[Steve Myers] Welcome to another session of Epistles of Paul. We've been going through 1 Corinthians 10, just finished that up last time, and are going to jump into chapter 11. And as we get into the next several chapters, oftentimes there are themes that are connected to these next few chapters. And in chapter 11, it's sometimes known as the Traditions of the Church chapter. You might want to make a note of that in case it would ever appear on a test or something like that. But in chapter 11, it deals with traditions of the Church. And the apostle Paul is going to rehearse some of these things with the Corinthians. And as you remember, the Corinthians were very familiar with Paul. He had lived there for how long? A year and a half.

He had lived there for 18 months as the Church began. And so he knew these people and they knew him. They knew his behavior, they knew how he worked. He was working and preaching and teaching, taking on huge responsibilities. And so as he begins chapter 11, it helps us to realize, no wonder he could say this because they knew him. And so notice how he begins this chapter, sometimes known as Traditions in the Church. He starts in verse 1.

1 Corinthians 11:1 "Imitate me just as I also imitate Christ."

So Paul could call on his own example. They knew what his example was like. And so he says, "Follow my example." And that doesn't mean that you should judge whether or not he's following Christ. It's not really intimating that. He's saying, "As I follow Christ, this is the example that you should follow." He is an imitator of Christ. So as he imitates Christ, that's the example that we should follow.

And so it almost has a different connotation in the Greek that you should continually or ever be imitators of me is more of the literal translation. And in fact, the word for imitating is the same base word that we in English get our word mimic. Mimic. So if you saw the Greek variation, mimitae [SP] is the word in Greek, we get our English word mimic me or imitate me. Imitate me, not just me, myself, but as I imitate Christ. And Paul refers to this a number of times in his letters. There's another example of this. If you hold your place here in 1 Corinthians 11, go over to Ephesians 5. At the beginning of chapter 5 in Ephesians, he makes another reference to mimicking or imitating. And in this example, he uses a little bit different imitator. Notice what he says here in Ephesians 5:1.

Ephesians 5:1 He says, "Therefore, be imitators of God, be imitators of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ has also loved us, and given Himself for us."

So Christ is the one we imitate. Be imitators of God, mimic God's behavior, mimic his example. And so that's the point he's trying to make. That's ultimately the example that we should strive to follow. And so as we do that, that means certain perspectives, certain behaviors have to follow. They have to be our character if we're going to be imitators of Christ. So notice how he uses that, if we go back to 1 Corinthians 11, to get into his next subject. Remember we're talking about traditions in the Church, and here's one he begins to emphasize.

1 Corinthians 11:2 He says, "Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things, and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you."

And so some were doing well that way. So it's always good to highlight the things that are right, and not just the things that are wrong. So it's a good thing here. So he's praising that, "This is a good thing to keep the traditions as I gave them to you, keep following those things." All right, so what's an example of that?

1 Corinthians 11:3 He says, "I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ."

Interesting he starts there. Why? Well, he just said, imitate Christ. Imitate Christ. So let's take this example. The head of every man is Christ, "Imitate me as I imitate Christ." Paul was under the authority of Christ. And they knew that by looking at his example, he was there with them. Keep this tradition. Understand this truth, in other words.

So he says, "I want you to know the head of every man is Christ. The head of every woman is man. And the head of Christ is God."

So here Paul is beginning to emphasize, well, first of all, the authority of Jesus Christ. And he's also talking about the family structure. What is the family structure that was established by God? Well, here he begins to point this out, and you could refer to this, I think, probably most appropriately as the divine order of the family. The divine order of the family. How did God establish family? It's interesting today, here in America, do we know what a family is anymore? Well, a family could be two moms, two dads, could be a whole array of whatever. But here he points out this is God's order. This is how God designed things. "The head of every man is Christ. The head of woman is man. The head of Christ is God."

And so he's emphasizing order. God is a God of order, He's a God of authority, and there is a divine structure to things. And so he begins to point that out, that yes, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. So even Christ is under the authority of the Father. And so interesting that he emphasizes that. And of course, in the divine order of things, this is the way that God designed it. Now we might have a sneak peek ahead because some people might say, "Oh, well, Paul is talking about 1st century, the way things were ordered back then. And of course, the man was in charge of the family back then. But today we're in the 21st century. None of this stuff applies today. This was 1st century Roman culture coming from the Greeks here in Corinth. And yeah, of course the men were in charge, and the women were subservient to them." And so oftentimes, people would look at this and say, "This doesn't apply today."

Well, does it? And why would it if so? Should we worry about this today? Is this true today that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God? Is the man the head of the family, even today in the 21st century? Okay, why would that be? Why would that be? What reasoning does Paul use to make that point? Does he just say, "Well, that's culture today in 1st century Roman empire. And so that's the way it is." Well, some people feel that today. In fact, most Christians out there feel that's the case that none of this applies today because we live in a different world. This is a whole different culture. So none of this applies today. Well, that's not biblical because if you recognize what Paul says and the proof that he uses for that fact, we realize this is not a cultural thing. Notice where he goes with his reasoning.

If we skip and maybe take a sneak peek ahead, jump down to verse 8.

1 Corinthians 11:8 He says, "Man is not from woman, but woman from man. Nor was man created for the woman but woman for the man."

So in other words, Paul is saying this is not a 1st century thing. This is not a cultural thing. This is a God thing. God created the family. This is the divine order of the family. A man is the head of the household. A woman is subservient to man. Man is subservient to Christ. Christ is subservient to God. That's the divine order of the family. And how do we know that? By creation. By creation. So Paul goes back to creation to validate this point. He doesn't say this is a 1st century tradition. No, the tradition in the Church is this is the divine order that God created it this way. God made it this way. That's why this is valid.

And that's why you just can't say, "Well, this is the 21st century and this doesn't apply." What do you mean creation doesn't apply today? Well, of course it does. Of course it does. So that same reasoning still applies today. This is not a 1st century thing. And so that's important to recognize that very fact. This is the divine created order, the family structure that was instituted by God at creation. That hasn't changed. That hasn't changed. And so I think in one way it helps us to recognize, no wonder Satan has attacked the family today. Because if you can do away with the family, hopefully you can undermine God's plan. And that's Satan's thinking, because the family should be an illustration of God's family. The human family should be a representation of what God is doing spiritually. That's the way God intended it. And so if you can undermine the family, Satan thinks he can undermine the plan of God. And so yeah, he's done a pretty good job of that today, hasn't he? So taking a look at this, notice what he begins to talk about here as he emphasizes order, authority, and the divine structure of the family.

1 Corinthians 11:4 He says, "Every man praying or prophesying having his head covered, dishonor his head."

So a man who's praying or prophesying, well, he's praying to God, he's prophesying. Now that prophesying word, it can mean to foretell the future. It can mean that. But it seems in this instance really what it's referring to is inspired speaking, that prophesying can also have that connotation, to speak in inspired ways. To prophesy, in other words, to speak from biblical principles. And of course, we do that in our families, we do that in our Bible studies. We do that at church when we talk to people, and we encourage them, we edify them. That's kind of a prophesying where we're encouraging them and speaking in inspired ways.

"And so every man," he said, "should not cover his head." He says, "By doing that you dishonor your head." Of course, the head of man, he just got done saying, is Christ. Is Christ. And so in respect to Christ, our heads should be uncovered. So should we wear a yamaka, or a skull cap, or those...? No, he's saying, no, we shouldn't have our head covered. Your head shouldn't be covered. In another way, that we'll get to in just a moment, yeah, you don't cover your head. In fact, it's kind of interesting. There's some traditions that are out there that show respect by removing your hat. Today, you don't see it too often. Actually, I saw it the other day, which was kind of an interesting thing.

I had just conducted a funeral, and there was a procession going to the cemetery. And so we're following the hearse to the cemetery. And of course, there's usually a long line of cars that are going to the cemetery. And the police were stopping traffic at the traffic light so that the funeral procession could go through and get to the cemetery and that sort of thing. And it was kind of interesting. You don't see it very often today, but as we were coming up, there was an older gentleman on one of the corners, and as this funeral procession that we were a part of approached, he stopped and he took off his hat, and covered his heart with his hat as the procession went by. I don't see that much today. And so it just reminded me, here was a man showing respect to the family of this person who had died. And so even today, uncovering your head, sometimes you actually even see that, used to be when you walked into a building, you take your hat off as a sign of respect as well.

Not much out there today in that way, but once in a while you still happen to see that. So that is part of that idea, that custom to remove a hat was done out of respect. And here we see for a man, their head should not be covered in respect to Christ. Now it's also interesting in verse 5 then, what about the woman? Remember there is a divine order of the family. God made men men, and women women. And their roles are different, their roles are different.

1 Corinthians 11:5 He says, "Every woman," verse 5, "who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered, dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved."

So similar situation, they're praying, or they're speaking inspired things. And if their head is uncovered, they dishonor their head. So here's the idea of respect, the idea of being under authority. And here we see the women shouldn't demonstrate their authority by having their head uncovered, just like the man did when he was praying or prophesying. And so here it says that she should have her head covered. If she's uncovered, it's dishonorable. It's dishonorable. And so it's kind of an interesting scenario here. He says, "Then it's the same as if her head were shaved." Well, what is that indicating? Well, let's read a little bit more.

1 Corinthians 11:6 "If a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn." So shorn would be really short hair. Shaved would be, well, shaved as it might indicate. So let her be shorn if she's not covered. "But if it's shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered."

So it is shameful for a woman to be shorn, to have really short hair, or to be shaved. He says she should be covered. On the other hand, let's get the context here.

1 Corinthians 11:7 "If a man indeed ought not to cover his head, no, they shouldn't have a covering since he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of man."

So here we get back to that divine order of the family. The head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man. What does that connect to? Back to creation again. Man is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. Now, how could you say that? Well, look what it ties into.

1 Corinthians 11:8 "For man is not from woman, but woman from man.”

So how was man made? How was Adam made? The dust of the ground. God took the dust of the ground and made a man. Is that how he made a woman? No, no. He took Adam's rib and made a woman. And so he's pointing that difference out at creation. So God directly made the man from the dust of the ground. He's the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. And so interesting that he's pointing out man came first, and then woman came from man. So what's the principle that's being pointed out here? That somehow men are better than women? Of course they are. No, no, they're not actually. No, that's not. Yeah, some may try to draw that principle from that. That is not what this is saying. Not at all. It's talking about order, it's talking about authority. It's talking about... Is God a God of order? Absolutely. He didn't create things in disorder, in confusion. That's not how God works. And so God is a God of order.

And so when we look at this, man is to be subject to and represents God in authority. He's the authority of the family. The woman is to be subject to her husband and represent him in her authority. And what's the why behind it? Because man was created first. Woman came from man, she was made from his body, and she was made really for the man's sake, and not the reverse. Not the reverse. And that's not a put down. That's not valuing women next. One of the things that becomes very evident is Adam needed Eve. Adam wasn't complete without Eve. God made this perfect help meet, this perfect match for Adam because, yeah, he was incomplete. He was incomplete, and so he needed her.

And so as we consider that, that becomes absolutely critical. Both men and women are exactly the same when it comes to spiritual potential. Both have the exact same spiritual potential. We're not talking about value. Both are absolutely critically valued in God's eyes. No doubt about that. He doesn't like men better than women. That isn't it at all. But God is a God of order. And so the family has an order. And so somebody's got to be in charge. Is it that way in the God family? Absolutely. Who's in charge? The Father's in charge. God the Father is in charge and always will be. Jesus Christ willingly submits himself to the Father in all things. And so the Father will always be supreme.

Christ who is God will always submit himself to the Father. And so they set the perfect example in that sense of husband and wife in that regard, just like the human family. We in the Church should live this example of authority and order in the family. And so when we recognize that the husband should be the head of the family, the men should be the one in authority, which means they love their wives as Christ loved the Church. When we get to the book of Ephesians, we'll really get into that. That means total sacrifice when you get down to it that the husband should be willing to sacrifice his life for his wife and his family. And who wouldn't want to submit to someone who is willing to do that?

And so what's interesting in this example is that, yeah, it's a good example for all of us. Yeah, there had to be someone who ultimately would make the call, would be in charge, and God established the man, the husband in that regard. But that doesn't mean ladies aren't without power. If you don't want to submit to a guy, don't marry them. Don't marry them. Marry someone who emulates Christ, marry someone who imitates Christ. That would be the perfect husband, that would be the one who would give his life for you. And so ultimately we recognize that very fact. And so we have this interesting example here of authority and order. And we'll talk a lot more about it as we get to Ephesians 5. But hopefully that becomes clear that everyone is under authority.

No one has in that sense authority on their own except really God, the Father, and Jesus Christ in that regard. All of us are under authority. And any authority that a man has, it's delegated authority. Any authority that a woman has is delegated. God gives man and woman the authority. That comes from God in that regard. And so when we recognize that, he says, "This is the way the family works best. This is the best order for the family, as God created it." And so we see a man should be uncovered, and a woman should be covered. And it relates back to that idea of God's direction and His structure and His administration when it comes to the family. And so notice what it says, and we'll come back to this idea again, if we get back to...where should we pick it up? Verse 10.

1 Corinthians 11:9-11 He says, "For this reason..." For what reason? Well, verse 9, "The man was not created for the woman, but woman for the man." So for that reason, because of creation, he says, "The woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angels. Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man in the Lord."

So in the Church, we're not independent, we're interdependent. We're dependent on each other. If you're going to have a family, you got to be dependent on each other.

1 Corinthians 11:12 So he says, "For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman, but all things are from God."

So here you have this perfect example. Guys, where would we be without mothers? We wouldn't be alive. And so since Adam and Eve, we're dependent, we're absolutely dependent on each other. And so he points us out. Guys don't get a big head just because you're supposed to be the head of the family. He says, "You wouldn't be anything without women." And so that's an important point, how it all works together. How it all works together, that's God's plan and his purpose, that there should be a unity. Remember, that's one of the issues in Corinth. Unity. Should there be unity in the family? Absolutely. When everyone is submissive in the family, it's going to work. If a husband is totally submissive to God, will they be a good husband? Yeah, absolutely. And if a woman is submissive to God and her husband, will she be a good wife? Well, of course. Of course. It all works together beautifully in that regard, and that's the way God intended it at creation.

And so as we consider that, we realize that becomes important. And in fact, as we look back for just a moment, take a look back at verse 4. In verse 4, in God's word translation... I just want to read verse 4 there because it kind of helps to frame this issue once again. Verse 4, this is God's word.

1 Corinthians 11:4 It says, "Every woman who prays or speaks what God has revealed, and has her head uncovered while she speaks dishonors the one who has authority over her. She is like the woman who has her head shaved."

That means super short, right? Super short. If we read the same section in the message, kind of brings that connotation out a little bit more. Take a look at verse 4. I'll read from the message translation here.

1 Corinthians 11:4-9 It says, "In marriage relationships, there's authority from Christ to husband and from husband to wife. The authority of Christ is the authority of God. Any man who speaks with God or about God in a way that shows a lack of respect for the authority of Christ dishonors Christ. In the same way, a wife who speaks with God in a way that shows a lack of respect for the authority of her husband dishonors her husband. Worse, she dishonors herself. An ugly sight like a woman with her head shaved." And so interesting connections here. It goes on to say, "By these symbolic acts, men and women, far too often butt heads with each other. Submit their heads to the head is what they should do, who is God."

And so we see this idea of authority in submission becomes key. And an indication of that is whether your head's covered or not covered. And so some will take this particular passage and they'll say, "Well, that means women have to cover their heads." That's what it says. Verse 5. If they have their head uncovered, they dishonor their husband, they dishonor God by extension. And so some will say then women need to wear veils to have their heads covered. Is that what this is saying, that all women must wear veils when they're praying, or they're speaking, or they're at church? Would that be the case? I mean, there's certainly enough different denominations out there that believe that sort of thing. Is that what it's saying?

No. We can let the Bible interpret the Bible when it comes to that particular thing. If you were to stop reading, you might come to that conclusion, "Oh, I guess women have to wear veils." But if we do continue on, we recognize what this is really talking about. If we then go back to where we left off, he did point out creation in verse 12.

1 Corinthians 11:12-15 It says, "As woman came from man, so man comes through woman, but all things are from God. Judge among yourselves, is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?" He says, "Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him. But if a woman has long hair, it's a glory to her for her hair is given to her for a covering."

So what is a woman's covering? Is it that she has to wear a veil to come before God, or does she have to wear a veil all the time, or wear a veil to church when she's praying? No, it tells us right here.

1 Corinthians 11:15 "Her hair is given to her for a covering."

Her hair is given to her for a covering. That's what the covering is all about. So this section of scripture is talking about hair. Her hair is a covering, her long hair. Otherwise, no wonder... Said back here in verse 5. It's the same as if her head were shaved or shorn. Well, what about women having short hair? And sometimes they'll associate this with prostitution, or sometimes they'll associate shaved heads...yeah, it does seem sometimes they would shave the heads of women that were slaves in the Roman empire. Sometimes they'd associate short hair or shaved here with the prostitutes in Corinth.

Yeah. One of the challenges with that is that if you look at some of the mosaics that they found at Pompeii, of course, Pompeii in Italy, 1st century, the harlots in those images there did not have shaved heads. And so it can be a little bit of a challenge to say this is talking about a separation from looking like a prostitute with your hair shaved or shorn. Maybe not the best connection there. If we think of the context overall, what are we talking about? Hair length, talking about hair. The hair is her covering. It's not talking about veils, not really talking about prostitution. Talking about the God-given order of the family that a woman with long hair looks like a woman. What would they look like if it's shaved or short? They'd look more masculine.

And what's interesting about that connection, this ties into pagan worship in Corinth. One of the big cults in Corinth was the worship of Dionysus. We talked a little bit about that all the way back at our introduction to the letter to Corinthians here. Worshiping Dionysus, sometimes known as the God of wine, the God of partying and revelry. Sometimes even called the God of madness, ecstasy, all about screaming, and yelling, and orgies, and shouting, and dancing, and partying. Yet you know what else was involved in the worship of Dionysus? The whole trans thing can go back to Dionysus worship. The interchanging of the roles of the sexes that oftentimes in Dionysus worship, women shave their heads. And men would oftentimes wear long veils or grow their hair long, and they would become more effeminate, and women more masculine in the worship of this pagan God.

And so you can go back to some of the traditions in Bacchus worship. Bacchus is another name for Dionysus. Some weird stuff. I mean just absolutely odd. And so even in the worship of Aphrodite, sometimes women would shave their heads as well. So what was going on here? In Corinth, in the worship of Dionysus and Aphrodite, there was this blurring of the sexes. This was going on all the way back there, the differentiation between men and women. And so men would dress more effeminate, look more effeminate, women would dress more masculine and act more masculine.

And so Paul talks about the traditions in the Church go back to creation. And God made men men, and women women. And you don't blur the lines between that. And so what's interesting, that's what's happening today. This is happening today. And so no wonder the Church is under attack. The roles of men are under attack. The real roles of women are under attack. Women, don't ever submit yourself to a man. You're their equal. Well, certainly you are their equal, but you submit because of the divine order of the family, the way God made it, you submit to your husband, you don't submit to all men. That's not what he's talking about here. You submit to your husbands. And women should be women and men should be men. And so no wonder he says, "It's a shame for a man to have long hair." That had to do with this Dionysus worship. They were blurring the lines.

No men should have short hair, and women should have long hair. Speaks to the roles of men and women, and this pagan worship. And so that becomes absolutely critical. So no wonder he says if a woman has long hair, it's a glory to her. She's a her. She's not an it like today, or a him, or whatever it may be. Right? And so he says, "This is the way that it should be in the church." And it is kind of interesting when you put all these different aspects together with this whole estatic worship with Dionysus, and how he's speaking to that. I mean, that whole worship was...and we'll get into it more later, kind of talk about some of the details of this whole worship. I mean, it was absolute craziness. Talk about the God of madness. It was. And when you talk about some of the disorder in Corinth, you could see how that would've been a contributing factor to that, and especially if the roles get mixed up.

So Paul's telling you, this is a tradition of the Church. And it goes back to creation as the roles of men and women. Now of course, one of the issues then that kind of come up from this, once we get that in mind, which is also interesting, that a man shouldn't be praying with his head covered. A man shouldn't have long hair. That's part of what it's saying here. It's not just talking about wearing a yamaka, or a skull cap, or something like that. It's saying men shouldn't have long hair. They shouldn't be praying with their head covered. A woman's covering is her hair. Well, a man's covering is his hair too, and he shouldn't have long hair. That's why he just got done saying, "This is a shameful thing. Doesn't nature itself teach you this?" Yeah, there are natural consequences in that sense is really what he's getting at here. Isn't there this sense?

Even the custom of the day in Rome, the custom of the day overall was that men have short hair and women have long hair. You've probably seen some of the images, the statues, the busts of the Caesars during the first century. What was their hair like? Well, it sure wasn't long flowing hair. It was shorter hair. That's what they had. That was the natural thing. And that's the idea here. "Doesn't nature itself," doesn't even the customs tell you these kinds of things? I mean, isn't there a natural principle here? That's kind of what he's getting at. "Doesn't nature itself," isn't there a natural principle here? Well, the natural principle is the way God created it. That's really the natural principle he's referring back to here. And so that's kind of an interesting fact that he alludes to here.

And then he also includes something else that's sometimes kind of interesting here that okay, men have short hair, women have long hair. Maybe we should talk about that for a minute. How short is short and how long is long? Doesn't that always come up? Well, how long is long, and how short is short? Is there any way to kind of tell? We just take a guess at it? What do we do? Maybe we stand at the door on the Sabbath, and we get out our tape measure and say, "Oh, yeah, there we go. Your hair's too short, or yours as a guy is too long." What do you do? Do we have to come up with a standard that says this is the exact measurement? Is that what we need to do? How do we judge something like that? Is there a way that we could?

I mean, certainly there's shorter hair on ladies that still looks like it's a lady. And when you consider that, okay, that's certainly part of the principle involved here, that men look like men and women look like women. And you certainly don't want to blur the lines that men begin looking effeminate and women begin looking masculine. That's part of what he's teaching against here. This whole worship of Dionysus and that crazy cult there that Corinth had to deal with. I think, in a way, since it's a little more difficult to have a discussion about this, can you have a standard when it comes to this, and what would it be? I think we'd all agree, getting out a tape measure doesn't work. That's not going to work.

Well, is there a way that we could judge that? And who would be the judge? Should the elders stand at the gate and judge as you come in? "Oh, good, good. Oh, go get a haircut. No. Grow your hair longer." Is that what they're supposed to do? No, I don't think so. But I think we can have a standard. Well, we go to church every Sabbath, don't we? And women are to look like women, men are to look like men. So how would I as a man begin to determine if my hair's too long? Because that's what it says, "It's shameful for man to have long hair. It's a dishonor." Is there any way that I could begin to tell?

Well, if I go to church and I have the longest hair in the congregation, should that tell me something? Yeah, I probably better get a haircut. Can I determine that? Can I hold myself accountable to that? I should. And if I don't get a cut, probably the pastor will come up at some point and say, "Hey, I think you need to get your haircut." Yeah, absolutely. He's a shepherd. He doesn't want you to fall into that category either. But I should be able to... And so could women do exactly the same thing? If I go to church and my hair as a woman is the shortest of the entire congregation, and looks more masculine than feminine, does that tell me something? Should I then look at myself and judge?

1 Corinthians 11:13 "Judge among yourselves."

Judge among yourselves, I think that gives us a little indication there. We should be able to do that. If we take personal responsibility and we're accountable, yeah, we should be able to do that. And so we don't need to get out the tape measure. We're holding ourselves accountable so that our men are men and our women are women. And we're upholding the traditions in the Church that go all the way back to God's order of the family, and His direction that he gave right from the very start. Now, it's also interesting, he points out one other thing that we should probably just spend a moment with here. He does say in verse 10.

1 Corinthians 11:10 "For this reason, the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head."

Of course, that symbol of authority, her hair, long hair showing, "I'm under the authority of my husband, who's under the authority of Christ, who's under the authority of God." Yeah, it's about authority, it's about submission, it's about order, all those good things. But then verse 10 also says, "Because of the angels. You ought to have this symbol of authority on your head because of the angels." Why would that be? What do angels have to do with this, after all? It's just nice to get them in there once in a while?

Well, are angels present with us? Yeah. Yeah. We can't see them. Might make a note of Psalm 34:7. It talks about angels being present when we worship. Are angels sensitive to us? Yeah. What are angels after all? They're our servants. They serve mankind. They watch over us. They act on God's behalf. Sometimes they intervene and protect us. And so interesting here that the angels are cited. And would they recognize our behavior? I think so. I think so. Would they recognize good behavior, bad behavior? Sure. They're watching over us, aren't they? I mean, it is kind of interesting that Peter even mentions this. If you take a look at 1 Peter 1:10. 1 Peter 1:10 refers back to the angels. "They are ministering spirits, they serve mankind." And here it says, verse 12 of 1 Peter 1.

1 Peter 1:12 "To them it was revealed, not to themselves, but to us, they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things which angels desire to look into."

Angels desire to look into the way that God's plan is working. There's going to come a time angels will be under us, we'll be over angels. And to them, they can look and watch the way that God's plan is being carried out. How it's working among human beings. And so as you begin to think about that, angels are aware of those things.

And interesting, the angels that it's referred to, if you head back to 1 Corinthians 10, the angels...this is the Greek word, angelos. Angelos. So the word angels there, the angelos, they're the angels. They are the ones that are ministering spirits. They're the ones that serve mankind. They're the ones that sang at the birth of Christ. We're told they sing at the conversion of a sinner. Yeah, they're involved in things. They're looking into this salvation. They long to have a better, deeper perspective and understanding of God's wisdom and His plan and His purpose by watching us. Watching us. This is not talking about demons, that we ought to have a head covering because we've got to watch out for demons. No, the word there is angels. The word is angels. The aggelos, the angels. Yes.

And so as messengers of God, they're watching. So because of the angels, interesting that they are our servants, our helpers. And one of the things that kind of ties in is a passage found over in Ephesians 3. Ephesians 3:10, I think is one that ties in with this as well. Here in Ephesians, it's talking about the gospel. It's talking about God's plan and His purpose. And interesting.

Ephesians 3:10 It says, "To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the Church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places."

So as God's people, as the Church, we can make known His plan of salvation, even to principalities and powers. Here could be referring to the angelic realm. And so they are ministering spirits, as Hebrews 1:14 talks about. And because of the angels, we are setting an example of the way that God's purpose and plan works.

And so I think that's an interesting way that 1 Corinthians 11:10 applies in this regard. That because of God's plan and His purpose, we follow the traditions of the Church, and we recognize the authority of God, and we recognize that connection that goes all the way back to creation. All right, next time we'll pick it up back at 1 Corinthians 11. And I'm going to finish up with this whole concept that Paul's been dealing with here in 1 Corinthians 11. So look forward to next time.