1 Corinthians 11
11
1Follow my example, just like I follow Christ’s.
Appropriate dress in worship
2I praise you because you remember all my instructions, and you hold on to the traditions exactly as I handed them on to you. 3Now I want you to 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. 4Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered shames his head. 5Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered disgraces her head. It is the same thing as having her head shaved. 6If a woman doesn’t cover her head, then she should have her hair cut off. If it is disgraceful for a woman to have short hair or to be shaved, then she should keep her head covered. 7A man shouldn’t have his head covered, because he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is man’s glory. 8Man didn’t have his origin from woman, but woman from man; 9and man wasn’t created for the sake of the woman, but the woman for the sake of the man. 10Because of this a woman should have authority over her head, because of the angels. 11However, woman isn’t independent from man, and man isn’t independent from woman in the Lord. 12As woman came from man so also man comes from woman. But everything comes from God. 13Judge for yourselves: Is it appropriate for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14Doesn’t nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him; 15but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? This is because her long hair is given to her for a covering. 16But if someone wants to argue about this, we don’t have such a custom, nor do God’s churches.
The community meal
17Now I don’t praise you as I give the following instruction because when you meet together, it does more harm than good. 18First of all, when you meet together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and I partly believe it. 19It’s necessary that there are groups among you, to make it clear who is genuine. 20So when you get together in one place, it isn’t to eat the Lord’s meal. 21Each of you goes ahead and eats a private meal. One person goes hungry while another is drunk. 22Don’t you have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you look down on God’s churches and humiliate those who have nothing? What can I say to you? Will I praise you? No, I don’t praise you in this.
23I received a tradition from the Lord, which I also handed on to you: on the night on which he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread. 24After giving thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this to remember me.” 25He did the same thing with the cup, after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Every time you drink it, do this to remember me.” 26Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you broadcast the death of the Lord until he comes.
27This is why those who eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord inappropriately will be guilty of the Lord’s body and blood. 28Each individual should test himself or herself, and eat from the bread and drink from the cup in that way. 29Those who eat and drink without correctly understanding the body are eating and drinking their own judgment. 30Because of this, many of you are weak and sick, and quite a few have died. 31But if we had judged ourselves, we wouldn’t be judged. 32However, we are disciplined by the Lord when we are judged so that we won’t be judged and condemned along with the whole world. 33For these reasons, my brothers and sisters, when you get together to eat, wait for each other. 34If some of you are hungry, they should eat at home so that getting together doesn’t lead to judgment. I will give directions about the other things when I come.
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
1 Corinthians 11
11
To Honor God
1-2It pleases me that you continue to remember and honor me by keeping up the traditions of the faith I taught you. All actual authority stems from Christ.
3-9In a marriage relationship, there is authority from Christ to husband, and from husband to wife. The authority of Christ is the authority of God. Any man who speaks with God or about God in a way that shows a lack of respect for the authority of Christ, dishonors Christ. In the same way, a wife who speaks with God in a way that shows a lack of respect for the authority of her husband, dishonors her husband. Worse, she dishonors herself—an ugly sight, like a woman with her head shaved. This is basically the origin of these customs we have of women wearing head coverings in worship, while men take their hats off. By these symbolic acts, men and women, who far too often butt heads with each other, submit their “heads” to the Head: God.
10-12Don’t, by the way, read too much into the differences here between men and women. Neither man nor woman can go it alone or claim priority. Man was created first, as a beautiful shining reflection of God—that is true. But the head on a woman’s body clearly outshines in beauty the head of her “head,” her husband. The first woman came from man, true—but ever since then, every man comes from a woman! And since virtually everything comes from God anyway, let’s quit going through these “who’s first” routines.
13-16Don’t you agree there is something naturally powerful in the symbolism—a woman, her beautiful hair reminiscent of angels, praying in adoration; a man, his head bared in reverence, praying in submission? I hope you’re not going to be argumentative about this. All God’s churches see it this way; I don’t want you standing out as an exception.
17-19Regarding this next item, I’m not at all pleased. I am getting the picture that when you meet together it brings out your worst side instead of your best! First, I get this report on your divisiveness, competing with and criticizing each other. I’m reluctant to believe it, but there it is. The best that can be said for it is that the testing process will bring truth into the open and confirm it.
20-22And then I find that you bring your divisions to worship—you come together, and instead of eating the Lord’s Supper, you bring in a lot of food from the outside and make pigs of yourselves. Some are left out, and go home hungry. Others have to be carried out, too drunk to walk. I can’t believe it! Don’t you have your own homes to eat and drink in? Why would you stoop to desecrating God’s church? Why would you actually shame God’s poor? I never would have believed you would stoop to this. And I’m not going to stand by and say nothing.
23-26Let me go over with you again exactly what goes on in the Lord’s Supper and why it is so centrally important. I received my instructions from the Master himself and passed them on to you. The Master, Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, took bread. Having given thanks, he broke it and said,
This is my body, broken for you.
Do this to remember me.
After supper, he did the same thing with the cup:
This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you.
Each time you drink this cup, remember me.
What you must solemnly realize is that every time you eat this bread and every time you drink this cup, you reenact in your words and actions the death of the Master. You will be drawn back to this meal again and again until the Master returns. You must never let familiarity breed contempt.
27-28Anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Master irreverently is like part of the crowd that jeered and spit on him at his death. Is that the kind of “remembrance” you want to be part of? Examine your motives, test your heart, come to this meal in holy awe.
29-32If you give no thought (or worse, don’t care) about the broken body of the Master when you eat and drink, you’re running the risk of serious consequences. That’s why so many of you even now are listless and sick, and others have gone to an early grave. If we get this straight now, we won’t have to be straightened out later on. Better to be confronted by the Master now than to face a fiery confrontation later.
33-34So, my friends, when you come together to the Lord’s Table, be reverent and courteous with one another. If you’re so hungry that you can’t wait to be served, go home and get a sandwich. But by no means risk turning this Meal into an eating and drinking binge or a family squabble. It is a spiritual meal—a love feast.
The other things you asked about, I’ll respond to in person when I make my next visit.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.