What Is a Hedge Law?

A hedge law is an extra rule placed around a biblical command to help keep a person from getting too close to disobedience.

The idea is simple: if God’s command marks the boundary, another rule is placed several steps away from it. In theory, a person who never crosses the additional boundary will never cross the biblical one.

Sometimes personal boundaries are wise. One woman may choose a larger covering because a small one does not feel meaningful to her. Another may avoid certain clothing, cosmetics, or situations because she knows her own temptations. There is nothing wrong with making thoughtful choices for ourselves.

The problem begins when we confuse our protective boundary with God’s command—and then require everyone else to observe it.

In head-covering communities, the reasoning can go something like this:

If a woman covers because she accepts biblical distinctions between men and women, she should also stop wearing pants, makeup, jewelry, or fashionable clothing.

But 1 Corinthians 11 does not make those connections. It gives instructions concerning men’s and women’s heads during prayer and prophecy. It does not establish an entire dress code.

A woman may reach separate convictions about pants, makeup, jewelry, or how much hair her covering should conceal. Those questions deserve their own biblical examination. They should not be smuggled into the head-covering instruction as though accepting one necessarily requires accepting all the others.

Hedge laws often begin with good intentions. We want to obey carefully and avoid compromise. But when we present our applications as God’s commands, we risk binding consciences where Scripture has left them free.

We must distinguish among three things:

• What Scripture commands
• How we personally apply that command
• What we merely prefer

Personal safeguards may be wise. They are not automatically universal laws.

Recovering the biblical practice of head covering should mean returning to what Scripture actually says—not surrounding it with so many additional rules that women can no longer see the command itself.