Orderly worship and proper conduct of women

11:1 Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. 11:2 I praise you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions just as I passed them on to you. 11:3 But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. 11:4 Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered disgraces his head. 11:5 But any woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered disgraces her head, for it is one and the same thing as having a shaved head. 11:6 For if a woman will not cover her head, she should cut off her hair. But if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, she should cover her head. 11:7 For a man should not have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of the man. 11:8 For man did not come from woman, but woman from man. 11:9 Neither was man created for the sake of woman, but woman for man. 11:10 For this reason a woman should have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. 11:11 In any case, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 11:12 For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman. But all things come from God. 11:13 Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? 11:14 Does not nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace for him, 11:15 but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. 11:16 If anyone intends to quarrel about this, we have no other practice, nor do the churches of God. 11:17 Now in giving the following instruction I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. 11:18 For in the first place, when you come together as a church I hear there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. 11:19 For there must in fact be divisions among you, so that those of you who are approved may be evident. 11:20 Now when you come together at the same place, you are not really eating the Lord's Supper. 11:21 For when it is time to eat, everyone proceeds with his own supper. One is hungry and another becomes drunk. 11:22 Do you not have houses so that you can eat and drink? Or are you trying to show contempt for the church of God by shaming those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I will not praise you for this! 11:23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread, 11:24 and after he had given thanks he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 11:25 In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, every time you drink it, in remembrance of me." 11:26 For every time you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 11:27 For this reason, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 11:28 A person should examine himself first, and in this way let him eat the bread and drink of the cup. 11:29 For the one who eats and drinks without careful regard for the body eats and drinks judgment against himself. 11:30 That is why many of you are weak and sick, and quite a few are dead. 11:31 But if we examined ourselves, we would not be judged. 11:32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned with the world. 11:33 So then, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 11:34 If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that when you assemble it does not lead to judgment. I will give directions about other matters when I come. 12:1 With regard to spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 12:2 You know that when you were pagans you were often led astray by speechless idols, however you were led. 12:3 So I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. 12:4 Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. 12:5 And there are different ministries, but the same Lord. 12:6 And there are different results, but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. 12:7 To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the benefit of all. 12:8 For one person is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, and another the message of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 12:9 to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 12:10 to another performance of miracles, to another prophecy, and to another discernment of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. 12:11 It is one and the same Spirit, distributing as he decides to each person, who produces all these things. 12:12 For just as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body - though many - are one body, so too is Christ. 12:13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks or slaves or free, we were all made to drink of the one Spirit. 12:14 For in fact the body is not a single member, but many. 12:15 If the foot says, "Since I am not a hand, I am not part of the body," it does not lose its membership in the body because of that. 12:16 And if the ear says, "Since I am not an eye, I am not part of the body," it does not lose its membership in the body because of that. 12:17 If the whole body were an eye, what part would do the hearing? If the whole were an ear, what part would exercise the sense of smell? 12:18 But as a matter of fact, God has placed each of the members in the body just as he decided. 12:19 If they were all the same member, where would the body be? 12:20 So now there are many members, but one body. 12:21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I do not need you," nor in turn can the head say to the foot, "I do not need you." 12:22 On the contrary, those members that seem to be weaker are essential, 12:23 and those members we consider less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our unpresentable members are clothed with dignity, 12:24 but our presentable members do not need this. Instead, God has blended together the body, giving greater honor to the lesser member, 12:25 so that there may be no division in the body, but the members may have mutual concern for one another. 12:26 If one member suffers, everyone suffers with it. If a member is honored, all rejoice with it. 12:27 Now you are Christ's body, and each of you is a member of it. 12:28 And God has placed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, gifts of healing, helps, gifts of leadership, different kinds of tongues. 12:29 Not all are apostles, are they? Not all are prophets, are they? Not all are teachers, are they? Not all perform miracles, do they? 12:30 Not all have gifts of healing, do they? Not all speak in tongues, do they? Not all interpret, do they? 12:31 But you should be eager for the greater gifts. And now I will show you a way that is beyond comparison. 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 13:2 And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 13:3 If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I receive no benefit. 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up. 13:5 It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. 13:6 It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. 13:7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 13:8 Love never ends. But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside. 13:9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, 13:10 but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside. 13:11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways. 13:12 For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known. 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. 14:1 Pursue love and be eager for the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 14:2 For the one speaking in a tongue does not speak to people but to God, for no one understands; he is speaking mysteries by the Spirit. 14:3 But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement, and consolation. 14:4 The one who speaks in a tongue builds himself up, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. 14:5 I wish you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may be strengthened. 14:6 Now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I help you unless I speak to you with a revelation or with knowledge or prophecy or teaching? 14:7 It is similar for lifeless things that make a sound, like a flute or harp. Unless they make a distinction in the notes, how can what is played on the flute or harp be understood? 14:8 If, for example, the trumpet makes an unclear sound, who will get ready for battle? 14:9 It is the same for you. If you do not speak clearly with your tongue, how will anyone know what is being said? For you will be speaking into the air. 14:10 There are probably many kinds of languages in the world, and none is without meaning. 14:11 If then I do not know the meaning of a language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. 14:12 It is the same with you. Since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, seek to abound in order to strengthen the church. 14:13 So then, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. 14:14 If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unproductive. 14:15 What should I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing praises with my spirit, but I will also sing praises with my mind. 14:16 Otherwise, if you are praising God with your spirit, how can someone without the gift say "Amen" to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying? 14:17 For you are certainly giving thanks well, but the other person is not strengthened. 14:18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you, 14:19 but in the church I want to speak five words with my mind to instruct others, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue. 14:20 Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking. Instead, be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. 14:21 It is written in the law: "By people with strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, yet not even in this way will they listen to me," says the Lord. 14:22 So then, tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers. Prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers. 14:23 So if the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and unbelievers or uninformed people enter, will they not say that you have lost your minds? 14:24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or uninformed person enters, he will be convicted by all, he will be called to account by all. 14:25 The secrets of his heart are disclosed, and in this way he will fall down with his face to the ground and worship God, declaring, "God is really among you." 14:26 What should you do then, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each one has a song, has a lesson, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all these things be done for the strengthening of the church. 14:27 If someone speaks in a tongue, it should be two, or at the most three, one after the other, and someone must interpret. 14:28 But if there is no interpreter, he should be silent in the church. Let him speak to himself and to God. 14:29 Two or three prophets should speak and the others should evaluate what is said. 14:30 And if someone sitting down receives a revelation, the person who is speaking should conclude. 14:31 For you can all prophesy one after another, so all can learn and be encouraged. 14:32 Indeed, the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, 14:33 for God is not characterized by disorder but by peace. As in all the churches of the saints, 14:34 the women should be silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak. Rather, let them be in submission, as in fact the law says. 14:35 If they want to find out about something, they should ask their husbands at home, because it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in church. 14:36 Did the word of God begin with you, or did it come to you alone? 14:37 If anyone considers himself a prophet or spiritual person, he should acknowledge that what I write to you is the Lord's command. 14:38 If someone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. 14:39 So then, brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid anyone from speaking in tongues. 14:40 And do everything in a decent and orderly manner.

Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible®, copyright ©1996, 2019 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

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.

Website-Ready Commentary Main Point: Paul teaches that when the church gathers, its worship must reflect God’s order rather than human pride or social rivalry. Men and women are to conduct themselves in ways that honor the relationships God has established, and the Lord’s Supper must be received in a way that honors Christ and his people instead of humiliating the weak. Commentary: 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.

• 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.

• The details of the head-covering section are difficult in places, so readers should avoid false certainty about every point while still following Paul’s main argument. - The phrase 'because of the angels' is difficult and should not be made the center of the passage. - 1 Corinthians 11:5 must remain in view when considering later discussion in chapter 14
• this passage cannot be used to deny what Paul here explicitly assumes. - 'Discerning the body' should not be reduced to only the bread or only the church
• the context keeps both closely connected. - Paul’s statement about weakness, sickness, and death in Corinth shows that divine discipline can be severe, but it should not be turned into a simple explanation for every case of suffering.

Two social realities sharpen the chapter. First, the language of glory, disgrace, and propriety in 11:4-15 shows that head coverings and hair were publicly legible signs, not matters of private taste. Second, the abuses in 11:20-22 show that the Supper was being twisted by status and appetite: some eat first, some go hungry, some get drunk, and those with nothing are humiliated. Paul’s correction therefore reaches beyond etiquette. He is resisting conduct that misrepresents both God’s ordered design and the meaning of Christ’s body.

- Churches should evaluate worship practices by what they publicly communicate about honor, order, and mutual regard in the assembly. - Believers should examine not only private feelings before the Lord’s Supper, but also patterns of contempt, division, exclusion, and pride toward other Christians. - Church leaders should protect the distinction between ordinary eating and the church’s observance of the Lord’s Supper. - Congregations should be careful that wealth, influence, or social confidence do not shame weaker or poorer believers in gathered worship. - Discussions about head coverings should preserve Paul’s abiding concern for God’s order and visible propriety, even where the exact modern expression is debated.

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