Verses 1-2 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. 2 Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
Remember that the early Church did not have the New Testament and most Gentile churches did not have the Old Testament to guide them. So the Apostle Paul who had spent time with Jesus on the road to Damascus and for the three years he was living in the wilderness, and who had been caught up into the third Heaven and saw things that no other man had seen or has seen, was the perfect example of how to live a Christ-like life.
Application: Today, believers should still follow the Apostle Paul through reading his epistles and asking the LORD for any clarification that might be needed to have a complete and thorough understanding of his writings. And believers need to keep the ordinances. What were these ordinances? They were not the ordinances of the Old Testament or Mosaic law, but were set forth by the Apostle Peter as recorded in Acts chapter 2. The believer is to repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and be filled with His Holy Ghost/Spirit.
Verse 3 But 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.
God has designed order in His Church. He is the head of the Church both as Father and as Jesus Christ, and the one to whom men must answer. Women are under men in position only and should answer to their husbands or the pastor of their church. This does not mean that women are second class people and that they cannot have a voice in their church or in their home. They must also answer to the LORD, but the structure of His Church is Jesus Christ as the head, converted men believers positioned under Jesus, and converted women believers positioned under their husbands or, if not married, their pastors.
Application: All earthly organizations must have leadership and structure if they are to run efficiently. The Church is no different. There must be order and it must be the order that the LORD ordained in His Word. For those believers who think that men can “lord” it over women, there is a need for them to study Scripture and find out how men are to treat their wives and women in general. They are supposed to love them and to be willing to die for them. For those believers to think that women are reduced to door mats in the Kingdom of God, there is a need for them to study Scripture and find out how Jesus Christ elevated women and stated that there was neither male nor female in His Kingdom, but all, both men and women, are given the gifts of the Spirit including the gift of prophesy. The gift of prophesy is not foretelling the future, but is bringing forth the Word of God. Therefore women with this gift can teach and preach. But they cannot be the head of a church under the LORD Jesus Christ as He has given that position to men who also have the gift of prophecy.
Verses 4-5 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. 5 But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.
These verses and the ones following have been misunderstood and wrongly interpreted to mean that men should take their hats off in church and women should have their hair in a bun and hidden by some kind of head covering. Before proceeding further, please read verses 14 and 15 below which clearly show that this idea is false and not what the Apostle Paul was teaching, but that what he is speaking about is the hair on men and women’s heads. Men are to have short hair and women are to have long hair. Plain and simple. These verses have nothing to do with hats, bonnets or other head coverings.
The Apostle Paul states that when praying to the LORD of when bringing forth the Word of God, a man is not to have long hair. God has an order in His Kingdom, and it is His desire that men look like men and women look like women, and one way to assure this is by men having short hair and not long like women, and women having long hair and not short hair like men. This has been the normal style in Western culture for centuries.
Verse 6 For 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.
The Apostle Paul is saying that if a woman does not have long hair, but has very short hair, then she might as well just shave her head. But since it is shaming for a woman to have no hair and be bald, then she should let her hair grow out. Remember that he is writing to the Church and not to unbelievers.
Verse 7 For 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.
Application: People will want to argue this teaching from the Apostle Paul since in today’s world, “anything goes” and people do not like to be told how to dress or how to look even though they are supposed to be representatives of the LORD Jesus Christ. Also, groups like the Amish enjoy their status as separate from the rest of the world and will not want to “let their hair down” so to speak. And of course, there are always men who think that women are inferior to them and who like their women’s hair pulled back and covered because they view it as a sign of humility to their authority. But God said through the Apostle Paul for men to keep their hair short and women to let their hair grow long. But another argument is that Jesus had long hair. Really? And how does one prove this as there are no carvings or drawings of the LORD Jesus and there are no written descriptions in the four Gospels or the rest of the New Testament to confirm His appearance?
Verses 8-10 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. 9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. 10 For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.
This whole topic is about position in God’s Kingdom and is not about status. God is no respecter of persons and neither should His followers be respecters of persons so that a hierarchy is created and functioning in the Church. There is no Jew or Gentile, male or female, free or bond in the eyes of the LORD as everyone is the same and all are part of His body of believers. All are important, and all have a position in the Church, but no one is of a higher status than another, and that includes the pastor. Notice that the Apostle Paul states that a woman’s hair is acknowledged by angels and is her power. A scarf or bonnet or hat are not objects of power. This writer does not know how a woman’s long hair is considered to be power, but there are all kinds of things going on in the Spirit that mankind does not and cannot know about, and if God says He wants men to have short hair and women to have long, then the Church should just comply on faith that He has a good reason for this distinction.
Verses 11-12 Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. 12 For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.
Both men and women have positions that complement each other. All men have mothers and all women have fathers. They need each other and that is the way God created people to be and to function within His Kingdom.
Verses 13-15 Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? 14 Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? 15 But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.
The Apostle Paul was probably sensing that there would be argument from the Corinthian church regarding this teaching and so he leaves it up to them to judge what is right. The summary of women’s hair is that it is to be long and that it is a woman’s glory and has been given by God as a covering, so her hair should not be stuffed into another covering but worn as a gift from the LORD.
Verse 16 But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.
The Apostle Paul sums it up by stating that is any man wants to argue with him, the churches elsewhere have no custom of long haired men and short haired women. End of discussion.
Verses 17-19 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. 18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. 19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
Here the Apostle Paul is really scolding the Corinthian church. When they meet together it is not for betterment either in understanding the Gospel or in worshiping and praising the LORD, but they meet and have divisions and teach heresies and end up worse in their Christian walk than if they had just stayed home and had family church.
Verses 20-22 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper. 21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 22 What? 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.
One of the things they were doing was bringing their own meal to their meeting and just having a social and calling it a celebration of the LORD’s supper. Some of them were even coming in a drunken state. So the Apostle Paul sarcastically asks them if they do not have homes where they can eat and drink so that they do not dishonour the church which belongs to God. Some of them apparently were not wealthy and did not have fancy meals to bring with them. It would be like one member of the congregation turning up with a three course meal plus dessert and another only having a dried cheese sandwich with which to sit down and eat. The believer with the cheese sandwich would be embarrassed. So the whole ritual was corrupted and the purpose of breaking unleavened bread and drinking wine or juice to remember the LORD’s suffering and sacrifice for their sins and the sins of the world was lost to these believers.
Verses 23-25 For 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: 24 And 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. 25 After 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.
The Apostle Paul states that what he has shown them and taught them was that which he received directly from the LORD Jesus, and he then goes on to review the commandment given by Jesus to His disciples in the upper room at the Passover celebration before His arrest, mock trial, and murder. Since the believers at Corinth are now the LORD’s disciples, they need to receive again the commandment and do it correctly.
Verse 26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
Why was it important for the Corinthian church to get this right and why does the Christian Church engage in this ritual? As stated above, to show the sacrificial death of Jesus until He returns to this Earth to judge the quick and the dead. In this way, believers can never forget or take for granted what was done on the cross by Jesus Christ for the purpose of providing remittance of sins so that they can inherit eternal life in Heaven.
Verse 27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
The Corinthian church was having a social event and not carrying out this ritual in a worthy manner. The Apostle Paul let them know that the celebration of the LORD’s supper was a serious thing, not to be taken lightly, and that to do so would make the believers guilty of the body and blood of Jesus: making His death for sins inconsequential.
Verses 28-30 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
The Apostle Paul goes on to say that before participating in the LORD’s supper, believers need to examine their hearts and make sure they are in right relationship with the LORD and in the right frame of mind. If they have unrepented sin in their lives, are harboring unforgiveness, or are in any way not walking in the Spirit, they should refrain because there are consequences. Sickness and death are two of the consequences. The Apostle Paul is not sparing words in an effort to correct this church and to get them to understand the seriousness of this ritual commanded by the LORD Jesus before His death.
Verses 31-32 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
It is up to individuals to examine and judge themselves so that they will not receive judgement from the LORD. He will correct any unrighteousness and error because His people need to be righteous and walking with Him so that they will not be found unfaithful and receive the condemnation that unbelievers will receive, either after physical death, or at His return.
Verses 33-34 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. 34 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. (1 Corinthians 11)
So the Corinthian believers are to come together to remember what the LORD Jesus Christ did for them by participating in the LORD’s supper which only involved unleavened bread and wine, and they are to eat their meals at home. Plain and simple. The Apostle Paul ends this chapter by stating that he will fix what else is wrong in this church when he returns to Corinth in the future.