1 Corinthians 11

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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.

장 주석 열기

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.

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.

이 장을 위한 질문

  • 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.

1 Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ. 2 Now I praise you that ye remember me in all things, and hold fast the traditions, even as I delivered them to you. 3 But I would have you know, 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 praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. 5 But every woman praying or prophesying with her head unveiled dishonoureth her head: for it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven. 6 For if a woman is not veiled, let her also be shorn: but if it is a shame to a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be veiled. 7 For a man indeed ought not to have his head veiled, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. 8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man: 9 for neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man: 10 for this cause ought the woman to have [a sign of ]authority on her head, because of the angels. 11 Howbeit neither is the woman without the man, nor the man without the woman, in the Lord. 12 For as the woman is of the man, so is the man also by the woman; but all things are of God. 13 Judge ye in yourselves: is it seemly that a woman pray unto God unveiled? 14 Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a dishonour to him? 15 But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering. 16 But if any man seemeth to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God. 17 But in giving you this charge, I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better but for the worse. 18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and I partly believe it. 19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. 20 When therefore ye assemble yourselves together, it is not possible to eat the Lord’s supper: 21 for in your eating each one taketh before [other ]his own supper; and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and put them to shame that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. 23 For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, how that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; 24 and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25 In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as oft as ye drink [it], in remembrance of me. 26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come. 27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup. 29 For he that eateth and drinketh, eateth and drinketh judgment unto himself, if he discern not the body. 30 For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep. 31 But if we discerned ourselves, we should not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. 33 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, wait one for another. 34 If any man is hungry, let him eat at home; that your coming together be not unto judgment. And the rest will I set in order whensoever I come.

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