“Because of the Angels”: A Timeless Directive for Female Head Coverings in Church?
Among others, K. P. Yohannan argues that the final phrase in 1 Cor 11:10, “because of the angels,” makes the directive for women—married or unmarried—to wear head coverings while praying and prophesying a timeless and universal directive for the church. This paper will show that while 1 Cor 11 holds many timeless principles, nothing about Paul’s instruction on head coverings should be seen to apply outside of the immediate context of first-century Corinth. The phrase, “because of the angels” makes Paul’s directive no less a matter of culture, a question specific to the first-century church at Corinth. In arguing that the practice of women wearing head coverings in the assembled church, Yohannan states: “When he talks about the head covering, however, there is no mention of anything remotely cultural. Instead, Paul goes to lengths to describe its spiritual roots—the divinely ordained authority structure God established at the original creation and reaffirmed in the new creation of