1 Corinthians 11

1 Corinthians 11:2

Impurity in the Church SUMMARY OF I CORINTHIANS 5: The Incestuous Person. The Discipline Commanded. The Old Leaven to Be Purged Out. Heinous Offenders Not to Be Recognized Socially in the Church. [There is] fornication among you. Licentiousness was one of the besetting sins of the Gentiles at this time. Purity of life was almost unknown. So far was unchastity from being held in disrepute that temples were everywhere dedicated to Aphrodite (Venus), and in Corinth at the time when Paul wrote there stood one with a thousand priestesses, harlots, a gigantic brothel in the name of religion. It is not wonderful that time was required to cleanse the church, formed of converts from these heathen, from impurity. Not so much as named among the Gentiles. There was in the church a still worse case than the Gentiles would condone; a man had taken, probably after the death of his father, his father’s wife, his own step-mother. This sort of incest was condemned by Greeks and Romans (Cicero, “Oratio pro Cluentio”).

1 Corinthians 11:3

And ye are puffed up. In the face of such a scandal, such a disgrace upon the church of which he is a member, ye are still puffed up, instead of being humiliated and covered with a sense of shame. To manifest sorrow was your duty, and to take such steps that the evil doer might be taken away from among you by means of church discipline. The early church mourned those who fell into licentiousness or other grievous sins as dead (Origen), and if they repented, received then as risen from the dead.

1 Corinthians 11:4

For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, etc. Though absent, yet with them in spirit, Paul judged the case as present, and commanded the church as a body to take action by withdrawal at once from the evil doer.

1 Corinthians 11:5

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The solemn act of excommunication must be in the name, that is, by the authority, of the Lord. When ye are gathered together. The act is to be administered in full assembly. It must be the act of the whole church. Compare 2 Corinthians 2:6. And my spirit. He will be present in spirit, since the act will be carrying out his command. With the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. The act of excommunication for misdeeds, when administered according to the will of the Lord, is not merely man’s decision, but will be executed by the power of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 11:6

To deliver such one unto Satan. Not only this one, but all such persons. To deliver unto Satan is to excommunicate; to extradite from the kingdom of God to the prince of this world. The expression is used in 1 Timothy 1:20. For the destruction of the flesh. Fleshly desires had caused the sin. These must be destroyed. The humiliation of excommunication, the sense of one’s lost condition, was well adapted to bring a repentance. Some have held that this meant to send some painful disease miraculously. I believe that the Latin fathers and Beza are right in understanding that it refers to the mortification of the offender, cast out, shunned by the church as a dead body. This person is ordered to be restored, having repented, and no mention is made of disease, in 2 Corinthians 2:7. That the spirit may be saved. This is the object of all true discipline. If carried out, as in the early church, it was well calculated to bring to repentance. It was effective in this instance, as we learn from 2 Corinthians 2:6.

1 Corinthians 11:7

Your glorying [is] not good. Boasting, in such a state of affairs, was unseemly. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. As a little leavens the whole mass of dough, so one sinner suffered to go on in impurity sends a corrupting influence through the whole church. Compare Galatians 5:9.

1 Corinthians 11:8

Purge out therefore the old leaven. Let the leaven of impurity be removed, by putting out the fornicator, that the church may be pure from the impure leaven, or influence. So, too, each one must cleanse his own heart. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us. At the passover, Jews were required to put all leaven from their houses (Exodus 12:15). As we have a Paschal Lamb, slain for us, the church should cleanse out the leaven of sin.

1 Corinthians 11:9

Let us keep the feast. “Let us keep feast”, or “festival”. There is no article in the Greek. The reference is not to the Lord’s Supper, or to Easter, as some have supposed, so much as to a constant duty. We always have a Paschal Lamb; hence it is always our duty to keep festival by casting out all leaven; either the old leaven of heathen vice, or of the leaven of malice and wickedness, or any sin.

1 Corinthians 11:10

I wrote unto you in an epistle. He had written an earlier letter which has not been preserved, probably a short one, to which reference is made. So most commentators understand.

1 Corinthians 11:11

Yet not altogether with fornicators of this world. His direction had been misunderstood. The fornicator in the church must be shunned as an outcast, for the sake of the discipline. This was what he meant. He did not give directions concerning their conduct towards the heathen. Then must ye needs go out of the world. As the whole heathen world were addicted to the vices named, to apply the rule to it would require that the church have nought whatever to do with the unconverted.

1 Corinthians 11:12

Now I have written unto you not to keep company. He now writes and explains his meaning. Church members must not have social intercourse with one who has been a member who is guilty of the grievous sins named. Covetous. A greedy person, under the influence of passions, not only greedy for gain, but for self-indulgence. The Greek word “pleonektes” implies this. With such person no not to eat. Either at the Lord’s table, or in friendly meals, which would imply a brotherly recognition.

1 Corinthians 11:13

For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? It was not Paul’s business, nor ours, to judge those without; hence the rule just given is not one to regulate our intercourse with them. Do not ye judge them that are within? The authority of the church is over those who have been united with it. It can judge them.

1 Corinthians 11:14

Them that are outside God judgeth. The unconverted are left in the hands of God. He will judge them according to their deeds. We are not asked to seek to inflict punishment on them by shunning them, but rather to go to them in the love of Christ to try to lead them to repentance. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. A summary order to execute discipline upon the incestuous offender, an order that we know from the second letter was obeyed.

1 Corinthians 11:16

Litigation Among Brethren SUMMARY OF I CORINTHIANS 6: Going to Law Before Heathen. The Saints As Judges. Suffer Wrong Rather Than Do Wrong. The Impure Cannot Be God’s Children. What Is Lawful Not Always Expedient. The Christian’s Body a Temple. Dare any of you . . . go to law before the unjust? The third indictment against the Corinthian church is now presented. Some had sought judgments against their brethren in heathen courts. This Paul indignantly rebukes. The Jews themselves made it a rule never to carry cases before heathen tribunals. Much worse was it in Christians.

1 Corinthians 11:17

Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? Shall sit with Christ, after they have been judged, while the world is judged (Matthew 25:41; 19:29). If so high a trust is to be given, it is a little thing that saints should judge differences between church members. These ought all to be submitted to arbitrators, or to the officers.

1 Corinthians 11:18

Know ye not that we shall judge angels? Evidently the bad angels, who shall be judged when the world is judged.

1 Corinthians 11:19

If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life. If the saints shall have the high prerogative of judging the world and bad angels with Christ, then it is a condescension to judge of trivial earthly matters. Set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. An ironical way of hinting that their differences were so petty as to be worthy only of the poorest witted.

1 Corinthians 11:20

I speak to your shame. The last sentence was spoken to shame them, not as a serious rule. He now speaks seriously. Is it so, that there not a wise man among you? A man of prudent judgment, capable of settling differences among them.

1 Corinthians 11:21

And that before unbelievers. It was lamentable that brethren should go to law. How much more of a scandal when they carried their cases into the heathen courts.

1 Corinthians 11:22

There is utterly a fault among you. It was a fault (“loss” or “defeat” in the Greek) to go to law at all. It was better rather take wrong . . . rather to be defrauded, than to work so great an injury to the church by the ill-feeling aroused, and by the scandal in the eyes of the heathen. The rule is, then, (1) To suffer wrong rather than to go to law. (2) If an adjudication is required, to refer to the case, not to unbelieving judges, but to a “wise man” within the church. For other Scriptures bearing on the subject, see 1 Peter 2:23 Matthew 5:40 1 Peter 2:19 Proverbs 20:22.

1 Corinthians 11:24

The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. The glorious kingdom of which the church is the earthly type. The church is God’s kingdom on earth, and its faithful members “inherit” the heavenly kingdom (Matthew 25:34). Be not deceived. Let no one make the mistake of thinking that any unrighteous man shall be an heir. Effeminate. This and the next phrase refer to a shameful crime quite prevalent among the heathen, the first submitting themselves to the foul sensuality, and the second actively “abusing themselves with men”, contrary to nature. Both are Sodomites. None guilty of any one of the list of vices given can be an heir of heaven.

1 Corinthians 11:26

And such were some of you. Some of the worst classes had been converted. Ye are washed. “Were washed”, as in the Revised Version. These verbs are all past tense. The rite of baptism is probably referred to. Ye are sanctified. To be sanctified is to be set apart to God. Ye are justified. That is, their sins were blotted out and they were counted righteous. Sinners as they were before, the gospel had washed, hallowed, and justified them. By the Spirit of our God. The work was consummated by the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).

1 Corinthians 11:27

All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient. Paul had taught that a Christian could use liberty in regard to things indifferent. Some seem to have held that this justified indulgence, as was taught by the Epicureans. Paul says in substance, “Be it so; but all things are not expedient”, for the Christian, Christ’s freeman, must “not be brought under the power of any” appetite. Whoever is thus subjected is not a freeman, but a servant, the servant of sin. Though all things are in our power, we must not be brought under their power.

1 Corinthians 11:28

Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats. Self-indulgence was also excused, because food and the stomach were made for each other. But these are both perishable. Moreover, if “the belly was made for meats”, the body [is] not for fornication. It was not made for this, but for a nobler purpose–for the Lord. Hence, sensuality cannot be thus justified.

1 Corinthians 11:29

And God . . . will also raise up us. As the Lord was raised, so shall we be. Hence, we are for a nobler purpose than engaging in sensuality.

1 Corinthians 11:30

Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? This is a doctrine emphasized by Paul. Our bodies are a part of Christ’s mystical body, the Lord’s holy temple, designed for the indwelling of the Spirit. How sacrilegious to take a member of Christ’s body and degrade it to fornication, or to any act of licentiousness! It is a duty which a Christian owes to Christ to keep his body pure. As the arm or finger has the life of the body until cut off, so we have the life of Christ until we sever ourselves from him by sinful acts.

1 Corinthians 11:32

He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. There is one life and one spirit until severed from Christ.

1 Corinthians 11:33

Flee fornication. The sin must be fled. The way to avoid it is to avoid temptation. We must conquer by running away. Thus it was that Joseph prevailed. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body. The temptations come from without and assail the man through the sense. This is the rule in the case of sin. But he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. It is not said of fornication that it is not stimulated without, or that it, alone of sins, assails the body, but that it is peculiarly a sin against the body. It defiles a body which is designed to be a member of Christ, and a temple of the Holy Spirit; separates it from the union with Christ, and unites it with a harlot. The grievousness of the sin is in the desecration to such an unholy purpose of a body which has become a member of Christ, a part of the temple of God.

1 Corinthians 11:34

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. This makes clear how terrible is the sin of defiling the body by licentiousness. It is desecrating God’s temple. As the Shekinah dwelt in the temple of Israel, so the Holy Spirit in Christ’s temple, which we are. Ye are not your own. But members of Christ, and hence have not the right to use our bodies to our own pleasure.