New International Reader s Version - NIrV - 1996
1 Corinthians 11
2
I praise you for being faithful in remembering me. I also praise you for staying true to all my teachings, just as I gave them to you.
Reference
Parallel theme
2 Thessalonians 2:15
1 Corinthians 4:17
1 Corinthians 15:2
2 Thessalonians 3:6
Luke 1:6
1 Thessalonians 3:6
Resurrection
1 Corinthians 11:22
1 Corinthians 11:17
3
Now I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ. The head of the woman is the man. And the head of Christ is God.
Reference
Parallel theme
Genesis 3:16
Colossians 3:18
Colossians 1:18
1 Peter 3:1
Colossians 2:10
References Christ
1 Corinthians 3:23
Ephesians 4:15
References God
Colossians 2:19
4
Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered brings shame on his head.
Reference
Parallel theme
2 Samuel 15:30
5
And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered brings shame on her head. It is just as if her head were shaved.
Reference
6
What if a woman does not cover her head? She should have her hair cut off. But it is shameful for her to cut her hair or shave it off. So she should cover her head.
7
A man should not cover his head. He is the likeness and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of the man.
Reference
8
The man did not come from the woman. The woman came from the man.
Reference
Parallel theme
1 Timothy 2:13
9
Also, the man was not created for the woman. The woman was created for the man.
Reference
Parallel theme
Genesis 2:18
10
That's why a woman should have her head covered. It shows that she is under authority. She should also cover her head because of the angels.
Reference
Parallel theme
Hebrews 1:14
11
But here is how things are for those who belong to the Lord. The woman is not independent of the man. And the man is not independent of the woman.
Reference
Parallel theme
Galatians 3:28
12
The woman came from the man, and the man is born from the woman. But everything comes from God.
Reference
13
You be the judge. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God without covering her head?
14
Suppose a man has long hair. Doesn't the very nature of things teach you that it is shameful?
15
And suppose a woman has long hair. Doesn't the very nature of things teach you that it is her glory? Long hair is given to her as a covering.
16
If anyone wants to argue about that, we don't have any other practice. And God's churches don't either.
Reference
17
In the following matters, I don't praise you. Your meetings do more harm than good.
Reference
Parallel theme
Hebrews 10:25
1 Corinthians 14:23
Leviticus 19:17
Resurrection
1 Corinthians 11:22
1 Peter 2:14
1 Corinthians 11:2
18
First, here is what people are telling me. When you come together as a church, you take sides. And in some ways I believe it.
Reference
Parallel theme
1 Corinthians 3:3
19
No doubt you need to take sides in order to show which of you God agrees with!
Reference
Creation
1 John 2:19
Parallel theme
Titus 3:10
Acts 20:30
Deuteronomy 13:3
Luke 17:1
Matthew 18:7
Galatians 5:20
20
When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat.
21
As you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anyone else. One remains hungry and another gets drunk.
Reference
22
Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you think so little of God's church that you shame those in it who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you for that? Certainly not!
Reference
23
I passed on to you what I received from the Lord. On the night the Lord Jesus was handed over to his enemies, he took bread.
Reference
Parallel theme
1 Corinthians 15:3
Matthew 28:20
Acts 20:7
Matthew 26:2
References Jesus
1 Thessalonians 4:2
Matthew 26:34
Matthew 26:17
Galatians 1:1
References Lord
Deuteronomy 4:5
24
When he had given thanks, he broke it. He said, "This is my body. It is given for you. Every time you eat it, do it in memory of me."
Reference
25
In the same way, after supper he took the cup. He said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Every time you drink it, do it in memory of me."
Reference
26
When you eat the bread and drink the cup, you are announcing the Lord's death until he comes again.
Reference
Parallel theme
Revelation 1:7
Hebrews 9:28
John 14:3
Acts 1:11
1 John 2:28
1 Corinthians 15:23
John 21:22
References Lord
2 Peter 3:10
1 Corinthians 4:5
Revelation 22:20
27
So do not eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in a way that isn't worthy of him. If you do, you will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.
Reference
Blood
Hebrews 10:29
Parallel theme
John 6:51
Matthew 22:11
References Lord
1 Corinthians 10:21
Numbers 9:13
Numbers 9:10
28
A person should take a careful look at himself before he eats the bread and drinks from the cup.
Reference
29
Anyone who eats and drinks must recognize the body of the Lord. If he doesn't, God will judge him for it.
Reference
Parallel theme
1 Corinthians 11:30
Hebrews 5:14
Ecclesiastes 8:5
Romans 13:2
1 Corinthians 11:24
James 3:1
References Lord
1 Corinthians 11:27
32
When the Lord judges us, he corrects us. Then we will not be judged along with the rest of the world.
Reference
Parallel theme
Revelation 3:19
1 Corinthians 11:30
1 John 5:19
References Lord
Psalm 118:18
Deuteronomy 8:5
Jeremiah 7:28
33
My brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for each other.
Summary of 1 Corinthians 11
1 Corinthians 11 addresses proper behavior in Christian worship, relationships between men and women, and serious problems surrounding the Lord's Supper, with Paul emphasizing that worship should reflect respect, mutual dependence, unity, and concern for other believers rather than pride, competition, or social inequality.
The first part of the chapter discusses head coverings, hair, gender roles, and public worship, and although some of Paul's instructions are closely connected with the customs of first-century Corinth, his larger argument is that Christians should behave respectfully during worship and recognize that men and women are not independent of one another but ultimately depend on God.
The second and longer part of the chapter focuses on the Lord's Supper, where wealthy Corinthians were eating their own food while poorer believers went hungry, turning what should have been a shared expression of unity into a gathering that displayed the social divisions of Roman society.
Paul reminds them of Jesus' words at the Last Supper, explaining that the bread and cup remember Christ's sacrifice and proclaim His death until He returns, so participating in communion while humiliating or ignoring other believers completely contradicts what the meal represents.
Paul therefore tells the Corinthians to examine themselves, recognize the meaning of the Lord's body, wait for one another, and make sure that their communal meals do not become occasions for shame and division, because Christian worship cannot be separated from the way believers treat one another.
Historical Context
The first half of 1 Corinthians 11 is one of the more difficult passages in the New Testament because Paul's instructions about head coverings and hair are closely connected with first-century social customs.
Corinth was a city where people from different cultures lived together, including Greeks, Romans, Jews, merchants, travelers, slaves, freed people, and wealthy citizens.
Public appearance could communicate important information about a person's gender, marital status, social position, respectability, and religious identity.
Head coverings and hairstyles were therefore not simply matters of fashion.
They could communicate social messages.
Paul's concern appears to be that Christian worship should not become a place where believers deliberately ignore the cultural signals that their society understood as signs of respect or shame.
At the same time, Paul makes an important statement that prevents the passage from being read simply as a declaration that men are superior to women.
He says that woman is not independent of man, nor man independent of woman, and he concludes that everything ultimately comes from God.
This mutual dependence is an important part of the chapter because Paul does not leave his discussion with a simple hierarchy.
Both men and women depend on one another, and both ultimately depend on God.
Paul also refers to women praying and prophesying, which indicates that women were active participants in Christian worship.
The discussion is therefore not about whether women could participate at all, but about how they should appear and behave while participating within the cultural setting of the Corinthian church.
The exact meaning of Paul's reference to the angels in verse 10 is uncertain.
Several explanations have been suggested throughout Christian history, but the text itself does not provide enough information to establish one interpretation with complete confidence.
The second half of the chapter is clearer and addresses a serious practical problem.
The Corinthians were gathering together to share what was connected with the Lord's Supper, but the meal was becoming divided according to social class.
Some wealthy believers apparently arrived with enough food and drink for themselves, while poorer members had little or nothing.
Some were even becoming drunk while others remained hungry.
This behavior reflected the normal social divisions of the Roman world.
Wealthy Romans often hosted meals where social status affected seating, food, portions, and treatment.
A wealthy host could receive better food and a more honored place, while poorer guests might receive less.
Paul sees this behavior as completely incompatible with Christian worship.
The church is supposed to be a community in which people are united through Christ.
Instead, the Corinthians were bringing the inequalities of Roman society directly into the Christian gathering.
Paul's question is therefore extremely strong: Are they not humiliating those who have nothing?
The problem is not merely poor manners.
It is a failure to understand what the church is.
Paul then returns to the central meaning of the Lord's Supper.
He reminds them that Jesus took bread on the night He was betrayed, gave thanks, broke it, and identified it with His body given for His followers.
He then took the cup and connected it with the new covenant in His blood.
Paul tells the Corinthians that whenever Christians share the bread and cup, they proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.
This means communion looks in three directions at once.
It looks backward because Christians remember Jesus' death.
It looks around because believers share the meal as one community.
And it looks forward because Christians proclaim Christ's return.
This is why their selfish behavior is so serious.
They are participating in a meal that is supposed to proclaim Christ's self-giving love, while simultaneously refusing to share food with other members of His body.
Their actions contradict the message they are proclaiming.
Paul's warning about taking communion "in an unworthy manner" should therefore not be understood simply as saying that Christians must be personally perfect before they can take communion.
If that were the standard, no one could participate.
The immediate problem in Corinth is that believers were participating in the meal while acting selfishly toward other Christians.
Paul tells them to examine themselves, meaning that they should honestly consider their relationship with Christ and their treatment of other believers.
The phrase "recognizing the Lord's body" is particularly important because the surrounding discussion connects the Lord's body not only with the bread but also with the Christian community.
They cannot claim to honor Christ while humiliating members of His church.
Paul then describes some Corinthians as weak, sick, and even dead because of God's discipline.
This is a difficult passage, and Christians have interpreted it in different ways.
Paul clearly understands the situation as a form of divine correction, but the passage should not be used to assume that every illness or death is a direct punishment from God.
The broader point is that God takes the behavior of His people seriously and may discipline them in order to correct them.
Paul's final instructions are very practical.
Those who are hungry should eat at home, and the believers should wait for one another when they gather.
This simple instruction addresses the deeper problem by ensuring that the church's communal meal becomes an expression of fellowship rather than an opportunity for wealthy members to display their status while poorer members are embarrassed.
The central message of 1 Corinthians 11 is that Christian worship must reflect the character of Christ, so believers should approach worship with humility, respect, self-control, mutual dependence, and genuine concern for the people around them.
Paul's discussion of men and women emphasizes that Christian worship should be conducted respectfully within its cultural setting while also reminding believers that men and women depend on one another and both ultimately come from God.
The strongest lesson comes from the Lord's Supper.
Paul shows that communion is not simply a religious ceremony involving bread and wine.
It is a powerful declaration that Christ gave Himself for His people and that His people belong together as one community.
Therefore, Christians cannot meaningfully celebrate communion while humiliating, ignoring, or taking advantage of other believers.
The Corinthian problem was especially serious because their social divisions were being carried directly into the church.
Wealthy believers were eating well while poorer believers went hungry, which meant that the gathering designed to demonstrate Christian unity was actually displaying the economic inequality and social competition of the surrounding Roman culture.
Paul's solution is to examine oneself, recognize the meaning of Christ's sacrifice, wait for others, share fairly, and make sure that worship builds up the whole church rather than benefiting only the strongest or wealthiest members.
The chapter therefore teaches that how Christians treat one another is part of how they worship God.
A person cannot separate private faith from community behavior and then claim that worship is acceptable.
The Lord's Supper points believers toward Christ's sacrifice, but it also calls them to imitate that same spirit of self-giving love, humility, equality, and concern for others.
The final lesson is that Christian worship is not truly honoring God when it humiliates people, creates divisions, or ignores those in need, because remembering Christ's sacrifice should lead believers to treat one another as members of the same body and to place love above status, comfort, and personal advantage.
The first part of the chapter discusses head coverings, hair, gender roles, and public worship, and although some of Paul's instructions are closely connected with the customs of first-century Corinth, his larger argument is that Christians should behave respectfully during worship and recognize that men and women are not independent of one another but ultimately depend on God.
The second and longer part of the chapter focuses on the Lord's Supper, where wealthy Corinthians were eating their own food while poorer believers went hungry, turning what should have been a shared expression of unity into a gathering that displayed the social divisions of Roman society.
Paul reminds them of Jesus' words at the Last Supper, explaining that the bread and cup remember Christ's sacrifice and proclaim His death until He returns, so participating in communion while humiliating or ignoring other believers completely contradicts what the meal represents.
Paul therefore tells the Corinthians to examine themselves, recognize the meaning of the Lord's body, wait for one another, and make sure that their communal meals do not become occasions for shame and division, because Christian worship cannot be separated from the way believers treat one another.
Historical Context
The first half of 1 Corinthians 11 is one of the more difficult passages in the New Testament because Paul's instructions about head coverings and hair are closely connected with first-century social customs.
Corinth was a city where people from different cultures lived together, including Greeks, Romans, Jews, merchants, travelers, slaves, freed people, and wealthy citizens.
Public appearance could communicate important information about a person's gender, marital status, social position, respectability, and religious identity.
Head coverings and hairstyles were therefore not simply matters of fashion.
They could communicate social messages.
Paul's concern appears to be that Christian worship should not become a place where believers deliberately ignore the cultural signals that their society understood as signs of respect or shame.
At the same time, Paul makes an important statement that prevents the passage from being read simply as a declaration that men are superior to women.
He says that woman is not independent of man, nor man independent of woman, and he concludes that everything ultimately comes from God.
This mutual dependence is an important part of the chapter because Paul does not leave his discussion with a simple hierarchy.
Both men and women depend on one another, and both ultimately depend on God.
Paul also refers to women praying and prophesying, which indicates that women were active participants in Christian worship.
The discussion is therefore not about whether women could participate at all, but about how they should appear and behave while participating within the cultural setting of the Corinthian church.
The exact meaning of Paul's reference to the angels in verse 10 is uncertain.
Several explanations have been suggested throughout Christian history, but the text itself does not provide enough information to establish one interpretation with complete confidence.
The second half of the chapter is clearer and addresses a serious practical problem.
The Corinthians were gathering together to share what was connected with the Lord's Supper, but the meal was becoming divided according to social class.
Some wealthy believers apparently arrived with enough food and drink for themselves, while poorer members had little or nothing.
Some were even becoming drunk while others remained hungry.
This behavior reflected the normal social divisions of the Roman world.
Wealthy Romans often hosted meals where social status affected seating, food, portions, and treatment.
A wealthy host could receive better food and a more honored place, while poorer guests might receive less.
Paul sees this behavior as completely incompatible with Christian worship.
The church is supposed to be a community in which people are united through Christ.
Instead, the Corinthians were bringing the inequalities of Roman society directly into the Christian gathering.
Paul's question is therefore extremely strong: Are they not humiliating those who have nothing?
The problem is not merely poor manners.
It is a failure to understand what the church is.
Paul then returns to the central meaning of the Lord's Supper.
He reminds them that Jesus took bread on the night He was betrayed, gave thanks, broke it, and identified it with His body given for His followers.
He then took the cup and connected it with the new covenant in His blood.
Paul tells the Corinthians that whenever Christians share the bread and cup, they proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.
This means communion looks in three directions at once.
It looks backward because Christians remember Jesus' death.
It looks around because believers share the meal as one community.
And it looks forward because Christians proclaim Christ's return.
This is why their selfish behavior is so serious.
They are participating in a meal that is supposed to proclaim Christ's self-giving love, while simultaneously refusing to share food with other members of His body.
Their actions contradict the message they are proclaiming.
Paul's warning about taking communion "in an unworthy manner" should therefore not be understood simply as saying that Christians must be personally perfect before they can take communion.
If that were the standard, no one could participate.
The immediate problem in Corinth is that believers were participating in the meal while acting selfishly toward other Christians.
Paul tells them to examine themselves, meaning that they should honestly consider their relationship with Christ and their treatment of other believers.
The phrase "recognizing the Lord's body" is particularly important because the surrounding discussion connects the Lord's body not only with the bread but also with the Christian community.
They cannot claim to honor Christ while humiliating members of His church.
Paul then describes some Corinthians as weak, sick, and even dead because of God's discipline.
This is a difficult passage, and Christians have interpreted it in different ways.
Paul clearly understands the situation as a form of divine correction, but the passage should not be used to assume that every illness or death is a direct punishment from God.
The broader point is that God takes the behavior of His people seriously and may discipline them in order to correct them.
Paul's final instructions are very practical.
Those who are hungry should eat at home, and the believers should wait for one another when they gather.
This simple instruction addresses the deeper problem by ensuring that the church's communal meal becomes an expression of fellowship rather than an opportunity for wealthy members to display their status while poorer members are embarrassed.
The central message of 1 Corinthians 11 is that Christian worship must reflect the character of Christ, so believers should approach worship with humility, respect, self-control, mutual dependence, and genuine concern for the people around them.
Paul's discussion of men and women emphasizes that Christian worship should be conducted respectfully within its cultural setting while also reminding believers that men and women depend on one another and both ultimately come from God.
The strongest lesson comes from the Lord's Supper.
Paul shows that communion is not simply a religious ceremony involving bread and wine.
It is a powerful declaration that Christ gave Himself for His people and that His people belong together as one community.
Therefore, Christians cannot meaningfully celebrate communion while humiliating, ignoring, or taking advantage of other believers.
The Corinthian problem was especially serious because their social divisions were being carried directly into the church.
Wealthy believers were eating well while poorer believers went hungry, which meant that the gathering designed to demonstrate Christian unity was actually displaying the economic inequality and social competition of the surrounding Roman culture.
Paul's solution is to examine oneself, recognize the meaning of Christ's sacrifice, wait for others, share fairly, and make sure that worship builds up the whole church rather than benefiting only the strongest or wealthiest members.
The chapter therefore teaches that how Christians treat one another is part of how they worship God.
A person cannot separate private faith from community behavior and then claim that worship is acceptable.
The Lord's Supper points believers toward Christ's sacrifice, but it also calls them to imitate that same spirit of self-giving love, humility, equality, and concern for others.
The final lesson is that Christian worship is not truly honoring God when it humiliates people, creates divisions, or ignores those in need, because remembering Christ's sacrifice should lead believers to treat one another as members of the same body and to place love above status, comfort, and personal advantage.