1 CORINTHIANS
Chapter 11, Verses 1-3
“Who’s In Charge Here?”
[5-1-22]
Review: “Should I Seek What’s Beneficial To Me?”
1 Corinthians 10:28-33) [NAS] But if anyone should say to you, “This is meat sacrificed to idols,” do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for conscience’ sake;
QUESTION: What if an unbeliever invites me over to eat?
ANSWER: Eat what “is set before you”! Again, don’t ask questions. Why? For conscience’s sake.
QUESTION: What should I do if the unbeliever tells me the meat was sacrificed to idols?
ANSWER: Don’t eat it for the sake of the unbelieving friend, and for conscience’s sake.
29) I mean not your own conscience, but the other man’s; for why is my freedom judged by another’s conscience?
QUESTION: Whose conscience is Paul worried about?
ANSWER: He’s worried about the other man’s conscience. You have the Christian liberty to eat the meat; however, if eating it causes another to judge me as someone who worships idols.
30) If I partake with thankfulness, why am I slandered concerning that for which I give thanks?
QUESTION: What is Paul telling us here?
ANSWER: Christian liberty tells me it’s fine to eat the meat. I eat the meat and give God thanks for it. Others then begin to slander me by calling me a worshipper of idols. How do I benefit from that?
31) Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
32) Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God;
33) just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved.
QUESTION: How does Paul wrap up his argument?
ANSWER: He uses himself as an example. He was so intent on winning others that he made decisions regarding his conduct based on that goal. We should do the same!
This Week’s Lesson: “Who’s In Charge Here?”
1 Corinthians 11:1-3) [NAS] Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.
QUESTION: What is this verse doing?
ANSWER: The translators probably should have made this verse the last verse of the previous chapter. This verse is, in essence, concluding his argument concerning the disputable matter of eating meats offered to idols.
2) Now I praise you because you remember me in everything, and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you.
“the traditions,” – “A tradition, doctrine or injunction delivered or communicated from one to another” [Word Study].
“the traditions,” – “objectively, that which is delivered, the substance of a teaching” [Thayer].
**Mark 7:8) [NAS] “Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”
QUESTION: Why did I include the above verse in Mark in our discussion?
**ANSWER: I wanted to point out that “traditions” can be either good or bad. They’re good when they are based on the Word of God; they are bad when they aren’t.
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.
QUESTION: What is the point of this verse?
ANSWER: God has an order of authority.
Philippians 2:6) [NAS] who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
[NLT] Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God.
[ERV] He was like God in every way, but he did not think that his being equal with God was something to use for his own benefit.
QUESTION: What is this verse telling us?
IMPORTANT ANSWER: You can be equal to someone, yet submissive to that individual!
EXAMPLES: As a human, you are equal to your boss at work, yet submissive to him. You are equal, as a human, to your teacher at school, yet submissive to her. You are equal to a general in the army, yet submissive to him. In each of these examples, the person you submit to is no better than you are. He/she simply occupies a different place in the structure of authority.
QUESTION: What makes the issues of authority, submission, and equality work so well in the Godhead?
ANSWER: Note the following passage of Scripture:
Matthew 20:25-28) [NAS] But Jesus called them to Himself, and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.
26) It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,
27) and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave;
28) just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
QUESTION: What is Jesus telling us about authority and submission?
ANSWER: Those in authority should have a servant’s attitude.
EXAMPLE: Your boss at work has authority over you, but should serve you by making it as easy as humanly possible for you to efficiently perform your job. Your teacher at school has authority over you, but should serve you by making learning as enjoyable as she possibly can. Those who have authority over you in the armed forces should serve you by making your mission as safe as humanly possible.
1 Peter 5:1-4) [NAS] Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed,
2) shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness;
3) nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.
4) And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
QUESTION: What does Peter tell us about the authority of a pastor over his flock?
ANSWER: A pastor, though having authority over his congregation, should serve that congregation by being an example to the saints under his charge.
Ephesians 5:22-24) [NAS] Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
23) For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.
24) But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.
QUESTION: What is this passage in Ephesians saying regarding today’s lesson?
ANSWER: It’s showing us the other side of what Paul wrote to the Corinthians in chapter 11, verse 3. Here he writes that man is the head of the woman and Christ is the head of the church, just like he did in verse 3; but then adds the flip side of that command; that being that the wife should submit to the husband and the church should submit to the Lord.
1 Peter 3:1-2) [NAS] In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives,
2) as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.
QUESTION: We know a woman should submit to her husband because it’s a command of Scripture, but what’s another reason she should do so?
ANSWER: It might be the very reason that an unsaved husband might come to Christ.
QUESTION: With all these things in mind what does our lesson today teach us men regarding the phrase “the man is the head of a woman” that we find in verse 3?
ANSWER: We have God-given authority over our wives; we should, consequently, serve them by being the best husbands we can be.
1 CORINTHIANS
Chapter 11, Verses 4-16
“What To Wear? What To Wear?”
[5-3-22]
Review: “Who’s In Charge Here?”
1 Corinthians 11:3) [NAS] 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.
NOTE: God has an order of authority.
Philippians 2:6) [NAS] who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
[ERV] He was like God in every way, but he did not think that his being equal with God was something to use for his own benefit.
NOTE: You can be equal to someone, yet submissive to him/her.
Ephesians 5:22-24) [NAS] Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
23) For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.
24) But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.
QUESTION: What is this passage in Ephesians doing regarding today’s lesson?
ANSWER: It’s showing us the other side of what Paul wrote to the Corinthians in chapter 11, verse 3. Here he writes that man is the head of the woman and Christ is the head of the church, just like he did in verse 3; but then adds the flip side of that command; that being that the wife should submit to the husband and the church should submit to the Lord.
1 Peter 3:1-2) [NAS] In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives,
2) as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.
QUESTION: We know a woman should submit to her husband because it’s a command of Scripture, but what’s another reason she should do so?
ANSWER: It might be the very reason that an unsaved husband might come to Christ.
QUESTION: With all these things in mind what does our lesson today teach us men regarding the phrase “the man is the head of a woman” that we find in verse 3?
ANSWER: We have God-given authority over our wives; we should, consequently, serve them by being the best husbands we can be.
This Week’s Lesson: “What To Wear? What To Wear?”
1 Corinthians 11:4-16) [NAS] Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying, disgraces his head.
5) But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying, disgraces her head; for she is one and the same with her whose head is shaved.
6) For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head.
7) For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.
8) For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man;
9) for indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake.
10) Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.
“Why does Paul add because of the angels? We would suggest that the angels are spectators of the things that are happening on earth today, as they were of the things that happened at creation” [NAS].
QUESTION: Should our women wear something on their heads when they pray?
1 Corinthians 10:28-29; 32-33) [NAS] But if anyone should say to you, “This is meat sacrificed to idols,” do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for conscience’ sake;
29) I mean not your own conscience, but the other man’s; for why is my freedom judged by another’s conscience?
32) Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God;
33) just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved.
1 Corinthians 6:6-7) [NAS] but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers?
7) Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?
NOTE: Paul was all about the Gospel. He didn’t want Christians to do anything that would diminish the impact of its message. It was then, and is now, the custom in the East for women to be veiled when praying. Paul didn’t want the believers to break that custom for fear it would hinder the Gospel message.
Here’s Evidence:
1 Timothy 6:1) [NAS] Let all who are under the yoke as slaves regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and our doctrine may not be spoken against.
QUESTION: Is Paul teaching that slavery is O. K.?
ANSWER: No! He’s simply acknowledging that it exists. Consequently, if you’re a slave be a good one so that the slave owner can’t speak against the Gospel.
NOTE: Back in the day when every woman in America wore long dresses the Christian women should not have been the first to wear mini dresses. We, as believers, should not go beyond the limits of good taste as set by society. If women in the Middle East cover their heads in worship then it is proper for the Christian women to do so, for the sake of the Gospel message.
11) However, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.
12) For as the woman originates from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman; and all things originate from God.
13) Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with head uncovered?
14) Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him,
15) but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her? For her hair is given to her for a covering.
“does not even nature itself teach you,” – “The recognized constitution of things. In this case the natural distinction of the woman’s long hair” [Vincent].
QUESTION: What’s Paul’s point here?
ANSWER: The custom of his time points to the necessity for a woman to wear a covering. And, the Christian doctrine can fit that custom into its practice.
***NOTE: Commentators have difficulty explaining this teaching, so I feel justified in admitting that I’m doing some guessing as to what Paul has in mind here.
16) But if one is inclined to be contentious, we have no other practice, nor have the churches of God.
(CEV) This is how things are done in all of God’s churches, and that’s why none of you should argue about what I have said.
QUESTION: Why is Paul so adamant about this?
ANSWER: Again, the Gospel message is the only message on this planet that can save people; i.e., give people the truth about how to get to Heaven. The weight of the Gospel message must not be compromised for the sake of some convenience.
NOTE: We must not judge those churches that insist on their women wearing some kind of headdress. This area of Scripture can certainly appear to teach that women should, in fact, do so.
A CLOSING NOTE: Many Biblical scholars in America have not reached the conclusion that the Bible teaches that Christian women should, in fact, wear something on their head in church. Many Evangelical Bible seminaries, which are full of Bible professors, do not teach that the women ought to veil their heads. Their female students attend chapel services unveiled. The same is true of most Evangelical Christian Churches in America. Though many of them have a pastor that is well trained in the Word, they do not teach that their women ought to wear something on their heads.
1 CORINTHIANS
Chapter 11, Verses 17-34
“Let’s Talk About The Communion Service!”
[5-8-22]
Review: “What To Wear? What To Wear?”
1 Corinthians 11:16) (CEV) This is how things are done in all of God’s churches, and that’s why none of you should argue about what I have said.
Last week we discussed women having their heads covered.
This Week’s Lesson: “Let’s Talk About The Communion Service!”
1 Corinthians 11:17-34) (CEV) In the things I tell you now I don’t praise you. Your meetings hurt you more than they help you.
18) [NAS] 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.
19) (NLT) But, of course, there must be divisions among you so that those of you who are right will be recognized!
1 Corinthians 1:11) [NAS] For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you.
NOTE: The Corinthian believers were not walking in unity.
20) Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper,
21) for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk.
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.
QUESTION: What were the Corinthian believers doing wrong?
ANSWER: They were supposed to have a potluck meal before observing the Lord’s Supper, but they weren’t doing that. Instead, the fortunate brought enough food for them to feast on, but they didn’t share it with the less fortunate.
Albert Barnes suggests that, as a result of the meal Jesus shared with His disciples prior to His betrayal, “the early Christians derived the custom of observing such a festival, or common meal, before they celebrated the Lord’s Supper” [Barnes].
QUESTION: What can we learn from Paul’s rebuke.
ANSWER: Any meal a congregation has together must be a potluck. Everyone attending must be allowed to share the food.
23) For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
NOTE: The original communion service, the “last supper” before His death, was held on the night that Judas betrayed Him. That fact that the phrase “the night in which He was betrayed” was included in what the Lord revealed to Paul might indicate that the human Jesus was deeply hurt when someone He loved betrayed Him. After all, He became like us, minus sin, so that He could save us.
24) and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
25) In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
QUESTION: What are we doing in the communion service?
ANSWER: We are remembering that the Jesus was physically brutalized and His flesh was ripped to shreds, and then His blood was shed on Calvary’s cross to save us. We are remembering that the sacrifice of His life on our behalf caused us to enter into a new covenant with God.
John 6:56) [NAS] “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.”
QUESTION: What is the above verse telling us about communion?
ANSWER: Communion is a picture of the death of Christ. Symbolically, when we accept that the broken body of Christ, and His shed blood, is sufficient to save us when we place our faith in Christ, we are eating/partaking of His flesh and we are drinking/partaking of His blood. We must partake of food and water to sustain our physical life, and we must partake of the flesh and blood of Christ; in other words, we must place our confidence in God that the sacrifice of His Son was sufficient to appease a Holy and just God. When we do that then we live spiritually.
26) For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
Concerning “you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes,”
NOTE: The apostle here refers to a custom used by the Jews in the night of the passover, to show forth the reason of their practice, and that institution to their children.
NOTE: There is no set rule as to the frequency of when we should serve communion.
27) Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
QUESTION: Is this a warning to the unsaved? Are they to refrain from communion, or else?
NOTE: If you want to see what it’s talking about, see what it’s talking about.
ANSWER: I personally don’t believe God is going to kill an unbeliever for taking communion. I think the reference here is to the manner in which the Corinthian believers were serving communion. They were doing so as part of a horrible evening where the fortunate ate sumptuously and the poor had no food (vs. 20-22). That was a shameful practice, and an unworthy way to partake of communion.
28) But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29) For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly.
QUESTION: What does “not judge the body rightly” mean?
ANSWER: 1) They did not understand the spiritual reverence to which they should be partaking of communion. Communion is not meant to be a time of feasting. It’s intended to be a time in which we reflect on the great cost of our salvation.
2) They did not understand the entire scope of redemption. God allowed those brutes to viciously “break the body of Christ” so that by those stripes we are healed.
1 Peter 2:24) [KJV] Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Isaiah 53:4-5) [KJV] Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5) But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Matthew 8:16-17) [KJV] When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:
17) That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Most teach that since Peter is quoting Isaiah 53:5 that he’s talking about spiritual healing. Yet Matthew tells us that Isaiah’s passage was fulfilled when Jesus “healed all that were sick.”
30) For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.
NOTE: They failed to discern that the brutal beating that Jesus endured in Pilate’s Judgment Hall paid for their physical healing; so they were weak and sick; and some died!
***NOTE: Communion is a reminder to us that our salvation and our healing has been paid for. When we don’t “discern the Lord’s body” we fail to benefit from the provisions He has purchased for us.
31) But if we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged.
Matthew 7:1) [KJV] Judge not, that ye be not judged.
NOTE: We should judge ourselves, not others.
32) But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with the world.
33) So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
34) If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you may not come together for judgment. And the remaining matters I shall arrange when I come.
QUESTION: What do these 3 verses teach us?
1) It’s better to be disciplined by God than to be “condemned along with the world.”
2) Communion is to be entered into in a fellowship of Christian love