Where Do the Scriptures Suggest That Men Should Be Clean Shaven?
1) Direct Answer
Scripture does not command men to be clean shaven. The Bible teaches men to keep a clear, masculine distinction and to avoid long hair, but it does not require shaving the beard.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- 1 Corinthians 11:14—“Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?” The emphasis is on hair length for men, not on shaving beards.
- Deuteronomy 22:5—God forbids blurring the male–female distinction. Appearance should clearly reflect manhood.
- Leviticus 19:27; 21:5—Israel was told not to mar the edges of the beard or shave the head in pagan ways. That shows beards themselves were normal and not condemned; the issue was pagan customs.
- Ezekiel 44:20—Priests were not to shave their heads nor let their hair grow long, but to “poll” (trim) their hair. The principle is modest, masculine trim—neither shaven bald as a ritual nor long and unkempt.
- 2 Samuel 10:4—Shaving off half the beard was used to shame David’s men, showing a beard was a sign of manly honor in Israel’s culture.
- Isaiah 50:6—“I gave my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair,” indicating hair on the cheeks (a beard) in the prophetic picture of Christ’s suffering.
- 1 Corinthians 6:9—“Nor effeminate…” God rejects soft, feminized presentation in men.
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- The Bible never says, “Thou shalt be clean shaven.” It does say a man’s long hair is a shame and warns against effeminate appearance and pagan grooming rites.
- Therefore, the safe, biblical line is: keep a masculine look, keep hair short, keep grooming modest and clean. A beard, if worn, should not be unkempt or used to mimic worldly, effeminate, or rebellious styles.
4) Reinforcing Statement
So the standard is not “must shave,” but “look like a man,” keep it decent and orderly before God. The Word sets boundaries—short hair and masculine distinction—while leaving beard or no beard as a matter of liberty, testimony, and modest discipline.
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.
Why?
61-0125 §31
...ove does not have to find water for a bath. Did you ever pick up a little dove? Rub your hand over him. He's oily. There's something from the inside comes out and keeps him clean. Oh, my. His body's oiled, from a oil from the inside coming out. Amen. I don't want to get started on that, I'll get off my subject. But he keeps his body, his feathers, his garments, clean by an inside oil. Every time he works his body, that works up there on his feathers and keeps him perpetually, all the time, clean. Oh, the blood of J...
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever
53-0506 §23
...n He noticed him and seen him coming, it astonished the man. Now, if you'll notice what a strange thing it was when all those Hebrews then, when they seen all those... Remember: staunch men, renowned men, holy men, scholars of the Bible. You couldn't lay one finger on their life and say they wasn't holy. They kept the commandments of God just as true as could be kept, see. They were holy. They didn't do one thing, day nor night. Eat, sleep, and read the Scriptures. They had to be born in a certain lineage before th...
Questions and Answers, part 1
54-0103M §23
In beginning of this chapter where they asked Him, "When will the end time be? And what will be the signs of the coming of Christ?" And they told Him about the temple, how goodly it was adorned with great stones and things. He said, "There'll come a time when there won't even be one stone left upon another," as if they'll be torn down. He begin to give them signs and wonders. Then, Jesus speaking now, turns now to Daniel, to fulfill, 'cause all prophecy must dovetail one with the other. The whole Scripture is not b...
The Queen of Sheba
58-0313 §7
The reading of the Scriptures, tonight... We have read just a portion of the infallible Word of the eternal God. And Jesus had just been upbraiding them because of their hardness of their heart, because they had not believed him. Then we find that He, back in the former part of the Scriptures, in this same text ... or, chapter, they had called Him, Beelzebub, because He was doing the supernatural signs. And if anyone knew that God always dwells in supernatural, because God, Himself, is supernatural. And His childre...
Hebrews, Chapter 4
57-0901E §62
...sten. Now this is going to shock you just a minute. Listen as I read the Word. Who was this? The prophet Isaiah: ...all tables are full of vomit ... so ... there is nothing clean. Just "dog eat dog." Come to the church: women bob off their hair, wear shorts, get out and see the men coming down the street; lawn-mowing the yard; little girls want to hear somebody give that bull dog or wolf whistle whatever it is, you know [Brother Branham whistles.]. Oh, you think you're cute, don't you? And you men walk down the str...