On What Scriptural Basis Is a Man Praying with a Hat on Frowned Upon If a Woman Praying with a Hat on as a Covering Is Considered Unscriptural?
1) Direct answer
It’s Scripture. A man must not pray with his head covered; a woman must be covered—but God defined her covering as her long hair, not a hat. So a man praying with a hat on dishonors his Head, and a woman using a hat as a “substitute covering” is unscriptural. Her hair is the covering God appointed.
2) Scriptural explanation
- 1 Corinthians 11:4,7: “Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head… For a man indeed ought not to cover his head; forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God.”
- 1 Corinthians 11:5–6: A woman praying or prophesying uncovered dishonors her head; if she won’t be covered, “let her also be shorn,” showing that uncoveredness and shorn/shaven go together.
- 1 Corinthians 11:13–15: “Judge in yourselves… if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her… for her hair is given her for a covering.”
3) Simple clarifying logic
- For the man: The Bible says he must not cover his head when praying. A hat on a praying man is a covered head; therefore it dishonors Christ his Head.
- For the woman: The Bible itself identifies the covering—her hair is given to her for a covering. That means:
- Long hair = covered.
- Shorn/shaven = uncovered.
- No hat can replace hair, and no hat is required to fulfill the command.
So a woman thinking a hat “makes her covered” while she cuts her hair is still uncovered by Scripture. And a woman with long hair is covered even without a hat.
4) Reinforcing statement
Now notice: it’s not about church customs but God’s order. Men pray uncovered; women are covered by the hair God gave. That keeps the headship honor exactly as the Bible sets it. Final biblical conclusion: A man should remove his hat to pray (1 Corinthians 11:4,7). A woman’s scriptural covering is her long hair (1 Corinthians 11:15); a hat does not make or replace that covering.
Existing Follow-Up Answers
- If a Woman Willfully Cuts or Shaves Off Her Hair but Wears a Scarf or Hat to Pray, Is She Covered?
1) Direct answer No. If a woman willfully cuts or shaves her hair and then puts on a scarf or hat to pray, she is still uncovered before God. The - So What If a Woman by Accident, Age or Health Condition Has Short or No Hair, How Should She Be Covered If Hats and Scarfs Are Not a Covering?
1) Direct answer If a woman loses hair by accident, age, or sickness, she is not made “uncovered” in guilt before God. The Bible’s covering is he - What Determines If a Woman's Head Is Covered? Is It the Scalp Visibility or the Uncut Hair? Does It Matter If the Hair Is Matted in Cornrows or Plait?
1) Direct answer A woman’s head is covered when her hair is uncut and allowed to grow. It is not about hiding the scalp with fabric, and it’s not
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Forsaking all
62-0123 §107
...re... You women, you---maybe Pentecostal women---has been guilty of wearing immoral clothes, cutting your hair, doing things... I notice here in California, there's not too many of them ... or, here in Arizona, rather ... not too many of them are wearing make-up. That was fought against too. Well, there's nothing in the Bible to say for you not to wear make-up. We just know it's wrong 'cause it's of the world. But there is a commandment in the Bible that a woman cuts her hair is a dishonorable person. And if it loo...
Looking at the unseen
58-1003 §68
And to you out there in the audience who doesn't have a prayer card, how many people in here doesn't have a prayer card, raise your hands? Look it there. Now, you without a prayer card, if these people here, I'm going to base them on a Scripture. Everything we must do, must be Scriptural from Genesis to Revelations. It must be God. As I spoke last night... It must be so from the beginning, see. Now, if you don't have a... These here that's got a prayer card, I'm going to ask them Scriptures like it meant in the Bib...
Questions and Answers, Part 4
64-0830E §69
QUESTION: Why is it that we make so much of a big issue of women's dress (oh, oh, I'm getting it on this one, ain't I?)--- big issue of women's dressing and cutting of hair, and do---nothing said about the hair of the man or the way he dresses? Well, Sister, I'm going to agree with you one thing. First place, the Bible said that a man should not have long hair. And if he had long hair, I'd tell him, just the same as I tell you. He's wrong. But most men, lot of them's like me, don't have any at all. But most men cut...
From that time
61-0520 §61
I was speaking this morning of this woman, immoral woman, washing Jesus' dirty feet, wiping them with her hair. Some of our Pentecostal sisters would have to stand on their head to get enough hair to wash their feet---cut it all off. That's right. It used to be wrong for you to do it. It's still wrong for you to do it. The Bible plainly teaches that if a woman cuts her hair, her husband has a right to divorce her, put her away. Said if she cuts her hair she dishonors her head (her husband), and a dishonorable woman...
And thy Seed shall possess the gate of His enemy
62-0121M §50
I hate to say this, but I'm going to have to. Look. And when you take women (I'll say for one thing that's visible to see) that claim to have the Holy Ghost, and not decent enough to leave their hair grow, there's something wrong somewhere. A woman that will put on a garment that pertains to a man, and wear it when the Bible says it's an abomination to God for a woman to wear a garment pertains to a man... And then you claim to have the Holy Ghost, and do that?