Expert: Sal - 5/12/2005

Question
Hi Sal,

I believe it is in Corinthians that St. Paul says that men should not wear long hair.  I'm puzzled by this because I believe Jesus is always portrayed as having long hair.  First of all, do we know what Jesus looked like?  Have descriptions of him survived to this day?  If he did have long hair, how could St. Paul criticize this?

Thanks.

Answer
Dear Les:

We do not know at what length Jesus wore his hair. We possess drawings and paintings with both short and long hair styles for our Lord. We do know a few things that bear on the subject. We know from art of the time of Jesus that the Romans wore short hair. We know that men that took a Nazarite vow were, at one time at least, distinctive by their long hair (Numbers 6:5). We know that Jesus was not a Nazarite because he drank wine (Matthew 11:18-19; Luke 22:18; John 19:29-30) which was forbidden to a Nazarite (Numbers 6:3).  So it appears that our Lord may have had short hair, but it is not something that we can know for sure.  

St. Paul's statement in I Corinthians 11:14 is not an eternal principle, but a custom of his day. The long hair of a woman apparently showed her submission to her husband as a head covering did. At that time men having long hair was deemed inappropriate because as an image of Christ he should not be seen as submissive.

I hope this helped, Les.

Have a great day!
Sal