1 Corinthians 11
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 11
1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.(A)
IV. Problems in Liturgical Assemblies[a]
2 I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold fast to the traditions, just as I handed them on to you.(B)
A. Women’s Headdresses[b]
Man and Woman. 3 But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and a husband the head of his wife,[c] and God the head of Christ.(C) 4 [d]Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered brings shame upon his head. 5 But any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled brings shame upon her head, for it is one and the same thing as if she had had her head shaved. 6 For if a woman does not have her head veiled, she may as well have her hair cut off. But if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should wear a veil.
7 [e]A man, on the other hand, should not cover his head, because he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man.(D) 8 For man did not come from woman, but woman from man;(E) 9 nor was man created for woman, but woman for man;(F) 10 for this reason a woman should have a sign of authority[f] on her head, because of the angels. 11 [g]Woman is not independent of man or man of woman in the Lord.(G) 12 For just as woman came from man, so man is born of woman; but all things are from God.(H)
13 [h]Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head unveiled? 14 Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears his hair long it is a disgrace to him, 15 whereas if a woman has long hair it is her glory, because long hair has been given [her] for a covering? 16 But if anyone is inclined to be argumentative, we do not have such a custom, nor do the churches of God.
B. The Lord’s Supper[i]
An Abuse at Corinth. 17 In giving this instruction, I do not praise the fact that your meetings are doing more harm than good. 18 First of all, I hear that when you meet as a church there are divisions among you, and to a degree I believe it;(I) 19 there have to be factions among you in order that [also] those who are approved among you may become known.[j] 20 When you meet in one place, then, it is not to eat the Lord’s supper, 21 for in eating, each one goes ahead with his own supper, and one goes hungry while another gets drunk. 22 Do you not have houses in which you can eat and drink? Or do you show contempt for the church of God and make those who have nothing feel ashamed? What can I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this matter I do not praise you.(J)
Tradition of the Institution. 23 [k]For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you,(K) that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, 24 and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”(L) 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.
27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord.[l] 28 A person should examine himself,[m] and so eat the bread and drink the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment[n] on himself. 30 That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying. 31 If we discerned ourselves, we would not be under judgment; 32 but since we are judged by [the] Lord, we are being disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.(M)
33 Therefore, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that your meetings may not result in judgment. The other matters I shall set in order when I come.
Footnotes
- 11:2–14:40 This section of the letter is devoted to regulation of conduct at the liturgy. The problems Paul handles have to do with the dress of women in the assembly (1 Cor 11:3–16), improprieties in the celebration of community meals (1 Cor 11:17–34), and the use of charisms or spiritual gifts (1 Cor 12:1–14:40). The statement in 1 Cor 11:2 introduces all of these discussions, but applies more appropriately to the second (cf. the mention of praise in 1 Cor 11:17 and of tradition in 1 Cor 11:23).
- 11:3–16 Women have been participating in worship at Corinth without the head-covering normal in Greek society of the period. Paul’s stated goal is to bring them back into conformity with contemporary practice and propriety. In his desire to convince, he reaches for arguments from a variety of sources, though he has space to develop them only sketchily and is perhaps aware that they differ greatly in persuasiveness.
- 11:3 A husband the head of his wife: the specific problem suggests to Paul the model of the head as a device for clarifying relations within a hierarchical structure. The model is similar to that developed later in greater detail and nuance in Eph 5:21–33. It is a hybrid model, for it grafts onto a strictly theological scale of existence (cf. 1 Cor 3:21–23) the hierarchy of sociosexual relations prevalent in the ancient world: men, dominant, reflect the active function of Christ in relation to his church; women, submissive, reflect the passive role of the church with respect to its savior. This gives us the functional scale: God, Christ, man, woman.
- 11:4–6 From man’s direct relation to Christ, Paul infers that his head should not be covered. But woman, related not directly to Christ on the scale but to her husband, requires a covering as a sign of that relationship. Shameful…to have her hair cut off: certain less honored classes in society, such as lesbians and prostitutes, are thought to have worn their hair close-cropped.
- 11:7–9 The hierarchy of v 3 is now expressed in other metaphors: the image (eikōn) and the reflected glory (doxa). Paul is alluding basically to the text of Gn 1:27, in which mankind as a whole, the male-female couple, is created in God’s image and given the command to multiply and together dominate the lower creation. But Gn 1:24 is interpreted here in the light of the second creation narrative in Gn 2, in which each of the sexes is created separately (first the man and then the woman from man and for him, to be his helpmate, Gn 2:20–23), and under the influence of the story of the fall, as a result of which the husband rules over the woman (Gn 3:16). This interpretation splits the single image of God into two, at different degrees of closeness.
- 11:10 A sign of authority: “authority” (exousia) may possibly be due to mistranslation of an Aramaic word for “veil”; in any case, the connection with 1 Cor 11:9 indicates that the covering is a sign of woman’s subordination. Because of the angels: a surprising additional reason, which the context does not clarify. Presumably the reference is to cosmic powers who might inflict harm on women or whose function is to watch over women or the cult.
- 11:11–12 These parenthetical remarks relativize the argument from Gn 2–3. In the Lord: in the Christian economy the relation between the sexes is characterized by a mutual dependence, which is not further specified. And even in the natural order conditions have changed: the mode of origin described in Gn 2 has been reversed (1 Cor 11:12a). But the ultimately significant fact is the origin that all things have in common (1 Cor 11:12b).
- 11:13–16 The argument for conformity to common church practice is summed up and pressed home. 1 Cor 11:14–15 contain a final appeal to the sense of propriety that contemporary Greek society would consider “natural” (cf. 1 Cor 11:5–6).
- 11:17–34 Paul turns to another abuse connected with the liturgy, and a more serious one, for it involves neglect of basic Christian tradition concerning the meaning of the Lord’s Supper. Paul recalls that tradition for them and reminds them of its implications.
- 11:19 That…those who are approved among you may become known: Paul situates their divisions within the context of the eschatological separation of the authentic from the inauthentic and the final revelation of the difference. The notion of authenticity-testing recurs in the injunction to self-examination in view of present and future judgment (1 Cor 11:28–32).
- 11:23–25 This is the earliest written account of the institution of the Lord’s Supper in the New Testament. The narrative emphasizes Jesus’ action of self-giving (expressed in the words over the bread and the cup) and his double command to repeat his own action.
- 11:27 It follows that the only proper way to celebrate the Eucharist is one that corresponds to Jesus’ intention, which fits with the meaning of his command to reproduce his action in the proper spirit. If the Corinthians eat and drink unworthily, i.e., without having grasped and internalized the meaning of his death for them, they will have to answer for the body and blood, i.e., will be guilty of a sin against the Lord himself (cf. 1 Cor 8:12).
- 11:28 Examine himself: the Greek word is similar to that for “approved” in 1 Cor 11:19, which means “having been tested and found true.” The self-testing required for proper eating involves discerning the body (1 Cor 11:29), which, from the context, must mean understanding the sense of Jesus’ death (1 Cor 11:26), perceiving the imperative to unity that follows from the fact that Jesus gives himself to all and requires us to repeat his sacrifice in the same spirit (1 Cor 11:18–25).
- 11:29–32 Judgment: there is a series of wordplays in these verses that would be awkward to translate literally into English; it includes all the references to judgment (krima, 1 Cor 11:29, 34; krinō, 1 Cor 11:31, 32) discernment (diakrinō, 1 Cor 11:29, 31), and condemnation (katakrinō, 1 Cor 11:32). The judgment is concretely described as the illness, infirmity, and death that have visited the community. These are signs that the power of Jesus’ death is not yet completely recognized and experienced. Yet even the judgment incurred is an expression of God’s concern; it is a medicinal measure meant to rescue us from condemnation with God’s enemies.
1 Corintios 11
Nueva Biblia de las Américas
11 Sean imitadores de mí(A), como también yo lo soy de Cristo.
La mujer en la iglesia
2 Los alabo(B) porque en todo se acuerdan de mí(C) y guardan las tradiciones con firmeza, tal como yo se las entregué(D). 3 Pero quiero que sepan que la cabeza(E) de todo hombre es Cristo[a], y la cabeza de la mujer es el hombre(F), y la cabeza de Cristo es Dios(G). 4 Todo hombre que cubre su cabeza mientras ora o profetiza(H), deshonra su cabeza. 5 Pero toda mujer que tiene la cabeza descubierta mientras ora o profetiza(I), deshonra su cabeza, porque se hace una con la que está rapada(J).
6 Porque si la mujer no se cubre la cabeza, que también se corte el cabello; pero si es deshonroso para la mujer cortarse el cabello, o raparse, que se cubra. 7 Pues el hombre no debe cubrirse la cabeza, ya que él es la imagen y gloria de Dios(K), pero la mujer es la gloria del hombre. 8 Porque el hombre no procede[b] de la mujer, sino la mujer del hombre(L). 9 En verdad el hombre no fue creado a causa de la mujer, sino la mujer a causa del hombre(M). 10 Por tanto, la mujer debe tener un símbolo de autoridad sobre la cabeza, por causa de los ángeles.
11 Sin embargo, en el Señor, ni la mujer es independiente del[c] hombre, ni el hombre independiente de la[d] mujer. 12 Porque así como la mujer procede del hombre, también el hombre nace de la mujer; y todas las cosas proceden de Dios(N). 13 Juzguen(O) ustedes mismos: ¿es propio que la mujer ore a Dios con la cabeza descubierta? 14 ¿No les enseña la misma naturaleza que si el hombre tiene el cabello largo le es deshonra, 15 pero que si la mujer tiene el cabello largo le es una gloria? Pues a ella el cabello le es dado por velo. 16 Pero si alguien parece ser contencioso, nosotros no tenemos tal costumbre(P), ni la tienen las iglesias de Dios(Q).
La Cena del Señor
17 Pero al darles estas instrucciones, no los alabo(R), porque no se congregan para lo bueno[e], sino para lo malo[f]. 18 Pues, en primer lugar, oigo que cuando se reúnen como iglesia[g] hay divisiones[h](S) entre ustedes, y en parte lo creo. 19 Porque es necesario que entre ustedes haya bandos(T), a fin de que se manifiesten entre ustedes los que son aprobados(U).
20 Por tanto, cuando se reúnen, esto ya no es comer la Cena del Señor. 21 Porque al comer, cada uno toma primero su propia cena, y uno pasa hambre y otro se embriaga(V). 22 ¿Qué? ¿No tienen casas para comer y beber? ¿O desprecian la iglesia de Dios(W) y avergüenzan a los que nada tienen(X)? ¿Qué les diré? ¿Los alabaré? En esto no los alabaré(Y).
23 Porque yo recibí del Señor lo mismo que les he enseñado[i](Z): que (AA)el Señor Jesús, la noche en que fue entregado, tomó pan, 24 y después de dar gracias, lo partió y dijo: «Esto es Mi cuerpo que es[j]para ustedes; hagan esto en memoria de Mí».
25 De la misma manera tomó también la copa después de haber cenado, diciendo: «Esta copa es el nuevo pacto(AB)en Mi sangre(AC); hagan esto cuantas veces la beban en memoria de Mí». 26 Porque todas las veces que coman este pan y beban esta copa, proclaman la muerte del Señor hasta que Él venga(AD).
27 De manera que el que coma el pan o beba la copa del Señor indignamente, será culpable del cuerpo y de la sangre del Señor(AE). 28 Por tanto, examínese cada uno[k] a sí mismo(AF), y entonces coma del pan y beba de la copa. 29 Porque el que come y bebe sin discernir correctamente el cuerpo del Señor, come y bebe juicio para sí. 30 Por esta razón hay muchos débiles y enfermos entre ustedes, y muchos duermen[l](AG). 31 Pero si nos juzgáramos a nosotros mismos, no seríamos juzgados. 32 Pero cuando somos juzgados, el Señor nos disciplina(AH) para que no seamos condenados con el mundo(AI).
33 Así que, hermanos míos, cuando se reúnan para comer, espérense unos a otros. 34 Si alguien tiene hambre(AJ), coma en su casa(AK), para que no se reúnan para juicio. Los demás asuntos los arreglaré(AL) cuando vaya(AM).
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
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