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1 Follow my example, just like I try to follow Christ’s example.
Women should wear a hair covering while praying or prophesying in a service, but men should not do so.
1 Corinthians 11:2-16
2 I praise you because you remember all the things that I taught you and because you follow the instructions that I gave you. You have done just like I told you to do. 3 Now, I want you to know that the one who has authority over [MTY] every man is Christ, and the ones who have authority over women are men (OR, their husbands), and the one who has authority over Christ is God. 4 So if any man wears a covering over his head when he prays or speaks a message God gave him, he disgraces himself [SYN]. 5 Also, if any woman does not wear a covering over her head when she prays or speaks a message that God gave her, she disgraces herself (OR, she dishonors her husband). That would be acting like [SIM] women who are ashamed because their heads have been shaved. 6 So, if women do not wear coverings over their heads when they pray or speak messages that God gave them, they should let someone shave their heads so that they will be ashamed. But since women are ashamed if someone cuts their hair short or shaves off their hair, they should wear coverings over their heads when they pray or speak messages that God gave them. 7 Men should not wear coverings over their heads when they pray or speak messages that God gave them, because they represent what God is like [MET] and they show how great God is. But women show how great men (OR, their husbands) are. 8 Remember that God intends that men have authority over women. We know that because God did not make the first man, Adam, from the first woman, Eve. Instead, he made that woman from a bone that he took from the man. 9 Also, God did not create the first man to help the woman. Instead, he created the woman to help the man. 10 For that reason, women should wear something to cover their heads as a symbol of their being under their husbands’ [MTY] authority. They should also cover their heads so that the angels will see that and rejoice.
11-12 However, remember that even though God created the first woman from the first man, all other men have been born from women. So men cannot be independent of women, nor can women be independent of men. But all things, including men and women, come from God. 13 Consider this for yourselves: Is it proper for [RHQ] women to pray to God while they do not have coverings over their heads? 14 ◄Everyone senses that it is disgraceful for men to have long hair./Doesn’t everyone sense that it is disgraceful for men to have long hair?► [RHQ] 15 But it is very delightful if women have long hair, because God gave them long hair to be like a beautiful covering for their heads. 16 But whoever wants to argue with me about my saying that women should have a covering over their heads when they pray or speak a message from God should consider the fact that we apostles do not permit any other custom, and the other congregations of God do not have any other custom.
When you gather to eat the Lord’s Supper, you act selfishly. I cannot praise you for that.
1 Corinthians 11:17-22
17 Now I want to tell you about some other things. I do not praise you about them, because whenever you believers meet together, good things do not happen. Instead, bad things happen. 18 First of all, people have told me that when you gather together as a group to worship God, you divide into groups that are hostile to each other. To some extent I believe that is true. 19 It seems that you must divide into groups that despise each other in order that it might be clear/evident which people among you God approves of! 20 When you gather together, you [IRO] eat the meal that you say is to remember the death of the Lord Jesus for us. 21 But what happens when you eat is that each person eats his own meal before he thinks about sharing his food with anyone else. As a result, when the meal is over, some people are still hungry and others are drunk! So it is not a meal that honors the Lord. 22 ◄You act as though you do not have your own houses in which you can eat and drink whatever you want to!/Do you not have your own houses in which you can eat and drink whatever you want to?► [RHQ] Do you not realize [RHQ] that by acting selfishly in this way, it is God’s people whom you are despising, and it is the poor people in your group whom you are treating as though they were not important? What shall I say to you about that [RHQ]? Do you expect me to praise you about what you do [RHQ]? I certainly will not praise you!
The Lord gave us instructions about the significance of the Lord’s Supper.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
23 The Lord taught me these things that I also taught you: During the night that Jesus was betrayed {Judas enabled the enemies of the Lord Jesus to seize him}, he took some bread. 24 After he thanked God for it, he broke it into pieces. Then he gave it to his disciples and said, “This bread represents [MET] (OR, is) my body, that I am about to sacrifice for you. Eat bread in this way again and again to remember my offering myself as a sacrifice for you.” 25 Similarly, after they ate their meal, he took a cup [MTY] of wine. He thanked God for it. Then he gave it to his disciples, saying, “The wine in [MTY] this cup represents [MET] (OR, is) my blood that will flow from my body ◄to put into effect/to establish► the new agreement that God is making with people. Whenever you drink wine in this way, do it to remember that my blood flowed for you.” 26 Remember that until the Lord Jesus returns to the earth, whenever you eat the bread that represents his body and drink the wine [MTY] that represents his blood, you are telling other people that he died for you.
God punishes those who eat the Lord’s Supper in a way that does not express the unity of his people.
1 Corinthians 11:27-34
27 So, those who eat that bread and drink that wine [MTY] in a way that is not proper for those who belong to the Lord are guilty of acting in a way that is contrary to what our Lord intended when he offered his body as a sacrifice and his blood flowed when he died. 28 Before any believer eats that bread and drinks that wine [MTY], he should think carefully about what he is doing, 29 because if anyone eats the bread that represents Christ’s body and drinks the wine that represents his blood without recognizing that all God’s people should be united, God will punish him for doing that. 30 Many people in your group are weak and sick, and several have died [EUP] because of the way they acted when they ate that bread and drank that wine. 31 If we would think carefully about what we are doing, God would not judge and punish us like that. 32 But when the Lord judges and punishes us for acting wrongly, he disciplines us to correct us, in order that he will not need to punish us when he punishes the people who do not trust in Christ [MTY].
33 So, my fellow believers, when you gather together to eat food to remember the Lord’s dying for you, wait until everyone has arrived so that you can find out who does not have enough food. 34 Those who are so hungry that they cannot wait to eat until everyone else has arrived should eat in their own homes first, in order that when you gather together God will not judge and punish them for ◄being inconsiderate of/not being concerned about► others.
And when I come to Corinth I will give you instructions about other matters concerning the Lord’s Supper.