Bible Commentaries
1 Corinthians 11

Verse 1

Followers [μιμηται] . Lit., imitators, as Rev. This verse belongs to the closing section of ch. 10.

Verse 2

Ordinances - delivered [παραδοσεις - παρεδωκα] . There is a play of two hundred words, both being derived from paradidwmi to give over. Ordinances is a faulty rendering. Better, Rev., traditions. By these words Paul avoids any possible charge of imposing his own notions upon the Church. He delivers to them what had been delivered to him. Compare 1 Timothy 1:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:15.

Verse 4

Having his head covered [κατα κεφαλης εχων] . Lit., having something hanging down from his head. Referring to the tallith, a four - cornered shawl having fringes consisting of eight threads, each knotted five times, and worn over the head in prayer. It was placed upon the worshipper's head at his entrance into the synagogue. The Romans, like the Jews, prayed with the head veiled. So Aeneas : "And our heads are shrouded before the altar with a Phrygian vestment" (Virgil, "Aeneid," 3, 545). The Greeks remained bareheaded during prayer or sacrifice, as indeed they did in their ordinary outdoor life. The Grecian usage, which had become prevalent in the Grecian churches, seems to have commended itself to Paul as more becoming the superior position of the man.

Verse 5

Her head uncovered. Rev., unveiled. The Greek women rarely appeared in public, but lived in strict seclusion. Unmarried women never quitted their apartments, except on occasions of festal processions, either as spectators or participants. Even after marriage they were largely confined to the gynaeconitis or women 's rooms. Thus Euripides : "As to that which brings the reproach of a bad reputation upon her who remains not at home, giving up the desire of this, I tarried in my dwelling" (" Troades, "649). And Menander :" The door of the court is the boundary fixed for the free woman. " The head - dress of Greek women consisted of nets, hair - bags, or kerchiefs, sometimes covering the whole head. A shawl which enveloped the body was also often thrown over the head, especially at marriages or funerals. This costume the Corinthian women had disused in the christian assemblies, perhaps as an assertion of the abolition of sexual distinctions, and the spiritual equality of the woman with the man in the presence of Christ. This custom was discountenanced by Paul as striking at the divinely ordained subjection of the woman to the man. Among the Jews, in ancient times, both married and unmarried women appeared in public unveiled. The later Jewish authorities insisted on the use of the veil.

All one as if she were shaven. Which would be a sign either of grief or of disgrace. The cutting off of the hair is used by Isaiah as a figure of the entire destruction of a people by divine retribution. Isaiah 7:20 Among the Jews a woman convicted of adultery had her hair shorn, with the formula : "Because thou hast departed from the manner of the daughters of Israel, who go with their head covered, therefore that has befallen thee which thou hast chosen." According to Tacitus, among the Germans an adulteress was driven from her husband 's house with her head shaved; and the Justinian code prescribed this penalty for an adulteress, whom, at the expiration of two years, her husband refused to receive again. Paul means that a woman praying or prophesying uncovered puts herself in public opinion on a level with a courtesan.

Verse 6

Shorn or shaven [κειρασθαι η ξυρασθαι] . To have the hair cut close, or to be entirely shaved as with a razor.

Verse 7

Image and glory [εικων και δοξα] For image, see on Revelation 13:14. Man represents God 's authority by his position as the ruler of the woman. In the case of the woman, the word image is omitted, although she, like the man, is the image of God. Paul is expounding the relation of the woman, not to God, but to man.

Verse 10

Power on her head [εξουσιαν] . Not in the primary sense of liberty or permission, but authority. Used here of the symbol of power, i e., the covering upon the head as a sign of her husband 's authority. So Rev., a sign of authority.

Because of the angels. The holy angels, who were supposed by both the Jewish and the early Christian Church to be present in worshipping assemblies. More, however, seems to be meant than "to avoid exciting disapproval among them." The key - note of Paul 's thought is subordination according to the original divine order. Woman best asserts her spiritual equality before God, not by unsexing herself, but by recognizing her true position and fulfilling its claims, even as do the angels, who are ministering as well as worshipping spirits (Hebrews 1:4). She is to fall in obediently with that divine economy of which she forms a part with the angels, and not to break the divine harmony, which especially asserts itself in worship, where the angelic ministers mingle with the earthly worshippers; nor to ignore the example of the holy ones who keep their first estate, and serve in the heavenly sanctuary. 116

Verse 14

Nature [φυσις] . The recognized constitution of things. In this case the natural distinction of the woman 's long hair. 117

Verse 16

Custom. Not the custom of contentiousness, but that of women speaking unveiled. The testimonies of Tertullian and Chrysostom show that these injunctions of Paul prevailed in the churches. In the sculptures of the catacombs the women have a close - fitting head - dress, while the men have the hair short.

Verse 17

I declare [παραγγελλω] . Wrong. It means in the New Testament only command. See on Luke 5:14; Acts 1:4.

Verse 18

In the church [εν εκκλησια] . See on Matthew 16:18. Not the church edifice, a meaning which the word never has in the New Testament, and which appears first in patristic writings. The marginal rendering of the Rev. is better : in congregation.

Verse 19

Heresies [αιρεσεις] . See on 2 Peter 2:1. In Paul only here and Galatians 5:20. Better, parties or factions, as the result of the divisions.

Verse 20

This is not [ουκ εστιν] . Rev., correctly, it is not possible. The Lord 's Supper [κυριακον δειπνον] . The emphasis is on Lord 's. Deipnon supper, represented the principal meal of the day, answering to the late dinner. The Eucharist proper was originally celebrated as a private expression of devotion, and in connection with a common, daily meal, an agape or love - feast. In the apostolic period it was celebrated daily. The social and festive character of the meal grew largely out of the gentile institution of clubs or fraternities, which served as savings - banks, mutual - help societies, insurance offices, and which expressed and fostered the spirit of good - fellowship by common festive meals, usually in gardens, round an altar of sacrifice. The communion - meal of the first and second centuries exhibited this character in being a feast of contribution, to which each brought his own provision. It also perpetuated the Jewish practice of the college of priests for the temple - service dining at a common table on festivals or Sabbaths, and of the schools of the Pharisees in their ordinary life.

Indications of the blending of the eucharistic celebration with a common meal are found here, Acts 2:42; Acts 20:7, and more obscurely, Acts 27:35. Acts 27:118

Verse 21

Taketh before other. Not waiting for the coming of the poor to participate.

Verse 22

Them that have not. Not, that have not houses, but absolutely, the poor. In thus shaming their poorer comrades they imitated the heathen. Xenophon relates of Socrates that, at feasts of contribution, where some brought much and others little, Socrates bade his attendant either to place each small contribution on the table for the common use, or else to distribute his share of the same to each. And so those who had brought much were ashamed not to partake of that which was placed for general use, and not, in return, to place their own stock on the table (" Memorabilia, " 3, 14, 1).

Verse 23

I received [εγω παρελαβον] . I is emphatic, giving the weight of personal authority to the statement. The question whether Paul means that he received directly from Christ, or mediately through the apostles or tradition, turns on a difference between two prepositions. Strictly, ajpo from or of, with the Lord, would imply the more remote source, from the Lord, through the apostles; but Paul does not always observe the distinction between this and para, from the preposition of the nearer source (see Greek, Colossians 1:7; Colossians 3:24); and this latter preposition compounded with the verb received, the emphatic I, and the mention of the fact itself, are decisive of the sense of an immediate communication from Christ to Paul. 119 Also [και] . Important as expressing the identity of the account of Jesus with his own.

He was betrayed [παρεδιδετο] . Imperfect tense, and very graphic. he was being betrayed. He instituted the Eucharist while His betrayal was going on.

Verse 24

Had given thanks [ευχαριστης] . Eucharistesas. Hence in post - apostolic and patristic writers, Eucharist was the technical term for the Lord 's Supper as a sacrifice of thanksgiving for all the gifts of God, especially for the "unspeakable gift," Jesus Christ. By some of the fathers of the second century the term was sometimes applied to the consecrated elements. The formula of thanksgiving cited in "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles" is, for the cup first, 'We give thanks to Thee, our Father, for the holy vine of David Thy servant, which Thou hast made known to us through Jesus, Thy servant : to Thee be the glory forever. "And for the bread :" We give thanks to Thee, our Father, for the life and knowledge which Thou hast made known to us through Jesus Thy servant : to Thee be the glory forever. As this broken bread was scattered upon the mountains and, gathered together, became one, so let Thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Thy Kingdom, for Thine is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ forever. "

Brake. Bengel says : "The very mention of the breaking involves distribution and refutes the Corinthian plan - every man his own" (ver. 21).

Do [ποιειε] . Be doing or continue doing.

In remembrance [εις] . Strictly, for or with a view to, denoting purpose. These words do not occur in Matthew and Mark. Paul 's account agrees with Luke's. Remembrance implies Christ 's bodily absence in the future.

Verse 25

After supper. Only Luke records this detail. It is added to mark the distinction between the Lord 's Supper and the ordinary meal.

Testament [διαθηκη] . Rev., correctly, covenant. See on Matthew 26:28. The Hebrew word is derived from a verb meaning to cut. Hence the connection of dividing the victims with the ratification of a covenant. See Genesis 14:9-18. A similar usage appears in the Homeric phrase orkia pista tamein, lit., to cut trustworthy oaths, whence the word oaths is used for the victims sacrificed in ratification of a covenant or treaty. See Homer, "Iliad," 2, 124; 3. 73, 93. So the Latin foedus ferire "to kill a league," whence our phrase to strike a compact. In the Septuagint proper, where it occurs nearly three hundred times, diaqhkh, in all but four passages, is the translation of the Hebrew word for covenant (berith). In those four it is used to render brotherhood and words of the covenant. In Philo it has the same sense as in the Septuagint, and covenant is its invariable sense in the New Testament.

Verse 26

Ye do shew [καταγγελλετε] . Rev., better, proclaim. It is more than represent or signify. The Lord 's death is preached in the celebration of the Eucharist. Compare Exodus 13:8, thou shalt shew. In the Jewish passover the word Haggadah denoted the historical explanation of the meaning of the passover rites given by the father to the son. Dr. Schaff says of the eucharistic service of the apostolic age : "The fourteenth chapter of first Corinthians makes the impression - to use an American phrase - of a religions meeting thrown open. Everybody who had a spiritual gift, whether it was the gift of tongues, of interpretation, of prophecy, or of sober, didactic teaching, had a right to speak, to pray, and to sing. Even women exercised their gifts" (" Introduction to the Didache "). See, further, on ch. 14 33.

Verse 27

Unworthily [αναξιως] . Defined by "not discerning the Lord 's body," ver. 29.

Guilty [ενοχος] . See on Mark 3:29; James 2:10.

Verse 28

So. After self - examination and consequent knowledge of his spiritual state.

Verse 29

Unworthily. Omit.

Damnation [κριμα] . See on Mark 16:16; John 9:39. This false and horrible rendering has destroyed the peace of more sincere and earnest souls than any other misread passage in the New Testament. It has kept hundreds from the Lord 's table. Krima is a temporary judgment, and so is distinguished from katakrima condemnation, from which this temporary judgment is intended to save the participant. The distinction appears in ver. 32 (see note). The A. V. of the whole passage, 28 - 34, is marked by a confusion of the renderings of krinein to judge and its compounds. 120 Not discerning [μη διακρινων] . Rev., if he discern not, bringing out the conditional force of the negative particle. The verb primarily means to separate, and hence to make a distinction, discriminate. Rev., in margin, discriminating. Such also is the primary meaning of discern (discernere to part or separate), so that discerning implies a mental act of discriminating between different things. So Bacon : "Nothing more variable than voices, yet men can likewise discern these personally." This sense has possibly become a little obscured in popular usage. From this the transition is easy and natural to the sense of doubting, disputing, judging, all of these involving the recognition of differences. The object of the discrimination here referred to, may, I think, be regarded as complex. After Paul 's words (vers. 20, 22), about the degradation of the Lord 's Supper, the discrimination between the Lord 's body and common food may naturally be contemplated; but further, such discernment of the peculiar significance and sacredness of the Lord 's body as shall make him shrink from profanation and shall stimulate him to penitence and faith.

The Lord 's body. Omit Lord 's and read the body. This adds force to discerning.

Verse 30

Weak and sickly. Physical visitations on account of profanation of the Lord 's table.

Many sleep [κοιμωνται ικανοι] . The word for many means, primarily, adequate, sufficient. See on Romans 14:23. Rev., not a few hardly expresses the ominous shading of the word : quite enough have died. Sleep. Better, are sleeping. Here simply as a synonym for are dead, without the peculiar restful sense which christian sentiment so commonly conveys into it. See on Acts 7:60; 2 Peter 3:4.

Verse 31

We would judge [διεκρινομεν] . An illustration of the confusion in rendering referred to under ver. 29. This is the same word as discerning in ver. 29, but the A. V. recognizes no distinction between it, and judged [εκρινομεθα] immediately following. Render, as Rev., if we discerned ourselves; i e., examined and formed a right estimate.

We should not be judged [ουκ αν εκρινομεθα] . By God. Here judged is correct. A proper self - examination would save us from the divine judgment.

Verse 32

When we are judged [κρινομενοι] . Correct. The same word as the last. With this construe by the Lord; not with chastened. The antithesis to judging ourselves is thus preserved. So Rev., in margin.

Condemned [κατακριθωμεν] . Signifying the final condemnatory judgment; but in ver. 29 the simple krima temporary judgment, is made equivalent to this. See note.

Verse 33

Tarry [εκδεχεσθε] . In the usual New - Testament sense, as John 5:3; Acts 17:16; though in some cases the idea of expectancy is emphasized, as Hebrews 10:13; Hebrews 11:10; James 5:7. Some render receive ye one another, in contrast with despising the poorer guests; but this is not according to New - Testament usage.

Verse 34

Will I set in order [διαταξομαι] . Referring to outward, practical arrangements. See on Matthew 11:1, and compare ch. 1 Corinthians 9:14; 1 Corinthians 16:1; Galatians 3:19.