6.02.2008

Because of the Angels...

About 6 months ago, my pastor plopped Systematic Theology in front of me and told me he wanted me to read it cover to cover... so I am.

I was reading Chapter 19 about Angels last night.

Grudem mentioned 1 Corinthians 11:10 which says:


"Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels."

Wait... what exactly does that mean?
I am wondering YOUR thoughts on this.


We know that angels witness our lives and the glorify God for our worship and obedience. Head coverings, in that day, represented a women being under the submission and authority of a man, which in turn represented them being in submission to the Lord.

I was curious about why, though, angels were mentioned. Why was it important that women's heads were covered because they were watching?

I looked this up in Walvoord and Zucks commentary and they suggest that Angels view our lives and what we do affects them in some way. They seemed to say, that we can cause Angels to stumble... which would mean an angel can become "fallen" at any point and it wasn't a one time thing when satan and his followers were thrown out of heaven.

I don't exactly know what I think about this... and am wondering if anyone else has an opinion or insight?

5 comments:

  1. ANYONE??? ANYONE??? I'm still waiting for someone wiser than I to answer this post...come on people! Where's Britt when you need him?

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  2. As one who covers, early one I was curious about that verse. One lovefeast a minister explained it as this:
    No angel can read our thoughts. Whether God's or satan's. They do not know our motivations, our hearts, but a covered woman shows in a tangible way that she is a child of God, obedient to follow Him.

    Now this may be a moot point if you do not think it is something for today. All I know is once I did, I felt a peace in the whole matter. It was quite a war in the spirit up to that point.

    I am no deep thinking theologeon, but just long to follow Christ.
    Kim

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  3. Here's one conclusion:
    The Greek word angelos literally denotes a 'messenger.' For example, "to the 'angel' of the church in Ephesus" as mentioned in Revelations 2:1, was referring to the pastor the the Ephesian church. Contextually, we see that the 'sign of authority' Paul is speaking of, as referring to the honor in a woman covering her head during that time. Therefore a logical conclusion might follow that when visiting elders (messengers) of sister churches came by, the woman was to be careful about not offending them by removing her head covering during worship.

    Here is a different conclusion:
    "Angels" could be interpreted in light of the angels (sons of God) in Genesis 6:2-4 who were actually demonic entities enslaving men, and who preyed on women...."fallen angels." The conclusion would be that the head covering somehow protects the women from these angels. This second one is more speculation than anything else, and is problematic....but it sounds sweet.

    There are a bunch of other interpretations, as you probably have found, but I personally read the first one I listed as the most realistic according to the context. Especially since there is no actual authority in wearing a head covering, the first interpretation would not conflict with that notion. It is also more practical to my ears.
    But that's just my guess:(

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  4. http://www.bible.org/search.php?cx=002862574462228651213%3Awlwzhu5hnzm&cof=FORID%3A11&q=1%20corinthians%2011:10#948

    Here is a list of articles from Bible.org about this subject. I guess you have to take into account none of the books or letters in the Bible were written with books in them, therefore it is hard to pluck certain things out to use it for whatever context you want (obviously easy for most). But is wasn't until the 1300's that chapters were put in and it wasn't until the 1500's that verses were put in. So take from that what you will, I don't have all the answers, but I also think looking at historical and societal context are a good start as well.

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  5. The following link provides what I have found to be one of the most "educated guesses" based on ancient extra and intra-Biblical sources.

    http://www.bible-researcher.com/angels.html

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