Chapter 11

Follow my example, then, as I follow the example of Christ.

I must needs praise you for your constant memory of me, for upholding your traditions just as I handed them on to you.

And here is something you must know. The head to which a wife is united is her husband, just as the head to which every man is united is Christ; so, too, the head to which Christ is united is God.

And whereas any man who keeps his head covered when he prays or utters prophecy brings shame upon his head,

a woman brings shame upon her head if she uncovers it to pray or prophesy; she is no better than the woman who has her head shaved.

If a woman would go without a veil, why does she not cut her hair short too? If she admits that a woman is disgraced when her hair is cut short or shaved, then let her go veiled.

A man has no need to veil his head; he is God’s image, the pride of his creation, whereas the wife is the pride of her husband.

(The woman takes her origin from the man, not the man from the woman;

and indeed, it was not man that was created for woman’s sake, but woman for man’s.)

And for that reason the woman ought to have authority over her head, for the angels’ sake.

(Not that, in the Lord’s service, man has his place apart from woman, or woman hers apart from man;

if woman takes her origin from man, man equally comes to birth through woman. And indeed all things have their origin in God.)

Judge for yourselves; is it fitting that a woman should offer prayer to God unveiled?

Does not nature itself teach you that, whereas it is a disgrace to a man to wear his hair long,

when a woman grows her hair long, it is an added grace to her? That is because her hair has been given her to take the place of a veil.

And if anyone is prepared to argue the matter, he must know that no such custom is found among us, or in any of God’s churches.

And here is a warning I have for you. I can give you no praise for holding your assemblies in a way that does harm, not good.

From the first, when you meet in church, there are divisions among you; so I hear, and in some measure believe it.

Parties there must needs be among you, so that those who are true metal may be distinguished from the rest.

And when you assemble together, there is no opportunity to eat a supper of the Lord;

each comer hastens to eat the supper he has brought for himself, so that one man goes hungry, while another has drunk deep.

Have you no homes to eat and drink in, that you should shew contempt to God’s church, and shame the poor? Praise you? There is no room for praise here.

The tradition which I received from the Lord, and handed on to you, is that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was being betrayed, took bread,

and gave thanks, and broke it, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, given up for you. Do this for a commemoration of me.

And so with the cup, when supper was ended, This cup, he said, is the new testament, in my blood. Do this, whenever you drink it, for a commemoration of me.

So it is the Lord’s death that you are heralding, whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, until he comes.

And therefore, if anyone eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily, he will be held to account for the Lord’s body and blood.

A man must examine himself first, and then eat of that bread and drink of that cup;

he is eating and drinking damnation to himself if he eats and drinks unworthily, not recognizing the Lord’s body for what it is.

That is why many of your number want strength and health, and not a few have died.

If we recognized our own fault, we should not incur these judgements;

as it is, the Lord judges us and chastises us, so that we may not incur, as this world incurs, damnation.

So, brethren, when you assemble to eat together, wait for one another;

those who are hungry had best eat at home, for fear that your meeting should bring you condemnation. The other questions I will settle when I come.