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Head Covering for Public Worship (by Michael Barrett)

Michael Barrett

Dr. Michael Bar­rett is Vice President for Academic Affairs/Academic Dean and Professor of Old Testament at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. He is a min­is­ter in the Free Pres­by­ter­ian Church of North Amer­ica. For­merly, Dr. Bar­rett served as pres­i­dent of Geneva Reformed Sem­i­nary. He earned his doc­tor­ate in Old Tes­ta­ment Text with a spe­cial focus on Semitic lan­guages. For almost thirty years, he was pro­fes­sor of Ancient Lan­guages and Old Tes­ta­ment The­ol­ogy and Inter­pre­ta­tion at Bob Jones Uni­ver­sity. Dr. Bar­rett has had an active role in the min­istry of the Free Pres­by­ter­ian Church since its incep­tion in North Amer­ica. He is a mem­ber of the Evan­gel­i­cal The­o­log­i­cal Soci­ety and has pub­lished numer­ous arti­cles in both pro­fes­sional and pop­u­lar jour­nals. He contributed to and served as Old Testament editor for The Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible. Dr. Bar­rett and his wife San­dra have two sons and five grand­chil­dren. Dr. Barrett’s hob­bies include hunt­ing and think­ing about hunting.

[In addition to reading below, you can view the original PDF of this booklet here.]

Introduction

The Word of God is the only rule for faith and practice. Christian conduct must be the reflection of biblical standards rather than expedient conformity to changing style or habit. This principle is applicable to every area of Christian life, not the least of which is worship. The Westminster Confession of Faith, the adopted sub-standard of the Free Presbyterian Church, makes a significant statement regarding religious worship: “The acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men” (XXI.i). 1 Corinthians 11 establishes some of the divinely revealed guidelines of acceptable worship. In this chapter, the apostle Paul deals with two essential aspects of public worship: head covering for women and proper observance of the Lord’s Supper. Unfortunately,the regulations concerning head covering have either been misinterpreted, or through expediency, relegated to the sphere of local Corinthian custom which has no applicability to modern, American Christianity. It is the position of the Free Presbyterian Church that the shifting customs of society do not influence or abrogate the imperatives of Scripture. Therefore, the mandate of 1 Corinthians 11 that women must worship with covered heads is as binding today as it was in the first-century church. Read more

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The Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible

The Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible

Today we’d like to introduce you to the Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible. The reason we’d like to highlight this Bible for you is was just released and it endorses the practice of head covering.

The New Testimony Editor is Dr. Gerald Bilkes (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) and the General Editor is Dr. Joel R. Beeke (President, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary). Here’s a short promo video for this Bible:

In their notes on 1 Corinthians 11 they say that head covering was the “universal custom (practice) of the churches.” They rightly call it an ordinance and say that “by man having his head uncovered and by woman having her head covered, all glory points to God in public worship.”

One of my favorite things about their notes on 1 Corinthians 11 is the “Thoughts for Personal/Family Worship.” I like this section because it takes what you just learned about head covering and then asks you what you’re going to do with it. They say:

“When you come to the house of God for corporate worship, how you conduct yourself matters. Paul argues for proper decorum in public worship according to His created order. When you enter the house of God for worship, how should you act in a way that honors the glory and will of the Lord?”

We’d love it if the followers of the Head Covering Movement would get behind this Bible by either buying a copy yourself or letting others know about it. These men have taken an unpopular stand for the ongoing practice of head covering and we’d like to support them for that. You can buy a copy on Amazon here.

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