Chrysostom and Epiphanius: Long Hair Prohibited as Covering in 1 Corinthians 11:4, 7

Recent surveys of extrabiblical Hellenistic literature by Ben Witherington III and Preston Massey claim that κατὰ κεφαλῆς ἔχων in 1 Cor 11:4 necessarily refers to the wearing of a material head covering. This essay argues (1) that these surveys misread the extrabiblical data, (2) that examples of κóμη as the object of ἔχω highlight the viability of taking κóμη as the implied object of ἔχων in 1 Cor 11:4, (3) that two significant church fathers understood the covering to which Paul refers to be or include κóμη, and (4) that data in the context of 1 Cor 11:2–16 better supports understanding κóμη as the covering Paul has in mind.