1 Corinthians 11

     11:1.  Completes the preceding paragraph.  Cf. 4:14-17.

     11:2.  The traditions; i.e., the oral traditions of the gospel received from the Lord and the original apostles (cf. 4:14-17; 15:3-8, 11).

     11:3.  The overriding principle here and following is that all are under authority.  This includes even Christ under the headship of God the Father in the holy trinity (15:27-28; Heb.10:7).  This proves that headship has nothing to do with intrinsic equality of persons, but with order and position, as parent to child (the fifth commandment).  All are equal before God, yet we are all under authority, and commanded to give honor to whom honor is due (Rom.13:1 ff.; John 4:34, 5:30, 6:38; Php.2:5-11).

     11:4-16.  The universal principle stated above is here applied by Paul to the cultural conditions at Corinth.  Head covering (or veiling) meant something to them it does not mean to us.  In fact, some of the contentiousness it was provoking (16) may have been because Jewish and Roman men covered themselves while praying, and Greek men did not.  And in the case of women, praying uncovered was looked upon as shameful in all three cultures.  “…the Christian attitude needed defining in the interest of orderly worship (14:40).  Believers should not unnecessarily flout social conventions….”  Norman Hillyer, The New Bible Commentary, Revised, Eerdmans, 1976, p.1065.

     Though cultural norms change, the created order does not.  This is what Paul appeals to.  It was very unseemly for a woman to repudiate her husband’s authority by removing the symbol of that authority from her head (5-6).  Yet vv.11-12 once again make clear that this has nothing to do with equality of persons.  As with Christ to the Father, this is self-submission for the glory of God, and order in the family, church, and society.

     11:10.  Because of the angels; some see this as a reference to the fallen angels, who are an example of what happens to those who do not keep their proper place in the created order (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6).  Others see it as a reminder that the holy angels are ministers of the Lord, and guardians of his holiness, who shall separate the wheat from the tares (Ps.89:5-7; Mt.13:41).

     11:17-34.  The early church combined the communion sacrament with a “love feast” (Jude 12), which was fine, except it was degenerating into a Bacchanalia, a disorderly revel.  Not only that, but those of means were not waiting on the slave class to arrive, or sharing food with them.  Paul orders a stop to the partying, and gives us some of our best instruction on the Lord’s Supper.

     11:24-25.  The broken body of Christ is for you; the loaf and the cup commemorate to us Christ’s once for all sacrifice.  This is a true means of grace to all who receive it in faith.

     11:26.  “…for us the whole assurance of life and salvation rests upon the Lord’s death….”  John Calvin, Inst.4:17:37.

     11:27.  Eating and drinking at the Lord’s table in an unworthy manner; i.e., not seeing Christ’s death for your sins in it.   No one is worthy on any other basis, but would in fact share the guilt of his crucifixion, as Judas did.  (Cf. Heb.10:29).

     11:28.  Let a man examine himself; this does not mean that the elders do not have the responsibility to examine communicates as to their profession and outward walk.  They do.  But no one can examine the heart except the man himself.  Are you in the faith?  “I commune with mine own heart, and my spirit made diligent search” (Ps.77:6b, KJV).

     11:29.  There are two ways one does not judge the body rightly:  1.  By seeing only food, not seeing by faith the body of Christ broken for you (24);  2.  By not seeing Christ in the body of believers who commune with one another (33, 12:12 ff.).  “The body is not one member but many” (12:14).

     “When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee” (Prov. 23:1, KJV).   All are guests at the Lord’s table, but not all come in a worthy manner.  “They come to the marriage-feast, but not with wedding-garments.”  Thos. Boston, WSC Commentary, Vol.2, p.511.

     11:30-34.  “Our God is a consuming fire” (Heb.12:29).  But God is gracious to his people.  Even in judgment, it is for discipline, that we be not condemned along with the world (32).  The apostle was able to discern God’s purpose and reason for the bodily sicknesses and deaths of some in Corinth.  It would be a big mistake if we were to try to do the same.  But consider this from Thos. Boston (ibid, p.516):

     “We may justly wonder that the Lord does not sometimes make a breach among us, and mingle our blood with our sacrifices.”  (As he did in the OT.)  “…but now the dispensation is more spiritual, and the strokes of anger are more spiritual also; such as hardness of heart, and blindness of mind.  Some souls get their deaths wounds at the table, though their bodies come away whole and sound.”

     Let us examine ourselves, and gain confidence in this, that God’s love is sealed for us in the body and blood of Christ, and so let us come.  “Satan labors either to make us feed without fear, or else to fear so we cannot feed.”  Ibid, p.525.

     Let us come to the table neither carelessly nor bound by fear, but gratefully and humbly, compelled by his love.