1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Evangelical Heritage Version

A Sinful Practice at the Lord’s Supper Needs to Be Eliminated

¹⁷ Now in giving you this next command, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. ¹⁸ For in the first place, I hear that when you come together in an assembly, there are divisions among you. And to some extent I believe it, ¹⁹ for there also have to be factions among you so that those who are approved may become evident among you. ²⁰ So when you come together in the same place, it is not the Lord’s Supper that you eat. ²¹ For when you eat, each one goes ahead and takes his own supper, and so one person goes hungry while another is drunk. ²² What, don’t you have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise God’s church and humiliate those who have nothing? What am I to say to you? Shall I praise you? In this matter I do not praise you!

²³ For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, ²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said,^[a] “This is my body, which is^[b] for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵ In the same way, after the meal, he also took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new testament^[c] in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” ²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

²⁷ Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the Lord’s body and blood. ²⁸ Instead, let a person examine himself and after doing so, let him eat of the bread and drink from the cup. ²⁹ For if anyone eats and drinks in an unworthy way^[d] because he does not recognize^[e] the Lord’s^[f] body, he eats and drinks judgment on himself. ³⁰ Because of this, many among you are weak and sick, and quite a few have fallen asleep.^{[g] 31} But if we judged ourselves, we would not be undergoing judgment. ³² However, when we undergo judgment, we are being disciplined by the Lord so that we may not be condemned with the world.

³³ Therefore, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.^{[h] 34} If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home so that your coming together may not result in judgment. The rest of my instructions I will give when I come.