Lesson 23 – 1 Corinthians Chapter 11:10-26

If you remember from last week, Paul laid out God’s order of design for us, in that, we serve a God of order and in His order we find purpose. What I mean by this is, if we follow God’s order we will find direction according to His purpose for our lives. One of those purposes is that we glorify God in the things we think, do, or say.

1 Cor. 11:3:
“But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.”

Jesus submits to the Father, man submits to Jesus, and women are to submit to man. With mankind, this all gets blown out of proportion when love and respect are absent from this equation. Love and respect keep authority in check.

We also talked about the customs during this time period. A man was not to cover his head before the Lord, and a woman “should” cover her head… it was considered a disgrace to do otherwise.

1 Cor. 11:10:
“Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.”

A casual reading of this verse can’t help but raise questions. What in the world does this have to do with angels?

(NLT) “For this reason, and because the angels are watching, a woman should wear a covering on her head to show she is under authority.”

Symbol of authority… (ex-oo-see’-ah) it means “rightful power,” or “authority.” In this context, it means a sign of the husband’s authority over his wife.

As it goes with perception, because the woman covers her head, the public would notice that she is submitting to her husband. I think more importantly, besides submitting to her husband’s authority, she is showing respect to God’s order.

Because of the angels…

Angels are spectators!

Eph. 3:10:
“So that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.”

Here Paul is describing the angels to us as, “the authorities in the heavenly places,” they are also known as messengers. Throughout the Scriptures, God’s holy angels are shown as creatures of great power, but it is always a derived and submissive power… the key word being “submissive.”

Satan and his cronies were anything but submissive, they were after their own power and glorification rather than God’s. For this reason, God’s holy angels are hypersensitive about things getting done in order.

One Bible commentary says, “These messengers are God’s protectors of His church, over which they stand perpetual guard. It is proper for a woman to cover her head as a sign of subordination because of the angels, in order that these most submissive of all creatures will not be offended by non-submissiveness.”

1 Tim. 5:21:
“I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality.”

Michael Heiser (February 14, 1963 – February 20, 2023) was an American Old Testament scholar and Christian author, he states, “If God moved the biblical writers to take care when talking about the unseen realm, then it matters.”

The biblical response to these heavenly beings is somewhere between worship and obsession on the one hand, and a total denial of their existence on the other. So we can biblically assume that angels will be with us in the new heaven and the new earth; they will be our worship “partners” as we live eternal lives in praise and worship of our great God.

We are in no way to worship angels, but they deserve our respect. We cannot see the spiritual world around us, but we can be sure God’s holy angels are watching us.

If we’re honest with ourselves, most believers don’t give much thought to angels, but if we live lives pleasing to the Lord, the angels would be pleased as well.

1 Cor. 11:11-12:
“However, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as the woman originates from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman; and all things originate from God.”

Paul is teaching us that there is an interdependence between men and women… it is a mutually dependent relationship. In God’s eyes they both have equal value; in other words, they complement each other, bringing glory to God.

Satan hates what God has created and is constantly trying to undermine this. Another factor that wars against this interdependence is our fleshly sin nature. It is sinful for a man to use his superiority in a tyrannical, oppressive, or selfish way.

John MacArthur writes, “Far from oppressing women, the church has been their greatest liberator. In Greek and Roman societies most women were little more than slaves, the possessions of their husbands, who often virtually bought and traded their wives at will. It was largely because of this inhumane treatment of women that feminism became so popular in the Roman empire. In many Jewish communities the women’s situation was not much better. Divorce had become easy and commonplace, but it was almost entirely the prerogative of the man. Some Jewish men held women in such low esteem that they developed a popular prayer in which they thanked God that they were not born a slave, a Gentile, or a woman.”

To be sure, male chauvinism is no more biblical than feminism, both can be seen as perversions of God’s order.

For as the woman originates from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman…

The first woman may have come from man, but ever since then, man has come from women. This is nothing new, God designed it that way. Ever since the beginning of the church, women have played a vital role in the church. We can see all throughout the New Testament how women have served the Lord in great ways. Some familiar names that come to mind are Mary, Lydia, and Priscilla along with many others.

In marriage, both the husband and wife have different roles to perform, each one needing the other. They are perfect complements to each other… one is the head, leader, provider, and the other the helper, supporter, and companion.

All things originate from God…

In 1992 a book came out called “Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus,” touting the differences between men and women.

According to God’s Word, men and women have different roles, but they do not differ when it comes to their importance. God created both to glorify Himself.

Yes, men and women are vastly different, which comes from God’s excellent design. They have different roles to play in life, but they are equal when it comes to character, identity, work, and spirit.

1 Cor. 11:13:
“Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?”

Paul is placing the Corinthian believers in his shoes for a moment, he says, “Judge for yourselves.” It should have been obvious to them, according to their own customs, that it wouldn’t be proper for a woman to pray without having her head covered. Again, this is a symbol of subordination to man which is reflective of God’s order.

1 Cor. 11:14-15:
“Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him, but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her? For her hair is given to her for a covering.”

Men and women are different and it can be seen in their hair growth. When it comes to hair, it develops in three stages… growth, resting, and fallout. For the man, because of his testosterone, the process speeds up and they hit the third stage rather quickly (the fallout)… a bummer for men. With women, they have estrogen, which causes them to remain in stage one longer than men, resulting in their hair growing longer… most women do not hit stage three. So in most cultures, women’s hair is worn longer than men.

One theologian writes, “A women’s hair is itself given to her for a covering. Her hair is her natural covering or veil, and headwear is a cultural symbolic covering, both representing her subordinate role.”

God wants men to be masculine and women to be feminine… plain and simple.

1 Cor. 11:16:
“But if one is inclined to be contentious, we have no other practice, nor have the churches of God.”

Contentious: causing or likely to cause an argument; or controversial… there seems to always be one of these in a crowd.

We have no other practice, nor have the churches of God…

The bottom line is, the apostles and the other churches were firmly committed to the practice… that women should wear longer hair than men, and should have distinctively female hairdos… and not the other way around. This flies in the face of transgenderism today.

There are two sexes, male and female.

Men, God wants you to be a manly man, and women, be the lovely soft wonderful creation He meant you to be.

1 Cor. 11:17 [Paul is shifting gears]:
“But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse.”

Paul is finished talking about the issues related to women in the church, and now he will move on to the subject of communion in the church.

But in giving this instruction…

The word instruction (parangellō) means to command, order, or charge. This was common for a military commander to use, and it was passed down the line to his subordinates.

In today’s use, we understand instruction to be advice and information about how to do or use something. The way Paul is using instruction, becomes clear that this is a command.

I do not praise you… to be sure, Paul’s not soft-peddling this. On the subject of communion, the reports were troubling, the Corinthians were treading in dangerous waters.

Because you come together not for the better but for the worse…

The word worse indicates very strong language here, and can be defined as “representing moral evil.”

Communion in the early church and as it should be today, is a time of celebration and remembrance of our deliverance from sin through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. These were congregational meals stressing fellowship, affection, and mutual caring among the believers. Sadly, with the Corinthians, it was more about “selfish indulgence, shaming the poorer brethren, mocking the Lord’s sacrificial death, and scandalizing the church before the unbelieving world around them.” (MacArthur)

A very destressing state of affairs.

1 Cor. 11:18:
“For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it.”

When you come together as a church…

Church is the Greek word ekklēsia, an assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting. In other words, it doesn’t mean a building or structure, but a gathering of believers.

I hear that divisions exist among you…

We saw this when we first began our study in Corinthians, there were factions and divisions among them. Paul is pointing out to us that they were definitely not getting along with each other.

To get a sense of what was going on at that time, try to picture an urban area next to a large city, perhaps in Queens near NYC. The neighborhood houses are built very close to one another. It’s summertime and everyone has their windows open, and there’s this one house in the neighborhood where you always hear yelling and screaming going on… everyone can hear what’s going on. This was the Corinthian church, whenever they came together there was infighting, tearing down, backbiting and dissension going on. This had to be a bad witness to the local citizens in Corinth. You can just hear them saying, “There goes those Christians again, it sounds like they hate each other.”

In the case where you don’t believe everything you hear, Paul says, and in part I believe it… Paul knew bad things were going on.

1 Cor. 11:19:
“For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.”

(NLT) “But, of course, there must be divisions among you so that you who have God’s approval will be recognized!”

There must also be… (Greek word is die) the way this is being used means “it is necessary” more specifically, “it represents divine necessity.” Looking at the whole phrase, For there must also be factions among you, becomes paradoxical, in that God is going to use a negative for the good of His kingdom.

So that those who are approved may become evident among you…

Those who are causing these “factions” as we saw before, stood out in a crowd in a negative way, all resulting from their worldliness and fleshly disobedience. To contrast this we find, those who are approved may become evident among you.

Instead of all the negatives, a light will shine, exposing love, harmony, and spirituality of those who are approved.

Romans 8:28:
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

Even though there were divisions within the congregation, God would use this situation for good.

Approved… (dock’-ee-mos) means to be accepted, and pleasing… referring to that which has passed the test. As it is applied here, because of the bad and evil actions taking place, good was allowed to rise above it. Those who are approved represented the good ones in the church.

Perhaps we’re witnessing this today in our current events, where evil has been unearthed and is being replaced with moral commonsense.

Those causing factions and divisions in the congregation should consider themselves disqualified as we talked about in chapter 9. If these disruptions in the church are left unchallenged, it can easily undermine any group of believers.

Titus 3:10-11:
“Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.”

Divisive people are a fact of life in the church, but their presence opens the door for godly saints to be tested and proved. Strange as it sounds, it is necessary that factions come in, but it is not necessary that they be tolerated or allowed to lead to division in the church.

1 Cor. 11:20-21:
“Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk.”

Paul begins to narrow his focus. When the Corinthians met, it was anything but a godly spiritual experience, it was more like a drunken party. Don’t raise your hand, but how many of you have seen the movie “Animal House?” Perhaps it wasn’t that bad, but when they came together it was not God honoring to be sure.

Therefore when you meet together… (speaking of the Lord’s Supper)

We all know what supper means. Dinner and supper are both used to refer to the main meal of the day, and especially to that meal as eaten in the evening. Supper is used especially when the meal is an informal one eaten at home, while dinner tends to be the term chosen when the meal is more formal. In some dialects and especially in British English, supper can also refer to a light meal or snack that is eaten late in the evening. I think now most people just use the word dinner.

The Lord’s Supper…

From gotquestion.org, “A study of the Lord’s Supper is a soul-stirring experience because of the depth of meaning it contains. It was during the age-old celebration of the Passover on the eve of His death that Jesus instituted a significant new fellowship meal that we observe to this day. It is an integral part of Christian worship. It causes us to remember our Lord’s death and resurrection and to look for His glorious return in the future.”

A love feast or agape feast was a fellowship meal eaten by Christians in the early church. There is biblical evidence for the practice of these communal meals, during which Christians gathered not just for the sake of sustenance and socializing, but for the sake of fellowship as well.

Typically, after the love feast meal, they would follow it up with communion, but due to the abuses that took place, it forced them to separate the two, and eventually the love feast disappeared altogether.

The perversion of what the Corinthians were doing when it came to communion, Paul says, is not to eat the Lord’s Supper… what they were doing was a complete fallacy as far as Paul was concerned.

For in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk…

John MacArthur, “The poorer believers came to the supper expecting to share the food brought by the wealthy, but they went away hungry… physically as well as spiritually. Those who brought food and drink gorged themselves and became drunk. They mocked the very purpose of the occasion, which was to bring harmony and unity among those who belonged to Christ, as they remembered His sacrifice to make them one in Him.”

1 Cor. 11:22:
“What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you.”

In verse 22 we can catch a glimpse of Paul’s frustration in dealing with these spiritual buffoons. He recognizes that what they are doing is a mockery of what should be seen as sacred.

What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink?

To paraphrase Paul, he might have said something like, “What! You clowns have houses don’t you, why don’t you go home to get drunk. Your actions here are blasphemous.” Another way to look at this is, within these factions there may have been some people in the church who had evil intentions, wanting to destroy God’s church.

Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing?

We need to ask, was there a Judas in the crowd? Just because a person goes to church, doesn’t mean they are there to have a positive impact on the church.

Matthew 13:24-30:
“Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

What Jesus has told us here symbolizes the spiritual battle between good and evil. In this parable, the wheat represents true believers, while the tares represent false believers… this is common in every church. The bigger the church, the more tares will be woven in.

This might be what was happening in the Corinthian church; most likely there were tares in the church. It also may have been because there were those who had an uppity attitude toward the poor, thinking they were better than the others.

Whatever the reasons there may have been, they could not justify the harm and descent that was being brought into the church.

What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you…

Quite honestly, there’s no defense that can be giving for their actions; the Corinthians were in the wrong. Paul could not approve of what they were doing, so he says, “I will not praise you.”

The Corinthian believers have been taken to the woodshed; Paul has rebuked them because they were in a sinful place. There was no room for bitterness, racial and sexual prejudice, class pride, or any feelings of superiority, especially at the Lord’s Supper.

When we come to the Lord’s Supper, we need to come with clean hands. It’s a time of confession and repentance, and for the Corinthians, it was anything but that.

In verses 23 to 26 Paul gives them a holy reminder when coming to the Lord’s table. Now, before I read these verses, I want you to prepare your hearts for communion.

1 Cor. 11:23-26 (NLT):
“For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.”
In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people – an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me as often as you drink it. For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.”

One pastor writes, “these verses are like a diamond dropped in a muddy road.”

Not too long ago we talked about what it really means to share a meal together. It was considered an identifying gesture of inclusion, to be seen as part of the family. When we share in the Lord’s Supper together, we have the commonality of being one, through the blood of Christ… we are one in God’s family.

The Corinthians had lost sight of the beauty to be shared when taking communion. Paul had taught them this in the past, and he is reminding them…

For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord Himself…
By Paul saying this, it means that the sharing in communion wasn’t something he dreamed up, he says, I received from the Lord Himself…

It’s interesting to note that most conservative Bible scholars agree that 1 Corinthians probably was written before any of the gospels. If this is true, Paul’s account here is the first biblical record of the Lord’s Supper. Perhaps he received this from the Lord Himself while he was in Arabia.

Gal. 1:12:
“I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ.”

On the night when He was betrayed…

This is a stark reminder of what took place when Jesus shared the Passover meal with His disciples. There was a tare among the twelve disciples… and his name was Judas.

Jesus being betrayed, shows us that He came to this earth, (a place that was riddled with sin), and that it was sinful man who arrested, tortured, and crucified Him.

Jesus could have stopped it all with a single word or with legions of angels… but He didn’t.

The Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given (broken) for you.

The bread Jesus took and broke was the same bread we shared tonight. It’s called matzoh, and it is unleavened bread, meaning there’s no yeast in it. In the Bible, yeast symbolizes sin.

Matzoh was and is traditional for the Passover meal. The bread represented the Exodus of Israel and now represents the body of Jesus Christ. For the Jewish person, when Jesus says body, they take it to mean the whole person and not just the physical body. To take it a step further, in this context it encompasses His life, His whole teaching, ministry and work. This in part is what it means to believe in Jesus.

Which is given for you…

Phil. 2:6-7:
“Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”

This was Jesus’ intent; He gave us His all. He gave us His truth, He suffered for us, and He died for us… all because He loves us.

John 3:16:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

The cup… at the Passover represented the blood of a lamb, which was smeared over the doorpost of each house so that the angel of death would not enter. The cup… now represents the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.

Hebrews 9:28:
“So Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”

This cup is the new covenant in My blood… everything in the Old Testament led up to this moment, all the foreshadowing pointed to this time, when sin would be forgiven and not just covered up.

Hebrews 9:14-15:
“How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”

We’ve been hearing quite a bit lately the phrase, “There’s a new sheriff in town.” Now through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, there’s a New Covenant, the New replaces the Old.

The focus of the Old Covenant was the written Word. The focus of the New Covenant is the Living Word!

John 10:9 (NLT):
“Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.”

As often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of Me…

This is a command brothers and sisters. We silly humans always need reminding, and God knows this. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes…

We can’t help but get tied up in the world’s affairs; we’re not of the world, but the world has an effect on us. Jesus gave us the Lord’s Supper to keep us in check, to reel us back in and remind us that He is on His throne, He is still in control, and that He loves us with an everlasting love. He’s coming back for us… live like He’s coming back today!