1 Corinthians 11 Summary — Headship in Worship and the Lord’s Supper

Companion: Deep Study

A condensed companion to the full study. For each section of the expanded outline: key insights, applications, and the application questions for discussion.

Section 1 — Imitate Me as I Imitate Christ; Holding the Traditions (1 Corinthians 11:1–2)

Key Insights

“Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” — Paul offers himself as a pattern only insofar as he follows the Lord, so the call ultimately points to Christ.
The imitation in view is the self-denying, God-glorifying love of chapter 10: doing all to God’s glory and seeking the good of many for their salvation.
Paul commends the Corinthians for maintaining “the traditions” he delivered — the binding apostolic deposit of Christ’s teaching.
The verbs “delivered” and (v. 23) “received” are technical terms for the authoritative transmission of teaching from the Lord, through the apostle, to the churches.
Paul models pastoral balance, commending what is genuinely praiseworthy before correcting what is wrong (contrast v. 17).

Applications

Weigh every model, leader, and influence by whether they lead you toward Christ, and follow them only that far.
Treasure and hold fast the apostolic teaching of Scripture, neither drifting from it nor adding human tradition.
Learn Paul’s balance: commend the genuinely good even while addressing what must be corrected.

Application Questions

Whom am I imitating, and do my models lead me toward Christ or away from Him?
Do I treasure and hold fast the apostolic teaching delivered in Scripture, or do I drift from it or add to it?

Section 2 — The Order of Headship: God, Christ, Man, Woman (1 Corinthians 11:3–6)

Key Insights

“The head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God” — kephalē denotes authority and ordered relation.
The headship of God over Christ is the model: as the Son is equal to the Father yet submits in redemption, headship implies order, not inequality.
Conduct in worship can honor or dishonor one’s head; in Corinth, coverings and hairstyles signified gender, status, and respectability.
The outward sign was meant to express, not erase, the God-ordained distinction between male and female.
The Reformed tradition distinguishes the abiding principle (honoring God’s created order) from its cultural token (first-century veiling).

Applications

Embrace headship and submission as ordered relationship among equals, modeled in the Father and the Son, not as marks of unequal worth.
Recognize that how you conduct yourself in worship honors or dishonors God.
Distinguish the permanent creational principle from its cultural expression, honoring the order without absolutizing ancient custom.

Application Questions

Do I honor the order of headship God has established as a thing of beauty and equal dignity, or do I resent or distort it?
Does my conduct in worship and daily life honor or dishonor the One who is my head?

Section 3 — Image, Glory, and Mutual Dependence in the Lord (1 Corinthians 11:7–12)

Key Insights

Man is “the image and glory of God,” woman “the glory of man” — both bear God’s image (Genesis 1:27), but Paul describes the relational order of creation.
Woman was made from man and for man (Genesis 2:18–23); her glory is displayed in the relation God ordained.
The “symbol of authority” worn “because of the angels” marks her dignified place in God’s order, observed by the reverent heavenly host.
“In the Lord” man and woman are not independent of one another — every man is now born of woman (vv. 11–12).
“All things are from God” — both order and interdependence are grounded in the Creator from whom everything flows.

Applications

Men must guard against pride and contempt toward women, embracing the mutual dependence God has ordained.
Women may rest in the dignity of their honored place in God’s good order, worshiping freely before God and His angels.
Worship and live with reverent awareness that you stand before God and the watching angels.

Application Questions

Do I, as a man, guard against pride and contempt toward women, embracing the mutual dependence God has ordained?
Do I live and worship with awareness that I do so before God and His watching angels, with reverence for His order?

Section 4 — Nature, Propriety, and the Practice of the Churches (1 Corinthians 11:13–16)

Key Insights

“Judge for yourselves” — Paul appeals to the believers’ renewed discernment, not bare authority alone.
The appeal to “nature” combines the God-given sense of gender distinction with the cultural conventions expressing it; a woman’s long hair is “her glory.”
The created order itself bears witness to the propriety of distinguishing male and female, which the church’s customs should honor.
“We have no such practice, nor do the churches of God” — Paul silences the contentious by the consensus of the whole church.
The unity and consistency of the churches (catholicity) is itself a weighty argument against quarrelsome innovation.

Applications

Cultivate a sanctified judgment that discerns what is fitting before God, avoiding both legalism and license.
Honor the witness of the created order and the distinctions God has woven into nature.
Mortify a contentious spirit; value the peace and unity of the wider church.

Application Questions

Am I cultivating a sanctified judgment that discerns what is proper and honoring to God, or do I demand a rule for everything?
Do I have a contentious spirit that loves to dispute, or do I value peace and the unity of the church?

Section 5 — The Abuses at the Lord’s Supper Rebuked (1 Corinthians 11:17–22)

Key Insights

“Not for the better but for the worse” — the Corinthians’ very gatherings were doing harm, worship turned destructive by sin.
Divisions and factions fractured the assembly; God even used them to reveal who was genuine, yet they remained an evil.
Importing stratified banqueting customs, the wealthy feasted and got drunk while the poor went hungry — so disfigured it was “not the Lord’s supper” they ate.
To despise the poor at the table is to “despise the church of God” for which Christ died.
The place for private appetite is the house; the assembly is for the holy fellowship of the one body.

Applications

Examine whether your gathering with the church builds up the body or contributes to division.
Reject all partiality and contempt toward the poor and lowly; honor every believer as one body in Christ.
Distinguish private appetite from worship, and cultivate a fellowship of love and care for those who have nothing.

Application Questions

When I gather with the church, do I come together for the better or for the worse — building up the body or contributing to division?
Do I show partiality or contempt toward the poor and lowly in the church, or do I honor all as one body in Christ?

Section 6 — The Institution of the Supper: Christ’s Body and the New Covenant in His Blood (1 Corinthians 11:23–26)

Key Insights

Paul “received from the Lord” and “delivered” the words of institution — the earliest written account, marking the Supper as Christ’s own institution.
“This is my body, which is for you” — the broken bread signifies Christ’s body given in sacrifice; “Do this in remembrance of me” commands perpetual observance.
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood” fulfills Jeremiah 31 and the blood of Sinai (Exodus 24:8) — the covenant of grace sealed in Christ’s blood.
The Reformed faith confesses Christ truly but spiritually present, fed upon by faith — against bare memorialism and against carnal corporal presence.
“You proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” — every Supper is a visible sermon spanning the cross and Christ’s return.

Applications

Come to the table with reverence, treasuring it as the gift of your dying Savior.
Come by faith to feed spiritually on Christ, receiving the Supper as a true means of grace, not an empty sign.
Let the Supper renew your remembrance of the cross and your hope of Christ’s coming.

Application Questions

Do I come to the Lord’s table by faith to feed spiritually on Christ, or do I treat it as an empty ritual?
Does the Lord’s Supper renew my remembrance of Christ’s death and my hope of His coming, or has it grown familiar and dull?

Section 7 — Examine Yourself, Discern the Body, and Wait for One Another (1 Corinthians 11:27–34)

Key Insights

“In an unworthy manner” describes the manner of eating, not the worth of the person — the warning is against careless, irreverent, divisive participation.
“Let a person examine himself” — the right preparation is humble self-examination of faith, repentance, and love, not presumed worthiness.
To eat “without discerning the body” fails on two counts: not revering Christ’s body signified, and not loving the church which is His body.
Temporal judgments (weak, ill, dead) were the Lord’s fatherly discipline “so that we may not be condemned along with the world” — correction, not condemnation.
The cure for division is love that waits for one another and honors the poor, restoring the Supper as the meal of the one body.

Applications

Prepare for the Supper by sincere self-examination, coming as a repentant sinner trusting Christ.
Discern the body in both senses: revere Christ’s sacrifice and love His church, refusing all division.
Receive the Lord’s chastenings as a Father’s loving discipline, and let love rule the fellowship — wait for one another and honor the weak.

Application Questions

Do I examine myself sincerely before coming to the Lord’s table, or do I come carelessly without searching my heart?
Do I discern the body — revering Christ’s sacrifice and loving His church — or do I come with contempt or division?

From the call to imitate Christ, through the honoring of God’s created order, to the table where His body is given and His blood poured out as the new covenant, the whole of 1 Corinthians 11 fixes our eyes on the Lord Jesus — the One whose death we proclaim until He comes, who feeds His people on Himself by faith, and who gathers the rich and the poor as one body to wait in reverence and love for His return.