Paul addresses two serious failures in the church’s gatherings: conduct that obscured God’s order for men and women in worship, and a selfish observance of the Lord’s Supper that dishonored Christ and shamed fellow believers. His concern is that the church’s worship should clearly reflect God’s design, Christ’s death, and loving care for the whole body.

Paul begins by commending the Corinthians for remembering him and holding to the apostolic traditions he had delivered to them. Even so, they needed correction. In the first part of the chapter, Paul addresses how men and women were conducting themselves while praying and prophesying in the gathered church. The question is not whether women participated at all, since Paul plainly refers to women praying and prophesying. The issue is that their conduct in worship was to display, not blur, the order of headship Paul states in verse 3: God is the head of Christ, Christ is the head of man, and man is the head of woman.

Paul’s concern is centered on honor and dishonor. What men and women did with their heads in public worship communicated something visible to others. Their outward appearance was not merely a matter of private preference. It signaled whether they were honoring or shaming their relational head. That is why Paul speaks so strongly about disgrace and glory. His argument is not built on local custom alone. He reaches back to creation, especially Genesis, where woman came from man and was created for man. At the same time, he also appeals to what was publicly recognized as proper and to the shared practice of the churches. So this is neither a merely local preference nor a detached abstract principle.

At the same time, Paul guards against a harsh or abusive reading of this order. In verses 11–12 he makes clear that, in the Lord, man and woman are mutually dependent. Woman came from man in creation, but every man since then has come through woman, and ultimately all things come from God. Paul therefore teaches real order, but not male self-sufficiency or female insignificance.

Not every detail in this section is equally easy to settle. The phrase “because of the angels” is difficult and should not control the whole passage. Still, Paul’s main point is clear enough. He wants men and women in gathered worship to present themselves in ways that fit God’s created order and are publicly recognizable as proper. The most likely reading is that Paul is referring to an external head covering for women, not hair alone, though hair supports his wider point about visible distinction and fitting presentation. So the abiding concern is plain even if questions remain about how a culture best expresses it.

In verse 17, Paul turns from praise to rebuke, and the tone becomes much sharper. When the Corinthians come together, their meetings do more harm than good. They are divided, and those divisions show up in the meal connected with the Lord’s Supper. Some rush ahead with their own food, some go hungry, and others even get drunk. In that setting, the poor are humiliated. Paul says that because of this behavior, what they are eating is not really the Lord’s Supper. The problem is not that they failed to use bread and cup, but that their conduct contradicted the meaning of the meal.

Paul then reminds them of the tradition he had received from the Lord and passed on to them. On the night he was betrayed, Jesus took bread and the cup and gave them to his disciples as signs of his body and blood. The cup is the new covenant in his blood. The church is to eat and drink in remembrance of him. Whenever believers do this, they proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. The Supper therefore looks back to Christ’s sacrifice, governs the church’s present conduct, and points forward to his return.

Because the Supper is holy, Paul gives a serious warning. Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup in an unworthy manner becomes guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Paul is not saying that a person must become morally sinless before coming. The issue is not personal worthiness in that absolute sense, but an unworthy manner of participation. In this chapter, that especially includes selfishness, contempt for other believers, division, and failure to recognize what the meal means. When Paul says believers must discern the body, the context points in two closely connected directions: they must recognize the sacred meaning of Christ’s body given for them, and they must recognize the gathered church as the body that belongs to him. Their abuse of poorer Christians showed failure on both counts.

That is why Paul says some among them were weak, sick, and some had died. He understands these things as the Lord’s temporal discipline on the church. This is a sobering reminder that the risen Christ actively judges his people in history. Yet Paul adds an important qualification: when the Lord disciplines believers, he does so so that they will not be condemned with the world. The judgment is severe, but it is not the same as final condemnation.

Paul’s practical correction is straightforward. Each believer should examine himself, and then eat and drink rightly. When the church comes together, they are to wait for one another. If someone is simply hungry, he should eat at home. Ordinary hunger and private eating must not take over the church’s sacred meal. The assembly must not become an occasion for judgment.

Taken together, this chapter teaches that public worship is not a place for self-assertion, status display, or confusion about God’s design. In prayer, prophecy, and the Lord’s Supper, the church must visibly tell the truth about God’s order, Christ’s saving death, and the shared dignity and mutual care that belong to the people of God.

Key Truths: - Paul regulates gathered worship, not merely private religious behavior. - In 11:2–16, women are assumed to pray and prophesy; the issue is how they do so in a way that honors headship. - Paul grounds male-female order in creation, while also insisting on mutual dependence in the Lord. - Paul appeals both to creation and to publicly recognizable propriety and church practice in addressing worship conduct. - The head-covering discussion involves a lasting theological concern, even if the exact cultural expression may be debated. - The Lord’s Supper is a remembrance of Christ, a proclamation of his death, and a covenant meal observed until he comes. - To partake in an unworthy manner is not to be imperfect, but to treat the Supper with contempt, especially by disregarding Christ and shaming his people. - The Lord may discipline believers severely in this life, yet such discipline is distinguished from final condemnation. - Churches must guard the Supper from selfishness, division, and any practice that humiliates weaker members.