And... because of the angels!

Paul talks in 1 Cor 11 about the need for the woman to be the glory of man, and to submit to the authority of men as central to the worship of the church. How should she show her womanhood? By having long beautiful  hair to cover her head with.  Now on the other hand men ought to have short hair, because he is the glory of God, being made originally in God's image.  Paul says, For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. 
He then goes on to give three reasons why woman should have long hair to cover themselves with, to demonstrate that men have the authority.
1. For man was not made from woman, but woman from man.
2. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 
That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head,
3. because of the angels.

The first two reasons for hair covering are easy to understand, but the third isn't nearly so clear.  As Begg says the main things are the plain things and the plain things are the main things, so we will do alright to get the clear things down. And clearly the Corinthians knew what Paul was saying because the brevity of the statement seems to indicate some kind of footnote or after thought. 

Calvin's explanation is thus "When, therefore, women venture upon such liberties, as to usurp for themselves the token of authority, they make their baseness manifest to the angels... [it's] as if he had said, “If women uncover their heads, not only Christ, but all the angels too, will be witnesses of the outrage.”
MacArthur agrees with this, "Woman are to be submissive by wearing the symbol of authority so as not to offend these most holy and submissive creatures who watch the church (Matt 18:10, Eph 3:9-10) who were present  (Job 38:4,7) at creation."  Angels are therefore offended upon seeing short hair or uncovered heads.  Well I confess it may be true that they are standing by getting progressively more outraged and offended on behalf of Christ at seeing women in rebellion to men, it just seems to me that this is not a satisfactory enough explanation.

Guzik has a slightly different take, adding that God has angels watching so that they may understand Him, "God has eternal things to teach the universe through us (Ephesians 3:10-11; 1 Corinthians 4:9; 1 Peter 1:12)" Apparently seeing uncovered women would confuse or make it difficult for them to see what God is trying to teach them.

William Greenhill says something that feels nearer to the mark "angels are covered, to show their reverence and subjection to Christ. It is an honour to the angels, that in reverence to them the women are to be veiled." Now Greenhill means that women are to honor the angels by being veiled, but the logical leap is better, and that is the angels themselves are veiled (Is 6:2), and they enjoy a special privilege before God. Women enjoy the position of the angels, and therefore should be veiled, because the angels are veiled.

But for myself I think that 'because of the angels' most likely means Jude 1:6. The angels didn't respect the authority of those above them, and chose to rebel, to their everlasting destruction.  Women, if you choose to rebel against head coverings consider the angels who fell.  So because of the angels falling into rebellion by not respecting their authority women face the same jeopardy should they rebel.

Christ is the fufillment of Isaiah 25:6-9

Isaiah 25:6 On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.

Luke 22:15-18 And he said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it  until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, "Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."
John 14:2-3 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also"

v7 And He will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.

2 Cor 3:14-16- "But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed."

v8 He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.

1 Cor 15:55-57- ""O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Rev 7:17- "For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
Rev 21:4 "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."

v9 It will be said on that day, "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, that He might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for Him; let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation." 

Matthew 27:37 "And over His head they put the charge against Him, which read, "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews."
1 Peter 2:24 "He Himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed."
Phil 4:4- "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice"

2 Kings 25:26

2 Kings 25:26- "Then all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces arose and went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans"

Is there a passage with greater force on the total rejection of God than this?  Is it any wonder this is how the book wraps up?  Considering the promised land of God, Lev 25:38 the slavery they experienced in Egypt, Lev 26:13 the miracles Num 8:17 still they reject the covenant, and the covenant land.
As a dog returns to it's own vomit...

1 Peter 3:18-21 interpretation by avoiding assumptions

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 
Peter has been talking at length about the importance of suffering righteously under government, under husbands, and what our attitude and mindset should be while suffering. He holds up Christ as our model, who when reviled did not open His mouth; when suffered, He blessed.  Suffering for a purpose is the larger context of the letter at this point, which we must keep in mind when we sail into the more choppy waters of verse 19.
I propose that in examining this verse we avoid making undue assumptions, and select the meaning that doesn't cause an avalanche of assumptions that lead away from Peters larger context.

in which He went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.
Assumption: the verse speaks of a chronology.  That is, after dying Christ then went to preach to the Spirits in prison. 
However, this very natural assumption does not hold up, because logically the text would go Noah, Crucifixion, preaching. While there is every reason to think that Christ went to sheol after death considering He didn't go to the Father (John 20:17), and that He went to preach His triumph and lead a captive host free, there are really no grounds to assume this is what Peter had in mind given his discussion on suffering.  Once made, this assumption too easily joins hands with the next one

Assumption: the Spirits were in prison during the time of preaching.

It must be true if Christ was preaching after His death, but since that one is dubious, this one is doubly so, and worse, it's dragging a third assumption with it

Assumption: the Bible is using prison not as an explanation but as a place
which is unsound given the way we as humans speak, and how often the Bible engages in commentary.  For example, I might ask you "When did you first meet your wife?" and you would understand my question, even though I'm importing a later relationship that doesn't "currently" exist, as a reference.  Technically I'm committing an error in calling her your wife before she's actually your wife, but it's likely you would not attach significance to this, you would assume my meaning and tell me of the time the two of you first met, before you were married, although strictly speaking you first met your wife at the alter. 
The Bible often references relationships like this, I'll just throw out one I just read to prove the point, 1 Kings 21:25-26.  The more natural way to read this is as the NASB says "proclaimed to the Spirits who are now in prison"

Assumption: spirit means angels, or considering they were in prison, fallen angels.
This one tends to unhinge any remaining interpretation completely, because it must be asked, what are they in prison for? And the answer must be a stupefyingly huge assumption that they were the sons of God who had kids by the daughters of men, (which is itself really two assumptions: demons can take on bodies as desired, and demons are genetically and anatomically compatible with women to produce hybrid offspring.) Which is frankly, totally absurd. 


Without those assumptions here is how the text reads
in the same way He died in the body and was alive by spirit which He went and proclaimed to the spirits of humans who are now in prison, and who are there because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.  Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ

The idea is that during the ministry of Noah, Christ's spirit was patiently waiting, suffering at the abuse of wretched men. He was preaching to them to repent, to live, but they refused to obey and so all perished underwater.  Likewise, Christ suffered under their abuse on the cross, and his body perished, but His spirit was saved.  Likewise too, just as the ancient world was wiped out with water and righteous Noah was spared you have had your sinful nature annihilated by the flood so that your spirit could be saved. Your flesh has died with Christ in baptism, and your spirit has been raised to a new life.
So Christian do not be alarmed that you suffer in the flesh, or that it is wasting away, but be of good cheer, your spirit will be all the more alive for it. (See 2 Cor 4:16)
And no need to muddle through all sorts of weird theology to get there either.

What was that about?

Matthew 27:51-53 "And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many"
It's curious how this bit is found only in Matthew, the gospel to the Jews, and dropped so quickly that Matthew presumes the reader would immediately know the significance and move on to the next point.  For myself, I think it's a reference

Ezekiel 37:1-6 "The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know." Then he said to me, "Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD."
And now the Key point I think Matthew is referencing
Ezekiel 37:11-14 "Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.' Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD."
That would mean that the rest of Ezekiel 37:15-28 is a fulfillment of the Samaritans being rejoined to Israel, the King ruling over all time is Jesus on His ascension and crucifixion, and that the promise of eternity in paradise of safety is, like the rest, a spiritual fulfillment of the goodness of God. 
That is to say, Ezekiel 37 is trying to get us to see that it's fulfillment is in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.  That scripture is grounded and rooted in the cross.  Small wonder then that Paul says in 1 Cor 15:3 that the key to understanding is the crucifixion.