'Be you imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.' Paul is conscious that he has been laying great stress on his own example, so now he sets the record straight. They are to be imitators of him because he is an imitator of Christ. What he has been saying is precisely what Christ would recommend... [ Continue Reading ]
'Now I praise you that you remember me in all things, and hold fast the traditions, even as I delivered them to you.' Paul opens this section by giving them praise for remembering so much of what he has taught them and for holding fast the ideas that he had delivered to them. To that extent they he... [ Continue Reading ]
THE STATUS OF MEN AND WOMEN IN MINISTRY WHEN PROPHESYING AND PRAYING IS TO BE EXPRESSED IN THE COVERING OR UNCOVERING OF THE HEAD (11:2-16). This question is of great importance in the church, because it deals with the matter of authority, and especially authority in ministry. It is usually misrepr... [ Continue Reading ]
APPROACH TO WORSHIP (11:2-14:40). We now move on to a section which deals with the Christian approach to worship in the light of the particular problems of the Corinthian church. Chapter 11 covers the question of the covering or uncovering of the head in praying and prophesying, and its significance... [ Continue Reading ]
'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.' But he is dissatisfied about their attitude towards authority, and especially of that of the women towards the men who are over the church, and possibly at their a... [ Continue Reading ]
'Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered (literally 'having a hanging down from the head'), dishonours his head. But every woman praying or prophesying with her head unveiled dishonours her head. For it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven. For if a woman is not veiled,... [ Continue Reading ]
'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.' In the end Paul brings it all back to theology. The previous idea is amplified. The man ought to wear no head covering in his approach to God, and to man on God... [ Continue Reading ]
'For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man, for nor was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man.' This idea is then confirmed from what happened at creation. Who came first? The man came first and was first established in authority and as the source of humanity. The... [ Continue Reading ]
'For this reason ought the woman to have authority on her head, because of the angels.' And that is why the woman must when prophesying and being open to the Spirit and thus entering the spiritual realm, wear the covering that both denotes her authority to act in this way, and the fact that as she... [ Continue Reading ]
'Nevertheless, neither is the woman without the man, nor the man without the woman, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, so is the man also by the woman; but all things are of God.' Paul then immediately goes on to stress that mutual respect between man and woman must be maintained. What he... [ Continue Reading ]
'Judge you in yourselves. Is it seemly that a woman pray to God unveiled? Does not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a dishonour to him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her. For her hair is given her for a covering.' Paul then seeks to confirm his arg... [ Continue Reading ]
'But if any man seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor the churches of God.' Paul now anticipates contention. Let those who disagree recognise that in the churches of God there is no such custom as to allow a woman to pray to God uncovered (1 Corinthians 11:13, the only probable antec... [ Continue Reading ]
CRITICISMS AND INSTRUCTIONS WITH REGARD TO THE LORD'S SUPPER IN CHURCH WORSHIP (11:17-33). But Paul's dissatisfaction goes beyond just the covering of the hair and lack of restraint while praying and prophesying. He is also concerned for their general behaviour and lack of restraint when the church... [ Continue Reading ]
'But in giving you this charge, I do not praise you, that you come together not for the better but for the worse.' Having deliberately praised them in 1 Corinthians 11:2 he now points out that he cannot praise them with regard to their attitude towards each other in Christian gatherings. For they co... [ Continue Reading ]
'For first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear (present - 'am hearing continually') that divisions exist (present infinitive - therefore 'are constantly coming up') among you, and I partly believe it.' The first thing that disturbs him is that there are divisions among them which k... [ Continue Reading ]
'For there must be ('it is necessary for there to be') also factions among you, that those who are approved ('have stood the test') may be made manifest among you.' He now gives a further reason why he 'partly believes it', and that is the necessity of it. This necessity arises either because he kn... [ Continue Reading ]
'When therefore you assemble yourselves together, it is not possible to eat the Lord's supper, for in your eating each one takes before the other his own supper. And one is hungry, and another is drunken.' In those days Christians regularly 'assembled together' to pray, hear the reading of the Scri... [ Continue Reading ]
'What, do you not have houses to eat and to drink in? Or do you despise the church of God, and put those to shame who have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I praise you not.' Could they not see that this open show of separation and disunity was the very opposite of what Jesu... [ Continue Reading ]
'For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." ' This should be read in the light of 1 Corint... [ Continue Reading ]
'In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.' Paul here stresses that the cup also is a similar memorial. As they partake of the wine they are entering into the experience of His cross (as it... [ Continue Reading ]
'For as often as you eat this bread, and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he come.' And in their participation of Him in this way they should also recognise that they were proclaiming His death, in which they were participating, something they would continue to do until His coming a... [ Continue Reading ]
'Wherefore whoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.' This being so what a great sin it is that men participate in the Lord's Supper in anything but the most genuine way, and without the most serious of tho... [ Continue Reading ]
'But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup.' So the warning comes that each one should test and prove himself, presumably by self-examination, by a coming to the blood of Christ for cleansing (1 John 1:7), and then by a deliberate act of unity in coming toge... [ Continue Reading ]
'For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he discern not the body. For this reason many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep.' For all who come eating and drinking of the Lord's Supper, who do not discern in it His body, and His dying for them, and through i... [ Continue Reading ]
'But if we discerned ourselves, we should not be judged (krino). But when we are judged (krino), we are chastened of the Lord, that we may not be condemned (katakrino) with the world.' These things (the sickliness and the deaths) arise, he points out, because they are not discerning about their own... [ Continue Reading ]
'Wherefore, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait one for another. If any man is hungry, let him eat at home, that your coming together be not to judgment. And the rest will I set in order whenever I come.' So his ultimate conclusion is that they should not hold sumptuous feasts when they... [ Continue Reading ]