.

Do you see how the veil can remind us of this, too? The woman’s main sphere of work and influence is her home, which shelters her under its protection. The woman is also under the protection of her father before she marries (and while still a minor), and her husband after she marries.

Now let’s delve a little deeper into her womanly role. God has made her with the beautiful privilege of growing new life hidden within her womb. In the dark, secret place of her uterus, a baby nestles and plays. God covers the baby inside her body; in other words, she herself is a covering for her little child!

Here is a beautiful quote I read recently having to do with this aspect of headcovering:

. . . anything that is precious, mysterious, and sacred is hidden from view. It is veiled. . . . In nature, God made the valuable things difficult to get to. . . . Women, by their physical nature, are the very vessels of life. So every woman — due to the nature of her God-given femininity — has a certain mystery and sacredness, which is her ability to cooperate with her husband and with God in the sacredness of creation. How appropriate that a woman’s awe-inspiring privilege is recognized by veiling! This is a deeply meaningful custom that has, unfortunately for women today, fallen by the wayside with many female church-goers. . . . Now that I understand that it is an honor for women to be veiled, I think that the veil is a beautiful way of honoring the sacred calling and privilege of women. [From Dressing with Dignity by Colleen Hammond; pages 29, 30, 31]

According to this author, the veil recalls to our minds how valuable the woman is since we naturally hide from view that which is most a treasure to us. What is one reason why the woman is a treasure? Because she helps the man do something impossible for him on his own.

Her body is a vessel for new life and deserves to be treated with special honor. She should be nurtured and guarded as a cherished treasure. When a man sees his wife wearing a veil, he might be reminded of this.

Now we are encroaching upon the realm of speculation. The Bible doesn’t say that a woman should cover her head to remind her husband that she is a life-bearer; it says that she should cover her head because she is under his authority. And that, while praying or prophesying and not necessarily at other times. However, it is interesting to reflect upon how the veil might have a range of connections to her role as a woman, within the total context of that role.

Why is her role “sacred”? Is it because she is super holy? No. There is nothing holy about her apart from the holiness of Christ within her, if she is a believer. It is her mission that is sacred. She is a woman with a holy mission to be all that God has called her to be as a woman. Is the veil “sacred”? No. It’s just a piece of cloth. There’s nothing magic about it. But, it’s what it points to that is sacred.

♥ Humility before an awesome God (1 Cor. 11:7, 13-15).

A woman’s hair cannot be her covering because it is her glory. Since 1 Cor. 1:29 says that “no flesh should glory in His [God’s] presence,” it makes sense for her to cover her own glory when praying or prophesying as a way of saying, “I’m not doing this for myself or to draw attention to myself. Look to God, instead.” Hair reveals, but the veil conceals.

Some people think that by wearing a veil she is drawing attention to herself. While it is true that it may make her stand out from the crowd, we must remember that the nature of what her “glory” is hasn’t changed over time, and neither has the need to cover it up when praying or prophesying. This is true whether people understand it or not. Being different in order to obey God is not the same as being different in order to try to get people to admire you.

Now think about this: another reason the woman has to cover her head with a veil is that she is a glory! Her hair is her glory, but Scripture also points out that “the woman is the glory of the man” (see verse 7).

Hers is an honored position. She manifests the nurturing, compassionate, sensitive aspects of humanity in her nature (not that men can’t be those things — Jesus was! — but women are naturally more so than men, generally). She has been given the privilege of bearing new life; that’s a “glorious” job! And she — if she is a godly woman — reflects well upon her husband by her sensible, pure, loving behavior; in other words, she brings “glory” to her husband.

God has given her an enormous honor by making her a woman! Instead of thinking of the veil as “oppressive,” we can choose to see it in a different light: As the quote above says, “anything that is precious, mysterious, and sacred is hidden from view.” She and her role as a woman are precious. God wants her to wear a veil not because He’s ashamed of her, but because He values her. The woman’s role is powerful — so powerful that He doesn’t want her to misunderstand or misuse it. That’s the way I look at it.

The veil is a beautiful and meaningful symbol. It seems to me that nothing can replace the veil as a symbol for the woman’s role as 1) being under male authority, 2) being the man’s helper and being under his protection, and 3) being the glory of man and needing to conceal that glory before God.

Just as God used symbols in the rest of the Bible to help us understand  certain spiritual truths, He has given us the veil to help us understand our earthly roles. And just as it was important for people in the Old Testament to use the right kind of symbol in their sin offerings (going back to the illustration I opened with), it is important for us to use the right kind of symbol in our worship. Anything else obstructs the intended meaning.

[Notes:

-In this article I have given some of my own opinions on what the headcovering might represent that are not explicitly, though they may be implicitly, supported by Scripture. They are my own thoughts, given here so that we can further “dissect” what our role is as women and how we could view the headcovering as a reminder of it.

-I am currently re-reading Dressing with Dignity. It is a book about dressing modestly, from a Catholic perspective. I am enjoying it all over again this second time around! I feel I should add, however, that I am not Catholic, nor do I endorse everything in the book. Nonetheless, I do appreciate the points the author brings up about modesty.]

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Please share your thoughts about headcovering / veiling in the comments section below. I look forward to seeing your responses!

~Jessica