I'm just reading bits of Bruce W. Winter's: After Paul Left Corinth. His explanation of head coverings is excellent - and I've not come across some of his ideas before. I especially like his thoughts on 1 Corinthians 11:10 - "because of the angels"... A few quotations from this section summarise Winter’s argument. Please read the whole section if you’re interested in all of the evidence which supports his view.
"The vestibules of Roman houses were open to the street, and it was here that clients of wealthy patrons gathered for the morning salutatio. The house was specifically designed to be open to politeia. As such an outsider could come in. We know that this is precisely what they did, and were meant to do, in the Christian gathering (1 Corinthians 14:23). Whether it was out of interest in the message or in order to report on what these unknown gatherings were all about, ‘the meeting’ was open to all who wished to witness its proceedings…” (p135).
“One of Paul’s arguments for the veiling of married women while praying and prophesying was ‘because of the messengers’ . While it has been traditional for this to be translated ‘because of the angels’, the terms was also used of a messenger. The word ‘messenger’ in the first century did not necessarily imply that he was only the bearer of messages. It was also used of the conveyor of information about those he visited to the person on whose behalf he had been sent…” (p136).
“It would not be the first time that a person or persons in a Christian meeting gathered information concerning the way it operated. Paul spoke of ‘false brethren who sneaked in to spy out our liberty, that they might bring us into bondage’ (Gal.2:9). In Corinth the messengers had no Christian pretensions, unlike those in Galatia. Those with civic status or wealth whose curiosity was aroused about the Christian faith would not go to any meeting without having a client or others first carry back reports of its activities…” (p137).
“In the case of a colony with special loyalties to Rome, watching strange or foreign relations was all the more important. Concern about the ‘messengers’ as information gatherers on Christian meetings is explicable…. ‘For this reason’ Paul states, the wife is under obligation to wear the sign of her marriage as she prays and prophesies because of what its absence signalled to the inquisitive outsiders - she portrayed herself as the promiscuous Roman wife, i.e. an unashamed adulteress (1 Corinthians 11:10)...” (p138).
The whole of chapter 6 on: “Veiled Men and Wives and Christian Contentiousness (1 Corinthians 11:2-16)” is well worth a read. It’s full of cultural and linguistic evidence which helps to interpret this difficult passage.
"The vestibules of Roman houses were open to the street, and it was here that clients of wealthy patrons gathered for the morning salutatio. The house was specifically designed to be open to politeia. As such an outsider could come in. We know that this is precisely what they did, and were meant to do, in the Christian gathering (1 Corinthians 14:23). Whether it was out of interest in the message or in order to report on what these unknown gatherings were all about, ‘the meeting’ was open to all who wished to witness its proceedings…” (p135).
“One of Paul’s arguments for the veiling of married women while praying and prophesying was ‘because of the messengers’ . While it has been traditional for this to be translated ‘because of the angels’, the terms was also used of a messenger. The word ‘messenger’ in the first century did not necessarily imply that he was only the bearer of messages. It was also used of the conveyor of information about those he visited to the person on whose behalf he had been sent…” (p136).
“It would not be the first time that a person or persons in a Christian meeting gathered information concerning the way it operated. Paul spoke of ‘false brethren who sneaked in to spy out our liberty, that they might bring us into bondage’ (Gal.2:9). In Corinth the messengers had no Christian pretensions, unlike those in Galatia. Those with civic status or wealth whose curiosity was aroused about the Christian faith would not go to any meeting without having a client or others first carry back reports of its activities…” (p137).
“In the case of a colony with special loyalties to Rome, watching strange or foreign relations was all the more important. Concern about the ‘messengers’ as information gatherers on Christian meetings is explicable…. ‘For this reason’ Paul states, the wife is under obligation to wear the sign of her marriage as she prays and prophesies because of what its absence signalled to the inquisitive outsiders - she portrayed herself as the promiscuous Roman wife, i.e. an unashamed adulteress (1 Corinthians 11:10)...” (p138).
The whole of chapter 6 on: “Veiled Men and Wives and Christian Contentiousness (1 Corinthians 11:2-16)” is well worth a read. It’s full of cultural and linguistic evidence which helps to interpret this difficult passage.
