translation_id: net-engnet

label: NET study note

text: Paul does not use a word specifying what type of “covering” is meant (veil, hat, etc.). The Greek word he uses here ( ἐξουσία exousia ; translated symbol of authority ) could be (1) a figure of speech that may substitute the result (the right to participate in worship) for the appropriate appearance that makes it possible (the covered head). Or (2) it refers to the outward symbol (having the head covered) as representing the inward attitude the woman is to possess (deference to male leadership in the church).


text: Paul does not explain this reference to the angels , and its point is not entirely clear. It seems to reflect an awareness that angels are witnesses to church life (cf. Eph 3:10 ) and would be particularly sensitive to resistance against God’s created order.


text: Paul does not mean nature in the sense of “the natural world” or “Mother Nature.” It denotes “the way things are” because of God’s design.


text: No word for veil or head covering occurs in vv. 3-14 (see the note on authority in v. 10 ). That the hair is regarded by Paul as a covering in v. 15 is not necessarily an argument that the hair is the same as the head covering that he is describing in the earlier verses (esp. v. 10 ). Throughout this unit of material, Paul points out the similarities of long hair with a head covering. But his doing so seems to suggest that the two are not to be identified with each other. Precisely because they are similar they do not appear to be identical (cf. vv. 5, 6, 7, 10, 13 ). If head covering = long hair, then what does v. 6 mean (“For if a woman will not cover her head, she should cut off her hair”)? This suggests that the covering is not the same as the hair itself.