In practically all ages custom has dominated the world. What was true of yesterday is equally true of today. However, custom is ever changing. This is evident right from that period in the world’s history when the building of the Tower of Babel was interrupted and earth’s people divided into tribes and nations, having their own languages and adopting customs to suit their own particular tastes and requirements.
History supplies us with many changing aspects of civilization. Some speak of these changes as progress and no doubt, in most instances, the changing habits of humans in the way of living, dress, manners, etc., are more or less controlled by a natural urge f or improvement and change to satisfy the ego of man.
Nations are made up of individuals. A common expression will illustrate my point, “I like this!” or “I don’t like that!”. Collectively these individual likes and dislikes play a big part in determining the customs applicable in all ages. National outlooks dominated by the social, religious and political outlook of the people have in turn evolved what has become the accepted rule of the respective generations, no matter of what nationality. Custom, therefore, has been and still is a very subtle and fickle phase of the way of life.
My reason for this introduction is that 1 Cor 11 very aptly uses one of the customs of the apostle’s day to establish a spiritual truth. That custom has to do particularly with the social status of men and women. From early times it has been recognized that the male is the dominant partner, both in the home life as well as in the civil and political. The woman has a very subordinate role, generally, in the affairs of any nation. In recognition of this she had in her dress to adopt a style which symbolized her humble status by a covering of her head, being veiled when appearing in public. To fail to acknowledge this custom would bring punishment and shame upon her.
An extract from -Watson’s Biblical and Theological Dictionary”, 1850, briefly summarises the position in a commentary on the wearing of a veil in Old Testament times and which existed in the days of the Apostles:
“Women were wont to cover their faces with veils in token of modesty, of reverence and subjection to their husbands (Gen. 24-6, 1 Cor. 113), To lift up the veil of a virgin is reckoned a gross insult; but to take away the veil of a married woman is one of the greatest indignities that she can receive, because it deprives her of the badge which distinguishes and dignifies her in that character, and betokens her alliance to her husband and her interest in his affection. This is the reason why the Spouse so feelingly complains in the Song of Solomon 7, saying, ‘They took away my veil’. When it is forcibly taken away by the husband, it is equivalent to divorce and justly reckoned a most severe calamity. As recorded in Isaiah 3. 18-23, God threatened to take away the ornamental dresses of the daughters of Zion, including the ‘low descending veils’—’In that day the Lord will take away the changeable suits of apparel and the mantles, and the fine linen, and hoods, and the veils’.”
We know how God in the course of time did divorce Israel and stripped her of all her former glory, because she played the harlot, turning her back on God to worship the idols of the surrounding nations. The final displeasure of the Lord was indicated by the Eternal, when Jesus on the cross of calvary yielded up the spirit, “The veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent” (Matt. 27. 51).
The lesson we learn from this is the deep spiritual significance of “the veil”, which as a covering of the woman denoted modesty and faithfulness to her husband. Such God required of His people. Israel played the harlot and her marriage was annulled and this was followed by God’s grace being poured out upon the gentiles. The ecclesias of today are spiritual Israel and, if unfaithful though espoused to one husband (Christ), their alliance will also be annulled by, I know you not!” if the principles and requirements of our Lord are not faithfully accepted and rigidly observed.
The Apostle writing to the Church of Corinth would have all these facts before him. It is evident in the reading of the 11th chapter that he also had before him the beginning of creation. It will be remembered that Adam was made “in the likeness and image of God”, whilst Eve was formed around the -rib” of Adam which had been removed when he had been put into deep sleep. Adam was given dominion over the earth and Eve was given to man as an help meet. Hence the subordinate status of the woman. As time went on and the earth’s people began to multiply so the wearing of a veil by women became the symbol of the relationship between man and woman. The first record we have of this custom is in Genesis 24. 65, which says that when Rebekah first saw Isaac coming to meet her she “took a veil and covered herself”.
Thus the apostle points out that it was unseemly for a woman to be without a covering, or to cut her hair, whereas the man, to the contrary, had short hair. Hence he writes, “Doth not even nature itself teach you that, if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair it is a glory to her: for her hair was given her for a covering” (l Cor. 11. 14- 15). It is on this basis that he contrasts the position of the man and the woman in the Lord in the purpose of God, saying, “For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head” (that is, as shown in the margin—a covering, in sign that she is under the power of her husband); and, as an added emphasis, he says, “because of the angels” ( 1 Cor. 8-10).
This brings me to the question of our subject, “Because of the angels”. To take these words and try to analyze them apart from the context and subject matter of Paul’s discussion in this 11th chapter would lead us nowhere. We must take into account the sum of his discourse and argument as contained in verses 1 to 16. It will be noted that he emphasises this warning, “But if any man seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God”.
Seemingly, so far as custom was concerned, it was not to become a matter of contention. Custom as such, whether in Paul’s day or ours, is of very little significance. Paul uses it to demonstrate a vital spiritual Truth. His main objective was to impress upon the mind of the believer an unalterable Divine principle which must be recognized amongst the Household of Faith in all ages. This principle he announces in verse 3, in words which are both definite and final, saying, “But I would have you know; that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God” (l Cor. 11.3).
It will be obvious that in this order of subordination the Divine plan is being worked out by God. To usurp authority which is not given to us is to deny the authority of God. In other words a man must play his part of faith according to the principles laid down by God, likewise the woman her part. To disobey is as rebellion and rebellion is as witchcraft and this we learn from the scriptures in punishable with death. Let us, therefore, pursue the matter further.
It would appear that Paul, in directing the attention of the believers to this all-important Divine principle, did so because the women in the early churches were either usurping the authority of the men or disregarding their subordinate status in the Divine plan. So in verse 5 it says, “Every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head; for that is even all one as if she were shaven”. In other words, he is saying, that even as it is, according to custom, a shame for a woman to go about without a veil, so to take the part of the man in public worship, in praying or speaking, she dishonoureth her head—that is, the man or brother in the Truth—and brings shame upon herself in the sight of God.
On the same principle, neither Paul nor any other brother in Christ would dare to uncover their head, that is, Christ. Neither did Christ our Lord assume headship before God. This he was careful to demonstrate in the use of the Holy Spirit-power in healings and miracles, saying to the recipients, either directly or indirectly, “Give God the glory”.
But our subject concerns the words used by Paul, “Because of the angels”. Where does this fit into the picture? Well, in my view, it is an added example. Whereas in the first place Paul used a custom of natural man to illustrate a spiritual truth, he turns, as it were, to the spirit world, that is ,the angels before God, to confirm the same Divine principle governing the heavens. The angels are spirit beings: “God maketh His angels spirit and His messengers a flame of fire.” Their abode is with God in heaven. The scriptures clearly show they are “sons of glory”, consubstantial with the Father. Nevertheless, they too are subordinate to God; they are his messengers that perform His holy will. During creation they laboured six days and rested on the seventh and have been used by the Eternal One to direct the affairs of God’s purpose in the hearth. They are God’s helpers even as the woman is man’s helper. Even as the angels would not usurp the authority of God, so woman must not usurp the authority of the man. Simple as all that, but God’s wisdom, if we will only look for it, is found in simple things.
It is the woman’s part that comes very much, as it were, under fire, the subservient part she must play as against the man in the ecclesia. Again in verse 7 Paul confirms this view, saying, “For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, for as much as he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of man”. This indicates that the man praying or prophesying (preaching) must not ape the woman by having his head covered with a veil or such like, as he has been created in the image and glory of God. Paul emphasises this point by saying, Doth not even nature teach that it is a shame for man to have long hair”. The reference to hair being only to show the contrast between the man and the woman —”the woman’s hair being given her for a glory, being as she is, the glory of man”.
I do not agree with the prevalent belief amongst us that the apostle was impressing the need for the wearing of hats by women, as is the custom amongst us today. To say the least of it, present day fashions, varying from very small to very large hats, do not in any way correspond with the veils worn by women in the apostle’s day. Neither are women’s hats used today as a token of modesty, reverence and subjection to their husbands. Rather do we find in this western world of women that the democratic spirit is one not of subservience but of equality. Whilst this may be pleasing to the flesh and appeal to the vanity of women in the world, it definitely is not acceptable to the Spirit. “God’s ways are not our ways.” “God is the Potter and we are the clay.” He sets the rules governing His holy purpose and it is our duty as well as our pleasure to observe strictly both the letter and spirit of His law.
Paul makes it clear in other places the part the believing sister must play in the ecclesia. Her status must be in complete accord with her counterparts of the first century ecclesia. Her role in God’s service in the vineyard of Christ is an important though subservient one. To disregard it by usurping man’s role is tantamount to a denial of God’s right to impose laws and principles to direct His “called out ones” in the way of life.
In the 14th chapter the apostle is taking to task the brethren of the Corinthian ecclesia for the fruitless confusion by both men and women, possessed of the Holy Spirit, in the use of tongues and prophesying. Paul instructs against this disorderly conduct, “Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law”. And to re-emphasise this instruction he continues, “And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home; for it is a shame for women to speak in the church” (1 Cor. 14. 34-35). The reason is obvious: because the woman is in subjection to the man. Thus to Timothy Paul exhorts, -But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence” (l Timothy 2. 12).
In view of these very definite teachings of the apostle I would counsel sisters in Christ to review constantly their place and standing in His service. The very evident democratic spirit so prevalent amongst us is contrary to the spirit of the Truth. We are a people apart, “sanctified”, as Jesus said. “by God’s word and truth”. ‘We are not of this world” and, therefore, must repudiate its unwholesome ways and allow God to rule in our hearts by love. This is theocracy; which we may translate as meaning God’s government. To be true to the principle laid down by our Heavenly Father we must allow God to rule in the ecclesia by love knowing that the coming divine kingdom to be established under Christ our Lord will be, as we should now be, a theocracy.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One