QUESTION:
How short should a mans hair be if he cannot have long hair? Or what length is the hair to be on a man? Or at what length is the hair considered too long for a man?
ANSWER:
I Cor 11:14 'If a man have long hair, it is a dishonour to him' . The ancients accepted Paul's dictum on this and went so far as to define the length of hair that was considered an infraction of Paul's words. Clement of Alexandria wrote in the second century, “The hair of the head may not grow so long as to come down and interfere with the eyes...cropping is to be adopted...let not twisted locks hang far down from the head, gliding into womanish ringlets.” The words 'hang far down' strongly resemble Paul's words 'having something down from his head.'Paul said: "Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head." Here is where the misunderstanding of the passage develops. This clause as commonly rendered in the popular versions, is something of a commentary, not Bible. For instance, W.E. Vine says: 'having his head covered' is, lit., 'having (something) down the head” in referring to I Cor 11.4 (Vol. 1, p. 252.) Lenski also translates it: "having something down from his head." The Interlinear Greek- English New Testament (Nestle Text) by Marshall has: "Every man praying or prophesying having (anything) down over (his) head shames the head of him” James Burton Coffman states "The logical understanding of this would refer it to 'long hair,' being long enough to hang down from the head, as clearly indicated by the apostle's words a moment later: 'If a man have long hair, it is a dishonour to him' (V. 14). We may therefore interpret this verse as a simple admonition that it was a disgrace for any long-haired Christian male to participate in praying and prophesying; and this interpretation certainly harmonizes with verse 14. “It is understood, then, that for a Christian man to have "long hair" (Greek-komao: to let the, hair grow, have long hair) renders him covered; and as such, he brings dishonor upon his governing head, Christ. (Taken from Let Her Be Covered by Don L. King)