The big picture
Paul turns to conduct when the believers in Corinth, a Greek city, gather for worship. Paul is a messenger of Jesus Christ and asks them to follow him as he follows Christ. Questions about heads, coverings, and honour come first. Then he confronts a shared meal that humiliates poor people instead of expressing the Lord's care. He recalls Jesus' bread and cup and calls for self-examination. The gathering must reflect whose people they are and whom their meal remembers.
In this chapter
- Heads and Coverings in Prayer 1 Corinthians 11:1-6
Paul praises the church for remembering his teaching, then speaks of headship: Christ over man, man over woman, and God over Christ.
- Origin and Mutual Dependence 1 Corinthians 11:7-12
Paul links the man's uncovered head with God's image and glory, and the woman with man's glory.
- An Appeal to Fitting Practice 1 Corinthians 11:13-16
Paul asks the hearers to judge whether an uncovered woman praying is fitting.
- The Meal Humiliates Those Without Food 1 Corinthians 11:17-22
Paul cannot praise the way they gather, because the meetings do harm.
- Bread and Cup Remember the Lord’s Death 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Paul passes on what he received from the Lord.
- Examine and Wait for One Another 1 Corinthians 11:27-34
Receiving the bread and cup in an unworthy manner brings guilt concerning the Lord's body and blood.
Central truth
Paul calls gathered believers to honour fitting relationships and to share the Lord's supper with reverence and care rather than shame and division.
Scripture beside the summary
1 Corinthians · King James Version · 341 Corinthians 11:1-6
Heads and Coverings in Prayer
Paul praises the church for remembering his teaching, then speaks of headship: Christ over man, man over woman, and God over Christ. A man praying or speaking God's message with a covered head brings dishonour. A woman doing so uncovered dishonours her head, compared with the shame of a shaved head. Paul calls for her covering. Christians differ on the meaning of head, the covering required, and how this applies today. Women as well as men pray and prophesy here. Paul asks how this is done with honour. His point is not only whether anyone speaks.
In everyday life
A ceremonial choir member asks why removing a cap honours one role while a different covering belongs to another. The director explains that dress communicates relationships within this gathering, not only personal taste. The singer must understand the shared meaning before judging the rule. Paul's instructions concern worship and headship in Christ, whose present application Christians debate.
Notice
1 Corinthians 11:5 The woman described is praying or prophesying. Paul's immediate correction concerns her uncovered head while participating, a detail that matters for reading his concern accurately.
1 Corinthians 11:1-6
King James Version1Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.
2Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
3But 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.
4Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.
5But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.
6For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.
1 Corinthians 11:7-12
Origin and Mutual Dependence
Paul links the man's uncovered head with God's image and glory, and the woman with man's glory. He recalls the creation pattern of woman from man and for man. He says she should have authority on her head. He connects this with angels, heavenly beings. The exact force of this phrase is unclear. Then he guards against treating either sex as independent in the Lord. Woman came from man, but every later man comes through a woman, and everything comes from God. His account of difference ends with mutual need and a common source.
In everyday life
A genealogy researcher follows a line through an early father. Every later branch depends on mothers whose names the chart barely shows. She redraws the page. Its starting point must not imply that one side exists alone. The family remains one network of dependence. Paul relates man and woman in the Lord and to God as source.
Notice
1 Corinthians 11:12 The argument turns from the first woman's origin to every man's birth through a woman. Men cannot use the earlier point to claim they need no women. Paul closes that path of pride.
1 Corinthians 11:7-12
King James Version7For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
8For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
9Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
10For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.
11Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.
12For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.
1 Corinthians 11:13-16
An Appeal to Fitting Practice
Paul asks the hearers to judge whether an uncovered woman praying is fitting. He appeals to what they recognise as natural honour and shame concerning hair. Long hair brings shame to a man in his argument, while a woman's long hair is her glory and a covering. He then addresses those inclined to quarrel, appealing to the practice shared by the churches. Christians differ on how these details fit. Some stress hair, some an added covering, and some local custom. Paul seeks a fitting shared practice rather than a contest in which each person's display governs worship.
In everyday life
A graduation marshal meets a participant who wants to turn the procession into an argument over the shared dress rules. She asks him to consider how the group has agreed to mark the occasion and the meaning the clothing carries. The ceremony needs more than competing preferences. Paul's appeal concerns prayer and church practice, not academic pageantry.
Notice
1 Corinthians 11:16 Paul brings the wider churches into the dispute. Corinth is not treated as a self-contained gathering whose preferences alone determine every shared practice.
1 Corinthians 11:13-16
King James Version13Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?
14Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
15But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.
16But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.
1 Corinthians 11:17-22
The Meal Humiliates Those Without Food
Paul cannot praise the way they gather, because the meetings do harm. He has heard of divisions and partly believes the reports. The test shows who is faithful. Their eating no longer deserves the name Lord's supper. People rush to their own food, leaving one hungry while another becomes drunk. They have homes for private meals. In the church, this behaviour despises God's people and humiliates those who have little. Paul repeats his refusal to praise it. Their acts toward the poor clash with the meal's meaning.
In everyday life
A reunion organiser sees wealthy relatives open full picnic baskets while the cousins who brought little sit hungry at the same long table. The event still carries the family name, but the meal denies the welcome the name promises. She stops the private feasting to address the shame. The Lord's supper proclaims Christ's self-giving, not only family solidarity.
Notice
1 Corinthians 11:22 Paul identifies shame inflicted on those who lack resources. The disorder is not merely bad timing; it exposes contempt within the gathered church.
1 Corinthians 11:17-22
King James Version17Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.
18For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.
19For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
20When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.
21For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
22What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Bread and Cup Remember the Lord’s Death
Paul passes on what he received from the Lord. On the night of betrayal, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and identified it with his body given for them. They were to do this in remembrance of him. After supper he likewise gave the cup as the new covenant in his blood, again to be received in remembrance. Eating the bread and drinking the cup proclaims his death until he comes. Christians differ on precisely how Christ is present in this meal. The meal proclaims a death given for them. Their shared act must fit that gift.
In everyday life
A rescue crew shares an annual meal. They read the final letter of the colleague who died saving them. The food becomes an act of remembered gratitude that speaks to newcomers as well as survivors. Their manner at the table must fit what they remember. The Lord's supper is instituted by Jesus and proclaims his covenant-giving death until his return.
Notice
1 Corinthians 11:26 The meal looks backward to the Lord's death and forward to his coming. Remembrance is also a continuing proclamation with a future horizon.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
King James Version23For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
24And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
25After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
26For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
1 Corinthians 11:27-34
Examine and Wait for One Another
Receiving the bread and cup in an unworthy manner brings guilt concerning the Lord's body and blood. Each person should examine himself, then eat and drink with proper recognition of the body. Paul links their failure with weakness, illness, and deaths among them. They must judge themselves rather than eat without care. The Lord's discipline aims to keep them from the world's final condemnation. Paul ends with a concrete correction: wait for one another. Those needing to satisfy hunger can eat at home. The gathered meal must cease becoming an occasion for judgement through selfish conduct.
In everyday life
A memorial-meal steward reviews complaints that guests have used the gathering to flaunt wealth and exclude others. Before the next meal, she asks each host to examine the harm and changes the serving order so no table begins alone. Reflection must alter the shared act. Paul also names the Lord's severe discipline and responsibility toward Christ's body and blood.
Notice
1 Corinthians 11:33 The practical instruction to wait follows the severe warning. Reverence for the meal includes how believers treat one another while receiving it.
1 Corinthians 11:27-34
King James Version27Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
29For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
30For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
31For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
32But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
33Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.
34And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
1 Corinthians 11:1 begins with “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.”
Where the chapter turns
1 Corinthians 11:17 forms a natural hinge: “Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.”
The final note
1 Corinthians 11:34 leaves the reader with “And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.”
A word trail through the chapter
The words woman, head, Lord, drink, bread, praise help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- ordinances
- Teachings or practices handed on for the church to keep.
- testament
- A covenant or binding commitment, here made through Jesus' blood.
- chastened
- Corrected or disciplined so that a person turns from wrong.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
