Bible Commentaries
1 Corinthians 11

Verses 1-34

XI 2-34 We now have two very strongly worded sections about order and decency at Christian worship. 2-16 Women are not to be bare-headed at Worship — —St Paul affirms two things: 1. That the male sex has a certain right to precedence. 2. That therefore it is improper for women to be bare-headed at worship. To us this seems very illogical, but no doubt it was the general custom in the eastern provinces that women should always have the head covered in the presence of men, except men of their own family, and it was Paul’s rule that established customs, if not sinful, should be scrupulously observed. Hence the heat and bluntness of his language. Modern custom is less strict, and St Paul would no doubt have written differently today. He was certainly no woman-hater, cf.Romans 16:12-13; Philippians 4:3. If we call him unchivalrous, we must at least remember that he was the first to break the soil from which chivalry sprang. Paul here speaks of women as praying and prophesying, but in 14:34 he says: ’Let women keep silence in the assemblies. . . .’ This has driven some commentators to believe that in this present chapter he is speaking of devotions confined to one household family and servants). They point out that ’church’ i.e. assembly) is not mentioned in this section, as it is in 14:34. This view is certainly difficult, but other explanations of the seeming contradiction (e.g. that Paul had changed his mind by ch 14, but forgot to strike out this earlier paragraph) appear to be at least no better.

4. ’Prophesying’: speaking by special inspiration, not necessarily about the future, cf. 12:10; 14:3. 5. The most common headgear of women was a portion of the outer garment, the himation, drawn up from behind over the head, § 603a. It was easily and quickly done. It could be made to cover the face too, but that was not usual. 6. ’Shorn’: ’Let her cut her hair short’. ’Made bald’: ’Have her head shaved’. 8-9. Referring to the creation of Eve, Genesis 2:18, Genesis 2:21.

10. ’Because of the angels’: these words are a puzzle. All proposed explanations are very improbable. e.g. Plummer says: ’If a woman thinks lightly of shocking men, she must remember she will also be shocking the angels, who of course are present at public worship’. Can the angels be so sensitive about human conventions? Others consider the words a marginal note which has slipped into the text. This would solve the difficulty if only some positive evidence for it were found, but there is none.

11. ’Neither man nor woman can be independent of the other . . . for as woman was created from man, so man is born of woman. But all the creation is from God’.

14. ’If he lets his hair grow long’. It was the universal custom among Jews, Greeks and Romans for men to wear the hair short.

16. He silences any possible objectors by appealing to Christian custom: ’If any man chooses to be contentious, (then I say that) we have no such custom (of letting women pray bare-headed) neither have the churches of God’.

17-34 Disorders at Mass —In the Apostolic age the Mass was usually celebrated on Sunday evening, as it seems. The small congregation ate supper together before the Mass, in memory of the Last Supper and of the suppers at which the risen Christ had appeared to the Apostles. The food was provided by the richer Christians. and the supper was called ’the Charity’ (Agapé). There was therefore as yet no fast before Communion. The change to Sunday morning Mass and fasting Communion was made some time before a.d. 112, and may have taken place in the lifetime of the Apostles. On this subject and the Eucharistic doctrine underlying this passage see §§637b, 644h, 652f. By the term ’the Lord’s supper’ Paul here seems to denote supper and Mass together.

17-22 The Supper —17. Probably: ’After giving you these directions, I do not praise you for the fact that you come together’, etc. The words ’do not praise’ look back to v 2.

18. ’The church’: ’an assembly or congregation’. In the New Testament the word never means a building. Mass was usually in a private house then and for long after. ’Schisms’: ’Divisions’. Members of some of the various parties (including, no doubt, that of the False Apostles) gathered into exclusive circles at the supper, and did not share their food with outsiders.

19. ’Even factions’ or ’cliques’. The word haeresis still had usually a neutral sense (group or party, Acts 5:17; Acts 15:5, etc.) but Paul always uses it in a bad sense. ’Approved’, i.e. by God. Party-divisions, though an evil, help to sift the true Christians from the bad.

20. ’It is not possible to eat . . .’: the meal no longer deserves to be called the Lord’s supper. 21. Two faults are condemned: 1. Each little group began supper as soon as their own members were assembled, without waiting till the whole congregation had come. 2. The food was not evenly shared out. Latecomers and the poorer members who belonged to no party would not receive enough. ’Every one . . .’: Individuals eat their supper fore the others’. Loose use of ’every’ as in 7:2, etc. ’Drunk’: Perhaps some natural exaggeration, caused by his disgust at their selfishness. 22. ’Have not’: probably refers especially to slaves, who had no houses of their own. ’Do I . . .’: ’Am I to praise you?’ ’Praise you not’: ironical understatement, again referring back to v 2.

23-34 Reminder of the Meaning of Mass —To convince them that this unchristian supper is no right preparation for Mass, he formally recalls to them the foundation of the Mass and its meaning.

23. ’Of the Lord’: no doubt indirectly through the other apostles.

24. My body . . .’: the best texts read (literally): This is my body which is on your behalf’. Doubtless we may supply given or offered to make the meaning clearer.

25. ’chalice’: the Greek word is the ordinary one for ’cup’. ’The new testament . . .’: the Greek word is translated sometimes covenant and sometimes testament. In either case the meaning is contract or agreement. The first contract between God and Israel was made through Moses and ratified by a sacrifice— it was the Mosaic Law, the Jewish religion. The new contract is the Christian religion and is ratified by the sacrifice of Calvary. Therefore ’in my blood’ means ratified with my blood. ’Drink’: i.e. drink this. We have four accounts of the institution of the Mass (in Mt, Mk, Lk and here), with slight differences in wording. Luke closely resembles Paul, but the other two have: This is my blood of the covenant’. The form in the Roman Missal is nearer to the latter though not identical: ’This is the cup of my blood of the new and eternal covenant’.

26. ’You shall shew’: ’You proclaim’. Paul writes this to remind them of the close connexion of the Mass with Calvary. 27. ’Guilty. . .’: the phrase seems to hover between two meanings: (1) Guilty of the blood (i.e. death) of Christ. (2) A sinner against the body and blood, etc. Both are true: in Hebrews 6:6every mortal sin of a Christian is called a recrucifixion of Christ. Paul does not labour to prove to the Corinthians that the’ bread and wine become Christ’s body and blood: he treats it as an accepted fact, both here and in 10:16 above.

28. ’Prove’: i.e. make sure that he is worthy, examine and approve himself, cf. 16:3; 1 Thessalonians 2:4.

29. The best texts omit ’of the Lord’. Not discerning’: not distinguishing’ —making no distinction in act between the Body and ordinary bread. Their sin was not unbelief but irreverence.

30. ’Sleep’: i.e. are dead. The verse describes the penalties (’judgements’) sent for their good, as he says in 32. The word ’sleep’ implies a strong hope of their salvation. 31. ’Judge . . .’: ’form a right judgement on ourselves’.

32. ’Whilst . . .’: ’by being judged’, i.e. visited with sickness, etc.

33-34. He returns to the subject of supper. ’Wherefore’: i.e. because the supper is a mere preliminary to the Mass.

XII-XIV —The general subject of these chapters is the right estimation and use of special spiritual favours (charismata), but the main fault which Paul has in view, the abuse of the gift of languages, is not set forth at the beginning, but postponed to ch 14. We first have two chapters on general principles. St Paul groups together a very large number of things, apparently every Divine help over and above what was necessary for salvation: this may be seen by reading the four lists, 12:8-11; 12:28; Romans 12:6-8; Ephesians 4:11-12. We may make three rough divisions: (1) Graces for those holding authority, whether permanent (Apostles and all in Holy Orders) or occasional (teachers, evangelists and recognized prophets). (2) The strikingly miraculous powers (miracles of healing etc., prophecy, speaking in new languages, etc.). (3) Powers to enable ordinary virtues or duties to be exercised in a more perfect way (faith, works of charity, almsgiving, prayer, etc.): to these we may add the graces to enable men to be good husbands (7:7), good fathers, sons, masters, etc.

Some of these gifts are visibly miraculous, others are not. Some are closely bound up with sanctifying grace (the third group especially), others may exist without it. Some (especially the second group) were much more common in the first few generations of Christianity than they have been since, and seem to have been temporary helps given to the infancy of the Church. The gifts of this second group were being disproportionately valued at Corinth and against this St Paul makes a threefold protest: (1) All special favours (not this class only) are Divine, 12:1-11. (2) All are equally necessary for the good of the Church, 12:12-31a. (3) Without charity all gifts are vain, 12:31b-13:13. (See §§ 646-9).