1 Corinthians 11

اقرأ هذا الفصل بقصد

1 Corinthians 11 addresses two problems in the Corinthian assembly. The first is head coverings: Paul argues from the order of creation and from what he calls nature that a man should pray with his head uncovered and a woman with hers covered, while insisting that in the Lord neither is independent of the other and that everything comes from God. The second is the Lord's Supper, which the Corinthians had turned into a meal where the rich ate and drank while the poor went hungry. Paul says that is not the Lord's Supper at all, hands on the words of Jesus from the night he was betrayed, and warns that eating without recognizing the body brings judgment. Examine yourselves, he says, and wait for one another.

فتح تفسير الإصحاح

1 Corinthians 11 deals with two things that happened when the Corinthian church came together, and both involve what people could see. The first is heads. In Corinth a woman's covered head said something about her honor and her husband, and some women in the church were praying and prophesying with their heads bare, perhaps in the freedom they had heard Paul preach. Paul asks them to keep the covering, and he reaches for every argument he has: the order of creation, the honor of husbands, nature, the angels, the custom of all the churches. In the middle of it he says the thing that outlasts the customs: in the Lord, woman is not independent of man, nor man of woman, and everything comes from God. The second thing people could see was the meal. The Lord's Supper in Corinth was a real dinner, and it had become a Roman dinner, with the well-off eating and drinking their fill while the slaves and laborers who arrived late found nothing. Paul does not soften it. This is not the Lord's Supper you are eating, he says; you despise the church of God and humiliate the people who have nothing. Then he tells them what he received from the Lord, the oldest written account of the night Jesus was betrayed, the bread that is his body for you, the cup that is the new covenant in his blood, the command to do this in remembrance of him. To eat it while shaming his people is to eat judgment. So examine yourselves, he ends, and when you come together, wait for one another.

مقاطع رئيسية

1 Corinthians 11:2-16 1 Corinthians 11:17-22 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 1 Corinthians 11:27-34 Luke 22:14-20 Genesis 2:18-23

Historical and literary context

Paul wrote from Ephesus around AD 54 or 55 to a church he had founded in the wealthy Roman port of Corinth, meeting in the homes of better-off members. In Roman society a woman's covered head in public signaled marriage and modesty, and an uncovered or shaved head could mark a prostitute or an adulteress; a man covering his head recalled Roman priests sacrificing with their togas drawn up. The Lord's Supper was eaten as part of a full meal, and Roman dining custom served better food to the host's peers in the dining room while dependents ate in the courtyard, which is what Paul condemns. Verses 23 to 26 are the earliest written account of the Last Supper, predating the Gospels.

How the chapter unfolds

Verse 1 closes the previous argument with "imitate me." Verse 2 praises the Corinthians for keeping the traditions. Verses 3 to 16 argue the head covering question: the headship sequence, the dishonor of uncovered women and covered men, the creation argument from Genesis 2, the "because of the angels," the balancing "in the Lord," the appeal to nature and long hair, and the closing appeal to the practice of the churches. Verses 17 to 22 rebuke the divisions and the humiliation of the poor at the meal. Verses 23 to 26 give the received tradition of the Supper. Verses 27 to 34 warn of eating unworthily, call for self-examination, explain the sickness in the church as discipline, and command waiting for one another.

Why this chapter matters

Verses 23 to 26 are read at every celebration of the Eucharist in every Christian tradition, and "do this in remembrance of Me" is among the most spoken sentences in the world. "You proclaim the Lord's death until He comes" gave the Supper its meaning as proclamation and hope. The warning against eating "in an unworthy manner" shaped centuries of preparation for communion, sometimes to the point of keeping people away from it. The head-covering passage governed the dress of Christian women for most of church history and still does in some communities, and its statement that "woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman" is a rare first-century affirmation of mutuality.

Interpretive tension to watch

Almost every line of verses 3 to 16 is disputed: whether "head" means authority or source, whether the covering is a veil or long hair, what "because of the angels" means, and whether the instruction is a cultural custom of Corinth or a permanent rule. Verse 5 assumes that women pray and prophesy aloud in the assembly, which readers must square with the silence commanded in chapter 14. In the Supper passage, "recognizing the body" may mean discerning Christ's presence in the bread or discerning the congregation as his body, which changes what "unworthy manner" means; the context of the rich shaming the poor favors the second.

أسئلة لهذا الفصل

Paul says a meal where some eat well while others go hungry is "not the Lord's Supper." What makes a shared meal Christian, and what unmakes it?
"Do this in remembrance of Me." What is being remembered, and what does remembering do?
The head-covering argument rests on customs that meant something specific in Corinth. How do you tell a permanent principle from its local form?

Study with context

Use this as a chapter guide, then press deeper into the text itself. The goal is to slow down observation, notice structure, and ask better questions before jumping to conclusions.

أضف للملاحظات

1 So take me for your example, even as I take Christ for mine. 2 Now I am pleased to see that you keep me in memory in all things, and that you give attention to the teaching which was handed down from me to you. 3 But it is important for you to keep this fact in mind, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. 4 Every man who takes part in prayer, or gives teaching as a prophet, with his head covered, puts shame on his head. 5 But every woman who does so with her head unveiled, puts shame on her head: for it is the same as if her hair was cut off. 6 For if a woman is not veiled, let her hair be cut off; but if it is a shame to a woman to have her hair cut off, let her be veiled. 7 For it is not right for a man to have his head covered, because he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. 8 For the man did not come from the woman, but the woman from the man. 9 And the man was not made for the woman, but the woman for the man. 10 For this reason it is right for the woman to have a sign of authority on her head, because of the angels. 11 But the woman is not separate from the man, and the man is not separate from the woman in the Lord. 12 For as the woman is from the man, so the man is through the woman; but all things are from God. 13 Be judges yourselves of the question: does it seem right for a woman to take part in prayer unveiled? 14 Does it not seem natural to you that if a man has long hair, it is a cause of shame to him? 15 But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given to her for a covering. 16 But if any man will not be ruled in this question, this is not our way of doing things, and it is not done in the churches of God. 17 But in giving you this order, there is one thing about which I am not pleased: it is that when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18 For first of all, it has come to my ears that when you come together in the church, there are divisions among you, and I take the statement to be true in part. 19 For divisions are necessary among you, in order that those who have God's approval may be clearly seen among you. 20 But now, when you come together, it is not possible to take the holy meal of the Lord: 21 For when you take your food, everyone takes his meal before the other; and one has not enough food, and another is the worse for drink. 22 What? have you not houses to take your meals in? or have you no respect for the church of God, putting the poor to shame? What am I to say to you? am I to give you praise? certainly not. 23 For it was handed down to me from the Lord, as I gave it to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when Judas was false to him, took bread, 24 And when it had been broken with an act of praise, he said, This is my body which is for you: do this in memory of me. 25 In the same way, with the cup, after the meal, he said, This cup is the new testament in my blood: do this, whenever you take it, in memory of me. 26 For whenever you take the bread and the cup you give witness to the Lord's death till he comes. 27 If, then, anyone takes the bread or the cup of the Lord in the wrong spirit, he will be responsible for the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let no man take of the bread and the cup without testing himself. 29 For a man puts himself in danger, if he takes part in the holy meal without being conscious that it is the Lord's body. 30 For this cause a number of you are feeble and ill, and a number are dead. 31 But if we were true judges of ourselves, punishment would not come on us. 32 But if punishment does come, it is sent by the Lord, so that we may be safe when the world is judged. 33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to the holy meal of the Lord, let there be waiting for one another. 34 If any man is in need of food, let him take his meal in his house; so that you may not come together to your damage. And the rest I will put in order when I come.