Shlama akhay
Here is an example of the exact same type of primacy proof in 1 Corinthians, as discussed in "Signs", p.249-252:Now on to the second example, and for this we need two translations to make the point:
For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.
1 Corhinthians 11:10 (KJV)
Power on her head? Well maybe another translation will help:
So a woman should wear a covering on her head as a sign of authority because the angels are watching.
1 Corinthians 11:10 (NLT)
So why would one translator use “power” and the other “covering”? The answer has to do with how the apostle Paul thinks in a semitic framework.
In the Peshitta NT the word used is sholtana. In most cases, this word does in fact mean “power”, and so we can see how it might be translated as such into Greek. However, sholtana also has a secondary meaning of how power is reflected in the person who has or does not have it. So, if the person is a king, his crown is his covering AND his authority/power. For a woman then, in the context of being submissive, her veil—is her sign of authority and her covering as well.
Now, in the Greek, the word for power used in this verse is exousia, which did not originally have the secondary meaning of “covering”.
For proof of this assertion, I turn to what is probably the largest collection of ancient Greek manuscripts and study tools available anywhere, the Perseus Project at Tufts University. Their interactive dictionaries show all the shades of meaning of a Greek word wherever it appears in the literature, and not once is this “covering” meaning used:
exous-ia, hê, (exesti) power, authority to do a thing, c. inf., chairein kai nosein e. paresti S.Fr.88.11 codd.; autôi e. ên saphôs eidenai , cf. ; exousian ho nomos dedôke permission to do . ., ; e. poiein , etc.; e. labein , , etc.; labôn e. hôste . . ; epi têi tês eirênês e. with the freedom permitted by peace, : c. gen. objecti, e. echein thanatou power of life and death, Poll.8.86; pragma hou tên e. echousin alloi control over . ., Diog.Oen.57; e. tinos power over, licence in a thing, tou legein ; en megalêi e. tou adikein IBID=au=, cf. ti=; kata tên ouk e. tês agôniseôs from want of qualification for . ., : abs., power, authority, E.Fr.784.
2. abuse of authority, licence, arrogance, hubris kai e. , cf. au=, ; hê agan e. IBID=au==lr; ametros e. OGI669.51 (i A.D.).
3. Lit. Crit., e. poiêtikê poetic licence, Str.1.2.17, Jul.Or.1.10b.
II. office, Magistracy, archai kai e. ; hoi en tais e. ; hoi en e. ontes IDEM=; hoi ep' exousiôn LXXDa.3.2; hê hupatikê e. the consulate, , etc.; also hê hupatos e. D.H.7.1; hê tamieutikê e. the quaestorship, D.H.8.77; dêmarchikê e., v. dêmarchikos; hê tou thalamou e., in the Roman empire, LORDship of the bedchamber, Hdn.1.12.3.
2. concrete, body of Magistrates, D.H.11.32; hai e. (as we say) the authorities, Ev.Luc.12.11,al., Plu.Phil.17.
b. hê e. as an honorary title, POxy.1103 (iv A.D.), etc.
III. abundance of means, resources, exousias epideixis ; ploutos kai e. , cf. ; endeesterôs ê pros tên e. ; tôn anankaiôn e. ; excessive wealth, opp. ousia, Com.Adesp.25a.5D.
IV. pomp, Plu.Aem.34.
Now the Greek School will counter, “But this is Koine, not Classical Greek”, and that is my point as well. Koine was born in Alexandria, Egypt, with the translation of the Septuagint FROM HEBREW SOURCES. This secondary meaning was NOWHERE previously, and came from the double meaning of sholtana...
This is clearly a word play rooted in Semitic and not Hellenistic understanding. I say that because another word for “power” also used elsewhere in the Epistles does not have the secondary meaning of “veil” (#2571- kaluma; see 2 Corinthians 3:13-16), and vice versa, (dunatos, hupo, ischus, kratos). In either case, Paul would have sufficient control in the translation process to pick either an exclusively veil-like or an exclusively power-like word without creating confusion. The reason he did not is because, again, the translator who did it did not have the benefit of this understanding. All he knew was that sholtana was staring back at him from the page. A few years later, when the second letter came to his church, either the skill of the translator had improved in the interim or he was replaced with another who had a better of grasp of the language.