1 Corinthians 11
11
1follow me in this attitude, my brethren, as I follow the Christ.
Paul’s views on woman in the church
2You do remember and mark my words, I know, and you do keep the rules and the instructions which I lay down. I commend you as an obedient flock, and therefore listen now to another rule, a tradition I wish to be observed in our churches. 3Let men be bareheaded at our meetings, but let the women still wear the head-covering, as has always been the custom, and not thinking themselves free, as they begin to do, appear bareheaded like to men. 4-9And why? There is a reason. If a woman is to appear bareheaded like a man, then let her cut her hair, and wear it in the way that men wear theirs. That would be ugly, you say, and I agree. There is then a difference between the man and the woman; and what is our interpretation of it? Mine is this. Man stands for God; but woman stands for man. The head of the man is the type of Christ governing the body, and the head of Christ is God. The man then in every way stands as the type of the divine, the image and likeness of God, and with unveiled head he stands in the presence of God. 10But woman represents the glory of man; and in the presence of the angels of God man’s glory should be veiled. A woman’s beauty is her modesty. Her long hair is her glory, because it clothes and covers her. 11The male comes first as the representative of God, and the female next as the representative of man. 12In the second chapter of Genesis the difference made between the creation of man and of woman lies, as I interpret it, in these two different types, the one of God, the other of man; 13-15and so I advise you to keep the old custom whereby men wear their hair short, and bare their heads in prayer or preaching, but women wear their hair long, and in praying or in preaching they keep their heads covered. 16I advise you, I say, to keep this rule, but if you intend to argue the point with me — then I declare I am ignorant of any such custom, and the churches of God know it not!
Divisions and abuses at the Lord’s table
17Now in this next point I cannot add any commendation to the advice I am going to give you, for the reason that things are far from well, and that you are receiving harm where you ought to get only good. 18It is an excellent thing that you assemble yourselves together that you may get mutual profit thereby, but not if thereby differences and divisions arise amongst you. This I have heard to be the case, and so in a measure I believe it to be; 19because these divisions, it would seem, have a part to play in our faith, whereby the false are separated from the true, and true faith is tried and tested. 20-21Similarly taking food and drink in common, arriving at this meal hungry and thirsty, is no part of our faith. To dine all together is not to eat the supper of the Lord, especially when some are far better provided than others, and there are great differences in the way you fare at this common feast, and excess even and want are found seated at the same table. 22I like not such customs as that. Why not take your meals in the ordinary way at home? To eat and drink in such a way is to hasten the doom that is coming on all flesh — that doom and judgment of the flesh which is seen in the sickness, the ill-health and the death that still is found amongst your numbers. Now through the eternal body and blood of the Christ we are released from that fate and judgment that come upon the flesh. We look forward to the appearance and coming of the eternal Christ, and we show forth that peculiar death of his which overcame death and releases us from it.
The last supper described
23That is what the Lord Jesus meant by his words at that last supper the night on which they took him, when he handed the cup to his disciples, and broke the bread for them. I taught you his words and his action on that occasion, as they were given me by those who were present. 24After taking the bread, he gave thanks, spoke the usual blessing, and handed it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is surrendered on your behalf. In future, when you break bread thus, and give thanks, remember my body, remember me.” 25-26In handing the cup after dinner, he said, “This is the new covenant, sealed in my blood. In future, whenever you take wine thus together, think of this new covenant, remember my blood.”
Its spiritual meaning explained
27Do you then my brethren, when you come together, eating and drinking, with the intention of carrying out his injunction, and recalling his words, do you really discern beneath this semblance and type of bread and wine the eternal body of Christ to which we belong? Do you really celebrate that wondrous death of his, which differed from all other deaths in that it is to be followed by his second coming and eternal presence in the world? 28Examine yourselves on these points, and assemble together in that spirit only. Otherwise you will only eat and drink the doom of all flesh, as it comes upon the whole world. 29But if you discerned that infinite eternal body, if you understood the meaning of Christ’s death in the flesh, and what is signified by the shedding of his blood, and the giving up of his mortal life and material body — 30-31then, my brethren, there would not be so much sickness and disease and death in your midst as there still is. 32-33You would not be bound up with the world in the common doom of perishing mortality, but by first judging yourselves, you would then escape the general ruin. 34Such feasts as you observe, where the eating and drinking predominate over the teaching, have little in keeping with the Lord’s supper and this can be avoided by eating first at home, and then when you come together, giving place to one another, and taking the bread and wine as it comes to you. There are other details in connection with this matter which I will arrange when I see you.
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Translated in 1916, published in 1937.
1 Corinthians 11
11
Chapter 11
1Copy my example, in the same way that I copy Christ's example.
Christian meetings
2I praise you, because you remember me and everything that I taught you. You continue to obey the message that I gave to you. 3This is something that I want you to know: Christ has authority over every man, as his head. Also, the head of a woman is her husband. And the head of Christ is God.
4So, when you meet together to worship God, remember this. When a man prays to God, or he speaks a message from God, he should not cover his head. If he does that, he does not respect the one who is his head. 5But when a woman prays or she speaks a message from God, she should cover her head. If she does not cover her head, she does not respect the one who is her head. It would be as bad as if she cut off all her hair. 6If a woman refuses to cover her head, she should cut off her hair. But, if a woman has no hair, or she has very short hair, she becomes very ashamed. So it is better that she should cover her head in your meetings.
7Men show what God is like and they show how great God is. So a man should not cover his head in your meetings. But a woman shows how great men are. 8When God made people, he did not use part of the woman to make a man. God made the man first. Then he made the woman from part of the man. #11:8 See Genesis 2:21-23. 9Neither did God make the man to help the woman. No, God made the woman to help the man. 10That is why a woman should cover her head. It shows that she has authority on her head. That makes the angels happy.
11But remember this: we all belong to the Lord. Men and women need to help one another. They can not remain separate. 12It is true that God used part of the man to make the first woman. But it is also true that women give birth to men. Remember that all things come from God himself.
13Think about this: If a woman prays to God but she has not covered her head, is that proper? 14If a man has long hair, that should make him ashamed. That is clear. 15But if a woman has long hair, she can be proud of it. God gave beautiful hair to women to cover their heads. 16Some people may want to argue about this. But I have told you what we do. And all of God's people in the different churches do the same thing.
The Lord's Supper
17Now I must teach you about something else about your meetings. I will not praise you, because more bad things than good things happen when you meet together. 18First, I hear that there are separate groups when you meet together as God's people. #11:18 They met in separate groups because they did not agree with one another. They argued and they quarrelled. I believe that some of what I have heard about you is true. 19Perhaps there must be separate groups among you. Then everyone can see clearly which group God accepts as right!
20When you meet together, the meal that you eat is not really the Lord's Supper. 21When you are ready to eat, each of you eats your own meal. You do not wait for anyone else. As a result, one of you may be hungry, while another person becomes drunk. 22If you want to eat like that, you have your own homes where you can eat and drink! Instead, you insult the people of God's church. You make people who have nothing feel ashamed. I cannot praise you for what you do. Whatever I might say to you about this, I certainly cannot praise you.
23This is the message that I received from the Lord. I then told it to you.
This is what happened on the night that Jesus' enemies took hold of him. The Lord Jesus picked up some bread to eat with his disciples. 24He thanked God for the bread and then he broke it into pieces. He said: ‘This is my body that I give to save you. Eat this bread, so that you remember me.’
25After they had eaten supper, Jesus took a cup of wine. He spoke to his disciples again. He said, ‘This cup shows my blood that will pour out when I die. God now makes a new agreement to save people because of my death. Whenever you drink from the cup in this way, do it to remember me.’
26Every time that you eat bread and you drink from the cup like this, you are showing something. You are showing people what the Lord's death means. You should continue to do this until he returns.
27Since that is true, you must be careful. Eat the bread and drink from the cup in a way that is right. Anyone who does not do that will be guilty. They are showing that they do not respect the Lord's body and his blood that he offered as a sacrifice. 28So everyone must think carefully about how they eat the bread and they drink from the cup. 29They must understand how important the Lord's body is. If anyone does not recognize this, God will punish them. 30That is why many of you are weak and sick. Some of you have even died because of this. 31But if we think carefully about ourselves, then God will not need to punish us.
32But the Lord does need to punish us sometimes. When he does that, he is teaching us not to do wrong things. Then we will not be guilty, like other people who do not know God.
33So, my Christian friends, be patient when you meet together to eat the Lord's Supper. Do not start to eat before everyone is ready. 34If you are hungry, you should eat at home before you come. Then, when you meet together, God will not have any reason to punish you.
I will talk about the other things when I come to visit you.
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