In 1 Cor 11, we have the following verses that deal with the headcovering of women in the church (from the NKJV, emphasis mine):
5 But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved. 6 For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered. 7 For a man indeed ought not to cover hishead, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. 8 For man is not from woman, but woman from man. 9 Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man. 10 For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. 11 Nevertheless, neither isman independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord. 12 For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman; but all things are from God.
13 Judge among yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14 Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? 15 But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering.
Study Resources on the Matter of Headcovering
Given below are some study resources as to the meaning God intended here (and it is God’s intention that we understand to be at issue here as this is not the ramblings of some random Jewish guy wandering around ancient Greece 2000 years ago).
A comparison of four different translations of 1 Cor 11:1-16 is here:
1 Cor 11 1-16 Text Comparison. The “base” translation for this comparison is the ESV. Under each of the three other translations in the right columns is shown all the differences of those translations to the ESV. The NKJV shows the translation closest to the original KJV and relies primarily on the so-called “Received Text.” The NASB (1995) is generally considered to be the most strictly literal translation. And the Good News Bible (GNB) is a good faith translation seek to make the Word accessible in easier to understand English vocabulary and structure.
Here is a resource for this section from Scripture from the Logos Bible Software known as a “Passage Guide:” Passage Guide | 1 Corinthians 11:1–16 › Cross References
Below are resources on the various important words in this passage:
Commentaries can be helpful. Below are passages from two commentaries that go way back in time to ca. 400 A.D., about the time of Augustine. They are windows into the culture of the time and the people then wrestling with the meaning of these words. Such commentaries are not to be taken with the authority of Scripture but are an honest portrayal of fellow believers some 1600 years ago seeking to live God-honoring lives.
Imperative Verbs in the 1 Cor 11 Passage
Below are the root Gr verbs in the imperative condition in this particular passage of 1 Cor 11:
It is interesting that these above command verbs are of three types: one the command for the woman’s head to be covered, one for her hair to be shaved bald, and one to judge rightly. Command (imperative) verbs are important. For instance, much is made of the two verse passage at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, Matt. 28:19-20, the so-called “The Great Commission,” which has a single imperative verb (to disciple).
Further, the last half of 1 Cor. 11 deals with what we term The Lord’s Supper (or Communion), a subject we rightly take seriously, not optionally, although that subject requires some interpretation in terms of practical application (wine vs. grape juice, bread vs. crackers, weekly vs. periodically, part of a dinner vs. a specific ceremonial moment, open to all believers vs. reserved only for “members” of that particular fellowship, as a memorial vs. the very body and blood of Christ miraculously reestablished, etc.).
So we should take seriously what is taught in both ‘halves’ of Ch 11, though interpretation guided by the Holy Spirit is always necessary, and our humility / submission to the Word revealed.
Angels?
There is an interesting reference to angels in this passage regarding headcoverings:
For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. (1 Cor 11:10 NKJV)
This has led to some amazing, even incredible speculation. Here’s a more straightforward explanation that may be the correct interpretation: that the reference to “angels” means only to the message of Scripture or the messenger proclaiming Scripture. Recall that the very important Gr word translated (in most cases) as The Gospel is: eu-angel-eoo, which means, literally, good (Gr. eu) plus message or messenger (angel-eoo).
In 1 Cor. 1;17 Paul begins his correction to the disorder of the Corinthian church by reminding them of God’s priority on Paul’s life when he was with them, namely proclaiming “the gospel:”
For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
And in 1 Cor. 15:1 Paul as the voice of the Holy Spirit affirms that what he has preached to the Corinthians is “the gospel:”
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,
In both these verses, and in six other verses in this Epistle, the Gr. word translated gospel is euaggelízō. (The pronunciation of a double “g” in Gr. is “ng,” which is how we get “angel.”) A simple definition of this word is given below:
G2097. εὐαγγελίζω ĕuaggĕlizō, yoo-ang-ghel-id´-zo; from G2095 and G32; to announce good news (“evangelize”) especially the gospel:— declare, bring (declare, show) glad (good) tidings, preach (the gospel).
Strong, J. (1996). Strong’s Dictionary of NT Words, Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Although Paul was given the particular gift of Apostleship to create Scripture, under the hand of The Holy Spirit, there were other gifted and called to euaggelízō. In 2 Tim 4, we find in Paul’s closing instructions to Timothy the following charge:
4 1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at[a] His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (NKJV)
By the phrase of do the work of an evangelist highlighted above, Paul is instructing Timothy that his ‘job’ is to carry the mantle of proclaiming the Gospel, though Timothy is not and will not become himself an Apostle in the sense that Paul had been:
G2099. εὐαγγελιστής ĕuaggĕlistēs, yoo-ang-ghel-is-tace´; from G2097; a preacher of the gospel:— evangelist.
Strong, J. (1996). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
An Angel is a Messenger
The root meaning of the Gr word translated “angel” is messenger. Of course in many places in Scripture it refers to a heavenly being, hence the phrase angelic, entering space-time to convey a message directly, supernaturally, from God to man. However, there are other places where the word clearly refers to a human being or even to the Law itself because the Law is, or should be, an important ‘message’ to us.
See the discussion of this matter in the study of the Book of Hebrews, here and here:
In our everyday English the Gr word ĕuaggĕlistēs is expressed by word evangelist. (What has been done in the English word is change the Gr prefix “eu” to “ev,” added the “n” sound to capture its Gr pronunciation, and changed the pronunciation so that it is e-van-jell-ist, instead of eu-an-gel-ee-oh, but otherwise it is a directly transliterated word into English, not a translation; had it been translated, it would have been to the English word “messenger,” or more completely “messenger of God’s Good News”).
Although off our main point here, we can note that we associate a non-Biblical meaning with the word evangelist in that we think of a special person who travels about in tent meetings or “evangelistic services” to save ‘the lost.’ In many contexts such a term carries the idea of something temporary, showy, dramatic, and perhaps even a little sketchy. (A internet search on “Billy Sunday” and “Aimee Semple McPherson” will find that they are both acclaimed to have been the “most famous” evangelists of their time, approximately 1900-1920 for Billy Sunday, and 1920-1940 for McPherson; such use of the term “evangelist” is, at best, a distortion).
Biblically, the root word that leads us to the word evangelist simply means one who is a messenger of “good news,” or in other words of “the Gospel.” So we have the family of words evangelist, evangelize(d), evangelize(-ing), even as the category evangelicals (designating, supposedly, ‘real serious christians’ or even of a political voting bloc). All of these terms are, to a degree, corruptions of the meaning of ĕuaggĕlistēs (and its other Biblical forms) as used in the Scriptures in that their use today conveys an idea of some specially anointed category / title of persons or of special, unique activities. But our purpose here is simply to show that we understand in ordinary English usage that the word evangelist is about a messenger with a message from God.
We have to end this sidebar with word of literal wonder. Isaiah 61:1-2 reads: The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;” (KJV), In the Gr OT, the Septuagint (LXX), the English four word translation to preach good tidings is from our single word here: euaggelízō.
Then in the NT we read:
16 And he [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias [Isaiah]. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. Luke 4 (KJV)
Where, again, the phrase to preach the gospel is a translation of the single Gr word euaggelízō. Jesus, who was of course LORD (Yahweh of the OT), was also both Savior and Messenger, sent (i.e., was the Messiah) to preach good news (euaggelízō). And the word anointed in vs. 18 above is the Gr word chríō, from which we get the transliterated English word Christ, meaning He was sent by a solemn act (anointing) of the Son by the Father to both preach the good news but also to perform the very action of salvation as the Lamb of God, saving His people from their sins and so fulfill and complete their eternal deliverance from God’s judgment for sin.
Messengers in 1 Cor 11
Returning to our consideration of 1 Cor 11, the text could be saying, as I believe it is, that the God-ordained role of communicating His word was given to certain men, whose word was to be tested by the hearers by comparison of Scripture to Scripture. Those men were, in that particular sense, messengers (angels) from God, as ordinary human beings though specifically gifted to speak on behalf of God. In the case of the Apostles, such as Paul, they were supernaturally gifted to speak and write the very words of God with, as we say, with true Apostolic authority. That unique messenger authority ceased with that one generation of Apostles, as there is no Scriptural basis for so-called “apostolic succession” of men whose words carry the infallible revelation of God independent of Scripture.
Apart from these uniquely called and gifted Apostles there were other men then, and countless others since, who have been called and gifted to communicate, teach, instruct, etc., the word of God. However, at the time of the Corinthian Epistles, the NT was being created by the work of the Holy Spirit by the hands of these Apostles. The danger then was recognizing what was reliably and authoritatively the Word of God in the absence of the complete NT revelation of God.
We still live in a doctrinally dangerous time. There has never been a time since the writing of the NT, or the OT for that matter, when there was not voices claiming some new, or alternate, revelation from God. So the warnings in the Corinthian Epistles had in a certain sense a unique context, the scope and source(s) of doctrinal authority continues to be under attack today, and likely even more so than back then.
Women as Messengers in the Church
So the issue of women speaking in church independently of such gifted / called men who were not Apostles but were teaching what they had learned from the Apostles and from the OT, would not be consistent with the order of authority that God has ordained unless the women spoke under externally evident submission to the authority of the written word or a proper explanation of it. This would speak to (1) the extreme importance of the accurate, orderly communication of God’s word and only His, and (2) distinguish the authorities of the local church of Christ from the wild and licentious practices of the pagan temples through Roman religion and especially in Corinth where there were reported to be a strong history of “priestesses” of pagan practice.
Disorder in the Church at Corinth
Correction of disorderliness is a prevalent theme in the Corinthian Epistle, beginning in the very first chapter where we see the members of that body claiming to be followers of various people, one of which was Christ. That was, from the very beginning of the letter, a massively important issue. And disorder issues recur in almost every chapter of the Epistle. Apparently, such disorder extended to women, perhaps those who have come from the practice of having priestesses leading things in the pagan world, carrying forward that practice to the NT church. In some cases that practice could have been well-meaning, but out of God’s order.
(And such an understanding of the meaning of “angels” as well as this entire issue of headcovering is antithetical and even an anathema to our culture today).