That is why a wife
ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. (1 Corinthians 1:10 ESV)
When I first began studying the practice of head covers, the first
book I read was “Head
Covering: A Forgotten Christian Practice for Modern Times” by
Jeremy Gardiner. The logic and exegesis of convinced my mind of the “what”
The next book was “Because
of the Angels: First Corinthians Eleven and Head Coverings in Divine Worship”
by Paul C. Edgerton. That captured my heart and sent me on a study of angels.
Two pieces – the glory of God, and because of the angels,
those captured my heart. I went from “yes, this is a law for today” to “my
heart is glad to point to the glory of God and to bear witness to the angels.”
Some people believe that the head covering is the symbol of
a woman’s authority over her own worship. Having her head covered gives her the
authority to enter the assembly to worship. The newest translations that have more
egalitarian leanings (NIV and Contemporary English Version) do make the
authority hers, which makes no sense to me, since the Apostle had just written about
headship and how women was created for the man.
After instructing on God’s good gift of hierarchy, would he
now tell us that woman is her own authority? If the head covering is symbolic
of a woman’s submission to God’s good gift of headship and hierarchy, why would
it be about her own authority?
But whether it’s a woman’s own authority, or the authority
her head has over her, we know for sure that God gave us a symbol – the head
covering.
That brings us to what started out for me to be the most
puzzling part of the passage, “because of the angels.” We can’t know for sure
what the Apostle Paul meant by “angels” (it can mean either heavenly (good) angels,
fallen (bad) angels, or human messengers).
Some people teach that human messengers from other cultures
that did practice head covering were visiting the church in Corinth, so the
Corinthian women ought to cover so that they wouldn’t offend those messengers. It
seems strange to me that people used to traveling to various cultures would be
offended that a culture (in Corinth) would practice a Corinthian culture.
Another mark against this view is that Paul did write about
sending a human messenger (Epaphroditus) and he used the Greek word apostolos
(apostle or “sent one”)
I have thought it necessary to send to you
Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your
messenger and minister to my need, (Philippians 2:25 ESV)
In other places, Paul clearly meant heavenly beings, and if
he used “apostle” to indicate human messengers, and “angel” to indicate
heavenly beings, it would seem safe to think that he meant “heavenly beings.”
If “angels” means…angels…what does that have to do with us
and our worship? And this one little phrase, “because of the angels” is another
piece that convinces me that head covering is for the gatherings of the saints.
We know that angels minister to the needs
of the saints:
Are they not all ministering
spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit
salvation? (Hebrews 1:14 ESV)
We know that angels are witnesses to our
lives:
For I think that God has exhibited us
apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a
spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. (1 Corinthians 4:9 ESV)
Angels magnify the glory of God:
In Daniel’s vision,
“As I looked,
thrones were placed,
and
the Ancient of Days took his seat;
his clothing was white as snow,
and
the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames;
its
wheels were burning fire.
A stream of fire issued
and
came out from before him;
a thousand thousands served him,
and
ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;
the court sat in judgment,
and
the books were opened. (Daniel 7:9-10 ESV)
and all the hosts praise God:
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise
him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels;
praise
him, all his hosts! (Psalm 148:1-2 ESV)
We join the angels in worship:
But you have come to Mount Zion and to
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels
in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the
firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the
spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new
covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood
of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22-24 ESV)
Something transcendent happens when we meet corporately in worship,
and we are in the presence of the King of Kings.
The next passage is a bit difficult for me; I’m a Protestant
and we believe the only intercessor is Jesus Christ and that we can approach
the Throne of Grace boldly. However, in Revelation of John, we find the seven
angels sending up the prayers of all the saints:
Then I saw the seven angels who stand before
God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another
angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much
incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before
the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the
prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.
(Revelation 8:2-4 ESV)
This gives us the possibility that the angels are
responsible for overseeing our prayers and sending our prayers off to heaven. The
Bible says that there is an angel involved with the prayers of all the saints.
When we pray, angels are with those prayers, whether in our congregations or in
heaven.
The angels know the glory of God far better than we can,
this side of the grave. In the book of Isaiah, the angels covered their faces
and their feet, and they called,
Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is
full of His glory (Isaiah 6:3 ESV)
Paul Edgerton writes,
The liturgy of the heavenly worship is now the co-laborous
effort of angels and of men and is freighted with our story of redemption.
Now see us as we stand in our little churches so often
completely unaware that in Christ and by the Spirit we are really presenting
ourselves before the throne in the august assembly of the saints and angels.
How might we have dressed had we known? How might we have sung? What sweet offerings
of heart and of holy smoke we might have allowed to rise had we known that our
worship and that of the four living creatures and that of the twenty-four
elders and that of the holy angels would come together before God?
Who dare stand before God otherwise than as commanded? We approach not presumptively (the sin of
Lucifer) but humbly and joyfully as bidden. (Edgerton, 2017)
If God, through the Apostle Paul, instructs me to have a
symbol of authority on my head, as my worship echoes that of the sinless
saints, what is my response?
How did earlier Christian writers interpret “angels” in this
passage?
Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones:
In other words,
the Scripture teaches that when you and I are met as we are at this moment and
when we’re met together in prayer that the angels of God are present and are
looking upon us. And the woman is to be covered when she takes part in public
prayer because of the presence of the angels. It’s a tremendous and a
remarkable thing. Let us bear it in mind.”
John Calvin:
But it is asked, why it is that he would have women have
their heads covered because of the angels — for what has this to do with
them? Some answer: “Because they are present on occasion of the prayers of
believers, and on this account are spectators of unseemliness, should there be
any on such occasions.” But what need is there for philosophizing with such
refinement? We know that angels are in attendance, also, upon Christ as their
head, and minister to him. 633
When, therefore, women venture upon such liberties, as to usurp for themselves
the token of authority, they make their baseness manifest to the angels. This,
therefore, was said by way of amplifying, as if he had said, “If women uncover
their heads, not only Christ, but all the angels too, will be witnesses of the
outrage.” (Calvin)
And Charles Spurgeon:
The reason why our sisters appear in the House of God with
their heads covered is ‘because of the angels.’ The apostle says that a woman
is to have a covering upon her head because of the angels, since the angels are
present in the assembly and they mark every act of indecorum, and therefore
everything is to be conducted with decency and order in the presence of the
angelic spirits. (Spurgeon, 1996)
I am confident that when Paul wrote “because of the angels,
he was writing of heavenly beings, and that they watch over us in worship.
And whatever “angel” means…or does not mean…for a woman to
cover her head in worship bears witness to the angels of God’s created order.
We have just lived through an unprecedented time (in United
States history) of the government prohibiting and/or discouraging people from
meeting together for worship. Many people who stayed home from corporate
worship never returned, choosing instead to watch church via the internet.
If the angels are watching over our corporate worship, do we
still have that same witness to them if we worship individually at home?
The Paul’s instruction is based on creation, not culture and
for the sake of the angels who are timeless and have no culture. Could this be a suggestion that the head
covering practice should last if angels are watching over us?
How might we worship differently, knowing that we are
joining, and surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses?
Paul writes about angels
“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect
angels, I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from
partiality” (1 Timothy 5:21 ESV)
So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be
made known to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places (Eph 3:10
ESV
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers…(Romans 8:38
ESV)
Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters
of this life? (1 Corinthians 6:3 ESV)
For I think, God has exhibited us, the apostles, last of all as
men condemned to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, both
to angels and to mankind. (1 Corinthians 4:9 ESV)
If I speak with the tongues of mankind and of angels, but do not
have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. (1 Corinthians 13:1
ESV)
Take care that no one keeps defrauding you of your prize by
delighting in humility and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on
visions he has seen, (Colossians 2:18 ESV)
and to give relief to you who are afflicted, along with us, when
the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels…(2
Thessalonians 1:7 ESV)
But even if we or an angel
from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to
you, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8 ESV)
