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Chapter
2 The Woman and the Angels of 1
Corinthians 11:10 For this cause ought the woman to
have power on her head
because of the angels. By
Steve Santini February,
2016 Jesus often taught using parables, metaphors and similes. Paul also made use of this figurative rhetorical custom. Some of these figurative sections of scripture have been mistakenly interpreted in a literal fashion. The result of this literal interpretation, in this case, is the perception of a skewed relationship between men and women in the church. However if we dig deeper into Paul's figurative meanings we find something much different. The following passage of the Apostle Paul's
writings has been vigorously debated during more recent decades due to the
question concerning women in the clergy. Be ye
followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now I praise
you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I
delivered them to you. 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. Every man
praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth
his head. But every
woman that prayeth or prophesieth
with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head:
for that is even all one as if she were shaven.
For if the
woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman
to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.
For a man
indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and
glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is
not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
Neither was
the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. For this cause ought the woman to have
power on her head because of
the angels. Nevertheless
neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the
Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God. 1 Corinthians 11:1-10 In the Pauline world there were a variety of
customs that required married women to have their heads covered and widows to
have uncovered shaved heads. These customs still exist in areas of India
where the head covering dupatta is a symbol of a woman's marriage and accompanying
social status based on her husband's family name. On the other hand, widows
in those communities must have their heads uncovered and shaved.
Theologians write that the tenth
verse in this passage is one of the most difficult verses in scripture. It, and the passage in which it appears,
did not become difficult until after the deaths of the apostle Paul and his
closest followers in the first century. Since that time those who have
written about this passage have responded to it as if it were to be applied
literally.1 How could this be? Six verses later the Apostle Paul
wrote that the church had no such custom regarding the issues of head
coverings and shorn hair. But if
any man seem to be contentious, we have no such
custom, neither the churches of God.
1 Corinthians 11:16 If these customs were not
practically applicable in the church why then did Paul include this passage in
his writings? He included it as a figurative comparison. Jesus used the comparative figures
of speech defined as parables, metaphors and similes to teach his apostles
and disciples. In each, things seen are used as comparative representations
of spiritual truths that are unseen or obscure. The parable of the sower compared sown seed to the word of God and the
sprouting seed in various types of soil to the various responses of
individuals who heard the word of God.
When Jesus said, "the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who
made a marriage for his son," he was using a simile that compared the making of a marriage to the unseen kingdom of heaven. When Jesus broke the bread in
two and said this is my body he was using a metaphor that compared the cultural
and compositional aspects of the broken bread to the unseen elements of his
engendered spiritual body. In his
letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul employed marriage, widowhood and remarriage with husband ship as a
metaphorical comparison to explain the change of faithfulness to the Old
Testament Law unto the New Testament law of faith. For
the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law
to her husband so long as he liveth; but if
the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So
then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from
that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another
man. Wherefore,
my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that
ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the
dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Romans 7:2-4 In the fifth chapter of his letter
to the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus in Ephesus, Paul wrote a passage
that begins with a literally functional, subjective relationship of women to
men in marriage that then he shifts to the relationship of metaphorical men
and women. After that he compares the relationship of the metaphorical men
and women to the natural relationship between men and women in marriage There is no doubt that Paul was
comparing figurative men and women to literal husbands and wives in this
passage. It may not be apparent in the English translations; however it is
clear in the ancient Greek language texts. 22
Wives, submit
yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the
church: and he is the abore of the body. 24
Therefore as
the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their
own husbands in every thing. 25
Husbands, love
your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for
it; 26
That he might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27
That he might
present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any
such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28
So
ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. 29
For no man ever
yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30
For we are
members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31
For this cause
shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife,
and they two shall be one flesh. 32
This is a great
mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33
Nevertheless, let
every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself;
and the wife see that she reverence her husband.Ephesians
5:22-33 Of the many comparative Greek words
employed in this passage the pivotal comparative word for understanding the
entire passage is the one beginning verse twenty-eight. The English word
translated So beginning verse
twenty-eight of this Ephesian passage is the Greek
adverb ou[twj. This word is a strong correlative
comparison, comparing that which precedes to that which follows.2 What then precedes this comparative word and what
follows? The first
two verses of this passage refer to the observable relationship between
married men and their wives. The twenty-fourth verse begins with alla, the strongest of the Greek
contrasting conjunctions. The use of alla shows
that what comes next is different. What comes next after the alla translated as Therefore is what precedes in the
comparison pivoting on the ou[twjbeginning verse twenty-eight. Within the
context of these four verses beginning with the Therefore are several additional markers that differentiate its
subject from the husbands and wives of the opening two verses of the passage
and the compared subject of the closing verses. For example, if the husbands
and wives of the first two verses were the same as the husbands and wives of the
next four verses Paul would appear to be unnecessarily repetitive because
when he wrote, Therefore
as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to
their own husbands in every thing he was basically repeating what he
wrote before the Therefore in the
preceding first verse of the passage. A more notable additional marker is
the fact that in this four verse section from verse twenty-four to verse
twenty-seven the their own modifying
husbands and your modifying wives do not
appear in the large majority of texts used to compile the Received Greek Text.
In the contexts before and after this four verse section these type of
possessives do appear in all the texts.3 The Greek word aner translated husbands in this four verse section is more often translated men in scripture. Likewise the Greek
word gune
translated wives in this section is
more often translated as women.4 Since the
possessives their own and your do not appear in most of the Greek
texts the translation of this section would lend itself more so to the usage of
the words men and women. 24
Therefore as
the church is subject unto Christ, so let the women be to men
in every thing. 25
Men, love women,
even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26
That he might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27
That he might
present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any
such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. This translation would then provide
a correlative relationship of this section with the introductory passage of
first Corinthians, chapter five where the singulars of aner and gune are translated as man and woman. 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. 1
Corinthians 11:3 In the Ephesian
passage the word following the four verses from the twenty-fourth to the
twenty-seventh is the passage's pivotal comparative word So explaining that what has preceded is
to be compared to what follows. What follows is the physical unity
of men and women in marriage with a comparison to the members of Lord's one body. 28
So
ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. 29
For no man ever
yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30
For we are
members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31
For this cause
shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife,
and they two shall be one flesh. Paul makes this clear by using the
Greek word a;nqrwpoj, emphasizing the physical man, in
the thirty-first verse rather than the aner used previously emphasizing the
societal man. In the next verse Paul provides a
summary conclusion for the entire passage. 32
This is a great
mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. The mysteries of God are yet unseen
so they must be portrayed in comparative terms that can be seen as Jesus did
when he said, "the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who made a
marriage for his son." Here in Ephesians, chapter five the non-literal or
figurative men and women of verses twenty four through twenty seven are being
compared to literal husbands and wives in verses twenty-eight through
thirty-one. Who then are these figurative men
and women of this great mystery? That question is answered by Paul's
salutation in his Ephesian letter and the following
context of the letter. The salutation identifies the saints and the faithful
in Christ Jesus as the two groups to whom the letter is addressed.5 Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at
Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Ephesians 1:1 In the context of the letter, Paul
presents an alternating rhetorical interplay that differentiates between the
saints and the faithful in Christ Jesus. Then in the fifth chapter he unites
the two like a husband and wife. This alternation between the two
representations is first noticed when the subject changes from the first
person plural we to the second person
plural you in the first chapter. That
we should be to the praise of his glory, who first
trusted in Christ. In
whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed
with that holy Spirit of promise,
Ephesians 1:12-13 Then in the second chapter the
subject changes back from the you addressed to the we
originally addressed. Wherein
in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to
the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh
in the children of disobedience: Among
whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by
nature the children of wrath, even as others. Ephesians 2:2-3 This interchange continues, at
varying paces, through the letter. In the second chapter, at another
point of change, Paul specifies that it is the faithful of the Gentiles who
he is addressing. For we
are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them.
Wherefore
remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are
called Uncircumcision by that which is called the
Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; Ephesians 2:10-11 Why was he addressing only the
Gentile faithful? Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus was written from
Rome after his gospel in finality had been cast aside by even that city's
Jewish leaders thereby prompting him to turn entirely to the Gentiles. (Acts
28:17-31) According to the Old Testament
prophets Israel was considered as those souls being figuratively prepared for
betrothal and marriage to the forthcoming Messiah. In
scripture soul is feminine as designated by the word's gender and the culture.
David, himself, identified his soul specifically as feminine when he wrote: "My soul shall make her boast in the
LORD: the humble shall hear thereof,
and be glad." (Psalm
34:2) Jesus carried this feminine figure forward when he told the disciples that if anyone asked why they were taking the ass and its colt tell that "daughter of Sion" that the Lord had need of them. (Mat. 21:5, Zec. 9:9). Like his letter to the church in
Rome where he wrote that Gentiles of faith were grafted into the prophetic
root of Israel where Jews of unbelief were broken off, Paul makes the same
point with different words in the next verse of Ephesians chapter two. Romans: For I
speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I
magnify mine office: If by
any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and
might save some of them. For if
the casting away of them be the
reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be,
but life from the dead? For if
the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also
holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. And if
some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them abored
of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Romans 11:13-17 Ephesians: That
at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of
Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and
without God in the world: But
now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood
of Christ. Ephesians
2:12-13 On the day of Pentecost the betrothal
agreement was sealed for those of faith from femininely figured Israel by the
gift from the Holy Spirit. About ten years later after Israel, as an entire
nation, rejected the agreement and its confirming gift from the Holy Spirit,
the promise of eventual wholeness in consummate union like a marriage at the
coming of the Lord with all his saints was extended and accepted by Gentiles of
faith. (Acts 10ff) (Some, who ignore that Paul was no
longer addressing Israel, write that the two groups being addressed in Ephesians
are the Jews and Gentiles based on the following scripture. For he is our
peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of
partition between us; Ephesians
2:14 In their cursory reading of the verse
they identify the "middle" wall of partition as the outer wall of the temple beyond
which no Gentile could pass without incurring the death penalty. However, the
middle wall was not this outer wall. It was the middle of three walls that came
before the innermost wall separating the court of the men from the court of the
priests. This middle wall, being used metaphorically here, was the wall separating the court of women from the court of the men. So, the figurative women of Ephesians
chapter five, verses twenty-four through twenty-seven are the femininely
figured, Gentile, faithful in Christ Jesus who have been grafted into the
prophetic promises originally made only to femininely figured Israel. Who then are the figurative men of these verses? In the Eastern extended wedding
ceremonies the groom had at his beck and call a cadre of selected male
relatives to perform some important traditional customs. As the actual
wedding feast approached these male relatives accompanied the groom when he
was paraded through town announcing his upcoming marriage. Another pre feast
custom required that the bride express coyness. She did this by going to hide
in a female relative's home. It was then necessary for the groom's male
relatives to locate and retrieve the bride. The female relatives of the bride
feigned physical resistance until they were overcome and the bride was returned to her family's home. The traditional
extended wedding feast began on a night when the groom and his male relatives
paraded in a torch lit procession of singers and dancers circling town and
when the bride, accompanied by her female relations, came to meet them as they
entered town.6 The leader of this cadre of male relatives of the
groom is the biblical termed friend of
the bridegroom. That according to scriptural definition would be the
angelic forerunner, John the Baptist-the captain of an angelic band beneath
the banner of the Lord.7 (Luke 7:24, 27, Stephen's
Greek Text)8 In the eleventh chapter of the first
Corinthian letter when Paul wrote, "For this cause ought the woman to have
power on her head because of
the angels," he combined that which is figurative with that which is literal.
The woman is a collective noun
representing the faithful in Christ Jesus while the angels are literal
because saints represented figuratively as men and husbands who are the head
of the faithful are human souls endowed from conception with a preexistent angel
made a spirit. This Corinthian letter is also
addressed to both the saints and the faithful like Paul"s Ephesian
letter. However, due to the immaturity of the Corinthian church Paul uses
slightly different terms to identify them. Unto
the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ
Jesus, called to be saints, with(sun)
all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both
theirs and ours: 1 Corinthians 1:2 The saints are described as just called and the faithful as merely calling upon because they, in Corinth,
were both still carnally minded with rampant schisms as depicted in Paul's
letter to them. According to some textual critics,
the passage from the first verse of the eleventh chapter through the
sixteenth verse of Paul's first Corinthian letter is an introduction to the
following context that extends to the end of the fourteenth chapter.9 In the later context in chapter
fourteen, three verses present a message that similarly sets in order the
subjective relationship of figurative women to figurative men as presented in
the introductory verses of chapter eleven. 33
For God is not the
author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. 34
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. 35
And if they will
learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at
home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. 1 Corinthians 14:33-35 Some current theologians, on one
extreme, to placate ignorantly founded, misogynist claims against Paul, now
argue that the two passages regarding relations between men and women in the
four chapter section in first Corinthians are interpolations added in the
second century by a misogynist church.10 Most just hold he middle ground
dismissively writing that these customs were applicable then but are not now
or they acknowledge that Paul wrote that the churches he founded did not
observe the customs of head covering and shorn hair but they are empty in
their attempts to explain the reasons Paul did include these customs in his
letter to the church at Corinth. On the other extreme, a number respond with
reasonable refutation to the claims of interpolative additions but
subsequently hold traditionally to the nineteen hundred year literal
interpretation that limits the participation of actual women in the church.11 However, when the figurative usages
of men and women and the facts of scripture are considered all of these
interpretations are erroneous exegeses that diminish the Pauline revelation. Paul's Roman letter introduces
another counterpoint by providing several verses that identify an actual
woman as a saint. I
commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a
servant of the church which is at Cenchrea: That ye
receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and
that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath
been a succourer of many, and of myself
also. Romans 16:1-2 The word becometh in the
phrase as becometh
saints is avxi,wj. Lexicons define this word as deserved,
meet, due, worthy, equivalent to and entitled to. Plainly, when viewed
in the scope of saints and faithful in Christ Jesus, Phobe
was a saint and was entitled to be received by the church in Rome as a saint.
Although in the flesh a woman, from the heavenly perspective of Christ and
the encompassing church, she was a figurative man or husband. Paul, himself, when addressing the difference between the physical realm of flesh and the realm of Christ wrote that within the spiritual Christ there is no regard for the physical differences between men and women.(Gal. 3:28) This is in accordance with the words of Jesus who spoke of the ultimate completion of the one body of Christ upon the resurrection of the faithful in Christ Jesus. He said that the children of the resurrection are not given in marriage but are like the angels of God. (Luke 24:34-36) So how could
actual women like Phobe be required to keep quiet
when those of the same figurative kind were called out to function collectively
within the overall church? At this point the fundamental answer seems
apparent-women to keep silent in the thirty-fourth verse of chapter fourteen
in first Corinthians are the femininely represented faithful in Christ Jesus
and not actual women, and the husbands of verse thirty-five are the masculinely represented saints and the home is the
smaller fellowships that met regularly in houses.12
There is
also a verse in the context of Philippians that indicates actual women were
saints. It reads: And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women
which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement
also, and with other my fellowlabourers,
whose names are in the book of life. Philippians 4:3 The Philippian letter was written to "all the saints in Christ Jesus
which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons." The word with joining the saints and the
bishops and deacons in the Greek text is sun.
Sun is a preposition of association
meaning next to or beside. These bishops and deacons with the saints were
from the mature faithful in Christ Jesus responsible for the further
maturation of souls within the church, both individually and collectively. The fact that Paul was addressing
two groups in his letter appears again by his usage of the Greek word e[teroj meaning others of a different kind in
contrast to the Greek word a;lloj and its various forms meaning others of the same
kind. In the fourth verse of the second chapter of Philippians Paul's usage
of e[teroj is contrasted with a form of a;lloj in the previous verse. Let
nothing be done through
strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem
other better than themselves. Look
not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.13
Philippians 2:3-4 (In a corresponding manner Luke used
this word e[teroj to make a distinction between the twelve sent out
by Jesus before his transfiguration and the ensuing seventy sent out
afterwards. (Luke 10:1)) When Paul writes "And I intreat thee also true yokefellow" in the third verse of
Philippians, chapter four he is specifically addressing the bishops and
deacons Yokefellow is the Greek
word su,zugoj. By the
time the New Testament was written this Greek word was used predominately of those united by the bond of
marriage.14 So Paul, the
saint, as a figurative husband was in a relationship like a marriage with the
others identified as bishops and deacons in his salutation to those in
Philippi. In his position of a saint Paul asked the bishops and deacons to help
those women which labored with him in the gospel. These who labored with him
were actual women as implied by the further addition of the actual name
Clement. Evidently, the relationship that
Paul had with these women is different that the relationship he had with the
bishops and deacons-it was an in kind relationship. Paul as a saint
identified the bishops and deacons as being beside the saints by his usage of
the Greek preposition sun in the
salutation. In this verse regarding the women Paul used the Greek preposition
meta to
describe his relationship with them. The Greek preposition meta translated also as with implies an in kind relationship
and its definition weighs heavily on the side of in the midst of and among
rather than beside and accompaniment like the definitions sun.15 The scope of the subject, the
context, the syntax and the definition of words all show that these women
were saints also who, like Phobe, could not be
denied the right to speak in the periodic assemblages of the saints and
likewise were figurative husbands to whom the faithful as figurative wives
could address questions in the regularity of the smaller home fellowships. In
the second verse of the Corinthian chapter eleven introduction
to the section that spans the four chapters of eleven, twelve, thirteen and
fourteen Paul, as in Ephesians, used a comparative adverb to remind the
Corinthians that the subjects that followed were based on contrasts and
similarities between literal and figurative constituents. That comparative
adverb is the Greek word is kaqw,j. The Greek word kaqw.j is a prefixed
word. The base word is the comparative adverb w.j.. The prefix kaq is a form of the preposition kata, which means down upon and over.16 Its base w.j. is also the comparative base of the
Greek word ou[twj
that introduces the comparison in the twenty-seventh verse of
Ephesians, chapter five. In this second verse kaqw,j modifies the Greek verb pare,dwka translated delivered. According to the Fribergs'
lexicon this verb means an authoritative commitment of something to someone.17 Other lexicons follow suit with
similar definitions. The phrase in which this adverb and verb appear should
be translated I comparatively delivered
to you referring to the ordinances that they were to have kept as a
result of his teaching during his prior eighteen months with them. Paul uses this verb form pare,dwka
two more times in Corinthians. For I
have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord
Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 1
Corinthians 11:23 For I
delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures; 1 Corinthians 15:3 He also uses the word in his letter
to the church in Rome. But
God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the
heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Romans 6:17 Jude, a younger brother of Jesus who
wrote as the Pauline churches were breaking apart in the latter decades of
the first century, also used this word pare,dwka
to define what had been the primary mission of the angelic saints. Beloved,
when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was
needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should
earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Jude 1:3 In this verse the indirect object of
this verb translated delivered is
the word saints. It is in the Greek
dative case. The Greek dative case can either express the location or the
means.18
In harmony with the scope of the subject in the Pauline letters, here, the
saints are the means by which the faith was once delivered; so this phrase,
rather than translated which was once
delivered unto the saints should be translated which was once delivered by the saints. The women in the third verse of the
fourth chapter of Philippians labored with Paul in the gospel. What gospel?
In his Philippian letter, imprisoned Paul expresses
that the furtherance of his gospel of Christ as his major concern. (Phil
1:27) These natural women, as saints responsible for delivering the gospel of
Christ, had labored in such with the apostle Paul as the figurative man who
is the head of the figurative woman in first Corinthians, eleven and as the
figurative men who are the head of the figurative women, as should be
translated, in Ephesians, chapter five, verses twenty-four and twenty-five. Therefore the women to keep silent
in the verses one through ten of the eleventh chapter and in verses
thirty-two through thirty-four of the fourteenth chapter of first Corinthians
cannot refer to actual women and must then be the feminine figurative
representations of the faithful in Christ Jesus. Likewise, in the tenth verse of the
eleventh chapter that has also been a quandary to theologians; the woman is a figurative
representation of the faithful in Christ Jesus and the angels is
a factual expression of the fundamental composition of the saints. For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.1 Corinthians 11:10 Hebrews begins with a treatise on
the Lord and his angels. In it the Pauline author writes: But to
which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are
they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall
be heirs of salvation? Hebrews
1:13-14 In his epilogue he reminds readers
that these unseen angels made spirits are (by grace) present in certain human
souls. Be not
forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels
unawares. Hebrews 13:2 The
apostle Paul, as a saint, could speak in the language of an angel because he
had been endowed with an angel made a spirit. Though
I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am
become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 1 Corinthians 13:1 One day
all the saints will come as the Lord's holy angels in a manner like Moses and
Elijah did with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. They will come to
gather together the faithful in Christ Jesus for the coming of the Lord
himself for his wedding feast. Luke wrote about the coming of the Lord in the
following verse. For whosoever shall be ashamed of me
and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come
in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the
holy angels. Luke 9:26 In the phrase of
the holy angels, holy, in the
underlying Greek, is the exact word translated as saints over fifty times in Paul's letters-that is, the masculine
gender a[gioj and not
its currently applied neuter gender
as translated in Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost, or its feminine gender used to describe the
church as in Ephesians, chapter five, verse twenty-seven . According to the
Greek genitive case, plural number, and attributive position of the masculine a[gioj in this verse, it modifies angels as an adjective of possession and should be translated
as saints' angels.
19 The author of Mark expressed this
truth a bit more definitively in the Greek of the following verse. Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed
of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also
shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father
with the holy angels. Mark 8:38 In the Greek the King James phraseology that reads
with the holy angels reads meta. Tw/n
avgge,lwn tw/n a`gi,wn. Notice that there are five words in
the Greek phrase and only four in the King James translation. The missing
word is the definite article tw/n modifying a`gi,wnwhich
is the Greek masculine gender, plural word translated holy in the gospels but saints
in Paul's letters. This definite article is a delineator between the angels, tw/n avgge,lwn,
and saints. Meta is the
preposition translated with. The
rules of Greek grammar specify that the object of the preposition is the
closest following, case-required noun to the preposition. In this instance
that would be the angels, tw/n avgge,lwn . The saints, tw/n a`gi,wn, in its agreeing genitive case, masculine
gender and plural number shows the who of the
possession or origin of the angels. In this case the phrase should be
translated as with the angels of the
saints.20, 21 Scripture
declares that the Old Testament Law was administered by angels. Stephen, when
confronting the religious leaders of Israel, said: Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye
have been now the betrayers and murderers:
Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not
kept it. Acts 7:52-53 Likewise, the law of faith inherent in Paul's
gospel of Christ is
administered by angels. And the figurative woman functions with authority
under this covering otherwise she is as a widow uncovered and shorn of her
glory. These
saints, endowed with angels made spirits, as figurative husbands of the
woman, delivered the word of faith that fulfilled the word of God once and
for all over one thousand, nine hundred years ago. Historically, Paul's gospel of Christ was discounted and decimated after his
death and has yet to be revived in glory as prophesied.22 Paul knew this. He wrote of the
mystery of iniquity that was already at work during his ministry. He also
wrote of the standing away from truth that was to separate that time from the
coming of the Lord with all his saints. Peter also wrote of a time period
between that day's sufferings of Christ and the glory to follow. Jesus even
spoke of a time when the Father would be shown plainly rather than in
figures. Until then, when the saints come as the Lord's angels these
figures of husbands or men for the saints and wives or women for the faithful
in Christ Jesus paint a picture of the hope set before us. ****** 1 A. Philip Brown II, A Survey of the History of the
Interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11:2-16, Aldersgate Forum 2011 2 JosephThayer's
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament,
#3896 3 George Ricker Berry, The Interlinear Literal Translation of The Greek New Testament, p. 509 4 James Strong, Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Greek #435 & #1135 5 Steve
Santini, The Conjunctive
Kai of Ephesians 1:1 6 H. Clay Trumbull, Studies in Oriental Social Life, pp.
53-61 See: Representations of Divine Union in the Living
Allegory of the Eastern Betrothal and Wedding Feast 7 Third century Origen is considered as the first Christian theologian. In his prologue to his commentary on Song of Songs he distinguishes four persons namely, "the bridegroom with the bride, the young maidens, and the companions of the bridegroom":and he says that "the angels are the companions of the bridegroom." Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Whether Angels Receive Dowries 8
Berry, p. 172; In the Greek
texts John the Baptist and his closest followers are identified as an angels by
the usage of a;ggeloj that is translated
179 times as angels and only 7 times
as messenger or messengers-four of those seven mistranslations are applied to John
the Baptist or his disciples in the gospels. 9
<1> [11:2-14:40] This
section of the letter is devoted to regulation of conduct at the liturgy. The
problems Paul handles have to do with the dress of women in the assembly (1 Cor 11:3-16), improprieties in the celebration of community
meals (1 Cor 11:17-34), and the use of charisms or spiritual gifts (1 Cor
12:1-14:40). The statement in 1 Cor 11:2 introduces
all of these discussions New American Bible Notes (1Co 11:2) 10 William O. Walker, Interpolations in the Pauline Letters Bart Erhman, Forgery
and Counter-forgery: The Use of Literary Deceit in Early Christianity, p. 377 Lamar
Cope, 1 Cor 11:2-16: One Step Further, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 97,
No. 3 (Sep., 1978), pp. 435-443
Christopher Mount, 1 Corinthians 11:3-16: Spirit Possession and Authority in a Non-Pauline Interpolation, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 124, No. 2 (Summer, 2005), pp. 313-314 11 Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, The
Non-Pauline Character of 1 Corinthians 11:2-16?, Journal of Biblical Literature,
Vol. 95, No. 4 (Dec., 1976), pp. 615-621 12 Strong, Greek #3624 oi=koj
translated as home
in 1 Cor. 14:35 is translated as "house" 110 times and "home" only 4 times 13 Berry, pp. 514-15, The
word man is not in the Greek texts. 14 Thayer, #4977 Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott,
Sir H. S. Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon suzugos 15 Timothy Friberg, Barabra Friberg, & Neva F Miller, A Greek-English Lexicon. Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, #18234 16 Strong, Greek #2596 17 Friberg, Friberg, & Miller, #20543 18 J. Gresham Machen, New Testament Greek for Beginners, #115 19 J.W. Wenham, , The Elements of New Testament Greek, p. 5, 48 20 Herbert Wye, Smyth,
A Greek Grammar for Colleges, GENITIVE OF
EXPLANATION (APPOSITIVE GENITIVE) #1322 Machen, #376-379 21
Translators and
authors of commentaries are not always objective. They work under the
influences of the prevalent theology and the prerogatives of their patrons.
Subsequent translators and authors often follow suit by depending on earlier
works especially if an earlier publication was well received and/or became
popular. 22 Walter
Bauer, Orthodoxy & Heresy in Earliest
Christianity, Chpt. 8, pp. 213-228 ****** Appendices The Synonymous Gods, Angels and Saints According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Ephesians 1:4 The Saints Shall Judge as Angels 1 Corinthians 6:1-3 Know ye not that we shall judge
angels? how much more things that pertain to this
life? Or Know ye not
that because of angels we shall judge? How much more things of this life? Chapter 1 The
Saints are the Lord's Holy Angels September,
2015 Chapter 3 The Man and the Covered Woman in 1 Corinthians 11:8-12 July, 2016 Copyright, 2016, Steve Santini |