11-4-25 – 1 Corinthians 11

SPEAKER 01 : 0:08

Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. Allen J. Huth shares a Bible passage with comments from over 35 years of his personal Bible reading journals and applies the Word of God to our daily lives.

SPEAKER 04 : 0:23

Today we are in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. And back at the very introduction of this book, I shared about two firsts in 1 Corinthians. And here’s one of those firsts. In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, we will see the first recording of the church celebrating the Lord’s Supper. So let’s listen in to Faith Comes By Hearing’s readings of the 34 verses of 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 1 Corinthians 11

SPEAKER 03 : 0:53

Be imitators of me as I am of Christ. Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I deliver them to you. But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. But every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God. But woman is the glory of man. For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.”

SPEAKER 02 : 1:55

That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor man of woman. For as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman, and all things are from God. Judge for yourselves.

SPEAKER 03 : 2:12

Is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair, it is a disgrace for him, but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God. But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together, it is not for the better, but for the worse. For in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.” When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What? Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way also, he took 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. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.” Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.

SPEAKER 02 : 4:31

But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

SPEAKER 03 : 4:40

So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home so that when you come together, it will not be for judgment. About the other things, I will give directions when I come.

SPEAKER 04 : 4:58

Chapter 11 starts out with quite a verse, doesn’t it? Paul says, be imitators of me as I am of Christ. I think that verse connects better with the end of chapter 10. So let me read those verses that conclude chapter 10 and hook this verse to it. Chapter 10, verse 31 says, So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, Just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved, be imitators of me as I am of Christ. You might remember from yesterday that that was all about doing all to the glory of God. And Paul was saying, that’s what I try to do, so do what I try to do. I summarized 1 Corinthians chapter 11 in my journal in 2015. With a couple of these entries, I wrote, can I say by the way I live my life, be imitators of me? And then I wrote about spiritual authority relating to verse 3. And then lastly, the Lord’s Supper, verses 23 through 26. Back in 1994, I just focused on the spiritual authority aspects of this chapter. I actually drew a little diagram. So let me try to explain what I’ve drawn in my 1994 journals. At the bottom, I put woman. Glory of man, created for man’s sake, originates from man. Then I pointed an arrow upward, and I put man. And I wrote image and glory of God, birth through woman. Then I put another arrow from man up to Christ, and I wrote authority. And then another arrow up to God, and I wrote originator of all things. As we look at chapter 11, verses 2 through 16, this may not fit our popular culture, but it is the Word of God. Paul says to the Corinthians, and he says to us today, maintain the traditions. And in verse 3, he writes, We move forward to verse 8. For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. And verse 11 says, Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor man of woman. For as a woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. I will let the words speak for themselves and not elaborate on my own thoughts about this passage, but I would like to quote a piece out of my English Standard Version footnote on verse 3. My footnote says, “…the head of Christ is God indicates that within the Trinity the Father has a role of authority or leadership with respect to the Son.” though they are equal in deity and attributes. Paul applies this truth about the Trinity to the relationship of husband and wife in marriage. As in the Trinity, there is equality in being and value, but difference in roles. What I find interesting in the footnote is that even in the Trinity, the Father has a role of authority and leadership. And not once in Jesus’ life did I ever see him try to take over the leadership or authority of his Father. The rest of the chapter is about the Lord’s Supper. The Corinthians either had a misunderstanding or were having a hard time implementing aspects of the Lord’s Supper. So Paul clarifies it here, for them and for us. In just about any church where communion is celebrated, you have probably heard verses 23 through 26 quoted. Let me read them. For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you. that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, also he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant of my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, You proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. I praise the Lord for the outline of how the church is to celebrate communion. Verse 27 is sometimes quoted when referenced to communion services, and it’s an important verse for us to consider today. It says, “…whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.” Paul was covering this issue because some of the Corinthians were having communion in an unworthy manner. Paul goes on to say, Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. Lord, we thank you that in this chapter you give us a clear line of authority. The head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. We thank you for communion, the Last Supper, and clear instructions as to how we are to celebrate it. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Again, we thank you for the clarity of your word, even when it rubs against the culture of our day. Help us be people of the Word, not people of the world. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. You might wonder how I became a daily Bible reader. When I was 15 years old, a buddy and me stole his father’s car. We could steal his father’s car because his father was in Vietnam, serving in the war. So he was never home. So we took the car that day. Neither one of us with a driver’s license, and we took off out east of Colorado Springs on a dirt road. We were flying down this dirt road at 60 miles an hour, and he lost control of the car. We began to spin, and we were going down the road, fishtailing, and he spun the wheel of the car 60 miles an hour. The car tumbled, crushed the top, tucked the wheels under, totaled the car. I was on a dirt road. I don’t know if I was thrown out of the car or crawled out of the car, but I looked at that car and I thought, am I even alive? Am I broken? Am I bleeding everywhere? And I began to pat myself down and I felt like I was okay. So I stood up and I was uninjured, amazingly. The sheriff came to draw up the accident. He said, it’s a miracle you guys are alive. I got home that night, went down into my bedroom. My mother came to me and said, you ought to thank God you’re alive. I was laying on my bed, and I was thinking about the day’s activities. And I just thought, wow, I could have been dead today. I wasn’t the driver. I was the passenger. I wasn’t in control. But God was. At that moment, I figured out at 15 years old, God could take my life any time. He could have that day. So as I laid there, I thought, okay, you could take my life any day. So you saved my life today for a reason. For whatever reason that is, I’m going to live for you and that reason. As I said that, I heard a voice say to me, there’s a Bible on your bookshelf. Get it down and read it. I must have heard something, because I got up, I went over to the bookshelf, and I pulled down a Bible. I opened it to the first page, just like I would any other book, and I began to read God’s Word. I read Genesis chapter 1. The next day I read Genesis chapter 2. The next day I read Genesis chapter 3. And a chapter a day, I begin to read God’s Word at 15 years old. If you do that, by the way, it’ll take you about three and a half years to finish reading the Bible a chapter a day. And that’s a good plan. So that’s how I became a daily Bible reader. And when I finished going through the Bible the first time at 18 years or so, I just started over because I thought that’s what Christians did was read their Bibles every day. So that’s how I became a daily Bible reader. I know you’re going to like it and want to share it with others.