Because of the angels…

First Corinthians 11:10, the passage which tells us that women ought to have a symbol of authority on their head whenever they pray or prophesy in church because of the angels, has always had people scratching their heads (covered or uncovered).

This passage in 1 Corinthians regarding head coverings is a difficult enough passage without the additional phrase regarding the angels in verse 10. Largely the debate centers over whether the wearing of head coverings is a universal command of Scripture for all women in all places, or simply a cultural expression of a command that can be obeyed in a variety of expressions.

In this post, I want to simply focus on what “because of the angels” might mean.

This passage is found in 1 Corinthians 11–14, a section of Scripture that is dealing with orderly worship in the church—whether that be praying, prophesying, eating the Lord’s Supper or exercising spiritual gifts. Whatever the phrase might mean, it must be understood that Paul is giving instructions for orderly behavior in the church.

Four Interpretations

Thiselton¹ in his very beefy commentary provides a number of options from church history and modern interpreters:

1. angels are to be understood as church priests/bishops

2. angels are to be understood as fallen angels (the Watchers) of Gen 6:1–2

3. angels are holy angels which participate in the worship of the church

4. angels are guardian angels (Matt 18:10)

Thiselton also provides evidence from the Qumran scrolls, via Fitzmeyer², that 1QM 7:4–6 mentions that holy angels are present with the army, and 1QS 2:3–11 mentions that holy angels are present in the worshipping congregation.

Given the context of 1 Corinthians 11:10—that it is dealing with orderly worship—option three above appears most likely, supported by the evidence from 1QS 2:3–11.

Ecclesiastes 5:6

As I was reading in my Bible, I came across Ecclesiastes 5:6, the first half of which reads in the ESV “Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger⁴ that it was a mistake.” I intentionally left the footnote in the citation, because the footnote tells you in your English Bible that the word could also be translated as “angel.” Just as in Greek, ἄγγελος can mean “angel” (e.g. Matt 13:41) or “messenger” (e.g. Lk 7:24), so also in Hebrew מלאך can mean “angel” (e.g. 1 Kgs 19:5) or “messenger” (e.g. Neh 6:3).

Translation of מלאך

In Ecclesiastes 5:6, the Hebrew, Targum, Old Latin, and Vulgate all read “messenger/angel,” whereas the Septuagint and Peshitta read “God.”

Hebrew — אַל־תִּתֵּן אֶת־פִּיךָ לַחֲטִיא אֶת־בְּשָׂרֶךָ וְאַל־תֹּאמַר לִפְנֵי הַמַּלְאָךְ כִּי שְׁגָגָה הִיא

Targum — לא תנבל ית מימר פמך למגרם דין גיהנם עילי בשׂרך וביום דינא רבא לא תיכול למימר קדם מלאכא אכזראה דרדי בך ארום שׁלותא היא

Old Latin — Non des os tuum ut peccare facias carnem tuam, et ne dixeris in conspectu angeli, Quia ignorantia est,

Vulgate — ne dederis os tuum ut peccare faciat carnem tuam neque dicas coram angelo non est providentia

Septuagint — μὴ δῷς τὸ στόμα σου τοῦ ἐξαμαρτῆσαι τὴν σάρκα σου

καὶ μὴ εἴπῃς πρὸ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ ὅτι Ἄγνοιά ἐστιν

Peshitta — ܠܐ ܬܬܠ ܦܘܡܟ ܠܡܚܛܝܘ ܒܣܪܟ. ܘܠܐ ܬܐܡܪ ܩܕܡ ܐܠܗܐ ܕܛܘܥܝܝ ܗܝ.

It is noteworthy that Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotian are all united in revising the Greek text of τοῦ θεοῦ to τοῦ ἀγγέλου.³ The evidence supports understanding the original reading as “angel/messenger” not “God” in the Hebrew text of Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 5:1–7 and 1 Corinthians 11:10

The context of both passages is similar. Just as 1 Corinthians 11 is dealing with orderly worship, and specifically speaking in church (praying or prophesying), so also Ecclesiastes 5:1–7⁴ deals with how to act with your words when in the house of God (Eccl 5:1).

Granted I only had access to Thiselton’s commentary—maybe other commentaries note this verse—but given that his commentary is quite exhaustive, I was surprised to not find Ecclesiastes 5:6 mentioned as a biblical text that can help untangle 1 Corinthians 11:10.

It thus seems clear, on biblical and contextual evidence, that 1 Corinthians 11:10 is requiring propriety in worship because we participate with angels in corporate worship. Moreover, angels are God’s messengers (that explains why the word in Greek and Hebrew has an apparent double meaning). That is not to say God is not omnipresent, seeing and knowing all things—of course he is—but that the angels gather in God’s presence likely to report back (Job 1:6) and to be commissioned to do his bidding (Ps 103:20). This view is expressed in the Old and New Testament—and even among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Antisupernatural Age

The reason 1 Corinthians 11:10 is a “problem passage” is likely, not so much because of the biblical context, but because we are products of our anti-supernatural age that denies the existence, much less the presence(!), of angels in our day to day activities.

What would it do to our propriety and order in worship if we not only knew that God is among us (1 Cor 14:25), but also that God’s angels are with us, watching and worshipping?

1. Anthony Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, NIGTC (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000), 837–41.

2. Fitzmeyer, “A Feature of Qumran Angelology and the Angels of 1 Cor 11:10,” NTS (1957): 48–58.

3. Frederick Field, Origenis Hexaplorum, Vol 2, 389.

4. The Hebrew has a different versification for this section, 4:17–5:6.